Post Easter post

I came back home yesterday. Had a wonderful time with my family... sons, grand kids, nephews and cousins. Sis and I decorated the table, cleaned the house and decided that I should always come down a day early on every holiday so we can do this together. It was much easier for my sister and it was fun to do it together.

The main table came together beautifully. Sis made a table cloth out of burlap yardage and we arranged a (Ace Hardware) roll of garden burlap (loose weave) down the center. Then we pulled all kinds of great things from the rest of the house to decorate with. A birdcage, wood veggies, candles, and a charming bunny.

On Saturday morning we took a long walk up into the hills.

We took my nephew and the dogs with us. I was walking with Lucky, the black lab, on a leash. That's why some of these photos are blurry. He just wanted to keep going. Stopping for photos was not part of his routine.
Lafayette is big on walking and biking.... with dogs, so we met quite a few dogs, and their people, on our hike.
This walk was a beautiful beginning to the Easter Weekend.
In the afternoon Sis and I took a Lily to Mom....

It still seems odd not to have her with us. We miss her so much.

Later we decorated and got the house in order for Sunday dinner. We set the "children's" table.  Sis used my felted soaps for decoration. They made the whole room smell good.

Everyone arrived Sunday afternoon. Lots of talking and hugging. Lots of hors d'oeuvres, wine, sodas and fruit juices.
We had a wonderful ham dinner, great vegetables, salad and potatoes. We finished with an angel food cake covered in pineapple whipped cream frosting with orange rind in it and sweetened strawberries on top (One of mom's old recipes) and, of course, some extra orange rind on top. My daughter in law made chocolate covered strawberries that were the biggest strawberries we had every seen. Delicious!!

My little grandsons had Easter Bunny overload and were ready to go home soon after dinner and dessert. We said our goodbye's and I made promises to come down again soon.... or have Mommy and Daddy bring them up to the farm.
I wish we lived closer. I miss their sweet little smiles...

and kidelicious silliness.

Maybe we could move back to the burbs.
Maybe the goats could learn to live in a suburban backyard.
No, probably not. I'm not sure that the Prospector and I could return to civilization. Not yet, anyway.
For now... I will drive down there to them, so I can  see my little beans as much as possible.

Love ya, little cowpokes. See ya soon.....

Lucky, the black lab, says.... " Did everyone go home?
Lily, the shorthair, says.... "Fozzy!  Lets go look for Easter candy and leftovers .FOZZY! Where are you?"
Fozzy was curled up on the sofa sleeping. It was a long day and he was tired.
I hope everyone had a happy Easter.

A Good Friday and a wish for all of you.

May all your days be blue skies and wild grasses in Spring.

Something Wicked This Way Comes.... but there was Joy in the Morning.

I took a long walk yesterday afternoon up into the hills. This is what it looked like at about 4:00 p.m.

The wind was blowing through the trees, moving the clouds across the sky. Everything was so lovely.... as if Nature was at peace with the world. I even stopped up there, closed my eyes and just stood there for a few minutes, feeling the warmth of the sun, listening to the sound of the wind, the birds, the distant traffic noises from across the canyon and the strange little squeaking sound that kept coming from one of the oak trees... a bird possibly.
Then I heard a clicking kind of buzzing ... looked down I saw a grasshopper land on the grass in front of me. It was black and medium sized. I tried to lean quietly over and take a picture. This is what I photographed.

Because it flew so close I didn't have to move and I was able to catch it with the camera. It could be a House Lubber Grasshopper. The description says that it is shiny black, about 11/2 to 2", with yellow veins on its wings. I didn't see it fly in, so I'm not sure about the yellow color.
I had my eyes closed.
I was communing .
But it did fly in and I heard its characteristic sound. It says, as I read my field guide, that this "music making" serves as a form of warning, a way to establish territory, or a move in courtship. I like to think he spotted me and decided to be friendly on this beautiful day. After all I was standing still and this little guy flew to me. Their Habitat are grasslands and woods with Live Oaks. That's us.... lots of grass and oaks. It's hard to say exactly what kind of grasshopper it was because in North America alone there are over 1000 species.
I took four photos before it flew away to something more interesting and I continued on down the trail toward the house.
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The wind was picking up and the sun disappeared. When I passed the goats they seemed restless and were heading for the goat house.
I went in and fixed dinner. The Prospector said something about the weather on TV. There was a "cell" moving over Amador county. They were spot on. We had finished dinner and watched Jeopardy. I let the dogs outside and they ran around peeing on everything and chasing each other.  The sky got darker and more ominous and then we heard rumbles from across the river canyon. The sun was trying hard to leave a last impression on us.

The clouds to the east didn't look that bad but the sun was losing the battle.

To the south the sky got a strange look that seems more frequent in the last few years. Clouds that carry the sunset  with them but lay like high fog over the foothills. They have a different look to them.

Standing out there, looking to the west behind the house, there was a darkness moving over the hills that said..." Time to take the dogs into the house and stop standing out here like a fool taking pictures.".
I called the boys in and taking one last photo from the porch...

... we retreated.
We watch this storm hit. First the wind, then the thunder and lightening, and then the hail. Huge pieces of hail that fell, plummeling my flower garden, battering the roof and scaring the dog boys under our bed. Cutter would bark at the thunder every time it hit. I just stood there watching my Iris, hoping for a miracle.
The storm knocked out the TV and the computer. We ended up reading for about an hour until the storm blew itself out and move east where it became snow for all the worn out folks up country and into the Sierras. It was a slow moving storm that planted itself at about the 3000 ft. level for quite a while. We watched it leave and saw the ragged bottoms of the clouds that has just gone over us. We had been told that "ragged bottoms" are the strange rough underside of a very large cloud that produces Tornadoes. It definitely looked like what a blogging friend in the Midwest calls a "bad cloud". We don't get Tornadoes up here but we have had a few in the Valley recently.
I watched that cloud for a long time. I think I kind of understand what it must feel like to know that something  horrible would come down out of the clouds and do great damage to a town or community. Tornadoes are monsters, dark and sinister wind, exposing life to fearful disaster and pain. I can't imagine what it must be like to see one come out of a dark cloud. I'm sure that it's one of nature's most frightening events.
This cloud moved on... and by evening it was dark and quiet.
I heard rain late in the night. As I lay there, save and protected. I felt thankful for this sanctuary that I call home and the protection it effort us here in the California foothills. I said a thank you prayer before I fell back to sleep.
I won't always be so safe. Something wicked eventually comes, but we live each day with hope that there will be Joy in the Morning.

This post was for Karen Deborah and all of those that suffer from chronic pain and depression. We all suffer "storms" in our life. For some it's more difficult than others. This is a kind of a prayer for those who weather each day with fortitude and grace.

(My Iris survived the hailstorm. They are a bit ragged but they are fine. )

Wordless Wednesday: They're Everywhere!

Spring Reigns

"Everything is blooming most recklessly;

 if it were voices instead of colors,

there would be an unbelievable shrieking

into the heart of the night. " ~Rainer Maria Rilke

"It's spring fever. 
  That is what the name of it is, 

And when you've got it, you want... 

- oh, you don't quite know what it is you do want,

but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!"  ~Mark Twain

"An Old Man Loved.. is Winter with Flowers" Part II

As I walked to the top of the property this morning I thought about the way life changes constantly and how we, sometimes, fear this obvious truth.

How these huge old trees at the top of the rise were standing upright and living when we first moved here. Now they lay in the spring grass, mulching into the earth and becoming a part of the soil that nurtured them.

This was a little house that we found when we first bought the property some fifteen years ago. It stood erect and almost livable then. Now, slowly,  it's being engulfed by the Poison Oak and every year becomes more a part of the  natural environment that seems to be pulling it's wooden skeleton back into the earth.
It's a passage. It's the way of all things.
*****************
  My uncle's birthday was a wonderful celebration: This was a party for my Uncle's FIRST (as someone said) ninety years . A celebration in a town that knew him well and respected him enormously. A celebration of someone who had reached a milestone in his life.

He was movie star handsome. He was born in Berkeley, California but grew up in the Napa Valley on a ranch with my mother and a sister and lots of relatives. His father died when he was only 2 years old so his mother brought her family, from Berkeley, back to the family ranch in Napa where he developed his love of fishing, hunting and got into all kinds of mischief with his cousins. He joined the Navy and then, after the war, he married and had three daughters.
When he was offered a job in Susanville, CA. he took it and the rest is history. Other than a very miserable short job near San Jose and getting a Master's degree in Eugene, Oregon, he has always lived in Susanville.
He was a track coach at the high school and then worked at Lassen Junior College.

On Saturday night we realized the impact he had on so many people's lives. He was visibly touch by the warm tribute in his honor.
There were all the coaches and teachers there that he had worked with over the years.

Some former students  told stories about this man who was tough but fair, who pushed them on to a achieve more than they thought they ever could and the respect they had for him.
 And of course his family was there. His two daughters got up and talked about their dad.... Memories of being young and having a "coach" for a dad.
 It was a wonderful evening with good wishes, lots of stories and really great homemade food. I'm still drooling over a cheesecake pie that Sis, my cousin and I snuck out of the hall, ( there were only two pieces left) brought back to the B&B that night to eat again, with our innkeepers, to see if we could figure out what was in it. OMG! It was so good. We're still working on this. My cousin and I are researching it on the Internet. I will let you know if we come up with anything. We couldn't fine the person who made it. I would guess that they left early or figured that there wouldn't be any left to take back home with them. THEY WOULD HAVE BEEN RIGHT. We know it had cut up cranberries (dried) IN the cheesecake and lots of orange zest on top of it. IT was creamy and delightful. Excuse me..... my mouth is watering again.
Everyone left the Senior Center full of good food and good wishes for our Uncle. It was a wonderful evening.
******************
The next day we drove over to my Uncle's house. ( please notice that the snow is completely gone.)

and had another little party of our own with lots of the leftover food and lots of conversation. We don't get to see our cousins very often so this was a nice time to talk about being young.. and vacations that we spent together.. and grandma's house in Napa.. the Ranch and all the childhood memories of  places we shared. We talked about our mothers and looked at old photos of them when they were very young. We talked about missing our cousin, Uncle Jimmy's oldest daughter and how she would have enjoyed this weekend. She died of cancer a few years back. She was only in her 50's. It was very sad. Maybe she was watching all of this, somewhere,  with Mom and Grandma. I hope she was. We miss her so.

This is my uncle's garden. He loves his garden. The Winter weather stayed late this year so he hasn't planted much yet but he knows where he will plant everything and what the names of all the fruit trees are and the varieties. He tells us how he grafted them many years ago and which ones are doing well... which ones are not.

Gardening, walking and friendships are the mainstay of his life now. He seems to be happy with his life. This says a lot for staying in one place.... putting down roots.... being satisfied with your choices. He seems to be a peace filled man. 
Saturday night when he was asked to say a few words, he thanked everyone and then he talked about those times when you have a dilemma or a decision to make. He said that you should always come from a place of love. You should always try to make the decision based on LOVE. What a wonderful philosophy.
It's not a simple thing.. this growing old, but we can learn from a 90 year old who knows that life is short and still treats the world with kindness.
Happy Birthday Uncle Jimmy. We love you.

The Buzz Word is Busy.

This has been two very full days. Yesterday I cleaned the house because we hosted the goat meeting here today. Now this may sound like a simple statement: "I cleaned the house.", but as I get older it has become a big deal. Cleaning this  little house has become an act of effort and love.  Kind of like getting ready for a holiday dinner only a bit easier because I didn't have to make the whole meal.  This morning  I made a chicken, broccoli, lemon casserole and  bought some good french bread. We set out some wine and lots of cold drinks. The rest came  from all my goat club friends. Lots of great salads. One with (what else) goat cheese and Brownies for dessert.
It was really a good meeting and some of them stayed for quite a while afterward just to talk. The weather was wonderful. The Corgi boys were perfect little gentleman.  Everyone followed the directions we sent out and found our house without any problems. No one got out of their cars shaking and scared to death. It has happen before. We live where most people have not gone before but these are goat people after all. They're resilient and resourceful. I wrote on the directions to "Think like a goat" when coming up to our house. They did. I'm so proud of them all.
  We don't get much company. I'm kind of people deprived out here. The Prospector is even less of a social butterfly than I am, so we really fussed about all kinds of things before the meeting.... like parking,  having enough chairs, where to put the dog faced boys and how to cover the small area of the wall to wall carpet that the pups decided to eat for lunch a while back. After all of our anxious concern, no one noticed the chewed rug or anything we had worried about. They loved our home and were happy to be here. Sometimes we worry so much about appearances that we forget about the enjoyment of having people visit. It was a really good day.
I haven't tried to access my photos for a blog post for two days. As you know, I had a moment on Thursday when I got upset with Picasa, my photo storage program. I'm going to post one photo of my name tag that I made at our gourd meeting on Thursday and see if it will find my blog post. If it does, tomorrow I will continue the story of my Uncle's birthday.
Here goes....

YES! It's working. TA DA! The gods of the WWWeb are shinning down on me this evening. (Now you know Farmlady's really name.)  But, alas, I'm finding myself a bit fatigued from all the festivities of the day.... so the rest of the Susanville story will have to wait until tomorrow.

Life interrupts the telling of the tale.

I guess that I will have to try again tomorrow. Picasa 3 is just staring back at me when I click the photo link. I can't get it to bring any of my photo files up to my post sooooo.... Phooey!  It's almost 7:00 p.m. and "I give"
I went to my gourd club today and we had a guest artist who show us all kinds of interesting gourd techniques. We made named tags out of broken pieces of gourd. It was really fun. If I can get Picasa to quit holding MY photos hostage, I will show you the results of my gourd pin class tomorrow.
AND...... if the photos are available to me, tomorrow, I will continue the story of our trip to Susanville.
Does this Blogging, Computer, Internet, thing make you as crazy as it makes me? Do you think anyone out there really cares if we post or not? Is this because I didn't  join Twitter? Are the Gods of the World Wide Web sitting somewhere making decisions on the basis of how many friends I have on Facebook.
DO YOU THINK IT MIGHT BE THAT I MADE CUPCAKES FOR THE MEETING AND DIDN'T SEND SOME TO BLOGGER?
Holy crumbs! I feel like a contestant on a Quid Pro Quo Queen for a Day.... that lost. It's time to shut this thing off.
See you tomorrow....

"An Old Man Loved is Winter with Flowers" Part 1.

This was a trip to Susanville, Calif.  for my Uncle's 90th birthday party and it was worth every moment. We were heading to our Uncle's territory, in the high desert of the northern Sierra Nevada Mountains, to a well deserved party in his honor.
My sister and my cousin Suzi met us on the highway. The Prospector drove me down to Lodi and we loaded my things into my sister's car. I drove north on Highway 5 to Chico and Sis drove into the mountains to Chester. The forecast was for light snow. We brought chains but never needed them.

We played a little....

 We worried about the snow, which never got too heavy and made the trip from Chico to Chester a Winter Wonderland of a drive...

This is Deer Creek on highway 32. It was stunningly beautiful. It was also very cold.

We finally reached Chester and Lake Almanor which was covered with ice and snow around its edges. What a beautiful photo shoot this was.
About an hour later we drove over Fredonyer Pass and into Susanville, CA. (elevation 4200 ft.) on the east side of  Lassen National Forest.  about 85 miles north west of Reno, Nevada.
We had reached our destination.
*************
The Roseberry House Bed & Breakfast was waiting for our arrival. 

The innkeepers, Richard & Charmy Sorem, greeted us with such warm hospitality that we felt like we were members of their own family.
Then we went upstairs to our room.....

 Sis and I had the queen bed and Suzi had a charming single in the "alcove".
No one else was staying in the house so we had the whole upstairs to ourselves. My sister and I spent one miserable night sleeping together in the beautiful antique bed and the next night Sis chose to take another room across the hall. It was a joint decision. The rest of our stay was much more comfortable.
I had no idea that my sister talks in her sleep and hogs all the blankets. Tellin' on you sis!! I love ya but we can't sleep together, can we?
*******************
The next morning we woke up to snow falling softly all over town and  came downstairs to one of the most amazing breakfasts ever, cooked by Richard, and served in the wonderful old dining room.

This was a luxury I'm unaccustomed to. It was a most elegant and filling breakfast.  My cousin, Suzi, having just returned from Ireland, was very impressed with the variety of food. She had seen a lot of meals prepared and served in the last few weeks and this one rivaled them all.
After breakfast Sis and Suzi went for a long walk. I stayed in and read my book. Took a nap. The oldster was tired. I wasn't about to go for a walk in the snow.
I got a call from my cousins, in Ashland, Oregon, wondering about the weather and asking which pass we took through the mountains.... checking to see if we had arrived. They were raised in this town. They had no fear and seemed to take all the late snow rather matter of fact. 
Sis and Suzi came back from their walk in the snow with stories of what Susanville calls ".... just down the road." and decided to take the car next time if they needed something on the other end of town. It was their turn to take a nap.
Tomorrow I will continue... with a little history of  Susanville, a walk downtown and getting ready for the Birthday party.