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We've had three glorious days with R and J however, we have shared two DVDs with them the last two nights. Two that I had tossed in with a bunch of books that we're taking up to our Cascadia library. Well, the first movie was "Sahara" which wasn't too bad . . . the boys liked it BUT last night we watched a movie with Whoopi Goldberg called "Associate" - oh-my-gosh it was soooo dumb and boring. K and I had seen, what we found out last night was the last scene of the movie and thought it was hilarious so I found it at Amazon.com for cheap. Well . . . that scene is the only one in the entire movie worth watching! We were so embarrassed having provided such a movie for the evening's entertainment. Bummer! I've sent our apologies to J and R and we've been forgiven so we'll be able to face them again.
We did enjoy a great dinner of crab melts from Rachel Ray's new magazine! Delicious!
Today is a gorgeous day! Blue blue skies with soft puffy white clouds. Life is good!
We've finally left Park Sierra for our summer trek to Oregon. This time we're taking a month to get to our place in Cascadia. Our first stop is Russian River Resort in Cloverdale so we can have time with R and J in Healdsburg. Last night we wanted to be sure to watch the finale of American Idol so we got here early enough to hook up our TV reception. Strike one! All they have here is satellite TV so we're out of luck watching it in our own rig. We headed on up to the lounge early to be sure to "have control" of the remote should anyone else happen in and want to watch something else . . . can't imagine THAT! Soon after we picked out the most comfortable seats the manager came in and said "I'm gonna have to ask you to move . . . " and I thought "over my dead body!" but when he finished his sentence I realized that he was getting ready to show American Idol on the big screen! So we helped him move furniture around and get set up . . . and we were happy campers. We watched the show with four other "Idol Junkies" and had a great time. Hooray for Taylor Hicks! I think my son-in-law, MFS, had him picked out from the very beginning.I kinda wanted Kat to win because I adored her dad's weepy face and I thought she was a great singer. . . but I'll admit, I think Taylor is a way-better entertainer!
We slept very well our first night out (could it be the QUEENsize bed and beautiful fresh mountain air?) and look forward to a glorious summer. Life is Good!
The beautiful quilt is back . . . see story in blog for January 5. . . and has been meticulously quilted by a wonderful Amish women, named Elizabeth, who lives in Etheridge, TN. . . then the binding was sewn on by my new friend, Lydia—the mennonite woman who has the connection with the Amish community. And was I ever excited when I went down to the clubhouse to pick it up. I shared it with all my quilting friends—it happened to come in on Tuesday, "Quilting Day" here at Park Sierra. They all oooo'd and aahhh'd over it and gave me advise as to how to get the aged yellowing out of the white fabric. Lydia advised me to test the embroidery threads to make sure they were colorfast and wouldn't bleed in the "soaking the whole thing in OxyClean" stage. I did and yahoo! the threads ARE colorfast. So I'm taking it with us this morning as we go down south for Mother's Day and will do that process in J and P's tub and washing machine. Next time I post I will show the world my wonderful three-generation-Quilt.
Life is Good!
Tonight we entertained half of the newest members of Park Sierra. H came up with nephew S bringing P and H's trailer to park on site 507. P and H have been on the waiting list for over four years, and we're pretty excited they are finally in.
Some of you may know that sister JM has hooked me and now P to bidding on Texas Ware bowls on ebay. You know, they are those fabulously colored bowls popular in the 50s. (Check you attics or basements, there may be one hiding there that you're not aware of.) Not only do I have a set for both rigs, our daughters each are now proud owners too, simply because I decided they would like them too.
I wanted to bring out all three Texas Ware Bowls for the evening's celebration so I could take their picture to show the world. Appetizers were served in the small (yellow) and middle sized (lime green) bowls - chips and salsa. We barbecued a tri-tip and served a big green salad in the large bowl (beautiful peach color).
Dinner was served late, due to the roast being still slightly frozen in the middle. Dinner was delicious, the tri-tip was perfectly cooked under the watchful eye of K. I just wish P could have come too because there was a big void at our table. I missed her a lot. She had to work today, and because their house is in escrow H decided he'd like to get the trailer settled to expedite the move in 45 days. Our guests left soon after dinner...they were pretty tired from the long drive pulling a trailer.
I hope H and P can find a house close by so sister "Sweet Pea" and I can "play, play, play" and enjoy the retirement chapter of life together. K and I have had fun the last six years, that's for sure!
We had some good friends join us for dinner tonight. We've know C and G for six years having met them at an Escapade in the spring of 2000 discovering that we were all on the waiting list at Park Sierra. Now we are all here and love the RV lifestyle being able to come and go as we please and always having a home base. They are also one of the couples that have volunteered at the Ford House in Mendocino a few months a year—usually in the summer. We will join them this summer, as we did last year, for about ten days. K and I help C making sea shell wreaths that sell in the gift shop to raise money to help keep Ford House going, while G leads tours of the house. (Ford House is one of the first three houses built in Mendocino back in the 1800s.)
We started the evening with appetizers and a nice bottle of Alderbrook Chardonnay out on the deck. That's a really nice wine and we've run out so we'll have to be sure to get some more next time we're in Healdsburg. The sun was starting to set while a breeze was blowing nicely keeping the air cool and refreshing. We came inside for dinner because the mosquitos started to join the party. For dinner we served baked salmon topped with the homemade salsa K loves. Along side the salmon was steamed brown rice, and a big tossed salad. With dinner we served Alderbrook Pinot Noir. And for dessert (after a couple games of Pegs and Jokers) we had a pretty fruit tart with a bottle of a dessert wine G and C had brought. After six games of P and J (Women 3 and Men 3), a good visit chatting about our future travel plans, and lots of fun and laughter, we called it a night. What a fun evening spent with great friends. Life is good!
Dan and K enjoyed their last day together on the waters of the Delta. Between them they caught "maybe 20" black bass. Of course they let them all go because this was just a practice practice practice day. Dan, at one time, told K that "you don't need me anymore" so my guess is that K caught on to the new tricks he was taught over the last four days. Here's a picture of Dan getting the awesome bass boat ready for the day. A big thanks to Dan Mathiesen for four fun days!
We're camped in the Sacramento Delta at a nice place called Delta Shores Resort. Nothing but blue skies, nice sun shiny days, and hay fields with the sound of pheasants, sheep, and a hay-baling machine humming in the distance.
My sister and brother-in-law are with us as "the boys" are spending a few days learning all they can about fishing the Delta from a pro bass fisherman, Dan. R and J arrived Sunday and will leave in the morning, while K will continue until Thursday mastering his newly learned techniques. Meanwhile, J and I have been having fun just being together. Yesterday we set out to get a bite to eat and look for the town of Isleton to check out antique shops in search for Texas Ware bowls. We were told by the fellow who owned the restaurant where we stopped for lunch that the town of Isleton has lots of antique shops. He gave us directions which was helpful because we can easily get lost in this unusual part of the state. (We had a little map of the area but still managed to miss a turn earlier and ended up in the wrong city.) The Delta is full of islands and levys and fields upon fields of sheep, cows, and goats— but we hardly every saw another vehicle or people to speak of. We easily got to Isleton only to find out the whole town—except for a lone bar and tiny grocery store —is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. We drove past at least six antique shops with "CLOSED" signs posted. Bummer!
Today we just hung out enjoying the beautiful breezy sunshiny weather, kicking back reading magazines, working on the pillows, watching for Texas Ware Bowls on EBay (we've become addicted!), meeting a cute 4-month-old puppy (found out she was a $2,000 investment!), and waited on dinner plans until the men came back late this afternoon.
The guys are having a blast. Apparently nobody on the river has caught any fish . . . actually our guys did catch three - but only one was "small" enough to keep. Dan encourages throwing back the big females because it's spawning time. The one "keeper" hopped out of the boat as they were bringing it out of the live-fish-tank!
We were hoping for fish tacos but we had great burgers and coleslaw, instead!
Here's a great picture of the three-some after a great day on the water. And check out the boat they spent the last two days in. You can now understand why they're grinning from ear to ear! They'd go 60 mph getting from one fishing hole to another!
Tomorrow I'm going to give them advice on how to catch those fish.
"Heeeere fisheeee fisheeee, heeeeere fisheeee fisheeee!"
I'm gonna miss my sister when she and R take off tomorrow but am so thankful that they could take a few days off to join us. The four of us have such fun being together. Life is Good!
Here are pictures of the "Five Burns Girls" —Mom and her four daughters; 
The "Four-Generations" —Mom, her daughter (me), my daughter (JJV) and her daughter (my granddaughter, KLV);
My sister and brother-in-law are with us as "the boys" are spending a few days learning all they can about fishing the Delta from a pro bass fisherman, Dan. R and J arrived Sunday and will leave in the morning, while K will continue until Thursday mastering his newly learned techniques. Meanwhile, J and I have been having fun just being together. Yesterday we set out to get a bite to eat and look for the town of Isleton to check out antique shops in search for Texas Ware bowls. We were told by the fellow who owned the restaurant where we stopped for lunch that the town of Isleton has lots of antique shops. He gave us directions which was helpful because we can easily get lost in this unusual part of the state. (We had a little map of the area but still managed to miss a turn earlier and ended up in the wrong city.) The Delta is full of islands and levys and fields upon fields of sheep, cows, and goats— but we hardly every saw another vehicle or people to speak of. We easily got to Isleton only to find out the whole town—except for a lone bar and tiny grocery store —is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. We drove past at least six antique shops with "CLOSED" signs posted. Bummer! 
Here's a great picture of the three-some after a great day on the water. And check out the boat they spent the last two days in. You can now understand why they're grinning from ear to ear! They'd go 60 mph getting from one fishing hole to another!
