Week-end Get Away

This weekend we took the first of what I hope will be many week-end trips to Angels Camp.  My parents live in a beautiful log home set on five amazing acres of natural beauty.  I was born in Angels Camp and spent the first five years of my life living there.  We could not have picked a better or more fun week-end for our trip.  It started out Friday night at the Elks Lodge in Sonora for the Italian Club dinner.  Wonderful food and a really fun time.  Saturday morning I had the special pleasure of taking a ride with my dad in his 1934 Ford four window coupe.

Daddy is one of the directors of the Angels Camp museum and we went into town to the museum.  Daddy had to drop off a piece of wood and I got to mosey around looking at the wonderful history that was in front of me. 

These are just two of the dozens of wonderfully restored wagons and carriages on display at the museum. There are so many fabulous displays and exciting plans for expansion.  I am anxious to witness these new plans unfold.

This is one of the stained glass windows from the original St. Patrick's Catholic Church.

And this is a painting the the old church.  My parents were married in this church and I was baptised here.

This is the old water wheel that produced hydroelectric power for the stamp mills around town.  My father told me that my mother used to play on this water wheel when she was a little girl!

This is a picture of the entrance to Utica Park in Angels Camp.  The statue is of Mark Twain. 

  On our way home from the museum we stopped at the grocery store and ran into two of the Raggios, Lauren Whittle and my cousin Maria and her daughter Kristen.  Auntie Elda came out to the log home Saturday afternoon and it was really wonderful to see her.  Saturday night we went to the Italian Catholic Federation Valentine's dinner.  I got to see my Auntie Eleanor and Uncle Dan that night as well as my daddy's very good friend Bob Hillis and his wonderful wife Chryl.  What a joy it was to see Bob again and to finally meet Chryl.  Chryl is a scrapper and we could have talked for days about our passion for the hobby!!  As with any function like this there was a raffle and then they had something I had never heard of before... a 50/50 drawing.  The drawing works like this, they sell tickets, in this case they used decks of cards, the cards get torn in half and you keep one half and the other half goes into the hat for the drawing.  The organiztion keeps 50% of the money collected and the other 50% is given away in 10%, 15% and 25% prizes.  Well, Auntie Eleanor won the 10% prize!  And I won the 15% prize!  If that wasn't wonderful enough my mom won the 25% prize!  It was a great night for the Darby, Hollins and Petithomme families!

Around one o'clock this afternoon my Aunt Betsy came out to my parents and I got to visit with her for a bit.  She brought some wasabi flavored seaweed and it was delish.  I will be making a trip to Trader Joes in the very near future!!  I also spoke with Uncle Henry on the phone.  He is having surgery next Wednesday at Stanford to have his hip replaced.  While I was sad not to be able to see him I am sure that the next visit to Angels Camp he will be feeling much better and I will get to see him.  As with any good time it came to an end entirely too soon!  I wasn't sad leaving though because unlike my last several visits to Angels, this time I was not going back to Las Vegas but a mere two hours and forty five minutes away in Fowler!  What a joy knowing that we can go back again and again. 

These are some pictures of the property immediately around the log home. 

And these pictures are of the warm, cozy and inviting inside of the log home.

My very talented cousin Micheal Darby did this wonderful brick and plaster effect on the upper walls of the stairwell. 

 This is one of my mother's beautiful quilts that she makes.  This particular quilt is draped over the railing of the loft.

For any of you Fresno peeps reading, this buffalo head used to hang in Fresno Ag Hardware when they were located on Blackstone Avenue.  Jake Norsegian, a friend of my parents is the hunter that shot this buffalo.  Several years before he passed away Jake gave this to my parents because he felt that the log home was where it now belonged.  My parents lovingly name the buffalo AJ in honor and rememberance of Alta and Jake Norsegian.

This morning there was a blanket of fog.  These pictures were taken looking out off the deck towards a little valley that is below my parents property.  It was quiet and erie.

Thank you so much for reading this and I hope to add many more week end getaways!

Our New Home Town

It's been over two months since I wrote anything on this blog!  A lot has happened in that time.  All 200 plus boxes got packed up and moved to Fowler, CA.  I am now unpacking and trying to find places for all the stuff.  I took a break from that today and Gunther and I went on a photo "safari".  We took pictures of some neat old buildings and signs and we captured some of the agriculture that is so important to the valley.

 Welcome to Fowler.  Our new home town!  This sign is right at Golden State Blvd and Merced Street.

 Elaine's Drive-In and Cafe... The sign off to the side says that they serve "the best tasting hamburger in the world, we also serve Chinese food!"  And boy is it good Chinese food. I used to get Tomato Beef Chow Mein at Kowloon Kitchen in Clovis.  Since moving away I have never found another Chinese place that serves it until now.  Elaine's is every bit as good as Kowloon Kitchen!!  I am a happy girl!

 I was standing across the street at the post office to take the picture of Elaine's drive-in when I was surprised by the train.  I'm glad I got this picture.  The trains go by many time during the day and night. 

 Just five miles south of Fowler is Selma, CA.  Selma is the raisen capital of the world!  This vineyard is just a mile from our house.  This is what they look like at the end of January.  I will be posting a picture every month all year long to document the life of a vineyard. You can see those posts here at A Year In The Life Of A Vineyard  It will be interesting to see the progression.  If you look closely to the right of this row of grapes you will see the branches that were trimmed off. 

We have an orange tree in our front yard and if you look to the north up our street you will see this orchard.  And see the houses in the upper right of this picture.  We are surrounded by orchards and vineyards here in Fowler!  Agriculture is the bread and butter of the valley and it is so awesome to be surrounded by it.  Just two blocks to the west of our house is Simonian Fruit packing sheds. 

Across Golden State Blvd is this old brick building.  I don't know what it was originally but it really has some character.  I love the old tree in the sidewalk and the weathered wood and brick.

Here is a view of the same building from across the street.  The painted sign at the top says Labor Contractors.  I can't make out the first word of the sign though.  Maybe some research at the library will give me a history of this old place.

If you head south on Golden State toward Selma you come to the Freeway Lanes Bowling Alley.  In the sixties my mother-in-law bowled many tournaments here!  They even have karoake on Saturday nights!!

This is a California historical landmark.  This one commemorates a dispute over railroad and land rights.  Several people lost their lives including two deputy marshalls. 

Close up of the plaque.

 Further South on Golden State you come to Wells Fine Cars and Wells Used Cars.  I love the fact that these old signs are still standing even though the effects of time and weather are written all over them.  They are a statement from the past.  Golden State is actually Old Highway 99 and it used to pass through cities and towns all up and down the valley.  I imagine that when the new freeway was constructed and this place was by-passed it very well may have been the beginning of the end for Wells Fine Cars.

We headed back home to post this blog and wait for another beautiful sunny California day to venture out once again and capture the beauty that is our new home town!

Thank you to my Las Vegas neighbor, Susie Binney for the beautiful wreath for the front door!

Cathie