Envased Climbing Roses
September 8, 2025
I’m very happy about the two climbing yellow rose vines we planted 6 years ago (or so). They are incredibly prolific and add the perkiest of views from our living room (if one cranks their head sufficiently to the right when checking out our backyard through the large french doors in the “annex”).
I don’t do it often enough, but when I do go out and cut a few stems, they make such a nice bouquet for the table… no? Perfect when placed in that elegant Baccarat vase Sally gave me last spring, for no apparent reason. (She said it was for anything bad she ever did to me over our 62-year friendship.)
I picked these a few days ago, and as I look at the arrangement tonight, the two buds are now full-aflower. It’s so happy looking.
Crystal Clear
February 27, 2025
Sally gave me this stunning crystal vase (yup, it’s Baccarat crystal from France). She said it was a delayed wedding gift, and a nod to decades of friendship, and a make-up for anything bad she ever said or did to me. LOL. It caught me by surprise. All I could do was accept it and appreciate the symbol and generosity.. which I did. And now I just have to make sure I don’t break it!
Bye Sheep Ranch, Hello Town Hall
February 20, 2025
Bade farewell to Sally and Ron….
.. and headed back down the hill. During my two hour commute, I caught up on the firehose of news — every day is a shock to the system — then tuned into the weekly online Indivisible gathering for the latest on the resistance movement. Listened to Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin — the founders of Indivisible — who are the respected epicenter of the movement, smartly summarizing the state of play and throwing out toolkits and plans of attack (peaceful tactics, always) each week to not only keep people engaged and informed, but armed with actions aimed at reminding our members of Congress who they work on behalf of (hint: not the deranged president). This has become one of my favorite things to do each week. It’s a great and inspiring, productive hour.
Got home, took care of some home stuff, then headed out to an in-person town hall with Congressman Mike Thompson, and our State Assembly and State Senate reps, Cecilia Aguiar-Curry and Christopher Cabaldon. I don’t know how many folks fit into that massive room at the Woodland Senior and Community Center, but it was at least a couple-three hundred. Packed with overflow standers and lots of anger-fear-anxiety.
It lasted 90 minutes and gave me a huge headache (literally). I will say Thompson was a different guy tonight from the Congressman who spouted pablum a week ago in the online Zoom town hall. I have maybe a shred of hope that maybe our reps are getting the message that their CONSTITUENTS are not happy and their jobs (as our representatives!) are on the line if they don’t stop this madman and his freight train of presidential overreach.
Good to be 95
February 19, 2025
We visited Sally’s mom today. Mrs. Alden was a huge part of my village growing up, like all the moms of my best friends, especially those in the neighborhood.
At 95, Sue is such a champ! Were it not for an unfortunate case of macular degeneration, which affects her vision, Sue would be living the life of a 60-something, or at least some 60-somethings, including me on certain days. I mean, she’s 100% present, lives alone, manages her property and household chores, and would do all that and much much more if she could see better. As it is, she can’t drive and struggles to read (though she finds a way to keeps up with social media). But other than those kinds of site-dependent activities she handles most of life’s load of tasks and activities just fine. So, yeah.. a champ.
She turns 96 in April.
And so cool… she’s just down the road from Sally in Mountain Ranch where she and Holt built their home I don’t even know how many decades ago.. prob in the 80s sometime. It’s an absolutely gorgeous home on 10 acres.
As we drove through the Gold Country, between their two places, there was a lot of fire damage, reminding me that those beautiful hills, peppered with trees, is so very vulnerable to fires, especially in the golden rolling hills (as Kate Wolff used to sing) part of the year.
Here’s a photo of where the Butte fire destroyed so much of Calaveras County back in 2015.
Sheep Ranch is on about that southeastern-most point, halfway between Murphys and Mountain Ranch. It takes about 15 minutes to get from Sally’s to Sue’s place.
Sheep Ranch
February 18, 2025
Sheep Ranch. It’s a tiny place halfway between Murphys and Mountain Ranch.. which may not tell you much! It’s in Calaveras County, has a population of less than 100 (one source said 87), has no currently viable businesses, and was actually named after a sheep ranch in the late 1800s. The placard below says the town is 160 acres.
I bring this up because Sally and Ron bought a house there last summer and I drove there today for a two-day visit. (And I believe covered most of the town in a late afternoon walk with Sally.)
Here are some shots…
Down the road from Sally and Ron’s place, is this old school house. A neighbor of theirs grew up in Sheep Ranch and her mom attended school here. It looks to me like the building is a winter or two away from total collapse.
This is the old general store on Main St. Not occupied. The interior looks like it may have looked a few generations ago. This is right around the corner from Sally and Ron’s place. Note gas pump.
This is the old Pioneer Hotel. They actually still have informal community gatherings here.
Their next door neighbor … (that small brick structure, not the jail as Sally’s mom originally thought, was reportedly used to defuse dynamite.. dynamite used in local gold and quartz mining (don’t quote me on that).
Their house at sunset…
Their place is on nearly an acre and will give them projects for the rest of their lives. 🙂 Lots of fruit and nut trees, a couple of gardens, outdoor barbeque area and an outdoor shower.. for starters. There are a couple stand alone buildings that will provide Ron with workshop space, and laundry and storage and .. other stuff. Inside, no end to home projects and the fun tasks of perfecting the space for max enjoyable living.
Going to be a fun visit!
Life of Wry 