Happy 83 to Me...

 

For at least 20 years, 5 of us have gotten together once

a month to knit and visit.  Along the way we finally quit

knitting and just visited and went out to  lunch.

Julie hosted the birthday party at her house... from left to right

Peggy, Margie, Julie and Barbara.  First served coffee and fruit

as soon as we arrived, at about 10:30  Then she fixed a beautiful

caesar salad and added fresh grilled chicken, avocado & tomatoes, 

which we ate around the dining room table Then there was

a cake, (with 1 candle) which Barbara, captured on my iPhone ,

 while Julie, Margie & Peggy looked

on while I used a very oversized  knife to cut the

yummy chocolate cake into precisely 7 pieces.  Why 7?

Well, I needed to take a piece to Don who drove me to Auburn, 

and returned to pick me up 4 hours later... the other piece was

for our host Bob who stayed busy in his office the whole

time we blabbed and ate.

And, Margie brought each of us a sunshine yellow bouquet of sunflowers!

It was a sunshine kind of day.  Thanks ladies.

This just tickled my funny bone as we drove west on I-80

from Auburn to Citrus Heights.  When you gotta go,

you gotta go.

When we got home, since I had eaten so much,

I decided to take a walk around the pond and of

course the birds were there too.  Ducks sitting on posts

as a mother goose showed off her 2-month old family.

If you have difficulty telling the ducks & geese apart,

just look for the orange duck feet!!!

Pond Party 7/9/2022

 

It's Pond Party Day so we headed up to Colfax (where we use to

live), and

turned  of on Hwy 174 (the backroad towards Grass Valley),

which offers a few "hair pins" most of the way until

it straightens out a little as you cross the Bear River Bridge.

You can't miss the turn off!!!

The road straightens out but gives a rough & dusty drive.

As we head down to the Pond Party location, we get a view

of the damage from the Bear River Fire.

 FYI 

In a news release, Cal Fire investigators said the fire was human

caused  and started 

in the brush along the river's edge of the 

overnight camping area of the Bear River Campground.

It started Aug 4, 2021 and was fully contained Aug 13 2021.

It burned 2619 acres and

unfortunately totally destroyed Margie & Jerry's home as

well as their daughters across the pond.

The grass has grown back but many burnt trees still dot

the hillsides.

So what's a "Pond Party"?    Well, attendees bring something to share,  

a salad, or snacks or dessert

and their own beverages if they want something other than

beer (from a keg)  or bottled water!!! 

It's always held on the Saturday after the

4th of July and if you get an invitation, you only get it once.

It's up to you to put it as a recurring event on your calendar!!!

There are always lots of shaded areas, for food & people, 

and  games to play like corn hole and volleyball.

And of course "pond swimming" for kids of all sizes, but

youngsters have to wear life vests and check in with the 

life-guard before entering the water.

Jerry annually gets up early on

the first Saturday after the 4th of July and puts 5 turkeys on

his hugh outdoor spit!!!

Then when they're cooked to perfection, he recruits a

little help  as he explains how to successfully

get them off the spit without any hitting the deck, or

I should say DIRT...

The best part, sitting down with great friends

and eating a fabulous outdoor meal.

Flashback... Just before we sat down to eat Margie told

me that she and Jerry have hosted this event for 

45 YEARS

 And Don and I will definitely be there next year and we look forward

to seeing you and taking a guided walk thru of your beautiful 

new custom built home...  that you designed!

Glad to see that construction has finally started.

Thank you, Jerry & Margie, for all the fun memories.

We look forward to building more...

"Once Upon a Monk"

 

Hello... my name is Monk and this is my life story.

It all started when I was sitting on a hospital gift shop shelf.

That was 37 years ago.

Back then my adopted Dad (Don) purchased me and placed me in the

hospital bed right next to my adopted Mom (Nancy).

I've been keeping her company since that 7 day hospital stay!!!

Then things just kept getting better and better.

I loved going for a ride and sitting on the dash

But I would often hit the deck when Dad would suddenly

brake or accelerate.

So Mom solved that problem by putting a visor around my

waist and YIPPEE, I could ride for hours and enjoy the view.

I loved traveling by car and seeing all the wonderful places

we visited throughout the United States.  And I rode in

a colorful tote bag as we moved into and out of various

hotel and motel rooms.

Hotel and motel rooms weren't bad and I always

liked it when we went out by the pool to enjoy

our adult beverages after a long day's drive!!!

I also enjoyed my morning coffee outside before

we hit the road for the next adventure.

When I wasn't being carefully watched, I'd find

some pretty place to sit and smell the flowers.

Sometimes I'd hop around and find a colorful place

to sit, where I could eat, 

and eat,

and eat!!!  If it wasn't ice cream

it was trying to decide which pie to eat.  This

probably added to my not so trim waistline.

Who ever heard of a Monk with a waistline anyway.

But I decided I'd try so I went

Geocaching with Dad to get some exercise while

he searched.for the 1st cache placed in the Sacramento 

area.  Granite Beek was placed in 2001 near Folsom Lake.

I got tired of walking around so I patiently waited for him

in a field of Monkey Flowers, which were

non-edible... boo hoo!

Since most Monks like trees, I thought I'd try it out

and see if I could catch a breeze with a couple of my friends.

You're right, this isn't a tree, but it's made of wood

and it was pretty fun to sit on the distaff of Mom's spinning 

wheel.   In case you don't know what a distaff is, it is

a stick or spindle onto which wool or flax is wound 

in preparation for spinning.

One day recently, I was watching Mom do her knitting,

and when she set her glasses down to leave the room,

I thought I try them out.  They made everything very blurry,

but that wasn't the worst problem, I got a spanking!!!

Mom wears her glasses when she's working on her

quilting and 

even when she uses her sewing machine,

and even when we have wine.  Yes it's o.k. for me

to drink, after all I am 37 years old!!!

Best of all I like hanging out in the trees, even

Fountain Palms, but you have to be careful

where you sit because they have stickers.

Have you ever ridden a lady bug,

or sat beside a rainbow colored frog with

bulging eyeballs, or

given one a phenuddy?  Don't bother looking up that

word, it's not in the dictionary.  I learned it from Mama Monk

who learned it from her Dad... it is the act of rubbing noses together.

Hey maybe the Eskimos did it!!!

As you may know, most monkeys have tails except for a couple

of species the Tarsier and Lorises don't have tails

That's the end of my

story and I'm sticking to it!!!