The Art of Giving Care ~ October 11, 2015

My husband Rod is my caregiver, chef, minister of laughter, partner in crime, world class snuggle and best friend. In spite of all that is going on in my life, he makes time to give back to the community at the Council on Aging's Meals on Wheels Program. I'm so proud he's been named October 2015's Volunteer of the Month.

I'll have an update on me after we meet with my oncologist on October 15th. Let's see if I can continue to baffle the medical community!

Father's Day and Dream Machines ~ June 21, 2015

Happy Father's Day to my favorite motor head, you taught me early to love the sound of a healthy V-8, will miss you always Daddy.

William Griffith Macdonald

So you think you had fun today? We spent most of the morning at the 21st Annual Show and Shine classic car show in Julliard Park in Santa Rosa. A perfect summer day to say the least.

How'd ya like to cruise Route 66 in this bad boy hauling a vintage Airstream Bambi?

When style ruled the road 

 The license plate says "Hemified"

A rag top with credentials

 We loved this puppy but are no longer of the age

where we can to get down into and climb up out of.

 Can you hear me now?

We asked the owner if he'd take a photo of us standing by the car and his response was "You want to get in?" Yeah Baby!

We had a great lunch under the trees at the park and decided on the way back home to hit the Farmers Market in Sebastopol (The peaches and blueberries are perfect right now) and go the the movies. If you haven't read the book or seen the film entitled "The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared" put it on your must do list. 

The Perfect Winter Day ~ California Style ~ March 4, 2015

Time to clean house this morning, top to bottom. It took us a few hours, but well worth the effort. What to do with the rest of the day? In the interest of keeping the house clean for as long as possible we ran away from home. First stop was a well earned lunch at the Hole in the Wall in Sebastopol. If you live locally you need to try it. 

It's time to check out the new North Sonoma Mountain Regional Park and Open Space Preserve. We were looking for challenge and were not disappointed. The Lookout Trail climbs 800 feet in elevation from the parking lot. It is a 4.2 mile round trip of rambling trail and switchbacks winding through meadows, woods and open space. The view is nothing short of astounding.

The wildflowers are starting to show themselves, but are probably a couple of weeks from "full tilt boogie" color. It is early March after all! The cool winter weather was perfect for the hike. Don't know that I'd want to try it in the heat of summer.

Due to it being mid-week the park was uncrowded. About 90% of the folks we met on the trail were senior citizens like ourselves, further proof that age is only a number, and youth a state of mind. Rod did a short video from the lookout with his iPhone. The youtube link is http://youtu.be/a1VqpWi-nk4

Return trip ~ all down hill

Wherever we hike we are always on the lookout for hearts and have never been disappointed. Found these on the trail. We got back down to the parking lot about 4 pm. Rather than head home and mess up the kitchen we stopped at Fandee's, another of our go to places in Sebastopol, for soup and salad.

It was a day well spent, a treasure for us both. We did 4.2 miles of four wheel drive hiking and were no worse for wear. Where to for the next hike? Well we have a Sonoma County Park pass, so must be time to do some exploring in our own backyard. Welcome to the Use It or Lose Tour. Now go play outside. 

Day Tripping to Jimtown ~ March 24, 2014

Last week our friend Margo asked if we'd like to meet her for lunch at the Jimtown Store. It's just a few miles northeast of Healdsburg on Hwy 128. Any excuse for an adventure and we're on board. There was also the fact that during the four decades we've lived in Sonoma County we'd never been there. What's with that oversight? 

Richard Sheppard

http://www.theartistontheroad.com/

The day was picture perfect shirtsleeve, windows down, 72 degrees and no hint of the rains forecast for the week. I keep forgetting it's March. The first thing I did was hop out of the Honda with my camera and stalk some of the local the wildlife. 

The inside of the store is an eclectic collection of food, wine, treats, and anything else you can think of from flower seeds to folk art. We ordered lunch at the counter and went out onto the patio to eat. Sandwiches were delicious and the potato salad out of this world. 

Photo Credit

http://www.somethingaboutsonoma.com/

There was an intriguing, partially open shed door on the patio that kept calling to Rod and he finally got up to look and found the small shed was full of antiques and folk art. 

We also discovered the back room of the store was filled with more wonderful stuff. Chef Boy was immediately drawn to a vintage chuck wagon cook box. A wonderful contraption with storage shelves, drawers, a built in coffee grinder and of course a mirror for shaving.

As we were leaving we noticed a barn out back and wondered if that held more good stuff. I called today and confirmed that it is indeed full of treasures ~ oh darn we have to go back. 

Decided it was too nice to head home so we headed over the hill to the Calistoga Museum. The docent gave us a wonderful tour and shared some delightful trivia about the town and it's founders. Wherever you travel check out museums and historical sites. You will be delighted, entertained and maybe even learn something.

The Forecast is for Rain ~ March 25, 2014

The Great Escape ~ March 07, 2014

Do you remember the 1950 film noir classic Sunset Boulevard? In the last scene Gloria Swanson, the fading silent film star, utters the infamous line "I'm ready for my closeup Mr. DeMille". Well for me the was "How I Spent my Thursday Morning at Kaiser" posing for a couple of internal closeups. 

Our response to Thursday was that it must be time for a road trip. Over breakfast Friday morning we picked a general direction: North by Northwest and left the house about 10:30. First stop was Pacific Market to build a picnic: potato salad, mixed fruit, organic lime corn chips, and Sandwich #3 (chicken, Havarti cheese, greens, sliced Gravenstein apple and sweet Vidalia onions on Ciabatta bread ~ oh so very good!). 

We drove north on Hwy 101 and took the Stewart's Point Skaggs Springs Road out of Geyserville towards the coast. The world is electric green from the rains, wild mustard abounds in the vineyards, cherry trees are in blossom and the oaks are starting to leaf out. 

The paved road, though some would call it a trail, is about 40 miles of incredible scenery: steep canyons, high ridges, creeks and oak forests that give way to redwoods and ferns near the coast.

We stopped on a ridge top near the gate to the Wolf Creek Ranch and had our picnic on the tailgate before continuing west to Stewarts Point to pick up Hwy 1 north. 

Walk On Beach is just south of Gualala at the north end of Sonoma County. There is a bluff trail through Sea Ranch that takes you to Gualala Point. We made a three mile round trip. It was sunny with a light breeze, not your usual March day on the coast. The wind is often screaming this time of year. 

Next stop is Trinks Cafe in Gualala to share a slice of warm blackberry pie with vanilla ice cream and a cup of green tea before we head home down Highway 1 through Bodega Bay back to Sebastopol. 

The perfect getaway ~ close to home and time out of mind. Life is short and it's important to just leave reality and the to do list behind once in awhile and embark on a spontaneous adventure. Go explore your neighborhood: unplug, walk away and feel the sun on your back. You'll be glad you did! 

Rolling Thunder Review ~ June 10, 2013

The weatherman said something about chance of thunderstorms and maybe a little rain. It was cloudy and windy when we took off for a walk late Sunday afternoon. We laughed about timing and figured if anything happened it would be just after we got home. Well, not exactly.

About 1:20am this morning a blinding flash and loudest thunder I ever heard sat me straight up in bed. These light shows are pretty rare around here and aren't to be missed, so we put on robes and toddled out onto the covered porch. Another great reason to have a pair of oak rockers!

How far away was the lightning?  I remember counting as a kid, but wasn't sure how it translated. Guess we're never to old to learn something new. Here's the story from the National Severe Storms Laboratory.

"Lightning heats the air around it to as much as 60,000 degrees, producing sound waves by the quick expansion of the heated air. Since light travels at 186,000 miles per second, you see the lightning the instant it flashes. But sound, including thunder, travels about a mile in five seconds near the ground. If 15 seconds elapse between seeing a lightning bolt and hearing its thunder, the lightning was about three miles away".

Flashes were going off all around us. We saw no ground strikes, but close to 500 were reported. Of the 22 small fires discovered by morning, about half were in Sonoma County. Most of the activity to the north of us, around Healdsburg and Geyserville, was followed by basso profundo, the woofer is all the way up to stun, rumbles. Think about three F-15 jets taking off in the driveway next door.

The flashes overhead were followed by snappy, crisp rolls ~ a celestial bowling alley with all lanes in action. The front yard turned to daylight every 10-15 seconds. We came back inside about 2:30am when it started to quiet down, but we continued to hear rumblings until about 7am.

Check out the photos and blog by local Kent Porter from the Santa Rosa Press Democrat. http://weather.blogs.pressdemocrat.com/14120/nocturnal-lightning/

 

Kent Porter

We had watched a Weather Channel special on lightning earlier in the evening so this was Science In Action for us kids. Totally amazing!

A Thursday Treasure ~ Feb 21, 2013

 

Banish the hurry of your life

Unplug and open your eyes

Lichen growing on a fallen tree

Little things

 Lessons to the wise

 

“Time is but the stream I go a-fishing in.”

Henry David Thoreau

 



Walkabout ~ October 27, 2012

I'd been on the computer for most of the morning and decided some exercise was in order, so I grabbed my camera and headed out for a circuit around the vineyard next door. Temperature in the mid 70's and color everywhere. Hard to believe it's almost November.  

Dustis Bunnitus ~ Sept 5, 2012

I've always been one to eschew housecleaning. Life is too short to be fussing about a little dust, webs, pasture detritous or the small posse of food particles that gather under the kitchen center island. 

We live in the country ~ you could spit shine the house, seal the doors and windows and leave for a week and stuff would still magically appear where it always does. We invite company over a couple of times a year to force us into some sort of deep cleaning mode.

It's September which means our local Renaissance Faire "Much Ado About Sebastopol" is only a couple of weeks away (September 22-23 at Ives Park). I've been pulling out costumes and all the drapes, flowers and props we use to take our set up back to Elizabethan England. I haven't been able to locate the material that drapes around the top of our canopy so I tore apart the storage above the closets and under the beds. My organization goddess kicked into high gear and the world was at my mercy.

In the storage area above the closets I found items that haven't seen the light of day in years because we no longer use them: 2 down sleeping bags, 2 back packs, 2 foam pads, 4 extra blankets, 3 down vests, 4 heavy shirts, and 3 sets of winter gloves. I called the Sonoma County Task Force for the Homeless and made arrangements to deliver all of the above yesterday. They were delighted and I now have space. We also found an artist's proof of a print that we purchased in Four Corners on Rod's 55th birthday trip. Considering he turns 65 this month, we thought it might be time to get it framed. We just received a coupon for 60% off custom framing at a local shop so once again timing is everything.  

Under the beds: an extra glass shelf for the TV stand, a leaf for dining room table, one emergency kit, one bolt of material (wrong stuff) and three 2' x 3' plastic boxes with emergency gifts, wrapping paper and ribbon. The boxes of ribbon and paper went up into new space over the closet, the emergency kit is within easy reach in the closet, the glass shelf and table leaf went down to the barn and the emergency gift selection was donated to Forgotten Felines.

Dust Bunnies

http://www.etsy.com/people/momshoo

Then the grand discovery: herds of dust bunnies the likes of which I've never seen. If you store things under beds you tend not to adventure there with any sort of cleaning implement. And having carpet instead of hardwood floors makes it really easy to overlook.

Got to end that bad habit now, so no more stuff stored under the beds. We hauled out the big gun vacuum and wrangled those varmits into the cyclone, humming Ghostbusters the whole time. The amount of sh** we removed was astounding. Maybe I'll ask Santa for a once a month housecleaner. There comes a time in life when you hire a professional, right?

Just a Thought Series ~ August 21, 1976

Early morning fog

Blankets the coastal sands

Waves heard but not seen

Diamonds in the spiderwebs

On the porch

In Solitude

http://www.etsy.com/shop/leedledee

Peaceful here today

No promises to keep

No place to be

Enjoying the solitude

Just a Thought Series ~ June 19, 1975

What is true

Is that when you get down to why

You are doing something

~

Not for the money or ego satisfaction

Not for the expectations 

Or the promises

~

But for the sheer love of what you are doing

There exist no droughts

No dried up wells

~

Awareness of the everyday

Is an endless sourcebook

Rattlesnake Grass, Kortum Trail

Sonoma County Coast

A Walk in the Park

The sun is out at last, time for a walk in the park, but alas which one? Sonoma County is rich in state and regional parks and home to an unbelievable array of summer to fall celebrations of life. The two major ones this weekend are Peggy Sue's All American Cruise and the Health and Harmony Festival. No matter where you go you'll see cars right out of American Graffiti and humans right out of the 60's Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco. We grew up during those heady times so see no need to join the crowds.

We decide on River Front Park just west of Windsor. You can take the back way from our place and avoid any highways and traffic (our favorite kind of road). We packed at picnic lunch, binoculars and a camera and hit the road about 10:30 this morning.

The park is adjacent to the Russian River and has several good sized "lakes" that were formerly gravel pits. Only one, Lake Benoist, is open to the public right now, but it's a nice 2 mile walk. Bass fishing is said to be good and there is prime Blue Heron habitat on the south side. Most fledglings have left the nest already but we did spy a nest about 80 feet up a dead spar with large Heron chattering up a storm. There are also other winged attractions this time of year: some yellow, some black, some turquoise and some in camouflage gear like this beauty.

Further along the trail we find a bench that looks across the lake to Mount St. Helena. It's a beautiful and peaceful spot to stop for lunch and take a load off.

I was taken by the dedication sign on the bench and the self written obituary placed carefully between the slats. Tom, it seems, was an architect, artist, traveller, outdoorsman, and photographer who lived his life to the fullest and encouraged others to do the same. You gotta love this place.

Vintage Warbirds

I have a thing for old warbirds, vintage planes from WW II. We live about 20 miles from the Sonoma County Airport and Air Museum, home to a number of these restored beauties, so it's not unusual to see one fly over now and then. I'm like Pavlov's puppy. I hear those prop driven engines and I'm out of the house in flash with my binoculars.

I don't know where this obsession started but the seed may have been planted by my folks. They took me to the Unlimited Hydroplane Races at Pyramid Lake outside of Reno, Nevada when I was a kid. The engines that powered the monster 28' boats in the early 60's were surplus WWII aircraft engines like the V-12 Allison and Rolls Royce Merlin. When they went by at full speed your entire body would vibrate, way better than even a Grateful Dead drum solo at full volume.

So this is a big week for vintage planes locally. The Collings Foundation, a non-profit educational foundation devoted to supporting living history events (www.collingsfoundation.org) has a B-17, B-24, and P-51 on tour and have been at the Sonoma County Airport for a couple of days. My husband was reading on the front porch yesterday afternoon and all of a sudden I hear him shouting "get out here quick" so I grabbed my binoculars and joined him. What an incredible sight to see this baby fly right over the house.  

Starting tomorrow the restored B-17 Flying Fortress ’Sentimental Journey’ and the B-25 Mitchell ‘Maid in the Shade’ are visiting the Sonoma County Air Museum (http://www.pacificcoastairmuseum.org/) on tour. I will definitely head up there with my camera, I might even take a flight over Sonoma County. I mean really what's life about if you can't treat yourself to one of your long term fantasies now and again?

Last year I went up to see the Sentimental Journey and started chatting with a gentleman wearing a vintage leather flight jacket holding a picture. It turns out his father had be part of the flight crew and the jacket belonged to him. I was honored to photograph him with the plane holding his dad's photo. Talk to your fathers, uncles and grandfathers and learn a little more about your history. Visit a local airshow in your area or check the links above to see if the tours are coming to your hometown. You will be thrilled and amazed!