3rd times a charm!

sigh!  okay, i'm going to try this blog post again. (third time here)  i spent a whole afternoon the other day writing an amazing blog post and it vanished into the ether. Gone.  Disappeared. Vanished.  i wonder if there are ether creatures out there that read all this stuff?  Hmmm.  anyway, i tried it once again-bam, gone again!  i was using this new app called blogGo, so i could post from my ipad. guess it's back to the old fashioned way of doing it on my ancient slow as molasses laptop.  i checked out the blogger app and saw that you can't change font size or do hyperlinks.  hyperlinks are a must for me! i'm sticking to the tried and true for now. 

there are places on this earth that are special to me.  speak to me.  i don't know what makes these places do this as there are so many wonderful places, but these hit me in the soul.  New Mexico, the California north coast, washington islands, places in Idaho, Wyoming and Montana are among some of my special spots. the Sierra buttes are also included in this list.  i'm so lucky they are right in my back yard.  i never tire of them. last friday i dropped liam and pops at packer saddle so they could bike down to downieville.

wild flowers popped everywhere!

here's another view from the saddle!

 
i had the luxury of taking my time back to D'ville.  doing, going and stopping wherever and whenever I wanted.  i love that.  my time! first stop, sand pond.  surprisingly, hardly any folks were there.  so peaceful and serene.  those are the sierra buttes in the background.

next stop, bassets station for some espresso chip ice cream!

i meandered my way towards Sierra city.  channeling my inner trixie:

i was able to hold my iPad with both hands, drive 55 around the curves and still snap this awesome shot of the buttes!  shhhh!

must always stop in sierra city.  beautiful flowers everywhere in the summer.  Love hollyhocks!

 

found this gorgeous garden tucked in between a church and the public bathrooms. Sweet!

being Friday, my favorite store fox parlor was not open.  Bummer! only open on weekends.

i also have favorite chairs around the country and fox parlor has one of them.  Ain't in grand?  i'm going to ask the owner if i can sit and knit there sometime.

i knew i was on sierra time and I'd better get back on the road. onward to downieville.  the road follows the north fork of the yuba river and is just gorgeous.  can't believe I didn't stop and get a photo.  next time!  i entered D'ville with time to spare.  Yeah! stopped by my favorite store "vintage gal" and there was a perfect woolydaisy vintage western cowgirl shirt that I fell in love with.  perfect condition and yes, I ended up calling cheri the proprietor the next day and had her hold it for me! i was losing sleep over the damn thing!

there's also a new thrift store in D'ville!  I scored a linen shirt for me and some awesome skater shorts for liam. all for 7 bucks!

i was able to visit with friends on the best wi-fi bench of all times while waiting for the boys to end their bike ride.  they came down the mountain with smiles on their faces.

roy was feeling so good he had to pop a wheelie! a whopper of a wheelie!

we headed over to yuba expeditions and i got to demo a women's all mountain ibis bike and wow was it awesome.  guess i shouldn't have done that cause now I know how smooth a good ride can be. Note: the smile.

can't believe i thought i was going to get a bunch of knitting done-ha! Great day!