Great visit w/Old Friends 10-27-08

I had a great visit with old friends last week. It is an easy restful drive, the most traffic was in Sparks/N. Reno, but once I got past that little bit it was smooth sailing. Highway 70 didn’t have any traffic on it and other than having to slow down through the little towns along the way I just cruised along. The trees were really just getting started on their spectacular color change…it looks like they’ll peak in this week or next.

I had a wonderful massage with my favorite therapist Jeff and it was nice catching up on his family. I got a phone call from Larry after my massage…he had gotten the call to go to Marina, Ca with the communications trailer and had to be there the next day. I thought I was going to have to turn around and go back so he could take the truck, but he decided to rent a car and that ended up working the best on quite a few levels!

So I carried on to my friend Vickie’s out in Genessee Valley. She lives way back in the woods a half hour from the highway, but it is so peaceful out there. Passed herds of deer and flocks of turkeys everywhere on the way out. There are some wonderful old ranches and Victorian houses along the way too.

The weather was great and the house is passive solar so it was toasty during the day in the living room, but then we would just go sit out on the deck among the trees and enjoy the day that way too. The first day I was there Vickie & I drove up to Chester, she gave me the tour of town and I saw all the changes in the almost five years we have been gone…no zings of nostalgia or wishes for going back. I ran into most everyone I had been thinking about and wanting to see so that was nice. Vickie and I had lunch with a couple of other good friends, got in a little shopping and then it was back to the “hidden” valley. We took a little different route and that is where I took many of the full shots of trees.

On Thursday we did absolutely nothing besides talk, cruise on the computer and eat. It was a quiet day of recharging. We didn’t get out of our pajamas, we didn’t brush our hair or even wash our faces…it was a wonderful slovenly lazy day. We were recovering from our previous day of visiting…smile!

From the deck I took the close-up pictures of the fall leaves and that crazy lupine flower that doesn’t know that it is autumn yet. I also discovered the most amazing rock on Vickie’s deck given to her by her son from a property further north in California up by Glass Mountain. It was so fascinating, it was a lava cinder rock that had melted way back in its history and while not quite obsidian parts of it were glassy and frothy and it was very light for a rock of that size. I photographed it from every side and angle! I figured Vickie would miss it if it disappeared so pictures would have to do me.

Friday I left around 10:30 from Vickie’s and headed up to Lake Almanor to my friends Mary and Ronnie’s place for a quick visit on the way back to Fallon. Mary fixed us a tasty healthy lunch with fall veggies, turkey meatballs and pasta and a salad…topped off with great coffee and a pumpkin dessert. After catching up and trying to get everything shown and told in a short period of time I headed back to Fallon.

It took three hours and I was back at the house at 6:30. Thanks everyone for a great time.

Oh, almost forgot. Larry left on Wednesday morning, drove seven hours to Marina…Fort Ord burns off a lot of vegetation every year, but by the time everything and everybody was all in place they cancelled the burn because of weather….so on Thursday Larry drove the seven hours back to Fallon.

Yesterday I packed away most of my crackle glass out of my curio cabinet and cleaned and polished what I left in there.

That’s it for now, probably be a few days before you hear from me again ‘cause there is nothing else planned.