Dropping my Transmission with the Beans

I spent hours on the playgrounds of Pleasant Hill, California last week so this little bean...
 and this big bean...

could be out from under Mom who was recovering from an operation.
Helping Robbin out was mostly getting the boys out of the house and giving her the rest that she needed to recuperate. I would get dinner going in the evening and clean up afterwards. My son did most of the homework/ bath/ getting them to bed part. It all worked fairly smooth.
I learned to play the video games on the interactive Wii (I think that was what they called it.). I got to pick this blond girl persona and ride a motorcycle around a track trying to collect gold coins. I felt very cool. Then I picked up some coins... and then I hit a wall. I don't know why I hit it. I just couldn't keep the motorcycle going in a straight line and I forgot to slow down on the turns. The Bean had an unfair advantage. He was awesome.... except for the laughing. I told him not to laugh at Noni. That this was only the second time I had played this game with him. I told him that I wouldn't play with him anymore if he laughed at me. So, he stopped laughing. That's when he cut me off and took my gold coins. What a little beast.
At one point Little Bean (5 yrs. old) watched me hit a wall ( for the one hundredth time.) and then go off of a cliff into the darkness of a cyber black hole. He shook his head, leaned over and said, "Noni, I think you dw'opped you' transmission." I thought I would die laughing. I NEVER won a game, but it was fun anyway.

We spent a lot of time at the playground. I haven't spent this much time in a playground since my own boys were little. Every child had one or two parents, grandparents or caretakers  watching them like hawks. It was the weekend so the park was very crowded. It took all my concentration to watch my grandsons and make sure that I had them in my sight at all times. This was absolutely necessary.
 I learned that the ice cream man comes to the park in the afternoon at about 3:00 p.m. and plays almost the same music that I remember hearing when I was a kid. He is the pied piper of the sandbox set. They all run to him like Pan with his flute. The ice cream is very expensive now and I had to put a limit on what the boys could spend. They were delighted when I said they could buy one. I heard later that Mom and Dad rarely do. Of course they didn't tell me this at the park. Noni is such a soft touch.
A couple of days in a row we had lunch together. Did you know that there are two drive thru's at MacDonalds.You have a choice of just about everything now. The boys choose Mac Nuggets and a chocolate milkshake.
I also learned that you can get a "happy meal" with sliced apples now instead of french fries. and that the cherry on top of the whipped cream, on top of the milkshake will sink to the bottom of the shake in about 5 minutes if left in a car holder. We didn't have a spoon so we tried to retrieve the cherry with the straw. This doesn't work unless you have good sucking power and hold it long enough to get the cherry up and out of the milkshake. It's a fine art and my BEANS know all the ins and outs of these ingenious fast food concepts. They are, at 5 and 7 years of age, experts in the field.
My sister and I took them to the Lindsey Wildlife Museum in Walnut Creek one afternoon. The Bean didn't want to go when we got there, so we had a little power play. You know...
"I don't want to go in there."
"Sure you do. It's going to be fun."
"No, I don't think so."
So... that's when you become the "heavy".
  " Yes, we came to see this and we are going in. This is the plan. There is no option. Come on. Just wait until you see what's inside."
Well, guess what? He loved it...
 and Little Bean loved it.
We saw hawks, a fox, a trained squirrel and a real live golden Eagle.
They got to lay on top of a big fake bird while watching a video from a birds point of view.. It was truly like the boys were flying. My grandsons, who have been to Disneyland, were having a great time. There were all kinds of taxidermy animals on a fake mountain, with a staircase going up around it and all kinds of games for them to play, buttons to push and sights to see.
Afterwards we went to the Larkey Park playground. We wore them out. That was the whole point. Then home for dinner and bedtime. I slept well every night.
Mom slowly got on her feet and on Tuesday I drove her to the elementary school to register Little Bean for Kindergarten. By Thursday we WALKED to school and picked up The Bean. She is amazing.

I love this girl.

Bean does too., don't you know.

The day I left I brought them a Valentine's package with candy and these...

Can you believe I found "Love you Beans"?

You plant them in a little container and when they grow the pod will say I love you on it. I got them at CVS. What a cute idea and perfect for MY BEANS.
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This cold is better today. I feel better. Taking naps and sitting on the porch in the sun. We are having beautiful weather here but a storm is suppose to come on the weekend.
That is OK. We need the rain... and snow in the mountains.
The chickens say hello. I want to update you on Squeeky. She's still with us and hanging with the big hens. More to come on the little one with the big attitude.
I can hear Brownie and Murphy complaining about their dinner.
Carl is sleeping beside me and all's right with my world.
Hope is is with yours.

Kind of Feeling Better

Ever since I was a little girl I have had this attitude that sickness was a chastisement for some bad thought or action... or even if I had a wishful desire for something I wanted... but shouldn't have. I carry this feeling with me today and will probably take it to my grave. This isn't a full blown syndrome or a case of mental instability (I hope.) but it's always there in the recesses of my mind, telling me to look back and see what it was that I did, said or thought that caused this illness or distress.
This is a "confession" of sorts because I don't admit weakness or failings readily. I do believe that my Mom could have raised me with a more religious bent. I was a good candidate for carrying guilt around and being manipulated by visions of torment and darkness. She would have raised a good Catholic. I might have even been a Nun.... no! Scratch that. I was too boy crazy for that.
My Mom went to parochial school and was a practicing Catholic until she married my father. It was how she was raised and old habits die hard. We had fish on Fridays and said our prayers. But she didn't want us to have to search for reasons to confess our childlike sins. I always felt like my sister and I were raised with a liberal and freethinking theology. I think I picked up more than this.
I don't remember any direct hits on my "closet Catholic" tendencies. My Dad did have a way of making me feel REALLY bad about my behavior and he was raised in a rather benign christian church without the benefit of confession, rosaries or Mother Mary looking down on him. But he could make me feel awful just by not talking to me. Maybe the absence of "a voice" telling me why he was angry and what I did to make him angry was what started this odd behavior of mine. Maybe it's my father who is still guiding me, silent and angry, in the belief that I must have done something wrong to deserve getting sick. Don't know. I only know that the feeling is always with me. I do wonder about our ability to manifest sickness as a form of reaching out for love. Not in every case, but sometimes.
I'm feeling better, today, so this must have been a small transgression. Last year, when I got that virus that lasted so long... or long ago, at 39, when I found out I had breast cancer.... Those were real soul searching moments. But... this time I probably just yelled at someone. Like, when I shouted a rather provocative expletive at someone who pulled in front of me on the road and then I realized  that both of my grand babies were in the back seat... silent and looking at me. I apologized, but that may have been when the nose cold started. Who knows.
 Direct correlation?
Subliminal Catholic guilt?
 Farmlady is thinking too much into this?
She needs serious psychiatric help?
I don't know.... I only know that my cold is slowly getting better but my brain is exhausted trying to figure out where it came from and why.
I need to channel my "monkey mind" into a controlled environment for a while.
Take to the goats.
Feed the chickens.
Sleep...

Wordless Wednesday: Comfort Food

I'm back home

The supreme happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved..loved for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves.

~Victor Hugo~

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I came home with an awful head cold. I'm recuperating and letting the Prospector and the dogs spoil me.

I left my dear daughter-in-law, Robbin, standing and walking... and living without taking large amounts of medications. She is over the big "after surgery" hump. The fibroid tumor is out and she is feeling really good. Everything is going to be OK. I left when I knew that the only thing I was going to be able to give her was MY COLD. So, I came home.

I will write more about my many hours at the Pleasant Hill playground and the drive thru at MacDonald's in a few days. My age is showing and the "Noni is resting" sign is hanging on my door.

Happy Valentine's Day to all of you.

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Worry, worry, worry...

I realized this morning that I sometimes have these moments of brain overload. Yesterday was one of those days.
I'm usually able to focus on all the important things that I contain in my head ,which is usually way too much, but I think the stars weren't aligned properly yesterday and until I got THE PHONE CALL.... I was basically a basket case.
Thinking about too many things at once and not staying in the moment can cause Monkey Mind. The FEAR monkey is the worst one and does the most damage.

Our sweet daughter-in-law, Robbin, went into the hospital yesterday morning for an operation. She had a tumor removed and a complete hysterectomy.
Our son called us late morning and told us that she made it through the operation OK. He didn't have any other information. That was enough to hear right now. We will wait to hear the lab results.
I will be going down on Saturday to stay for awhile. I wish I was there now, but I will be needed more when she comes home. The "beans" will need Noni to take them to the park and keep them out from underneath their parents feet, as much as possible... and bake cookies.
 I love this daughter in law of ours. She's a lovely, loving woman and she's the mother of our grandchildren for which we are eternally grateful.
I know she will be fine, but please keep Robbin in your thoughts and prayers.

Winter Weed with Diamond Raindrops

Life is so mysterious.

It is filled with drops of exquisite beauty and barbed moments of pain.

Sometimes there are signs in the mud that something is coming or has been there... waiting to bring chaos.

There are trails that are slippery and steep and we don't know if we should try to use them.

 We get caught in our lives and we feel that we are the only ones who are dealing with this pain and confusion.

We don't understand how others could live their lives as if everything is all right.

We isolate ourselves in our houses...

 

  And fear the "wild river" that we can't seem to contain,

where life moves swiftly over stones unseen.

Until ...

We see the evidence before us.

 Plain truth... without thought.

It's not here.... on a old sign post, 

 fighting the possibility that something is coming... bringing suffering with it... trying to protect ourselves from what hasn't happen yet.

But it might be here...

 Or here... in the grateful eyes of animals... and friends, and relatives.

And even here...

Because life is everything and each being has an assignment that we need not interfere with.

So I will try to let go of tomorrow and busy myself with the moment at hand.

My first resolution of the year: 

Life is an impermanent experience that I will try to accept and understand, but also try to see without being afraid.... without fighting or misunderstanding the experience.

I love this analogy... ( from "It's Easier Than You Think" by S. Boorstein)

She writes:

The Familiar image is a children's cartoon character, like Daffy Duck, walking along freely and suddenly stepping into taffy. In a hasty, awkward attempt to extricate himself, he might fall forward and backward and eventually be totally stuck in the taffy. Even children see a better solution.

The best solution would be the nonalarmed recognition, " This is taffy. I didn't see it as I stepped into it, but I felt it after I got stuck. It's just taffy. the whole world is not made out of taffy. what would be a wise thing for me to do now?"

I will try to not get stuck in fearful things that haven't happen. I will try to be less frightened about what my mind creates.

Finally... a few more resolves:

I will not get trapped in my "story" and  live my life with regret.

I will suffer. I wish I didn't have to, but I will.

I will be kinder to myself.

I will not cling to my own suffering.

I will start a journey of happiness at any moment of the day.

It's a beginning...

What does all of this mean?

The Gadsden flag , coiled and ready to strike, on the back of The Prospector's truck is a symbol. It's fiercely American but provocative.

It's nothing new...

 The Rattlesnake as a symbol has been around for a while. It was a symbol for the colonies when our country was fighting in the American Revolution.
I don't think the symbolism of this threatening snake has disappeared, but I don't know who the snake is anymore.

I watched and listened to the news this morning and it made me wonder what is really going on. A group of Occupy "revolutionaries" in Oakland , California were protesting again, and this time my reaction was different. It made me angry.
I'm not sure what it is they are doing. I'm not sure what they want besides chaos, anarchy and the ruin of a good American city. They don't state their case as a whole. They don't have a focused protest, that I can see, except to destroy downtown Oakland.

Here is some of what happen...
OAKLAND (AP) – About 300 people were arrested Saturday during a chaotic day of Occupy protests that saw demonstrators break into City Hall and burn an American flag, as police earlier fired tear gas and bean bags to disperse hundreds of people after some threw rocks and bottles and tore down fencing outside a nearby convention center.
""These demonstrators stated their intention was to provoke officers and engage in illegal activity and that's exactly what has occurred today,"

The group assembled outside City Hall late Saturday morning and marched through the streets, disrupting traffic as they threatened to take over the vacant Henry Kaiser Convention Center.

The protesters walked to the vacant convention center, where some started tearing down perimeter fencing and "destroying construction equipment" shortly before 3 p.m., police said.

The protesters walked to the vacant convention center, where some started tearing down perimeter fencing and "destroying construction equipment" shortly before 3 p.m., police said.

Police said they issued a dispersal order and used smoke and tear gas after some protesters pelted them with bottles, rocks, burning flares and other objects.

The number of demonstrators swelled as the day wore on, with afternoon estimates ranging from about 1,000 to 2,000 people.

A majority of the arrests came after police took scores of protesters into custody as they marched through the city's downtown, with some entering a YMCA building

AND THEN....Michael Davis, who is originally from Ohio and was in the Occupy movement in Cincinnati, said "Saturday was a very hectic day that originally started off calm but escalated when police began using "flash bangs, tear gas, smoke grenades and bean bags."

"It was very emotional. I thought it was a very good day for the movement because it brought us back together," Davis said. "We all were here in spirit and everybody actually helped everyone today."

"What could've been handled differently is the way the Oakland police came at us," Davis said. "We were peaceful."

( Thanks to USA Today for the info. The whole article is at: www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012-01-28/occupy-oakland-protests/52852280/1 )

A VERY GOOD DAY FOR THE MOVEMENT?

I can't figure out who the "rattlesnakes" are here.

I think that I will stay right here on the mountain and deal with the rattlers that come and go,  usually one at a time. They are pretty specific about their motives... food, water, survival. They were here first and I respect and understand that. I think I'm a rather intelligent person that lives a fairly mobile and productive life.

I understand that there are folks out there that are angry and feel that their lives are unequal, unjust, unfair, inaudible and incurable, but is this kind of protest the answer? Who is provoking who?

Mahatma Gandhi said, "Be the change you want to see in the world". 

Is this the change that some folks really want? Is this really "non-violent" protest? Is this the protesters "means to an end" and is it a valid one? I don't think I'm seeing the true picture here?

I'm trying to see this whole event in the right light.  I'm trying not to say all the trite things about this, like so many others...

"Why don't they get a job.",

"They are just professional dissenters." and 

"If they don't like this country... leave." 

...the easy and unintelligent answers to a growing unrest.

I'm reminded of Metallica's lyrics... 

"... Liberty or death, what we so proudly hail,

Once you provoke her, rattling on her tail."

 I wonder if anyone knows what they're doing.

I need to take a walk and think on this... here, right now, the rattlesnakes are sleeping for the winter.

Felting my Friendships

I chose to spend the afternoon with a friend, yesterday. It was a wonderful visit. She lives in town and her home is one of those beautiful old Victorians that line the hills, up behind Main St., in Jackson.
She slipped on some ice during the holidays and did some major damage to her ankle. She has been in a cast ever since. Now, she is in a black boot and will go back into a cast again next week for another month. The ankle is not healing well and another cast is required.
I tell you this because my very active, giving friend who does for so much for others and never stops moving, has handled this accident with her usual optimistic self. I'm in awe of someone who can weather a fall like this, pick herself up  and continue to be the positive, glass half full person that she always is.
Even with the complications that have arisen, she is still thinking ahead to trips she wants to take next year and getting a walking cast on, next week, so she doesn't have to sleep downstairs with the cats and maneuver the narrow passageways of her charming home in a wheel chair anymore. She needs to get back to buying groceries for a house bound friend of hers and volunteering at one of the local thrift stores.
I'm sure she has had a few "Oh, @#*&!" moments but she is a trooper and I'm so proud of her.
So, I took cake... and magazines... and small gifts, etc. hoping to lighten her spirits, There was really no need. She greeted me, in her wheel chair, like she had just come in from working in the garden. We had deli sandwiches ... and we talked, talked, talked... laughed and talked some more... until it was time for me to head back to the highway, pick up the mail and drive home. The visit did us both good. It always does.
I left her in good hands. She has a  husband that takes good care of her and treats her like a queen.
So I'm telling you this because...?
Life is long (or short, depending on how you perceive it) and "@#*&!" happens. None of us is going to get out this alive, so we need to make the best of it.  We can play games, whine about our bad luck, carry grudges and complain about life, but... have you talked to other folks lately?
Everyone is having problems. They all have "thorns" in their sides...Some even have large knife wounds.
 My friend could have been bitter, angry and blameful about all this, but she wasn't. I'm sure she wishes that she hadn't gone out on that icy old balcony. I'm sure that she wishes the ankle would heal faster. But, she isn't being "why me?" about it. She's waiting and hoping and making plans for the future. All that positive energy has got to accelerate the healing process.
I'm convinced that life is, in large part, about attitude and expectations and.... looking at the good things in life, so you have this deep well of good thoughts and ideas to carry you through the times of drought and fire.

"The world is full of cactus, but we don't have to sit on it.  ~Will Foley
My friend never sits in her "cacti". Well... she is sitting a lot at the moment, but she's looking ahead of all this. She is an example to me of how to weather a storm. She's an example to us all.

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So today is "finish a felted scarf" day. Here are some choices. What do you think?

 This is the scarf. A combination of gray wool and a taupe, mystery yarn. I had no idea how it would turn out. I have a huge amount of it that I got at one of the thrift stores and ... wait. I do have some with a wrapper on it.  It's SPINNERIN 100% wool yarn called Suzanne. That's why it worked so well. I used it continuously with the gray wool yarn but in two places I dropped the gray wool and used only the "Suzanne" yarn. After I felted it the taupe yarn tighten up and looked much better. The gray combination felted really well. I'm very please with the results.
So, now I'm ready to embellish.

 Buttons? (with dog hair underneath... how embarrassing.)

A shell from the Pacific Ocean?

A different button? There's that dog hair again. I think I felted the hair right into the scarf. Maybe I could make it my trademark... Corgiwool, scarves from the dogfarm.

Some antique lace?

Old lace... and a button?

Or the ruffled edge of the "cute" shirt I bought at the thrift store. Remember the shirt made out of gray jersey with ruffles? What do you think? It's hard to get the colors true, here on the post, but you can get an idea. There are so many possibilities. Maybe lace is too lightweight for this scarf. I'm not sure. Maybe it needs to be a heavier lace... or none.
I would really like your input.
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Today I'm on to brighter possibilities...

When my sister was here we went to Amador City, my favorite little gold rush town. I bought this yarn at Sandy's Country Home store. She dyes and spins this yarn herself. It's so beautiful. It's a bit harder to knit with because it goes from thick to thin and felts up very thick... but I can't wait to use it.

Oh, yum!
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On my afternoon walk a few days ago, I thought that I would love to find some yarn that looked like the oak trees with their bright moss, tiny ferns and lichen growing on them.... Looking like they were going to a party, with the help of the rain and some northern exposure, and getting all dolled up for the occasion.

 I would love some yarn that looks like this...

or this...

Or possibly a softer green like the new grass that is coming up on the trail.
Think I can find some yarn that looks like this? Think I can wear a California Winter around my neck?

Dangerous Places.

This is a dangerous place for me to go.

I should know better. I went in to find eight buttons for my gray vest. I came out with more buttons than I needed.

and some beautiful flannel fat quarters  (Fat quarters are precut, quarter yards of fabric.)  that I probably didn't need.

But they were on sale... and they are beautiful... and they were already cut... and, well... look at them. I will do something with them.
A friend brought me a rag quilt a few weeks ago . It's a lap quilt and she has been wanted to show me how to create one. So now, I'm ready. I just need a "back" for the quilt, some old flannel for the inside, some thread and scissors (I have these), and the time to spend the day with her so she can show me how to do it.
It wasn't like I didn't have a plan... and these gorgeous pieces of fabric might not have been there when I went to this store again... and the sale is only until the end of the month. So.....

Then, I went to the On A Mission thrift store in Jackson. I LOVE this place. I needed some tulle for my Nuno felting. Well, this may be a "thrift" store but this is also another dangerous place for me to visit. I found the tulle and some... other really wonderful stuff.
Yes, It seems that I needed these other things too.
I found some clothes to use for the fabric.

All useable for nuno felting and adding to scarves. I love this print skirt, above. It's a cotton gypsy print and will be great when scrunched up in a scarf.
This skirt is a J.Jill that actually fits me.

 I don't wear skirts anymore but if I did... it fits.I love the almost "eco" print look to the linen fabric. and the bottom edge has brown lace on it. I paid $3.50 for it. I will use those bottom edges for a scarf and the print for the pieces of the scarf. I can use the zipper and surrounding fabric for a small purse to match the scarf. Oh, the ideas... from one skirt. It's endless.
I also bought a top made out of gray stretchy jersey .

This one doesn't fit me, so I don't feel bad cutting it up. I mean it fits, but I'm max on the "stretch" and it looks a little young on me. I've got to be careful about this. I don't want folks to say, "Did she even look in a mirror this morning?" Sometimes you have to act your age. Yea...Darn! I don't think "cute" is what I'm about at this stage of my life. You have to be careful about "cute" in your 60's.
All of the edges on this shirt are ruffled  and could be added to a scarf. There is lots of fabric here and grey goes with everything.
I did buy too much. So, shoot me. It's all inexpensive and fun. I also bought some small bags of fabric to send to a friend who quilts and is living in the middle of nowhere in southeast Oregon for the winter... with not a thrift store or fabric store within hundreds of miles. She is living on a ranch in a cabin and the one thing she did bring with her is her sewing machine.
She's a quilter. She carries a sewing machine like she carries a gun. It's her MO (modis operandi, mode of operation, etc.).  In those parts you never know when you're going to have to sew up a pair of pants or kill something. Besides, it's kind of hard to quilt cowhides and coyote pelts.
When I got home I realized I had over done it with the fabric. I just need someone to show me how to do this quilting stuff and then I will be ready... with my fabric... and that first quilt will be BEAUTIFUL.
In the meantime, I will cut and patch, sew some trim on  and tomorrow you can help me pick out some buttons for my latest felted scarf.
Take care.

Sons, Rivers and... lost dreams of the Super Bowl.

Our son came up to visit this weekend. "M" lives in Oakland, down in the Bay Area. We loved having him come up even for a couple of days.
I made some beef stew.

And baked a pie.

It should have been a cherry pie (our son's favorite), but cherries were a little out of season so I used  frozen mixed berries. It turned out fine and no one turned their noses up at it.
On Sunday "M" took us out to breakfast (a real treat) and we showed him some of the local changes that were in progress..

We try to impress our grown children with the new advancements in our small town. We try to find entertaining possibilities to brag about. Well, Tractor Supply Company is coming to town.

Hey, we live in a town where construction of anything is an exciting event. They had to rearrange a creek to do this. The Prospector has been wanting to take his gold pan down there and check out the piles of dirt that are being moved around. The signs say "no trespassing". That hasn't stopped him before. Gold Fever is a dormant, itchy illness that never goes away.I have to keep an eye on him for outbreaks.
I don't think "M" was that impressed with the possibilities of this new store as we were, but he was polite about it. He asked us if there were that many folks that needed "tractor" supplies in the area.
We told him it was more than just tractor supplies. It would be a comprehensive farm supply store. This store would offer a lot more than tractor parts. We laughed at our excitement over another farm store coming to town.
"M" and his dad were joking about our level of expectation over a new store in town and I thought about how far we had come from the years of living in the suburbs and how our expectations had change.
I can remember when they covered the small, outdoor "MALL" in the town where we raised our boys. It was a big deal. They expanded Sears and brought in Gottchalks. It was so exciting. We didn't have to drive to the big mall an hour away anymore. We  were coming up in the world.
Now, when I drive through that town on the way to the Bay Area I see all the stores that I wanted when I lived there... and more. Now, I don't look at all the "choices" as exciting.
I see traffic. I see highways under construction for the hundredth time and chaos in this small town that has grown expeditiously in the 18 years since we left it.
Now, there is everything I wanted... then.
There is even a SEE'S Candy store. I could have really used one of those back in the day.
So, we choose to move even further up into the boonies and now we get excited about the new Tractor Supply store that's being built. How far we've come... backwards.

We decided that we better take "M" to the RIVER. So we drove south out of town and, even though rain was threatening, we thought that a walk across the Clinton Bridge at Middle Bar would be the one beautiful place to share with our son. It was.

This river, the great Mokelumne, always impresses. It makes all other man-made achievements pale in comparison.
The old Clinton Bridge at Middle Bar is being threatened by folks who want to make a bigger damn,

...but we have some dedicated people who are fighting this tooth and nail.
This bridge and the surrounding area will all be under water if some people have their way. The expansion of the Pardee reservoir would cover one of the most beautiful parts of California's river system.

We joke about having water front property without moving from our mountain top, but the reality is that it could happen and all of this would be gone forever.
"M" was much more impressed with this whole scenario than with the building of a new store in town.
We took a walk across the bridge.

And he discovered a walking trail on the other side of the river. He does a lot of jogging and running in the hills of Oakland so this was new and interesting territory for him.  I'm sure he will be back to run the trails here.
The river worked its magic and we could feel its spirit flowing beneath us.

 This rain will bring more water to fill the reservoirs "up river" and then the water will rise and cover the gravel beds and bedrock that show themselves this time of the year.

I have bonded with this river. The Mokelumne is now my "bedrock". I feel more alive and HOME here than any place  I have ever lived.

"M" left last night after supper. We will miss him. Come back soon, son.

We watched the sad game between the 49er's and the NY Giants.
Oh, well. Not everything can be perfect.
They tried.  They were tied. They went into overtime. They lost.
Damn! Now the Super Bowl belongs to the East Coast.
Maybe next year....