Mountain Adventure

Cynthia and I headed up into the mountains to find a Christian Retreat Center which is a possibility for the PWOC Spring Retreat.  We had an address. We had Tom Tom. We were leaving extra time and planned to arrive at 1000. We'd spend an hour exploring and asking questions. We'd grab lunch and come home. It was a good plan.

We were confident. Things were proceeding according to plan. We followed Tom's advice and turned off the highway. We took the first turn and noticed the road got narrow and windy quickly. We commented on how the roads reminded us Japan and Germany....and then the switchbacks got a bit more intense. They became very intense. I decided Michael may have to drive the van loads of women u and Cynthia noted she would DRIVE HERSELF as she doesn't like to trust herself to others in these situations. We laughed. We kept driving. We crossed a little bridge....

The road became gravel. At this point we began to wonder HOW folks got the RV's up here as the center has RV sites too. 

We drove a long time. We saw great spots to explore. State parks, hikes... 

 

We neared some buildings. Oops - false call - certainly this wasn't a retreat center

 

Eventually we hit an old township. It was darling and deserves exploring. It looked like a ghost town - but we noted mail boxes. Population 8 - 12.  We found a bit of fall colors!

 

The museum is closed this time of year. I tried to find someone to ask where the retreat center was. We were certain we hadn't passed it - but we were in bigger numbers than we needed. We headed back.

 

Must go back and hike this one

We stopped and asked a lady who told us she was not local for directions. We spotted a...um...interesting gentleman. He certainly looked local and confirmed he was. He told us we needed to go way down a "long dirt road." We wondered at these directions as the street signs assured us we were on the right road. We kept heading back down the mountain and we found it!

They were incredibly gracious.  Her comment was, "You must have followed a gps? Did you take Coyote?" Turns out there is a road a block before the road we wanted...Tom sent us off that way. We DID intercept the right road but we were way beyond the retreat center when we did. We'll do step by step directions for drivers if we use this site. LOL

On the way home we stopped in Nevada City at Big A's or Big Al's drive in.....yummy veggie burger - and pesto fries and THIS is a medium frosted root beer - real root beer. Yes, I did.  All adventures need a  bit of culinary adventure thrown in the mix.

Note - I deliberately left out photos of the retreat center. Those will be Cynthia's to use as she sees fit. LOL I won't spoil any surprises.

Choosing Joy!
©2014 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Bread and Chapel Teams

This was seen in our home today - for the first time since leaving Japan.

 

I got the idea that the bread would rise fast outside - it did.

 

Topped them with a bit of olive oil, garlic and nutritional yeast.... They were flatter than I wanted - BUT the kids loved them.  Six were gone before we got to our dinner. I had thought the kids all decided they didn't like homemade bread - but evidently that's only the elder Gherkins. These kids loved them and asked me to do it more often....which I'm happy to do.

The highlight of today was joining together as a staff at Father Lowe's.  Turnout was a bit low as we had some last minute changes - but it was a great time to connect and welcome the T family.

Michael, Tim T, Father L and Brenner C

 9RW Chaplains

This is what happened when I suggested they do something "holy"...or weird. 

Tonight was a fun night. We're blessed to finish our career with a great team. There WERE women around but I was trying to get a  photo for the library at Far West Campus. LOL

Choosing Joy!
©2014 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Harvest!

Our poor, pitiful garden! I did everything I was told to do.....but alas....

Harvest at our home......

 

 

A zucchini - but you can see we'll get another

Suitably impressed

 Our famous Zucchini

 

It's easy to be a star when the other players are....

 

 

I ate the whole thing myself....appears no one else is overly fond of zucchini....

Choosing Joy!
©2014 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Sewing Lessons

Joyful Thoughts

1. It wasn't pretty - but we SURVIVED this Monday.

2. Michael was able to teach an elusive math concept for me this evening.

3. Nolan requested PANCAKES for dinner. How great is THAT for Monday night?

This is one of those days that simply leaves a homeschooling Mom  crawling to bed at 1800. 

When a challenge is given to a child to "face the hard things head on," one must be prepared for some long days.

I was going to crawl up the stairs without blogging....and then I heard this exchange at the sewing machine and had to check....

Arielle - "Can you find a slightly larger Barbie?"

Stacia - "Arielle, I don't HAVE any American Barbies." ::snort:: :: gasp::

I guess large means American to Stacia.

Arielle is teaching Stacia how to make Barbie clothes.....um....YAY. Maybe I won't have to learn to sew?

Just heard Stacia ask, "Can I make a Kimono, please?"

Choosing Joy!
©2014 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Sunday

Joyful Thoughts
1. I am really enjoying adult Sunday School.

2. Working with friends makes Chapel Potluck fun!

3. Sitting and visiting with the church after church is a blessing.

It was a long day.

No way around it.

I'm wondering if I'm too old to be a pastor's wife. ::snort::

This was fun to see....Someone's getting a pillow. LOL  I'm going to have to learn how to sew to teach her....she's motivated.....love the expressions.

Choosing Joy!
©2014 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Geocaching on the South Side Sutter Butte

Today is a beautiful day in Northern California - not hot and not cold.  As the weather cools down, we are looking forward to more outdoors activities.  We headed up to the Sutter Butte area. We were hoping to find an old Titan Missile site. We didn't find it, but we did find some geocaches, a nice local eatery, lots of orchards, and a good time.

No, we aren't obvious looking for geocaches out in the middle of nowhere. We think the owner of the cache drove by and waved and honked.

The countryside was fairly bleak - but there WERE green trees here and there...and it was fun to explore the world's shortest mountain range. LOL

OK can you SPOT the cache???? The brown can in focus. We hid it a bit better in the same area.

We should take stock in Blue Diamond...it was fun to see the almond and walnut groves

We headed towards the second cache. We began to see the skinniest horses we've ever seen, and then we saw THIS...the oddest looking donkey ..... LOL

While Michael, Arielle and Nolan explored one side of the road for the second cache...the younger ones, and I explored this yard.  My kind of place. In addition to the zebra, there were various antique farming implements in the yard, miniature bulls, miniature ponies....

Eye to eye with a llama

See the camel in the fence?

Maj General Freemont and his men camped here....

Major Chaplain Gherkin and his troops stopped here

 By this point in the day we wanted to find a picnic spot...and I was desperate for an outhouse....we didn't have much luck on either count....until we found LOVEY'S LANDING. This appears to be an RV residential community....with a restaurant. We stopped. I planned to get drinks to go and use the restroom, but all decided to eat in. The cook was hilarious! We heard his excitement when he received our order. "I love  orders like this. I never get big orders here." Yes, I can see that to be true..it's in the middle of nowhere!  They say they are really busy during duck hunting season. They had no clue where we'd find the Titan Missile site. Our history buff schooled them on 1960's activities in their area.  The cook came out and put 70's music on for us.  The Bee Gees are stuck in my head - probably destined to be belted out at some inappropriate time in the near future...."cause we're living in a world of fools...." ::snort:: "

The other side of the buttes were prettier...loved all the orchards.

On the way back through Yuba City, we stopped and grabbed a retirement gift for tomorrow and some groceries so I can cook for tomorrow's potluck. I haven't figured out how we'll be two places at once yet. ::snort::  I do know, "We're living in a world of fools, tearing us down, when they all should let us be...you belong to me...."

Choosing Joy!
©2014 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Rain, Life Lessons and Concerts

Joyful Thoughts
1. It's raining - and it's cooler!

2. Meaningful life lessons for a Gherkin - especially helpful we'd discussed sowing and reaping in Bible study Wednesday night. ::wink::

3. Concert with family and friends

Yes, there was rain. We also had a full day of other happenings.  We are thrilled to see cooler temps in the forecast....it was out and out cold today. 75* is about perfect!  I love the change of seasons.  (That'll preach).

I am elated that this week of school has gone swimmingly. We're all done with couch school, have had time for hands on science explorations, and the kids are on track with the week's table school.  I'm learning when I can schedule events during the week and still manage to finish our work.

A life lesson, "When something is hard,  face it head on - don't try to sneak around behind it."  Shoot - it's a lesson I need to revisit from time to time.  I'm not sure I would label the offense as cheating, but I was happy to see confession and repentance at work.  It was a great teachable moment and I found the note to remind me.....I trust the culprit has seen my response. LOL

Well, that's twice in two weeks with two different kids...a cheater a week....while I could be beating myself up over the sinfulness of my off-spring, I'm rejoicing their consciences are soft and they confess. I'm also thankful God gives me wisdom to spot it quickly these days.  That's what 26 years of homeschooling will do for a mom. LOL

Lest you think all we do is cheat at math in our homeschool.....here are some happy glimpses...We explored buoyancy today....and talked a lot about gold vs iron pyrite.

 

 Oranges float - potatoes don't



Chopsticks float - and SURPRISE so does the glass lid

Next, we created an ocean - without the food coloring. I am alarmed at how much sea salt I've used in this week's science. I should have thought ahead and bought Morton's. I've 90% decided to just buy the science kit for this text as I don't have the many of the "common household items" on hand - like food coloring - and safety goggles - though we've seen no reason for them so far. ANYWAY - we created an ocean and boats.  The kids guessed how many pennies their boat could float before sinking.

 

Zander's boat sinking - Stacia's was wider...not sure if that means she listened better during the lesson or if it means she likes to build the BIGGEST in any projects.

I later found her boat with added features - gotta love duct tape.

Michael got home nearly on time today. He  left base early to pick up medical records, from several spots around the local area, in preparation for his upcoming trip to the surgeon.  We went to Mi Puebletos for dinner (which hasn't set well). Cynthia met us there and we met Mindee in Roseville. We headed to a wonderful (though longer than expected) concert from Casting Crowns, Sidewalk Prophets and Mandissa. If you get the chance to go to a Thrive concert - it was great.  My friends have learned if they take photos and email them, I will leave my camera at home and they won't be in photos.

 

Tad bit concert resistant are we?

 

We arrived home at mid-night. A fun day!

Choosing Joy!
©2014 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...