Happy Birthday Rhonda...

 

August 28, 1996

Today would have been your 53rd birthday...what fun we would have had celebrating, laughing, and eating cake! Although it has been almost 12 years, I still miss you every day and can't believe how often I find myself wishing I could pick up the phone and call you. I guess that 20 years of sharing everything , good and bad, with my best friend is not an easy habit to break.

You had the incredible gift of always knowing the right thing to say and encouraging me when nobody else would...homeschooling comes to mind. I really miss reminiscing about all the great (and often stupid!) things we did together. Remember our motorcycle days? We sure got a lot of looks driving down the road!! Now it is more common for girls to drive bikes, but back then it was pretty rare. How about all the time we spent "not" going to school and going to the river instead? Or the time we thought we were so cool cruising around in the boss's Vette, although we were both hugely pregnant? Remember the sprinklers that soaked us the night we were spying on Russ's bachelor party? Or all the 'girls days'... leaving the husbands and kids at home and shopping til we dropped? I could go on and on and on. There are so many great memories that nobody else can relate to... oh sure, I can tell people about all the fun we had, but it isn't the same as reliving them with the only other person that actually remembers too.

Thank you for the gift of your amazing friendship; it is a blessing for which I will always be grateful. Happy birthday my friend... you are truly loved and missed.

A Memorable Date...

 

Friday night at our house is known as "date night". So that we both get to do things we enjoy, Steve and I take turns planning our weekly dates. Last week it was my turn to plan and what started as a very nice evening ended up taking a turn for the bizarre!

I decided I wanted to go to BJ's restaurant for dinner. My decision was made quickly and easily since BJ's is one of my favorite places and a good friend recently gave us a generous gift card for BJ's. Thanks to our friend, we had a delicious meal and we even treated ourselves to a very delectable dessert (which was a special treat because we rarely order dessert for ourselves). We enjoyed our meal immensely and extend a BIG "thank you" to our friend.

After dinner, I decided I wanted to go to a little town in the foothills called Coloma. It is only about a 30 minute drive and we hadn't been there for many years. I remembered a couple of old churches and an old cabin that I wanted to photograph. Coloma is a mere dot on the map, but it played a big role in the history of California. It was there that James Marshall discovered gold in 1848, thus prompting the California Gold Rush in 1849. It is fun to explore the old buildings and the monument of Marshall that stands at the top of the hill.

Normally Coloma is just a sleepy little ghost town that gets some visitors on the weekends to raft and play in the river and school tour groups to study the history of the area. On a Friday evening we expected it to be fairly deserted and we weren't disappointed when we saw the empty park by the river. We found the road that led up to the monument and headed up the steep grade which was also empty of cars. Imagine our surprise as we rounded the curve at the top of the hill and encountered a bunch of big rigs (don't ask me how they got up that narrow winding road), vans, cars, catering trucks and lots of people!!! It took us a minute to realize that we had just stumbled upon a Hollywood film crew in the middle of shooting!! We had to stop in the middle of the road as there was a catering van blocking our path. As we were sitting in our truck wondering what to do a man and a woman approached us.

Man to Steve: "So, where are you headed?"

Steve: "Up to Marshall's monument."

Man: " Oh, I am really sorry, but we can't let you drive through here right now."

Woman to me: "What are you guys planning to do?"

(Apparently they are suspicious of people just showing up at their location, but we didn't even know they were there!)

Me: "Just explore and take pictures of the monument. We didn't know you were here. But, hey what are you filming anyway?"

Her: "It is an episode of True Blood."

Me: (Blank look).

Her: (Realizing need to clarify). "For HBO".

Me: (Pretending to recognize the title). "Oh, yeah."

(We don't have cable or satellite so I have never heard of the show, but she smiles at my fake response, so we 're both happy).

Man: "You can turn around, go back down the hill a little ways, and park on the side of the road where your truck won't be seen in our shot, then walk around our "location" to get to the monument."

Woman: "It is a short walk and we have about another hour or two left to shoot."

Me: "Well, ok, we won't get in your way. We don't mind parking by the road and walking."

Man & Woman: "Thank you, we appreciate your cooperation and we are sorry for the inconvenience."

Steve manages to turn around and head back the way we came. We intend to park on the side of the road and hike, however, all the way down the hill we see "No Parking" signs posted. I said, "Maybe we should just park here anyway and if we get ticketed we can let the Hollywood people pay the fine." Of course, Steve didn't think that was a good idea so he kept driving.

Luckily we were able to find another road that led to the two old churches, Marshall's cabin, and the old cemetery...all within easy walking distance to one another. We were ecstatic to find a sign directing us to the church parking lot where we were sure we could park without bothering anyone.

Once again, we rounded the bend and what do we find in the parking lot...you guessed it, more Hollywood vehicles. Geez, how many trucks does it take to film one episode? Great, now what?

Well, since the parking lot was not full, we asked if we would be bothering anyone by parking there amongst them to do a little exploring. The crew graciously told us that although they had the entire area rented, we were welcome to park there until the rest of their trucks started rolling in from the hilltop, then we would need to move our truck. We thanked them and proceeded to go explore and take pictures while keeping an eye out for the trucks.

Emmanuel Church Built in 1855 ~ Oldest Episcopal building in California.

It is very beautiful inside the church.

James Marshall's cabin built in 1856.

Very rustic furniture inside cabin.

St. John's Catholic Church built in 1858.

Very cool inside!

While we were laughing and finishing taking pictures a park ranger stopped by to chat.

Ranger: "You folks doing ok?"

Us: "Yes, just fine. The Hollywood crew allowed us to park in the church lot for a bit while we take some photos."

Ranger: "Great, just vacate when they ask you to because they rented the area."

Us: "Yeah, they told us. We tried to go to the monument, but couldn't get through."

Ranger: "Sorry. They have the whole area for today. We have been planning this one day shoot for many months and it has gone very smoothly except that traffic control could have been better."

Us: " They told us to park on the side of the road and walk to the monument, but we noticed the "No Parking" signs and decided against it.

Ranger: (Big smile) "Wise decision."

(Hubby shoots the ultimate, "I told you so" look at me and I just grin.)

Suddenly we hear the rumble of the trucks and vans coming down the hill. We tell the ranger to have a nice day and head for our truck. We manage to exit the parking lot just as the crew begins to enter it and just down the road we encounter ....

Gorgeous deer calmly watching all the commotion !

All in all, it was a very memorable date. Everyone was very pleasant to us and we now laugh about the entire experience. Steve says, "Huney, only you could plan a trip to a quiet little town like Coloma and unknowingly get mixed up in the middle of a Hollywood filming crew!"
Unfortunately, I didn't get any photos of the Hollywood people! Oh, well, maybe next time!!

Did I blink???

As Kyle celebrated his 26th birthday on July 22nd, I found myself wondering how he got so old so fast and how in the world did I become old enough to have a 26 year old kid? It seems like just yesterday he wasn't allowed to cross the street without holding my hand and now he has already moved halfway across the country and back without any help from me at all. When did the cute little boy become the handsome young man? How did he go from being an avid weather enthusiast at the age of 12 (making homemade weather instruments, keeping a weather journal, photographing the sky, climbing on the roof during thunderstorms...) to a grown man that gets paid to "keep his head in the clouds"?

Kyle then (6 mo.)

and now.

I don't really know where all the years went; I guess I must have blinked at some point, but what I do know is that Kyle has always made me proud to be his mom. He is a blessing for which I am thankful! Happy 26th Kyle; I love you.