SharivilleLife stories from Shari

Jerry and I are looking forward to tomorrow, Monday, so we can rest up.  We had a rip snortin weekend, non stop.  Usually April and May in our area is very busy with Festivals and parades and esp get togethers as the weather is so wonderful.

We started Sat morning having breakfast with George Augustine at Home Town Buffet, went from there to Hodges Nursery just down the Midway toward Durham, about a mile from our house.  Hodges has an Heirloom Tomato specialist come in every spring and give a seminar on those wonderful tomatoes,  the only kind I ever plant anymore.  He spoke for a couple of hours and was very informative and handed out lots of material for reference.  Then for goodness sake, they served lunch.  We did not expect lunch.  They had a hot dog grill, which even if Jerry was stuffed like a tick he would still eat, and did.  They had beans, potato salad, vegies with dip, fruit and cookies and cake, coffee and juice, just for showing up.  That was a really nice surprise.  It’s also a great place to buy garden stuff.  In fact we bought 12 Heirloom tomato plants.  I have to have fresh home grown tomatoes for Angie.  She loves them and will be here in July for her class reunion. We all esp. love the Heirlooms.  They just have so much flavor.  So we will have red, pink, green, orange , yellow and black tomatoes to serve when she and Tommy are here.  She’s already happy.

From there we headed for the Patrick Ranch, also on the midway even closer to our place, for the Nut Festival.  I was ready to write out a check for 50$ for the tickets, as we wanted to support the first Nut Festival ever, when a group of people walked up and gave us two tickets they had left over.  What a deal.  Personally I think fifty bucks is to much to pay to get in, esp. since most are free; and it was just an OK festival.  On admission you got a wine glass and red and yellow tickets to use to food and drink taste.  Like we were going to eat again, not really.  We ended up using the drink tickets and giving most of the food tickets away.  It was all local restaurants and vendors for taste samples.  We tried the wine, for one ticket each we could taste 5 different wines from each winery.   I could never get past the 3nd sample, which amounted to about one swallow.  I think they were afraid to give out a real sample.  Point being the wine was so dry it would suck up a mud puddle. We both enjoy wine, but a Riesling, more fruity wine.  All they were serving was the pucker up kind.  They were so proud of their , like Chardonnay, type wine, I already cant stand Chardonnay.  So that was a loss, but the Sierra Nevada booth was wonderful, Jerry loves the Summer fest and I love the pale ale.  So out tickets went there. They were also more generous, you got a glass ful.  There were also lots of samples and freebies from the local fruit and nut people.  We got to taste pomegranate syrup and sauces.  They have 20 acres of pomegranates located just behind our property, and I can tell you if we were younger we would plant pomegranates on this property. They are fab and soooo good for you.  Maybe someday Angie will plant them here, I’ll leave that up to her when the time comes.  We visited with my friend and house sitter Liz, she was manning the cancer booth for Enloe Hospital.  bought some raffle tickets for a cat quilt that took my eye.  If I win the quilt goes to Liz anyway.  She has a thing for beautiful quilts.

Sunday took us out to George’s for a nice lunch and tour of his totally awsome garden.  It just gets better and more lovely.  His garden was in the garden show a couple yrs. ago and now it’s even better.  He invited a couple gals he used to work with who have wanted to see his yard.  George fixed a Chile Relano casserole, mexican corn bread, we brought a salad, called overnight salad,and one of the gals made, for scratch, brownies, who even does that anymore.  We ate outside in the pavillion and it was beautiful, dining alfresco.  George has become quite the cook after Kathy got sick.  He keeps the yard beautiful and the house looking fine.

From there it was home to grab Teddy and take him to the Dog Park.  He had the time of his life out there. There were lots of dogs to play with, once the butt sniffing and checking of the credentials was finished.  With each new arrival the process was repeated.  After everyone was content there was ball playing and wrestling.  Teddy is one tired dog tonight, so he will join the two of us who are also tired in bed tonight, yes, he does sleep with us and we love it.  Got to go, The Country Music Awards show just started……Hugs,   Shari and Jerry.

I’m excited,  have you ever been invited to participate in an event, not knowing most of the people there.  This happened to us this past weekend at the Durham  Good Sam Club outing.  And have you ever had the almost instant feeling that its a fit, personalities just seem to mesh, this is the feeling we got.  We were fortunate enough to have been invited by Chuck and Judy Birtcil to come to an outing as their guest and we took them up on it, much to our delight.  Chuck is a ” Class of 60,” classmate of mine, that’s the connection.

This turned out to be a delightful camp out.  There were 14 rigs in our caravan, with Orland as our destination.  We started out with breakfast for the whole bunch at The Waffle House  in south Chico.  We immediately knew this would be a fun weekend.  Most all of these folks are retired, but definitely not tired.  They were a fun bunch to begin with. This club is a close group of individuals who seem to have a high regard for each other and absolutely out to have a good time.  The food and service was very good considering the large group that showed up.  They made a good choice to start the week end off.

From there we caravaned over to an RV Park in Orland.  The club usually schedules events close enough  to make it convenient for everyone.  No really long distance driving.  The coming itinerary for the rest of the year really looks like fun get togethers in very interesting  places.  I know we are looking forward in participating in the outings and hopefully be accepted by the Club as new members.

Friday afternoon the group met at the clubhouse for crafts and card games.  Cathy our host for this outing had planned to teach us how to make earrings, and had all the beads and tools.  It was funny trying to get about 12 ladies to figure that one out.  More beads were spilled than used I think, but turned out several nice pairs of earrings.   ”Happy Hour”, followed by heading out to the Berry Patch for dinner.  Jerry  had his usual hamburger steak with all the trimmings and I had the most wonderful barbecued ribs. We had dinner with Sandy and Ruth and Win and her husband, John De Kleine, who is also the president of the group.  There was another couple there as guests also, Jackie and Mel, they have been married since 1945, figure that one out, congradulations.     Everyone seemed to enjoy their dinner.  Back to the club house for a really fun dice game called, Left, Right, Center.  We played for nickles and it was hilarious.  Back to our homes on wheels for a restful night.  Sat. some of the ladies from the group went antiquing, a few couples headed for Woodson Bridge to check  out antique trailers on display.  Jerry and I stayed behind and watched the Rock and Roll Hall of fame.   Back for ” Happy Hour,” and a truly delicious potluck. The surprise for me was that there were actually two pineapple upside down cakes. YUM!!!  Anyone who knows me knows that’s my favorite cake.  Did I luck out or what?   I know from experience that campers make the best food.  After the dinner the club had their monthly business meeting.  The meeting  filled Jerry and I in on the way the club is run, Chuck Birtcil, the wagon master, caught us up on up coming events that are planned..  It was also funny to see the club president awarded  “The Ding-a-Ling award.  He was caught driving down the road with his awning unraveling as we went along.  He was totally unaware. I have a picture of Sandy and her little Min Pin “ Levi,”  he’s the smallest member of the group, only 2 mos old and precious.   More games Sat night and back to our home on wheels for another restful night. 

Sunday morning was a breakfast pot luck with some very good and interesting dishes.  More comaradarie and jokes and laughs for all.  Ate breakfast with Chuck and Judy Birtcil, our hosts.  Then it was time to pack up and head for home.  All in all it was a most fun filled weekend with some really fun folks. The time went by TO quickly. Looking forward to many more get togethers with this group.  Thank you Judy and Chuck Birtcil for the invitation.  Stay tuned for more to to come ………..Hugs,   Shari   &   Jerry                                                                                                                  

Win and Bridgette doing crafts.

What a great lunch meeting we had for the class of ” 60 “, today.  This month it was held at Olive Garden and we had about 16 in attendance.  Everyone has some summer plans or have made some changes recently.  Most of the group had the soup and salad with bread stix for lunch.  Olive Garden does a good job with this, the soup and the salad is always good, the bread stix wonderful.  I will tell you about some of the on going plans of some of today’s participants…….Claudia Jenkins ….. is busy taking care of her 92 yr old mom.  She is also planning a 5th wheel trip to Genoa Nev. for some much needed R and R.…….. Greg Watkins and his pardner Dave Owen are planning to attend Greg’s nieces wedding  in Santa Barbara, and Greg is deciding his next step in regards to work to be done on his R ear to improve his hearing after his extensive surgery due to the tumor removal……..Judy Snow Dye has sold her home in Magalia and is headed for North Carolina the end of this month. One of her daughters lives there and her other daughters will soon be relocating there……..Mable Little is working 6 hours a day at a school in Orland with reading and math and such and just loves it………Larry Wahl is thinking of leaving city office and running for county supervisor.  It was so nice of Larry to order a lovely appetizer of Calamari, because we all got to share as Larry had to leave before his food arrived.  Thanks Larry……….Chuck and Judy Birtcil and Jerry and Shari Greenfield will be heading out tomorrow for a camp out with the Durham Good Sam Club, with about 12 other rigs.  Good food, fun and games, did I mention good food.?……Betty Fish and LG, her husband are soon heading for an Alaska tour with 14 other rigs for a grand total of 50 days.  The itinerary sounds wonderful, they will be gone most of the summer.  ……….Mike Brown is semi retired, down to 2 days a week now.  Enjoying some free time……You can see how tired he is, sorry about the picture, Mike, guess you blinked……  Gary Imhoff is undergoing some radiation therapy for his recent L leg surgery..  We missed Rosemarie today.  I didn’t get to visit with everyone, the others in attendance were Linda Lund and Cathy Young.  It was a good lunch with lots of conversation and of course lots of summer plans discussed. I will share some pictures.    Thanks to all until next time. Have a wonderful spring.
 Shari

Have you ever been invited to someones house, gone there, and knew immediately you were in a safe, loving environment.  The atmosphere and surroundings were idyllic, peaceful and you knew you wanted to spend more and more time there?  That’s the very feeling I get each and every time I set foot into the wonderful home of Mary Hubbard.  Mary probably has the largest home in the little town of Willows, and it is filled with love and love from past generations.  Mary is a collector of beautiful things past and present.  She’s also a collector of people.  People are drawn to Mary like bees to honey.  She has a wonderful caring and genuine feel for people, people in various phases of their life.  Mary seems to know when a person is in need, she had become a very personal and cherished friend in my life.  Whether it’s a personal, or a spiritual need or just a good meal.  She just draws people to her because of her loving, caring nature. Jerry and I were so fortunate to spend after Easter services at The Ark , at Mary’s welcoming home for a simply great beef rib dinner.  Mary has talented cooks among her children.  Shawn, my niece’s husband and Mary’s son,  should have his own restaurant along with her daughter Rene who performs miracles with food.  We had the best roasted ribs, with potato and green salads and a delightful raspberry jello dish, we has asparagus and calico beans and rolls and for dessert Rene had made Portuguese sweet bread.  Believe it or not I had never tried it.  I have seen it for sale in the markets but just never bought it.  It’s wonderful and just melts in your mouth.  Mary also had a Red Velvet cake, which Jerry loves.  Everyone brings something and is enjoyed by all.   Rene sent home a care package of potato salad and Portuguese Sweet bread. Mary has 5 children 3 of whom are living close by and with their children it makes for a wonderful family group and we have been included into many family fun events, for which we are so grateful and happy to participate.  We now refer to them as our “West Side Family,” and thank God every day for them.  They have helped us so much in our spiritual growth, and Lord knows I need all the help, I have so much to learn.  We love the great family atmosphere and the love that just radiates from that house.

Mary kept popping up into my life the last few years in various strange unassociated ways.  She’s whats called a “shirt tail relative.”  Not to be construed in a rude way. Her son is married to my niece, Tracy Hartman Hubbard.  I had not been in contact with my niece Tracy for many many yrs. she is my deceased brothers daughter and I have not been close to that side of the family.  The icing on the cake was when Mary’s daughter,Denise,  purchased our previous 5th wheel trailer, via an Internet add.   Mary came over from Willows with Denise to get the trailer and that was it, we just connected.  Mary invited me to a woman’s retreat through her church and sight un seen I accepted….. How often do you meet someone that you immediately click with and trust  so completely.  That happened to me with Mary and her daughter Denise.  The Woman’s Retreat, led both Jerry and I to their church, The Ark, in Willows.  Soon after  attending a couple of church services  we were hooked.  We felt comfortable and welcomed by the church family.  Jerry and I had been considering looking into finding a church and” Wa La ‘ here it was. After the pastor’s first service we felt we had found what we were looking for.  This is a very spiritual church with like minded folks trying to make a difference, and they certainly have for us.  Another thank you to Mary.  I think when she met me she could feel the need I was experiencing and held out her hand to include me that day in the wonderful experience of the woman’s retreat.  It had an immediate effect on me and I was sure Jerry would be able to identify too. I have to admit The Ark is a church of fully participating worshipers who welcome the Holy  Spirit into their  realm with gusto and praise.  I was used to a much more docile atmosphere during church services.  I have come to realize that this is an  expression of powerful   love of the Lord, with lots of music and singing praises.

So this was how we spent our first wonderful Sunday, Easter Sunday, home after almost 7 mos.  It was a very special welcome home Easter holiday.  Thanks to our “West Side Family.”  Jerry and I love all of you…………….S  and  J.