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.

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. 

Yaadgar

Recently we celebrated a big birthday,

one of those that ends in a zero...

We went out to dinner, and instead

of going to one of the same ole,

 same old places I wanted to go

someplace new to us.

Which meant we didn't 

have a clue where to go.

Rick started driving into town.

Meanwhile I tried using a phone app

to find someplace we haven't been to. 

It was a frustrating and useless exercise.

Then I remembered that we were 

getting close to

  a new restaurant where   

one of our favorite Japanese restaurants

used to be.  It is now a

 Pakistani  and Indian Cuisine 

restaurant called Yaadgar,

which means memory.

Would you be willing to try a 

completely new to you restaurant for 

a special occasion? 

We've tried Indian food before

at a different restaurant in town.

It wasn't that great, but our 

companions told us

to try it again at some other restaurant.  

There's a good one up in

 Ashland, Oregon for a more authentic

and flavorful experience but it's a bit

far to drive up there just for dinner.

So we tried Yaadgars and we liked it.

I don't know if it would please everyone,

but we liked it. 

This is naan, a delicious flat bread.

We ordered plain, but there's also garlic,

onion, and potato (Aloo) naan.

Zeera Rice

Basmatti rice cooked with cumin seeds.

Rick ordered the Lamb Tikka Boti.

Lamb cubes marinated in special spices and

baked in a Tandoori clay oven.

It was served with two bottles of sauce,

one a mint sauce, and the other was a 

tamarind sauce. Both sauces went well 

with the lamb.

I ordered Eggplant Bharta.

The menu says it's

  eggplant baked in an oven 

and then cooked in a creamy sauce.

I expected it to look very different

than this with identifiable chunks of

eggplant. But that was just my mistaken assumption.

This was delicious with exotic spices

that I couldn't identify.  I spread it on 

pieces of naan, and it was very good.

I'm so glad we were willing to

try something new.  I definitely

would like to go back to

enjoy other dishes

that sound  interesting. 

Besides their vegetarian offerings,

 they serve dishes made with chicken,

beef, lamb and goat.

Have you ever tried goat meat?

Extra Stops Along The Way,

I took several detours on my way home

from the pumpkin farm (last post).

Our daughter said to take the road

through Mt. Shasta (town) 

instead of the freeway on the way 

down the mountains.

So here it is,

with the colors at their peak.

I've talked to her since then,

and the trees have lost their leaves

already.

Now they're looking forward

to their first snow.

Hopefully we will have a wet

winter, but it's dry as can be now.

~~~

I took another detour

on the way home.

This is Shasta Retreat,

a neighborhood in Dunsmuir, CA

where my mom, her sisters

and my grandparents lived.

Did you see the rocky 

love note someone left?

You can just barely see

Mt. Shasta between the trees.

Heading back to the freeway.

~~~

I also stopped at Sim's Flat

to check on the fall colors there.

That's Mt. Shasta in this northern view

 above the river.

It's also the view of the bridge

you drive on to get to Sim's Flat

campground.  The campground

is free to use this time of the year.

You do have to bring your own water

during the off season.

Looking south and facing into the sun.

The dust on the lens is showing.

Sim's Flat was a trading post long ago,

then a Conservation Corp Camp in the 

1930's which is when they built the bridge.

It's now a pedestrian bridge from which 

I took the previous photos.

On the way out,

I stopped the car in the middle

of the other bridge to  take photos.

~~~

Continuing south 

and down out of the mountains,

I stopped at a campground

in Lakehead on the eastern side

of Interstate 5. 

This is Lake Shasta

at it's northern end of the 

Sacramento River Arm.

Shasta Lake is down

128' from the crest.

Here the trees were just starting to

show bits of color. 

You can barely see the new bridge

construction.  They're replacing

Antler's Bridge on I-5.

Now on the other side of the freeway,

we're looking back at

the green bridge that they're replacing. 

We used to camp here at 

Lakeshore East quite often.

It's much nicer when the lake is full.

Here at home,

the leaves are about mid way

between full color and loosing their 

leaves.  We were supposed to get

rain, but it didn't happen.

Instead, we're watching the leaves

fall to the ground.

~~~

We're 98% done with the front room

and hallway painting. We still have

a few touch up spots to take care of

and we still have to paint doorways

and put everything back into the room.

It's a scattered mess still.

I'm going to take the sewing machine

downstairs soon to tackle the 

upholstery project on our couch,

chair, and ottoman. 

Thanksgiving is our self imposed 

deadline... just a little over two

weeks from now.

Yikes! it's coming on fast.

I am definitely not ready for 

it to be the holiday season.

Are you?

Shasta County Veterans Memorial Service

Thursday ~ May 30, 2013

 Preparing for the wreath laying ceremony.

Greeting fellow military veterans.

Northern Gateway Chorus

sang an Armed Forces Medley,

Oh Beautiful,

and God Bless America.

Presenting the Colors

CA State Senator Maurice Johannesse

served from 1993  ~ 2002.

Governor Gray Davis  also appointed 

him as  Secretary of the 

California Department of Veteran's Affairs.

Maurice is well regarded in the Vet's 

community and was instrumental in

getting the Veteran's cemetery and 

a Veteran's home established here in the 

Northstate.  The Veteran's home will 

open this summer baring any further

budget cuts.

Pledge of Allegiance 

led by Jim Gibson,

 Lieutenant Comander, USN retired.

Also at the podium, David Kehoe

Shasta County Board of Supervisors.

"I pledge allegiance..."

Purple Heart Veterans

Pearl Harbor Survivors

There used to be many more members

to lay the wreath.

Bless our WWII veterans.

Many wreath's were placed 

next to the Veteran's Grove Memorial Stone.

21 Gun Salute

Veterans of Foreign Wars Honor Guard, Post 1934

Closeup of the gun fire.

Snapped the photo at the exactly 

the right moment in time.

 Taps

 Bob Elrick, Bagpiper

Benediction

Pastor Royal Blue,

US Navy Veteran ~ Korean War

~~~

I just wanted to get this up today,

while it's still Memorial Day.

Take care and I'll be back sometime next week.