Beautiful Clearlake in California
After a very very long year of learning to live a new life with my most recent handicap. I am getting movement in my arm!! :) It started the end of August and has been progressing, slowly. My issues with paranioia and depression are also getting better. I am confident that things will continue to progress. However, loosing a whole YEAR of my life is devastating to say the least. However, keeping a positive attitude for the most part has been a huge challenge, but I do it. I am grateful to all my family and friends that have been so encouraging and helpful. Thank you..
Tuesday, December 29, 2015
Sunday, December 27, 2015
Monday, December 21, 2015
Love these Guys-Christmas Time 2015
Some of the memorable times have been spent with these guys.. Love them so much!
We are celebrating Christmas time in these photos below.
We started out at Jim & Shirley's lovely home and from here Jim drove us to our ultimately best restaurant Rutherford Grill in Rutherford/St. Helena.. Yum Yum..
Friday, December 18, 2015
Sunday, December 13, 2015
Swesey Annual Christmas Party December 12th, 2015
Just love all of our friends..
In most recent years we have had to expand out into the garage to accommodate all the people.
This year I did a little something different., we had a couple of games. One was to guess how many Christmas Trees were displayed "in" the house. I had counted 90. The winners were Mary Potter and Heidi Aragon. The other was to guess how many lights on the main Christmas tree, 680, Pam Rowland won that one.. And so the night went on..
Click the link below to view all the photos..
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Sunday, November 29, 2015
Thanksgiving week at Lewiston, CA with friends!
There were 4 rigs from here that were meeting at the Lewiston, CA Moose Lodge. Phil & Toni, Lee & Laura, Gayle & Rob and of course us.. Most of us got there on Monday before thanksgiving. Rob & Gayle arrived Tuesday.. We all had dinners together most every evening. Phil & Toni hosted most of the dinners.. They had the most room.
The weather was cold, burrrrr….. Monday night it rained pretty good and snowed on the mountain tops. Then as the week progressed it got colder and colder, down as low as 17 degrees on Sunday morning when we were packing up to come home. we dressed warm every day.. Long underwear, and lots of layers.. still we managed to get cold.. fires and blankets next to the campfire..
We met people that were there from last year too. It was fun to see familiar faces. Tom & Jeanne, Patty, Rachel were the camping group. Dave the admin at the Lodge is a GREAT guy.. Always goes the extra mile to make sure all is well. Met his lovely wife Karen this time! They were busy working most of the week.. We go to say “hi” & “bye” a few times..
We had a GREAT week.. In spite of the “cool” weather, we took long walks, took long drives looking over the lakes and rivers. We went thrift shopping over to Weaverville one day.. fun time.
Thanksgiving was in the Moose lodge hall. I do believe they hosted about 125 dinners plus!! The volunteers did a fantastic job! Great food..
Toni & I signed up to do the craft faire in downtown Lewiston the day of the “Bridge lighting” and fireworks show!
Thursday, November 5, 2015
Monday, November 2, 2015
Wednesday, October 28, 2015
Evening with Friends
Ev and I invited friends up for dinner on Wednesday evening.. We had Scott & Carla and Ben & Julie up for Pork Chops and Scalloped potatoes, with veggies.. Had a nice visit with everyone.. Fun evening..
Wednesday, October 21, 2015
Visit with Auntie Aleen
This was sort of an impromptu visit. Called her the day before and asked if she would like to go for lunch? And she said she would love to.
Ev and I left here mid morning on Wednesday.. Drove to Stockton and met Auntie at Applebeas for lunch.
She was sitting waiting for us.. She is so sweet.. Auntie Aleen is about 92ish? Birthday in December. My cousin, her daughter Reba and her husband Clay moved to Wisconsin about 18 months ago, due to work. Auntie is moving back to Wisconsin in Spring to live with Reba & Clay.
I haven’t been a very good great niece because the last time I saw Auntie was about 18 months ago. Life happens. I am going to try and go see her at least every other month.. Stockton is about 3 hour drive for us. So it is 6 hours round trip. However, she is totally worth it. I probably won’t get to see her once she moves east..
Auntie Aleen was married to my maternal grandmother’s (Eunice Williams Frazier) brother (Buckley Williams).
We had a lovely lunch then went to her cute condo and visited for a little bit..
It was a GREAT day..
Thursday, October 15, 2015
Lunch with Chuck & Judy..
Seems as though Ev and I are impromptu people.. We called Ev’s brother Chuck and wife Judy to join us for lunch in Vacaville the night before we wanted to meet them at “Mel’s” for lunch.. They said “ok”.. so we are on..
We were down there dropping the trailer off at Camping World for some “adjustments”.. uumm.. another wasted trip.. not a total waste.. We got to meet up with Chuck and Judy..
Always fun to have lunch and catch up..
Monday, October 12, 2015
Fun with Colin and family/friends!
A few weeks ago Lindsy asked me if I could come take care of Colin while her and Chris went to pick up their trailer that had been up at Lake Davis for the summer.
I arrived on Thursday and planned a dinner with Phil & Toni at Lindsy’s house. I made Fried Chicken with mashed taters etc..we had a nice evening.. Phil got creamed on the wii with Colin in bowling.. guess Phil needs to practice some..
Friday afternoon Colin and I went for a short visit to the Brooks place..
Friday night Colin had baseball practice and I had planned a get together with friends. Kim, Sharon, Traci, Jeff & Cesar..
Had a really nice evening.. fun times were had by all..
Colin had a game on Saturday at 3pm.. they don’t keep score, but I am sure Colin’s team won..
Lindsy & Chris got home late in the day.. I made a pot roast for dinner and enjoyed Chris & Lindsy’s company for the evening..
Monday, October 5, 2015
Collin’s Lake with Phil & Toni..
Arrived at Colin’s Lake late Saturday afternoon.. Can never seem to get going? Phil & Toni had invited us to come over to Colin’s Lake with them camping.. However, Ev stayed home with the dogs and I just went over by myself.. I slept on the couch bed in the motor home Nice of them to have me.. And feed me fro 2 nights! I didn’t take many photos, not sure why?
Met some new people Larry & Trudy from Nevada, long time friends of Phil & Toni.
On Saturday night we had a wonderful “light show” with the lightening 7 thunder.. Loved it.. and some nice rain..
Phil cooked up some wonderful skirt steaks.. never had them before and they were delicious!
Toni made me a nice breakfast for fishing.. I am now calling it
the “Brooks B & B” on wheels!!
I only fished on Sunday morning with Phil for a few hours.. nothing.. seems like I am getting skunked a lot this year!! Next year gotta be better!!!! The lake is so low.. it too is a reservoir.. OMG so low.. maybe about 40-50 feet down.. scary!
Thursday, October 1, 2015
Wednesday, September 30, 2015
Canning with Lindsy
Lindsy came for the day so we could “can” some salsa. Her first time to do canning.. Salsa was very good..
She arrived about 11am.. and got started! We had so much fun!
So happy she could come for the day..
Monday, September 28, 2015
Our Granddaughter Gemma turns 5!
The baby of the family, Gemma turns 5!!
Jamie invited some friends and lots of family for this celebration! Fun watching all of them having so much fun!
All the “G’s” (Gianna, Gillian & Gemma) were all excited about the birthday party!!
Gemma’s favorite movie is Frozen..favorite character “Elsa”..
Sunday, September 27, 2015
Lake Davis with the Potter’s & Herman’s!
Lake Davis Reservoir is only at approx. at 48% capacity, due to our 4 year drought.
This was a sort of impromptu trip, sort of. Planned in August tentatively to go in September, providing the weather would hold. About a week before we had a meeting at Keith & Mary’s to discuss the “plan” of action, food, times, etc.. But instead of going on the 23rd, Mary suggested we leave a couple of days earlier.. Worked out for all of us. New friends Mike & Candy whom also have a Rockwood Trailer like us. However theirs is newer than ours and don’t seem to have the “bugs” ours does! Thank God!
Keith & Mary hosted most of the dinners at their camp as well as breakfast.. Yummy cooks..
We had dinners and couple of breakfasts together. We did fishing, hiking and lots of exploring. Our exploring trip proved to a bit of a challenge. Ev and I decided to take a drive up to the fire look out just west of the lake. It was challenging to say the least.. we were lost on those dirt roads for about 2 hours! Craziness!
But we made in back to camp in one piece..
We played corn hole a couple of days.. A lot of lazy afternoons.. Tony, Mary’s brother joined us on a couple of occasions. He lives in Portola..
Weather was delightful the whole week. We were only going to stay 4 nights, but decided to stay an extra night. that Friday night we tried the new Italian restaurant in town..
Mike & Julia were also up there while we were there. They were kind enough to come and share some of their fish they caught with us.. It was yummy too!! Thanks Guys! Everything was ‘fab”..
We really had a fun week!
Saturday, September 26, 2015
Charles & Laura B-day celebrations
We had a lovely dinner with friends. We celebrated Charles 59th bday and Laura 79th bday.. We had friends Dave & Terry Mallow with us to celebrate!
I made a ham with some bacon scalloped potatoes cauliflower .. oh yummy yummy!! cheesecake for dessert!
We again did more celebrating of birthdays for these same great friends at the Boat House 9/26/15
Monday, September 14, 2015
Manchester with the Mohoffs/Brooks
Another great time at Manchester for the annual abalone weekend! Woo Hoo!!
Phil & Toni joined us this year.. Think they had a grand time too..
Our big dinner feed is always Saturday night. Of course we have wonderful meals every day!
Always great times with great friends!
On our way home on Sunday we could already see the effects of the Valley Fire that started on Saturday. Sunday morning at the coast we were socked in with both smoke and fog. We weren’t even aware of what the effects of this fire was until we got home late that afternoon. The lake was socked in with smoke. Cobb Mountain was destroyed, Middletown was on the brink of total destruction, Hidden Valley Lake was also devastated by the fire.
This fire would prove to be the one of the worst fires in CA!
Saturday, September 5, 2015
Fun times with Jim & Shirley and more!
We are so blessed to know so many wonderful people whom we call our friends! Friends is a great word!
This week we spent time with some very good friends, Jim & Shirley! OMG we love you both so very much! We always have such a fun time with you both! You are always so positive and uplifting and all we do is laugh!! Live, Love and always Laugh!
I got a text from Shirley on Monday. She wanted to know could be meet them for lunch this week?.. Jim then calls on Tuesday morning and said “lunch at Happy Garden” at 2pm today”? I said, we would see them there!!
We walked in and there they were just so excited to see us! And we were excited to see them too!! We were amazed that one of our other friends were also there having lunch! Milt & Priscilla.. Small world sometimes.. We all had a cocktail together, had a short visit with them and they were off....
After lunch we decided we should head to the “barn” and have one more and then go home.. so we did! Had fun.. Met up with “Rooster” and had some great laughs!
Jim & Shirley invited us to join them at Brassfields as there was going to be a bunch of old cars on the grounds for viewing.. And that Jim & Jan would also be there!! We packed up a picnic lunch and met them on Wednesday.. Saw other “friends” too..
Jim & Shirley kept us busy this week!! They again invited us to the Langtry Winery concerts under the stars! “Twang Ditty” entertained us with country music..This was going to the last one of the season. We met them at their home before hand so we could share in some appetizers before going to the winery.
Had a terrific time again!! Lots of laughing! Meeting new people! We met Karen (actress) & Roger (retired deputy sheriff)! They just happened to be sitting right in front of us on the lawn in their chairs.. We all shared great stories and danced and just had a great time! Then after party at Jim & Shirley’s! Karen & Roger also joined us! Fun people! Jim & Shirley are just amazing friends! Love you both dearly!