weekend well done!

My son Liam is a collector. He collects many things. He’s good at it-some may say obsessed with it. I look at my childhood. I was a collector as well. My collections were different. I collected rocks, shells, those tiny porcelain animals you could get at the local hallmark shop, stuffed animals, beer cans(much to my mother’s dismay) postcards, stamps and Hotwheels. it’s no wonder my boy is a collector as well. He has much more sophisticated taste than I ever did at his age; as he collects antiques. Especially glass insulators and old bottles. Which is why we headed to chico last Saturday for an insulator and bottle show.

these shows are so much fun and the folks are always so nice. Liam gets good deals cause he's a kid. and of course i can't resist a few treasures myself. an old rainier beer crate, a few insulators, old canning jars, and the cutest little oil can- thinking of using it for my spinning wheel oil.

it was a good show and liam was happy with his haul. the flea market next door had some great deals as well!

the weather was incredible-after days of rain the sun came out and it was perfect! we decided to do some exploring on the way home. we'd heard that this was the perfect time for wild flowers and vernal pools at table mountain near oroville. WOW! what an incredible hike. what makes california so amazing is all the different terrain and geographic landscapes. we live in the foothills amongst the pines, cedars, manzanita, oak and madrone. what a beautiful change for us.

the tree above was taken from the parking lot. my pictures don't do this magical place justice. the sky was blazing blue and the grass was so green it hurt. i felt like we were transported to ireland. this is ranching land as well. the wild flowers were just starting to bloom. being on the top of this mesa like mountain the flowers have adapted and grow very low to the ground -like carpet.side stepping cow pies and soggy vernal pools the land would change suddenly. dips and crevices produced many surprises.

cutting across a field we came upon this gorgeous site.


we were actually in search of phantom falls but only found hollow falls. phantom is hard to find-and falls 165 feet. it doesn't flow in late spring-fall. we are determined to go back soon and find the phantom!!! there was tons of my new pink color as well as yellow, white and purple.

what a great day!

the weekend continued and sunday i stopped by my friend sue's and she was having her spinning flock sheared.

she has angora goats as well. i took lot's of pictures of carl the shearer but they didn't turn out-all a blur. here's sue skirting a fleece.

yum! i just love it when the weekend goes well.