Thanksgiving Trip,

Well, this is the third time I've

tried writing this blog post.

Twice I've lost what I had written

 while adding another photo from my phone,

even after saving the post on the computer.

Perhaps this time I'll manage

to get through to the end

without loosing the post.

So far this is the only Christmas 

decor in the house.

My Christmas cactus is blooming.

Sorry it's a blurry photo from my phone.

The rest of the photos 

except for the beach ones

are from my phone.

Rick and I both caught colds at

Thanksgiving and mine has hung on

and it's still annoying.

I saw my doctor for an unrelated checkup

and she has a cold as well that is lasting

longer than it should.

I am in good company I suppose.

 

We went to Brookings to see Rick's mom

for Thanksgiving.

We left  early Thanksgiving morning 

while it was still dark.

As we crossed a bridge over Lake Shasta

the full moon's light was reflecting silver on the lake.

  It was absolutely beautiful.

An hour later we were passing north of Weed, CA

through the snowy landscape.

It was 14 degrees at the time

and the moon was setting on the hillside

while the sun rose on the other side of us.

We had a great visit with family there.

They had Thanksgiving dinner ready to

serve shortly after our arrival.

We learned a new card game

and just had a very nice visit.

This was one of the only two photos from my camera

on that trip.

We tried to take Liberty to the beach,

but ran into a couple aggressive dogs who weren't

on a leash. Their owner didn't seem to care.

 We didn't bother staying at the beach.

Poor Liberty missed out on some beach time

which she loves.
Maybe next time.

On our way home that Sunday morning

we stopped for breakfast in a town called

Hiouchi.

Hiouchi Cafe

We've had lunch here once before

and our shared sandwich was really good.

So we decided to try them for breakfast.

This is a place where the locals come in

and they know them by name.

It so very down home with the work station

and pass through counter into the kitchen

directly across from our table.

This is a small place with a roaring

fire in the wood stove in the corner.

It was still very chilly in there.

Our waitress brought small mugs 

of very good coffee to us.

That's her in the pink jacket.

She brought half and half and then

asked us if we wanted some of that 

"foo foo" creamer.

She reached into the refrigerator behind her,

and brought out several flavors of

Coffee Mate creamers and set them out

on different tables.

This is how the butter and half and half

was served.  Quite homey.

There was plastic covering the jalousie windows

trying to keep the cold drafts out.

The blackberry jam was homemade.

I doubt the orange marmalade was...

but I never touch the stuff, so I don't know.

Our breakfast was very good.

This place isn't pretentious in the least.

Just a nice friendly down home place to

share a meal.

Now, I think I'd better start

thinking about Christmas...

Take care.

Cruise

I took these photos just this past Sunday.

The garden is wearing out and tonight

we are expecting a hard freeze.

The Alpine miniature strawberries have 

started blooming again.

The zinnias bloomed their hearts out.

Some were reseeded from last year,

and others where from three seed packets

 I planted this spring.

What's left now are faded and worn.

I really loved the color of this salvia.

Even though the fruit production of this

nectarine is minimal, 

I still appreciate this tree.

It has the most beautiful pink flowers in

the spring time and beautiful yellow leaves

in the fall.  

The packet of lavender seeds promised

to bloom the first season, and one made it.

Yeah!

Well, tomatoes here just don't do well.

There's too much shade in our garden space.

This is my first tomato.... still on the vine.

It's not mature enough to save through 

the freeze tonight.

The other two....

The yellow and orange cosmos 

reseed themselves every year.

They're just about finished as well.

I've been collecting the seeds and scattering

them here and there.

Garlic chive seeds ready to start

new plants next spring.

Take care, and have a wonderful

Thanksgiving.

Today's View

   

Today's view of the mountain

from the western side.

I did take my camera thinking I would

make a few stops along the way

to capture fall colors as they are 

so beautiful up there.

I love the contrast of the colorful yellows,

reds and oranges with the evergreen trees.

But...

my memory card was still here at home

in the computer from the last post I wrote.

Oh well.

The above photo is from my cell phone camera.

I didn't bother stopping elsewhere 

along the way home. 

View looking north from I-5

four days ago.

Yep, there's a bit more snow on

the mountain than when this photo

was taken.

It's not supposed to rain/snow again

until next week.

Thursday, Thanksgiving is a travel

day for us.  

Hopefully the roads will be clear

as we will be heading through 

three or four snowy mountain passes.

Take care.

Mt Shasta and the Bridge at Lakehead.

This was our view of the mountain 

three days ago on the 14th when we 

drove up to Mt. Shasta.

She had her lenticular cloud cap on. 

Since then, it has snowed up there.

I am looking forward to seeing the

mountain tomorrow morning when

I head back up there.

I'll take my camera and 

  hope for a clear and bright

photo worthy day.

Cal Trans is building a new I-5 bridge

crossing the lake bed up in Lakehead.

Rick was driving, so I was able to 

quickly snap a few photos of the 

fish motif on the bridge.

It's surprising that they're making a bridge

that actually looks good and isn't 

just a plain bridge.

Once they finish the new bridge

they will probably demolish 

the old current one. 

That means we will only be able to see 

the motif from the lake,

if it has enough water...

This is at Lakehead where the 

river meets up with the lake

if there's enough water in the lake.

Right now there's just a narrow

shallow river running through this area.

You can see the lake bed under the bridge

in the above photo.

 I was fortunate to get a clear photo of 

the fish. The guardrails obstruct the view

for the rest of the way across the bridge.

Take care.

Honoring the Veterans

 Grandson Conner was waving the flag

at our local Veteran's Day parade

which took place on Saturday.

This was after a pancake breakfast 

at the Shasta Lake City fire hall.

It was good old fashioned small town fun.

October

I haven't touched my camera

for well over a month.

Truthfully it was buried in a 

pile of our bedroom contents

that was stored in our dining/front room

while we worked on our bedroom project.

I did keep track of some of what 

we were up to in October 

with my cell phone camera.

Here goes:

Conner and I grew sugar crystals

from a crystal experiment kit I purchased

through his class room's Scholastic order.

I wanted to see it grow a bit longer but 

it was taking so long....

He ate it yesterday and was surprised

that it didn't have any flavor but sweet.

This was the first crystal growing 

experiment we tried.

This one grows quickly.

It disintegrated when I tried to move

it from the top of the wood stove.

I swept up the powder,

stirred it back into it's bottle cap of 

water, stuck the card board tree back in

and it regrew it's crystals again.

This time it's on the kitchen window sill.

Another experiment.

This worked until it got 

set down on the counter

where it leaked ... onto a sizable refund check.

All is well, we peeled the check away from

the envelope and ironed the check dry.

We, (mostly Rick)

have almost finished with our bedroom

project.  You know that project that 

was going to be just replacing our

 carpet with laminated wood flooring.

That lead to painting the walls

after testing about 5 different paint 

sample colors.

Man that was a hard decision.

Shopping for a window treatment

took time and a couple of different stores.

We ordered the above blinds that are 

actually a bit darker than the photo shows.

It's supposed to be ready for us in 5 working days.

We ordered them two weeks ago. 

Our bookcases are in our bedroom

since there's no wall space for them in 

the front room with all of it's windows. 

I'm still thinning out my cookbook/craft/garden

collection of books.

I'm donating more than half of them to

Goodwill and the Senior Center.

It feels good to pare down

to just those that I actually use.

We found these bedside rugs

at World Market. They didn't have two

of the same, but I really love that they

coordinate but aren't identical.

I wish they had been on sale,

but they were the first ones we actually 

liked and agreed upon.

We've been out on the lake

 a few times this month.

See that parking area (center of photo)?

That's about 65 to 70 feet from the crest.

Right now the lake is 147 feet from the crest.

That's an extremely steep and slippery 

walk down the decomposed granite lake bed

 from the parking area to the 

marina docks.

The tree stumps on the lake bed

are from the time before the dam was built.

The top one looked a bit like someone was

walking up the bank.

Katelyn spent a weekend with us.

You can see that loose decomposed granite

in this photo, plus how steep

 the zig zagging path is.

Katelyn waiting for her pancakes  and egg  

at the monthly fire hall breakfast.

They actually did a special order for her

and cooked her just the egg white like she wanted.

On a different weekend,

we had Conner out with us.

He helped reel the fish in, but 

he wasn't about to touch it.

He was disappointed that 

he didn't catch a fish on his own.

We'll work on that.

I'm am researching autism in hope 

of helping our grandson.

Before his diagnosis I didn't realize how

plain awful this disorder is and how difficult

it is to deal with.

A 'kettle' of vultures riding the air currents 

above our house. We usually don't see

this many at once.

If they were feeding on the ground it

would have been called a 'wake' of vultures.

Yes, I did look that info up.

One evening after a dinner out,

we walked over the glass Sundial Bridge

across the Sacramento river.

There's a couple of fly fishermen

out in the water there.

We missed the sunset but it was still

a beautiful evening.

I wish October would last at least 

two months.  It's one of my favorite 

months, as the summer heat has finally

relented.  The weather is perfect sweater

weather for morning and evenings 

 but we still have warm afternoons.

The ACS Cancer Tea was cancelled

for this year.

I doubt they restart it as it's a huge 

commitment.

Frankly I was dreading it this year,

and was relieved it was cancelled.

It takes a lot of time and money

and this year, I just didn't have the 

enthusiasm I felt was needed for it.

I guess I'd better finish here

and find the paperwork for that

window blind that should have been

delivered to the store already... 

Take care. 

Hand Sewn Heart

I finished my heart project today actually.

I knew I had jinxed myself

 by thinking I could finish it Wednesday,

and actually saying so here on the blog.

My inspiration came from Pinterest.

Here's the link

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/208924870190889372/

I used 100% wool felt to make the heart.

When the paramedics were attending

to our friend Jackie they opened her shirt

in a hurry popping off her pink buttons.

I found two of them the following morning

when I went back to Seniors to straighten

up the tables that had been pushed aside.

I couldn't throw them away.

So I decided to use them in this 

 sewing project that I had just

pinned on Pinterest three weeks ago.

Jackie has been gone two weeks already.

  

There are two tear shaped clear

iridescent beads in the center of the heart.

Those remind me that eventually

tears of sorrow will turn into 

tears of laughter as we retell stories of 

Jackie and all the mishaps and silly

fun she was part of. 

She was one very special friend to us.

We are missing her so very much.

This heart will be a gift 

to her best friend

as a remembrance of Jacqueline.

May she rest in peace

knowing that she was dearly loved.

Because she was. 

Edited to add her obituary.

Jacquelene Joyce Baumann

Shasta lake, CA

1935 - 2015

On September 10th, 

Jacquelene "Jackie" Baumann passed at the age of 80 years old. She is survived by her daughters Candy and Sharron, step daughter Margaret, five grandchildren, four great grandchildren, and several extended families.

Once given the opportunity to get to know Jackie, you would find out she was a grandmother and loved one not only to her family and extended family, but the entire Central Valley community. When you became a friend, you were considered family and from that point forward right, wrong, or indifferent you were treated as such. Most notably was her close relationship with the Rogers family and her best friend, Carol Rogers.

Born in 1935 in Willows, CA, she was one of 12 brothers and sisters raised on a small farm. In 1950 the family moved to Central Valley and opened up a small diner. At age 17, she met the love of her life, William "Bill" Baumann and at first she resisted him, but his persistence paid off and they married two years later. They would remain lifelong residents of Central Valley, where they became well known throughout the community.

Through the years, you could find Jackie in one of the many bowling leagues she was actively involved in or playing pool and getting into trouble down at the American Legion Hall. She loved to fish with her husband Bill, traveling to visit family, the coast, Reno and Tahoe with the occasional casino pit stop. You would always run into her at little league, basketball, football, and high school baseball games watching and supporting her family and extended family whether it be a home game or as far away as Hawaii. 

To say the lease, the greatest moments of Jackie's life was the time she spent with her family and close friends. You would always find her in the kitchen cooking and if you were smart, you would stick around long enough for a sample (and you would never be disappointed). After retiring from Deer Creek Elementary School, she worked and volunteered at the Senior Center in Shasta Lake City up until the day she passed.

She will be forever loved and dearly missed. But to all who knew her, she is now with the love of her life, her husband Bill.

A Celebration of Life will be held at the American Legion Hall in Shasta Lake City, October 4th at 1 PM. The event will be a potluck and is open to all who knew Jackie.