We are on a 4 mile hike here. In the backgruond is Paradise Lake. Actually if we had wanted to and if we had had the energy we could have walked all the way. It is 4.5 miles one way. So, we decided since it was approaching noon and warming up quite nicely that we would go to the 2 mile marker and then go back. We were getting a little hungry from this exercise so we stopped along the way and picked some blackberries. Oh some of them were so very sweet and occasionally we would get one that was not quite ripe and well, the sour taste was there. I decided that when I got my next sweet one that I would quit so that I would have that taste in my mouth instead of the sour taste. This is a beautiful place to hike.

Here is Lucy getting ready to climb in and take the H1 on a little excursion over some boulders. We are waiting patiently for them to bring my H2 back to the area so we can transfer everything from the loaner to my car. We wait and wait and wait. I know Patience is a Virtue but I was running low. I went in after 25 minutes and asked where my car was. They couldn't fine it! I don't think I would ever tell a customer that I couldn't find their car. I would have thought up something else. After 45 minutes the car arrives. We do our transfer of things and hit the road. We have to go to Filati and get the supplies for the class on October 7th, go to the bead store and get the appropriate beads, and make it to Kaiser for my blood test. We know Filate is open until 8PM, but we don't know about the bead store and all I can think about is traffic. So, off we go and we have not gone more than 5 blocks and I hear a sound like a wrench has fallen somewhere in the engine. Then the wind noise picks up and they hadn't fixed the noise in the doors. I have to admit that the patience was just about nil at this point. Lucy talked me into taking it back. I was just going to drive home and have them come and get it. We were close and back we went. It wasn't a wrench as I had thought but one of the running lights that came off. The service tech went for a ride with us and heard the problem and said he would fix it. Two hours later we are on the road. This truly was a test for me. I wanted to cry so bad, but didn't. I told them either I had a lemon or they have a very poor service department. At anyrate, the girl that was helping us tried to do anything and everything to make me happy. I calmed down the minute we walked into Filate, LYS in Rocklin. We did get everything done that we had to and got home at 10PM instead of 6PM. We have just added that to our list of adventures.

This is beautiful Burney Falls located in Burney California. This is where we had our lunch on the SPI tour or the forest. Much of our day was spent touring the Fountain Fire that burned several thousand acres in 1987. It is very interesting to tour this area. The land that is owned and operated by private companies has been replanted and the forest is growing nicely. The land that the Federal Government owns sits as is. Of course there is some natural regrowth, but the government requires private landowners to plant approximately 350 to 400 trees per acre. This in itself is overdone as in a few years the private landowner has to go in and thin the forest because now the trees have grown and they are competing for water and nutrients as there is not enough to support 400 trees per acre. It seems 150 trees per acre would be more realistic in the long run. So, the government requires the private land owner to do these plantings but they do not. I guess it is a case of do as I say, not as I do. At any rate these beautiful falls are year around and the temperature stays very consistent at about 42 degrees. I guess there are people that swim here, but they have to be in for a chilly thrill. If any of you live within a couple hours of the Burney Falls, it is a beautiful place to visit. There are walking trails which we did not have time to explore, but I would love to go back here and spend an entire day. A great place for a day of family fun.

This is the sweater that I am currently working on. I am using Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran Tween in dye lot 69. This picture doesn't show the true color. It is kind of a sage green with some purple specks in it. I love knitting with this yarn. It calls for size 6 for the ribbing and size 8 for the sweater. I thought it would be easier on my elbow and shoulder to work with bigger needles. However, in order to come as close to the guage as possible I ended up using size 5 for the ribbing and 7 for the body. I am making a size medium and I am pretty excited about this one because I think....."It may actually fit" when it is completed. The pattern is Coco. It is a simple pattern to follow and will be a pleasure to wear when completed. It is taking me longer than normal to make this, but I am making something.

Yesterday was "Living History Days" at the Paradise Museum. Devvy (owner of our LYS) asked Lucy and I to come down and knit with her. I knitted a little on my sweater and Lucy knitted on her red sweater. There were young kids that came by and were very interested and Devvy spent some time with them showing them how to knit. There were a few weavers and spinners there as well. Then at one point someone was making homemade bread and when we got a whiff of that, Lucy and I wanted to run and rescue a piece of it, but held back since we had already had our lunch. But the smell was totally wonderful. I can understand why it is a good idea to be baking bread in your house if you are trying to sell it. It is a warm fuzzy feeling smell. Enough about bread!

This is me after an exhausting day trying to learn how to use my new sock knitting machine. Oh my gosh, I am going to have to give her a name so will keep you updated on that. Any ideas for a name will be considered. Of course I realize that you will have to see a picture of her before you can think of a name. She is 84 years old, with her original stand and has a few quirks that I have to figure out. Like I have to figure out how to make a smaller sock or they will all fit Lucy (size 10) and my daughter Heather. I am going to make the second sock today but you are absolutely right, I should post a picture of the first one. It took us 90 minutes to get to this hotel because the light rail had been put in Folsom and the directions in all books i.e. AAA etc. had not been updated so the street I was looking for off of Folsom Blvd. did not meet there anymore. I was in a loaner car as mine was in for service and it didn't have GPS and of course I did not bring a map which normally I would have done. But, I read the directions and figured it was a piece of cake. NOT!!! However on the bright side, this place was located in Historic Downtown Folsom and was very quiet and a lovely place to stay. After our Thai dinner we walked the streets of downtown and enjoyed it very much. Then we went out by the pool and sat there until about 10PM when we went up to our room and went to bed. Good Night.

This is the card that I decorated for Allison, Michael and their baby. You can all tell that I made a big mistake and purled when I should have knitted at one point, but I decided since I had started this sock 7 times that this was just going to have to be the way it would be. I didn't think that Allison would really mind all that much. Yes, I knew that she would spot it in a heart-beat, but this is the way I mailed it back. The idea of having all of her knitting friends decorate a card was really a very cool idea. It will be a very unusual scrap book and one that will bring many smiles I am sure.

To start with I have been a very poor blogger during the month of September. If you can believe it, I signed up for SP9 which means I better get with the program and start to pay more attention to my blogging. As you know I have had a bit of an elbow, shoulder problem and it has been a little difficult to knit for any length of time. So, I decided to take a quilting class. Yes....a beginning quilting class if you can believe that. We have a new store that recently opened and it is first class. Lucy and I both took the class. I originally wanted something on the mild side, but wait until you see what I ended up picking out. I will take some pictures today and try to get some posted. Also in the month of September I bought a 1922 sock knitting machine. What a kick. Of course being born in 1922 it is a bit tempermental, but I did finish one sock and hope to make another this weekend. Pictures of that will be forthcoming. I started a sweater and have the front finished and have started on the back. Details and a photo to come this weekend. I made a card for Allison for her scrap book and new baby. It was a great idea her best friend had. I will post a picture of that little project as well. I made a sock for the card and you would think it would have been easy, but working on size 0 needle was a bit of a challenge for me. Let's see, other newsworthy events are that Lucy and I went to a class to dye some yarn. I can't tell you the outcome yet.... Kind of scary. Then on October 7th we are taking a class at Filati in Rocklin to learn how to add beads to our knitting. So this one will be fun. Just in time for the holidays. Yes, they are just around the corner. Other news would simply be we have been on the go a great deal and I have had to work again as Jen has been pretty sick and then she was also gone to her brother's graduation from boot camp. Marines.... I wish he would have chosen the Navy but he wanted to be in the Marines. He looks so nice in all of the pictures. Lucy and I spent a couple of days touring the forest in California. Such beauty to be seen. We went on a tour with Soper-Wheeler Company in Strawberry Valley, Ca (Yuba County) for an entire day and then the following day we spent with Sierra Pacific Industries out of Anderson, Ca. Great tours were provided by both companies and we learned a great deal. I love the mountains and being out in the woods. My doctor's appointment was basically uneventful. I was expecting him to give me some answers and ease the pain, but that didn't happen. He did refer me for accupuncture and I will have the first needle on October 19th. Until then....well, you don't want to hear it. :-) In September we also filed papers with The Department of Homeland Security for and extension for Lucy to stay here until the end of December. I would suspect that they will allow it, but you never know these days. Her date to leave currently is October 5th. None of us are prepared emotionally for her departure on October 5th. I think it will be sometime in early December when they will be reviewing her request based upon their current schedule which gives me hope that they will give it the stamp of approval. Today we are off to Living History Days in Paradise so will be posting pictures later.

It is a beautiful day in Paradise today. I believe the heat is behind us and we are going to welcome the temperatures in the high 80's and low 90's. There have been three or four fires in the area since I last blogged. Nothing close to our house, but the bombers fly over and we can see the smoke. Everything is so dry and the weeds are taller than normal because we had rain all the way into May this year. They got all kinds of nourishment in the spring.
Our dear friend Dave Bradley (actually we consider him family) had a bad accident and crushed his hand. He has been in the hospital in San Francisco where he has gone through several surgeries including muscle transplant from his leg and skin grafts. Lucy and I went to visit him August 31, Sept. 1 and Sept. 2nd. We were initially going on Thursday, and coming back Friday night, but there was a slim chance he would get discharged from the hospital so we stayed. On Friday we toured Muir Park, Sausilito and took the Alcatraz tour. We took Dave a Roast Beef Sandwich from a Hof Brau near the hotel we stayed in. He was thrilled with that. Saturday we went with clothes for him to wear upon discharge which we found out would not occur until Tuesday. The Bay Bridge closed to all outbound traffic at 11:59 Friday night and I had wanted to get out of the city before the bridge closed, but since we stayed another day we came home via the Golden Gate Bridge up to Hwy. 37 to I80 and then well we had to stop at the Vacaville Outlet Stores. We picked up some new jeans for Lucy (her's were a bit on the baggy side). She looks so pretty in her new clothes that fit her properly. We took our knitting with us, but did not have any spare time to knit. Lucy was able to knit a few rows because she is the passenger, but I being the driver could not knit. :-( I am not doing a great deal these days though. I went to the doctor and he referred me to an accupuncturist. This could be two months before I get in, so I will just deal with it and knit when I can. I have done a couple of guage swatches for a new sweater. And, I did cast on so will be working on that hopefully! I will try to get a picture posted. I am trying to decide if I should participate in SP9 since I am not knitting like I normally would. Not only that, I had the best Pals in #8 that will be friends going ahead and well, I don't know if I could top both of them. I know I have a little time to decide. We filed the papers for an extension for Lucy so hopefully it will be granted and she will be able to stay here until about 12-20. But currently her passport says she has to leave on 10-05. :-( Neither one of us are ready for her to leave then, so we are keeping our fingers crossed. We are already making plans for her 18th birthday party. So, hopefully they will either take four months to make their decision and of course she will be home by then or they will grant the extension. This weekend Lucy and I are taking a quilting class. It is an all day class this Saturday and next Saturday. I need to be doing something and since knitting is difficult right now we decided to make a quilt. Crazy I know, but my Mom has a beautiful sewing maching and I need to learn how to use it.