Thursday, March 25, 2010

The Old Mill

My grandfather started a sawmill shortly after WWII to keep his kids in work.  It was located in the draw below our house.  Even though there is nothing left to mark the spot but a redwood tree that was planted near that time, we still call it The Old Mill.

My sweet aunt and uncle from Canada are visiting and we played hookey today and took a drive down to The Old Mill.  The wildflowers are spectacular, the waterfalls gorgeous and we had a wonderful time floating sticks down the creek.

Hope you enjoy some of the scenes from our day.

Cindy

Watching the creek is a good way to spend some time.
The color of the shooting star against the moss was intense.

I don't know the names of either the delicate white flowers or these bright yellow ones.

These little blue ones might be "forget me nots" and the red might be a crab apple.

We picked and ate manzanita blossoms and admired again the sturdy, sharp color and smooth bark of the branches.  My friend Sherri told me about a manzanita (berry) cider the Indians of this area made in the fall.  I can't wait to try this.
The ferns were lush and thick.  I wanted to take some time and find some of the little curled hearts for our salad tonight, but we were a little late for baseball practice.  The draw continues down the valley - such a beautiful day.

6 comments:

  1. You need to stop posting pictures because all they do is make me long to go back to Sonora!! :) You and your family should feel blessed (which I'm sure you do) to live in such an area. If I could ever convince Gavin to move (which I won't be able to) we'd be living in the old family house up on Jackass Hill in a heartbeat!! :)
    Hope you enjoyed your day!

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  2. Heather, I'm looking forward to coming and having a cuppa coffee in your kitchen in Jackass Hill someday. It was a really lovely day. None of the endless chores got done, but that was OK. The chickens still laid eggs, the tomatoes and peppers kept growing, we did eat dinner.... at 8:30 and everyone is happy.

    I have a few more pictures on FB. I might add a couple on here. The waterfalls were amazing, but I posted this late last night when I was baking the bread that should have been baked way earlier in the day. It is really good bread.

    Cindy

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  3. That looks like a great day! I didn't know you could eat manzanita blossoms...

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  4. What a great day to remember... I love those days. Awesome view picture!! I want to join you and Heather for coffee too!;)

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  5. It was a great day. The manzanita blossoms are really good - tangy and sweet. It has long been one of our springtime treats from childhood. You can make jelly out of them too. I just didn't know about the berry cider - it is a lacto fermented drink. I am anxious to try it.

    The wildflowers are gorgeous if anyone wants to come see them. The ladybugs should be clustered all over as well. We just didn't go to that field.

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