Little Red Dog - my new granddog!

As posted a few months ago, my favorite (plug your ears Roxy, Bob and Cloe) dog in the whole world, Red Dog, moved on to that great dog park in the sky.  I know he is chasing pregnant angel mini-horses to his heart's content with Truman at his side!

So, my daughter, who now only had two dogs, and VERY old dogs at that, adopted a little pit puppy.  After much debate on face book she decided to change Thelma's name to Jayne.  Jayne came home from the SPCA in San Francisco with aspiration pneumonia as the SPCA insisted on spaying her (at 6 weeks!!!!) before she could be brought home.  

 She was an instant hit with the boy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Cloe decided she was the mother! And the real mother made sure Jayne had plenty of toys!

The big old dogs taught her how to escape and then come back in and redecorate the kitchen with a kitschy faux dog print theme!  I wonder what the carpeting looks like? :(

I am looking forward to meeting Jayne, hopefully before she reaches her weight limit!

This 'n That

Have been wanting to post a blog for several days but have just now found the time to sit down and do it.  Today I had planned on, with the help of my talented, handsome and strong grandson, moving some furniture out of storage. But, alas and hurrah, it is raining so that odious activity has been cancelled.  This leaves me at my daughters, in a quiet and peaceful atmosphere conducive to writing.

I have been home almost a week from a two week trip to SoCal where I visited my darling mom. We generally and thoroughly wore ourselves out doing important stuff and fun stuff! All that activity left me no time to write.

So now I have been home almost a week.  My bags are unpacked, but the laundry isn't done because it has been so cold the clothes don't get dry.  I have been hanging one load every day and a half in the house.  So the accumulation of the Big Guy's dirties and the few I brought home isn't going down very fast! Oh well, it isn't going anywhere, either!

Tuesday the Big Guy woke up in the early morning hours with a swollen knee. We spent the afternoon at the VA getting that looked at - pure torture for him as the Rheumatologist did a needle biopsy without anesthesia.  He held really still but bellowed like an R rated, gored bull.  I watched without passing out.  Diagnosis is pseudo-gout.  His second bout, the first one was four years ago and through misdiagnosis and lackadaisical care landed him in the hospital for nine weeks with MERSA.  So, we didn't wait this time.  Hopefully the outcome will be better.  He researched gout in his extensive medical book collection and is convinced cherries will cure him.  A trip to Trader Joe's for dried cherries is in order on the way home.  At least they won't hurt him!

I finally finished the top of William's food quilt and sent it off to my friend Judy to be quilted.  I'm hoping I get it back in time for his birthday the end of the month.  In the meantime I took out a repair I've had for several years and plan on finishing that.  It is an old quilt which belongs to our friend Hugh.  Hugh and his wife, Consuelo, live in Brentwood.  We are going to that area next month for the second of the Big Guy's Santa gigs and I would like to deliver the quilt then.  But in the meantime I also have to make a Santa jacket for the Big Guy.

On a final, and exciting (for me) note, one day last week I was poster child for the Munsell Color facebook page!  They saw my Sept. 19 blog post "Color Obsession Using Color Theory" and anointed me poster child.  Woo Hoo!

Machine Quilting

I finished the top for Food Quilt #2 and got it basted.  I am going to quilt it myself as my favorite long-arm quilter is not available right now.  And if she can't do it I may as well be unhappy with my work as pay someone to do a job I will be unhappy with.  Colleen at Sew Little Time Quilting is the absolute BEST long-arm quilter ever.  She does awesome work. Understands what I like and will even free-hand drawings that I give her.

But, anyway, she can't quilt right now so I am going to do it myself.  Setting up the Flynn Frame was a bust as I don't have room so I will do it on my Featherweight. 

Checking the stitch length

Artquiltmaker.com, as I recently mentioned, gave me a gift certificate for New Pieces, a great quilt shop in Berkeley.  One of the goodies I got was "Machine Quilting Made Easy" by Maurine Nobel.  SewCalGal had recommended it on her blog just the day before I went to New Pieces.  Anyway......in e-mailing SewCalGal back and forth we discussed actually doing the exercises in the book in order to improve our free motion quilting.  So, today, in between working on the food quilt, reading and eating (no chocolate tho :(  ) I did the first exercise in the book.  In addition to checking the stitch length and practicing tying off and stitching I did some stars.  I even labeled the practice patch so that in five years when I pull this out I won't have to rack my brain to figure out what it is!  I can see the benefit of this practice.  I am confident now that I will be able to quilt this using straight line quilting.  Will post the results when I finish the quilt.

Surprise!

Today was a really busy day.  I picked up and dropped off quilts for artquiltmaker and one of my stops, New Pieces at 4th and Gilman in Berkeley, I was handed a birthday card from artquiltmaker (my daughter)! It had a generous gift certificate in it which I proceeded to totally use up! The picture above shows the goodies I selected.

I found some 120" wide fabric for the back of my grandson's food quilt.  I got two quilt hanger thingies (I've misplaced one already!) and the Machine Quilting book by Maurine Noble.  This book was recommended to me by SewCalGal and is timely because I am endeavoring to set up the Flynn Frame I purchased recently.

When I got to artquiltmaker's house I gathered the food I had asked her to get and made two pots of soup and a pan of lasagna for her larder.

I make a really easy and delicious soup. Take a boneless chuck roast and cut it in large chunks.  Cut up vegetables, including an onion, of your choice, also in large chunks.  When I make a chicken soup I cut up a whole chicken, use the back, neck and wings for the soup and save the meaty portions (breast, drumsticks and thighs) for another meal of baked or fried chicken.  Put enough oil in the bottom of a cast iron dutch oven and heat it.  Dump in the meat and vegetables.  When they start to sizzle (about five minutes) put them into a 350 degree preheated oven and bake for thirty minutes.  After thirty minutes remove the dutch oven from the oven and place on the stove.  Add broth, water or fruit juice to cover the meat and veggies.  Bring to a boil and simmer for thirty minutes.  You can add a bay leaf when you add the liquid but add any other spices about 25 minutes into the simmering so they don't loose their flavor.  With chicken soup, after the simmer, I remove the chicken pieces, let them cool, then remove the skin and bones and put the meat back in the soup.  Some poultry seasoning is nice in the chicken soup.

In a beef soup some small new potatoes are nice.  Or in either beef or chicken soup you can put rice in your individual serving bowl and then add the soup.  I don't put rice in my soup when cooking because it soaks up all the liquid.

So I hope you enjoy this easy soup recipe as much as I am going to enjoy my birthday presents!

A visit to Columbia State Park

 

Our 20th wedding anniversary was the tenth of August and we decided to go see Columbia State Park and have lunch there.  While Strolling around the town we came to the Native Sons Museum and hall.  Our Son-in-law is a member of this worthy organization.  

We were quite surprised and proud to see the campaign button he used when he last ran for an office in the museum! (The blue button, top center)  What a small world

These are the two lead horses of the four-horse stagecoach team.  Rides were offered with discounts for senior citizens.  We enjoyed looking at the horses and the stagecoach.  We have, however both taken rides on stagecoaches and do not wish to repeat the experience!  Did you know a stage coach can go twenty miles a day? It is about 60 miles to Yosemite from Columbia which means it took three days to travel by stage from Columbia (which is near Sonora) to Yosemite Park when that was the common way to travel?  Hard to believe!

The Wells Fargo office desk

The other thing that amazed me is there was a charge by Wells Fargo (the mail carrier) when a letter was posted and another charge, depending on weight and how much the recipient appeared to want the letter, when it was picked up at its destination.

We had a good day, it was quite fun.  We ended it at the ice cream parlor/theater with some delicious dessert!

Vacation post cards

I started blogging again yesterday.  This morning I decided to edit my blogs and found some drafts I had never finished.  So, today I am finishing them and posting.

While on vacation in Oregon I did the send everyone I know postcard thing.  The difference is I drew on USPS postcards instead of buying the premade kind.  Here are two of the ones I remembered to photograph.

 

It is always fun for me to draw postcards.  It would be even more fun to remember to photograph all of them.  I wonder if the loved ones I send them to save them?

Flynn Frame

A few months ago I bought a used Flynn Frame from Amazon.  I had been thinking about getting one for quite some time and finally bit the bullet and ordered it.

When the device arrived I opened it up, read the directions, put it back in the box and stashed it under my drafting board.

On my regular Thursday visit to artquiltmaker we talked about quilting (as usual) and bemoaned the fact that our favorite long-arm quilter, Colleen Granger of So Little Time Quilting is currently unavailable.  Which, of course led to my stashed Flynn Frame.  We talked about practicing, what kind of fabric to use and ways to embellish the practice quilt.

So, yesterday I spent the better  part of the day putting the thing together.  I had to go to OSH to buy round tubes to roll on.  They didn't have the exact size I need so jerry-rigged the height with four drawing boards!

I got the thing all set up and started rolling it around without the machine running to get the feel of it.  I found it to be quite awkward and also found that I do not have enough room, even for a twenty inch quilt!  So I'm looking to expand into the spare bedroom.

The other thing I found out by this dry run was that I need, at least at first, to have lines to follow on the blank quilt sandwich.  Also, the throat on the machine I planned to use only gives me five inches of quilting space.

Well, after all that the mounted Flynn frame, when taken off the sewing machine, fits perfectly behind the door of my studio.

Guess I'll get back to the food quilt.  More on that later.

Color Obsession using color theory

 The other day I posted "Color Obsession and Movies" commenting that I used every color I had.  Then I challenged myself to do a second "Color Obsession" using some kind of color theory.  The above drawing is the result.  Once again I used the Munsell System, with red and aqua as complements (the closest I had to blue-green) and orange and violet as discords.  I also used a 'color trail' with the discords.  Color trails lead the eye of the viewer from the center of interest through the drawing and back to the center of interest.

In looking at the completed drawing here I can see that I need to add a little violet in the top aqua.  Which, because the drawing is done with markers, will be very easy to do!

 With the addition of some violet on the top of this drawing the viewer's eye is led around the center of interest which is the 'box-like' structure in the top third of the drawing.  In looking once again at the drawing on the screen I'm going to make one more change.

A totally different look to it!  This view is quite dramatic - I don't know, yet, which way will be right side up.

 

I've included here the original drawing.  I loved it when I finished it but now find it flat and dull.  The latest iteration I find bright and lively.

Comments, anyone?

Color obsession and movies

I've been receiving the Illustration Friday notices since May.  The above drawing is only the fifth one I've completed and I thought I would share it here because I really need to blog about something!  The word for that day was Obsession and the quote, from Claude Monet, is "Color is my day-long obsession, joy, and torment."

The color in this piece follows no theory.  I just drew away with the pens I have.  Often when I draw spontaneously I use every color I own.  For a first draft that is fine.  It would be a good exercise for me to re-do this using some color sense.  Use all the same shapes but with organised color choices.  Stay tuned! That actually sounds exciting.


I was in So Cal for three weeks, staying with my nephew and visiting my mother.  I drove 2500 miles in those three weeks - you're welcome, BP!



Made it home last Monday night and spent a good part of Tuesday asleep!  That must have been what I needed because by Wednesday I was myself again.

The bad news is somehow my washing machine died while I was gone! How can something that was not used, break?  It is a fancy, front loading Whirlpool that I just love.  It is one of my favorite possessions!  How sick is that? LOL The control button - one of many on the thing - says 'control locked'.  So, Monday, I have to call a washer repair guy.  I guess worse things could happen!

Last night the Big Guy and I went out to dinner and a movie.  We ate at a new (for us) place called Rooster Juice.  BG had prepared to order with no slat fajitas and I had a fajita salad bowl in a corn tortilla bowl!  First time I have ever seen a corn bowl.  They are usually flour, which I cannot eat.  So that is on our list of places to go back to.

The movie we saw was that last Harry Potter one.  I really enjoyed it.  BG found it confusing.  It has been a long time since part one and BG didn't read the books so I can see how it would be confusing.  I wondered if they filmed the sequence with Dumbledore at the very beginning?  Or did they use some movie magic to recreate him?

My favorite thing to do is watch movies and this past week was a bonus.  We also went on Wednesday, during the day because we were so hot and the theater has AC.  We saw "Cowboys and Aliens".  It was quite entertaining, too.  Well worth the $3 ticket!

Well, my poor old truck needs some attention so I am taking it for an oil change.  Will try the new mechanic first but if he can't see me today, then SpeeDee will get my business.

Creative Prompt #116 - Breakfast

BLUE PLATE SPECIAL - 

ONE COFFEE

TWO EGGS

THREE RASPBERRIES 

Thank you, thank you, thank you Toni for the book "Where Women Create" and to Artquiltmaker for Creative Prompt # 116 and to SB daughter for her beautiful and prolific art.

I'm doing art!  Yeah! Happy me.

creativity : (

...or lack thereof.
                         ..
                           ...
                              .........................

As you probably have noticed I have not blogged in a while.  Have hit a creative wall.  Maybe a life wall?  I have neither sewn, made art nor done a lick of housework since I got home from vacation.  In theory, vacation should have left me rested and refreshed.  But I came home exhausted, sore and grumpy.  Bummer!  I'm not taking me on vacation again!

Tonight I had dinner with my girls and the boys (grandson and son-in-law).  SB daughter brought over the paintings she has done.  They are so creative!  She is an inspiration.  When she left to go back to her hotel I went up to artquiltmaker's studio and we talked about sewing and shopping and life.  It was a good evening.  Even the 82 mile drive home didn't bother me and seemed to be over in a flash (perhaps it was the fries I picked up at McPoison's on the way home?).

So, when I did finally get home and unload the truck I actually did a little artsy thing.  Months ago the girls treated me to an evening at A Work of Heart in San Jose.  We made some cool winged hearts wearing crowns.

I really like mine but felt it was missing something - like an eye.  I have been thinking about putting an eye on the heart for some time but didn't follow through.

Yesterday I received a copy of the magazine "Where Women Create" from a friend I hadn't seen in over a year.  It was such a thoughtful gesture!  And it came with a card that made me feel like I really do have friends even if they are 'in absentia' currently.  The envelope the card came in was pretty close to the same color I had painted the canvas to which the heart was mounted.  So last night I drew an eye on the envelope, kind of practicing for the 'real' one I was going to paint on the heart.  When I got settled here tonight I cut out the eye and was going to glue it on but decided I would just use tape so I could decide if I liked it or not.

I'm glad I did.  My first reaction is to not like it.  Maybe I like it a little now.  But maybe also it would look better drawn directly on the heart.  Or on a different color paper and glued on.  Or maybe I should paint it on paper and glue it on.  I think it needs to be darker.  And the paper it is on looks jaundiced!  Kind of like my current outlook on life?

So what do (all two of my readers) you think? 

Vacation!

The Big Guy and I are on vacation in central Oregon, east of the city of Eugene.  This is a lovely farm on the road in to the resort where we are staying.  As you can see from the view of the sky, the weather is typical for Oregon.  We have been here a week.  The first two days were sunny and warm - perfect.  Friday afternoon I picked our 'dinner and dominoes every Tuesday' friends up at the airport.  It began to rain in the middle of the night Friday.  Of course, all the rain keeps the area green and beautiful.

On Tuesday we went to a yoga class - my first in eight years!  I was surprised at how flexible I still am!  I also really enjoyed the class and will go again tonight.  And maybe I will even go to yoga when I get home!

Yesterday the weather was cloudy in the morning but beautiful in the afternoon.  The grounds here are beautiful and the Big Guy and Roxy are enjoying all the trails.  This area is also rich in fallen branches which he uses for his new hobby, making walking sticks.  He has made about eight since we arrived and they are beautiful!  Some of the wood has blue streaks in it which are highlighted by his wood butter (last years hobby).

The other spa class available is water aerobics.  I went both yesterday and today.  Yesterday it wiped me out but today I did much better.  What a fun way to get in shape!  Maybe I'll move our pool repair higher up on the looooong list of stuff left to do on the house!  Or it might be easier to find a class somewhere!

The resort we are at has beautiful gardens but the foxglove in the above pictures grow wild all around!  They are droopy because of the rain.

It would be nice for the sun to come out so I could lay by the pool but even if it doesn' it is really good to get away, meet new people and relax!

4th of July rant

In celebration of the Fourth of July Lathrop sounded like war had erupted!  The town sold (un)safe and (in)sane fireworks for seven days before the holiday.  So, for the past seven days, fireworks have been disturbing our peace and quiet and Roxy's nerves.  I've given her benedril so many days in a row that it no longer works to calm her down.  One night she was shaking so hard I felt like I had put a quarter in the box by the bed to make it vibrate!

Sunday night, after returning from the family BBQ about seven p.m., to an hysterical dog, we put her in the car and drove out past Oakdale in search of a fireworks free space.  Rox calmed down pretty much so we headed home a little before nine.  Unfortunately, all the towns from Oakdale to Lathrop started their commercial fireworks displays at nine p.m. and that turned the vibrating dog on again!


But last night was the worst.  Many people in the neighborhood had purchased the previously mentioned unsafe and insane products and set them off for more than four hours! 

So, again, I took her out for a ride.  The Big Guy stayed home as he had worked at Rail Town all day and was wiped out.  Roxy and I drove out to the country towards the Stanislaus river.  Once out of the city limits of Manteca it got pretty quiet.  I made an interesting observation while going through town, though... many of the home fireworks displays were presided over and viewed by men! No women or children - well unless the men were really just big children?!

Once again the drive calmed her down until we got back to Lathrop - land of the free and home of the stupid - oh, I meant brave :={)

Back at home Roxy hunkered down in the master bath where it was quiet (relatively as I had closed up the house) and fairly cool.  We all survived. I hope the fools have used up their stash of trash.

Anniversary

Artquiltmaker Has her Creative Prompt Project up and running again.  One of her prompts for this year is 'Anniversary'.  This one rang a bell with me because in August The Big Guy and I will celebrate our twentieth!  Quite an accomplishment for us and indeed for many in this day and age of easy divorce and failure of commitment.

So, in keeping with my Zentangle drawing theme to which I am currently addicted, I submit this drawing.

An interesting thing happened when I photographed the first iteration of the drawing, photographed it, and looked at it on screen.  I could tell it needed work!

Can you see the difference?

One thing that I often forget but that is important in critically viewing my work is to look at it in another format - in this case a photo onscreen.  Years ago, when I was in art school and before Al Gore invented the internet (just a little joke - LOL)  I was taught to stand up and step away from my work and look at it.  Then to turn it upside down and look at it.  An lastly, to hold it in front of a mirror and look at it.  These are all good ways to check for design flaws, contrast or lack thereof, and generally whether I needed to do more or to take away something in my drawing.

Give it a try.  It is a simple thing which can only improve your work.

Speaking of art, the grandchild gave me his art portfolio.  It contains his work from second through eighth grade.  I was thrilled.  Look for a future post with photos of all his work.

I have to go now and slap the Big Guy silly as he is whistling Christmas Carols aaarrrgggghhhh!!!!

Visiting Galleries

I'M MELTINGGGGGG!!!  And I'm not even a witch (good or bad)! First day of summer came in like a blast furnace.  And to think I wanted it to stop raining! What was I thinking? 101 degrees today in lovely Lathrop.

But that isn't what I want to blog about, just a little complaint while I drip on my computer.

As I mentioned in my last blog a couple of days ago, I went to the Madrone gallery on Saturday to see the 2011 Sketchbook tour.  For inspiration, there is nothing like looking at actual pieces of art.  Very different from seeing the same pieces in a book or online.  No matter how well the copy is, it is never the same as the original.

I remember visiting the Smithsonian when the grandson was a tiny, portable child.  one of the exhibits I saw as Mary Cassatt's work.  Her early work realistic portraits.  One of the paintings, done before her Impressionist style developed was of two women.  It was quite detailed and when  I got close to it I could see that all of her amazing DETAIL was done with a two inch brush! I had seen that painting in books and on slides before but had never been able to see the actual brushstrokes until I saw it in person.

So, as soon as you can, go look at paintings.

The Red Sketchbook (last entry on this subject - I promise!)

Yesterday I went to San Francisco to the Madrone Gallery to see the 2011 Sketchbook Tour.  I checked out several, including my own and artquiltmakers .  It was so great to have my sketchbook in my hands!

I remember from an art history class I took in college a story about the modern artist, Clyfford Still.  He disliked having his art on display and out of his control.  He would paint over works that had been viewed because he said he felt as tho the work had been 'raped'.

I now understand the part about disliking one's art being out of one's direct control.  I really miss my sketchbook.  Wanted to add to it and subtract from it when I had it again in my hands but of course I couldn't!

Other than that, it was a good feeling to know my work is in a gallery.  The show was very well attended and there was a line of people waiting to get in.  Once inside getting a 'library' card and checking out the books went very smoothly.

I tried to find a link so you could go directly to the digitized images of my sketchbook.  However the Library is still building the website so in order to find my work one has to just slog through it.  I looked through the first 14 pages and gave up.  Maybe in a few weeks they will have finished with the website and it will be easier to navigate.  In the meantime.  It is fun to look at other sketchbooks. Go to this link www.arthousecoop.com/users? to see the sketchbooks.

I wish I were able to do the project again this year even though I agonized over the project last year.

Red Dog

My favorite dog in the whole world, my granddog, Red Dog, is spending his last weekend at home doing all the stuff he loves to do.  His visit to the vet today was bad news.........he has cancer and is terminal.  The dog psychic said he wanted one last weekend at home so SB daughter is doing all the stuff he loves to do with him.  He got to hang his head out the window of the car, eat ice cream and go to the beach without a leash.  She didn't let him run on the freeway or chase pregnant miniature horses though.  I think he should have red jello - isn't that the best when one is sick?

Beginner

Artquiltmaker suggested a website the other day called Illustration Friday which I managed (after my usual futzing around the web) to get into.

It is similar to Artquiltmaker's Creative Prompt Project.  The website puts out a word each Friday and artists send in their illustrations.  I haven't figured that part out yet.

Last Friday's word was beginner.  As my main art form is drawing I came up with the illustration below.

I have many empty sketchbooks so I choose one and am dedicating it to Illustration Friday projects.

On the home front, I returned from ten days in SB, spent with my nephew, last Saturday.  I drove Super G and JJ up with me.  Planted them at the local Comfort Inn as we are still fixing up our fixer upper.  Also JJ wanted to watch the basketball playoffs.  (Weren't the Lakers sad on Sunday?)

On Sunday, Mother's day, we went to Daly City for the grandchild's confirmation.  The boys took BART and Gma and I drove (the boys don't fit in Gma's Focus!).  Except that Gma disappeared during the mass it was a lovely day.  It turns out Gma was kidnapped by a nun and made to sit in the handicapped section.  But it was scary because none of us witnessed the kidnapping.  My son-in-law found her when he ushered during the collection (does your church have the ushers pass the basket three times?).

The party afterwards was fun.  The kids trampolined and the adults chatted.

The family matriarchs

One of the nice things about the day was that it was Mother's Day.  All my family moms were together.

Well I'd better get back to blundering around the internet to figure out how to post to Illustration Friday.  Belated Happy Mother's Day - you know who you are!

P.S. Finished editing the medical book!

Inspiration deficit

I am back in Santa Barbara with the nephew.  Sad news - I am totally uninspired!  So decided to upload some of my 'inspiration' pictures to see if that will jump start the process.

So, here goes.....

AAARGGGG!!!  I'm not on my computer!  Have to go look for my thumb drive, but think I do not have the inspiration file on it.  Bummer!

I know!  I will web cam the Zentangles I have been drawing!

Well, that took almost an hour!  I actually have four thumb drives with me.  One has 1300+ photos on it!  And still has room for more!

The above ZT was totally off the wall!  I had been on the wildflower train at Railtown 1897 and one of the places it stopped to let folks off to photograph the train was prime rattlesnake territory,  Yours truly did NOT get off the train!  No snakes were sighted, thankfully.  But they lodged in my head and came out my fingers in this tangle.

This tangle is called a 'Bud' by the Zentangle website and is a new design out of their newsletter.  I have a hard time with them as my hands are not very steady anymore.  This one turned out well and I like it.  These are even more beautiful with color.

What do you see in this one?

I love doing these in pencil although the books and website want one to use black Micron pens.  Haven't come across my micron pens recently so am using a variety of media.  The pencil doesn't photograph very well.

I started this one with pink highlighter and then enhanced it with black pen.  Pretty retro!

This was inspired by the big wedding on Friday.  Wasn't Kate's gown perfect?  I loved it.  She looked every bit the princess.  I wish them well.

These are copied out of the books.  Good exercises and references for later drawings.  Also handy when inspiration is lacking.

Lack of inspiration is plaguing me currently.  I have two quilts I can work on, a medical book to edit, a journal to write in and my Zentangle sketchbook.  Nothing appeals.  No passion inside bursting to come out.  Artist block, I guess.  So I will have to give myself some assignments and force me to do them.  Perhaps the passion will sneak in when I least expect it!

Railtown 1897

Welcome to Railtown 1897 State Historic Park, Jamestown, California

The Big Guy has a new hobby - volunteering at Railtown!  I have gone up there the past two weekends with him.  Two weeks ago I went because I had been in Santa Barbara for three weeks and wanted to spend as much time as I could with him. 

The Big Guy is a Car Host - a storyteller - the ideal job for him!

Also the park was running a wildflower train and that sounded like fun. 

This past Saturday our grandson visited and The Big Guy wanted to take him up. It is a long day, starting with a drive of over an hour, then seven hours at the park. 

The Big Guy and Grandson in the caboose

We rode the first train at 11:00 a.m., went on the caboose tour, had lunch in the picnic area with The Big Guy and then ran out of stuff to do at the park.  So grandson and I went into Jamestown and walked around.  Neither of us likes to shop and as we passed the (it seemed like) the hundredth antique shop we looked at each other and asked who had thought this was a good idea?  We stopped at a place for drinks (coffee and a smoothie) that had been owned by the same family for four generations and was the biggest antique store in town.  I think the drinks business was keeping it afloat!  The coffee was really good.  They made each cup when it was ordered.

Reinactors at Railtown 1897

 It was a long day. The last hour seemed as though it would never end.

We did finally say good-bye to Railtown.