Shawsington's World

 

We went on an interesting train ride recently … the Niles Canyon Railroad from Sunol to Niles. It was a beautiful day and we got to the train station just as the train was about to leave so they held it for us! Such power! Two friends, Clyde and Donna, met us there and we dashed onto the train. This train is the last link of the Transcontinental Railway!

Off we went down the track. The train was full with lots of vacationers and children and even a dog who seemed to enjoy herself. The ride through Niles Canyon was pretty. Oak trees on the hillsides and bushes and brambles right down to the tracks. The train runs across several old bridges that were built in the early 1900’s. They looked like someone put them together from an Erector Set! Crossed Alameda Creek, clickety clacked through the supply yard which has engines and cars and supplies from all over the place wait to be restored and put into use. Everything that is done to the trains and the running of the trains is all done by volunteers … quite an operation and they enjoy the work as much as we enjoyed riding their trains!

We arrived in Niles, which is a tottling town! We were met by a vintage bus, which they also held for us because we were, once again, running late and went into Niles proper where we picked up another volunteer who was our Tour Guide for the ride around town.

Very funny tour, “this is where I bagged groceries as a kid, here’s my art shop, this restaurant has very chi-chi food, Bronco Billy’s Pizza Parlor, the biker bar where the bikers are friendly, my house, my cousin’s house with the largest single wisteria bush in the Guinness Book of Records,  a 150 year old tree”, and then back again to Joe’s Corner! Not your typical tour guide who bores you with facts that you can look up on the brochure … oh wait, there was no brochure … he obviously loves living in Niles and has lived there his whole life and you can hear his excitement about his town in all that he is telling you.

Niles is a very small town that does have a lot of very old and beautiful trees lining its streets. Its main street, Niles Boulevard, looks just like Main Street America. Back in the era of silent pictures, an actor named Bronco Billy made 500 pictures in three years here. Charlie Chaplain made many of his movies in Niles as well.

So we walked Niles Blvd, took photos here and there, ate lunch at Bronco Billy’s Pizza Parlor, checked out The Florence and the bikers, took a side street to the residential area to get a closer look at the wisteria and all the beautiful trees and houses lining the streets. Some of my favorite lawn creatures adorned many front yards … pink flamingos and some even had babies!

Niles is a friendly place with American flags waving and Fourth of July bunting hanging on the store fronts and front porches. Lots and lots of beautiful front porches. I have always loved front porches and wish that someday I could have my own to sit on, drink a lemonade, and watch the world go by.

Then back again to Joe’s Corner, back on the bus, back to the train, waved good bye to our tour guide who waves in and waves good bye to all the trains, and then back down the tracks again to Sunol.  The trip back to Sunol was just a fun even though the scenery hadn’t changed and the visitors hadn’t changes, it was just nice to ride an old train and look at the countryside.

Both ways the engineer gives information about what you are seeing along the way and about Niles and the train. Very interesting and funny as well. When he finished talking about Niles’ movie career, he said that maybe he should tell us a bit about the flora and fauna along the way. I swear this is true, “well, there are lots of trees and bushes, birds and other wildlife, in the spring there are wildflowers and other blooming plants!” He then named different types of trees and wildlife that you could see along the way!

There’s also an abandoned brickyard that supplied bricks to rebuild San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake. Joaquin Murieta had an adobe in the hills and used to roam the countryside looking for trouble. Many other bandits used to roam the area looking for people to rob too.

Arrived back at Sunol, got in our car, and drove home, but we had a wonderful time traveling the train and seeing the beautiful countryside, wandering around Niles and taking pics of it’s charm, eating at Bronco Billy’s with our friends, and hearing all about Niles from a friendly tour guide who really seemed to enjoy himself doing something that he loved.

Highly recommend the journey to you as well!

Cheers … Amory the Traveler

 

Peter and I went to an absolutely outrageous sporting event this month called IcerAir!

 

Last Year, Olympic Gold Medalist Jonny Moseley and some of his friends did ski jumps off Filmore Street in San Francisco much to the unhappiness of the people who lived there but it made a lot of skiers and snowboaders very happy! Unfortunately I couldn't go.

 

So this year, instead of skiing on the streets of San Francisco, they built a 100 foot tall ski jump in Pac Bell Park and covered it with tons of snow!!! It was AMAZING!!! To make it even more interesting, after the lift off, but before the landing, there was a 20 foot gap and a 65 foot fall to the ball field below ... thankfully they hung a safety net because one of the women skiers didn't make the landing and fell through the gap into the net!!!

 

Along with the skiers, there were snowboarders, BMX bicyclists, a nine year old in-line skater, and an 11 year old skateboarder who will someday soon be on the skateboard pro circuit he was that good! And to round it out, Tony Hawk was co-host with Jonny!!!

 

These athletes were in amazing shape. All day they skied or snowboarded the jump in preparation of the finals. And it was 'only' a hundred foot climb back up the stairs to the top of the ramp. No elevator! Back up wearing their ski boots and carrying their skis or board!!! The slide down took seconds and the climb up took a long time and they did it ALL DAY LONG!!!

 

But it was worth it being able to watch them fly over the heads of the photographers on the landing ramp! Oh to be able to be up on that landing ramp and photograph them flying by!!!

 

These kids and they were kids ... one still had rubber bands on his braces ... and this is what they do at the Olypmpics and the X-Games and do it very, very well!

 

Not to be shown up, Jonny Moseley strapped on his skis and came flying off the ramp and did his signature back flip! Tony Hawk strapped on his knee and elbow pads and showed everyone that he can still do the moves that made skateboarding a sport!

 

Next year ...

 

They're coming back ...

 

I'll be there ...

 

You gotta come too!!!

 

Cheers ... Amory

 

Well, we did it!

 

Who'd have thunk that Peter and I would become Jet Setters, but that was the plan! Jet on over to Oahu for a quick weekend of fun in paradise!

 

It started out OK ... fly over on Thursday, Ocotober 12 and have all day Friday, all day Saturday, all day Sunday and fly out Sunday night to be home Monday morning. Unfortunately, it didn't turn out quite that way! On Sunday morning the earth gave a little 6.7 shake and the Quick Hawaiian Adventure took a different turn!

 

Power went out over the whole island, the airport closed, flights were cancelled, and we were stuck! Of course, there's a difference between being stuck and being Stuck in Paradise!!! So we spent Sunday walking around Honolulu and Waikiki Beach and meeting people who feed the birds in spite of the laws they are breaking. We ate hot dogs on Waikiki Beach provided by people who came by with a hot dog wagon. Watched people surf and swim and generally had a great time in spite of the Hawaiian State of Emergency!

 

When the sun goes down on Oahu, it gets dark, real fast, and without any power, real dark!!! We had a room that the Queen Kapiolani Hotel gave us, be with no power, there were no lights and just by chance, I had bought six souvenir candles as gifts. Thanks to them, we had light in our room and cheese and salami that the nice people at one of the thirty-five ABC stores let us buy!

 

So our trip started out great and stayed great with a side trip home to Salt Lake City! We snorkeled at Hanauma Bay. We watched surfers try their hand at the Banzai Pipeline on the North Shore. We ate delicious food at a Germaine's Luau while watching some amazing dancing. Peter drove the whole island of Oahu and all of it was beautiful and interesting. We met some very nice people ... the Hawaiians who sat with us at the Luau ... the little old couple, 93 and 87, who fed huge bags of pidgeon food to the birds ... the nice people at the hotel who let us continue to stay there at half price ... the loneliest surf shop owner Tom who told us great stories of his trips to Thailand and all about his shop!

 

It was a great trip and, if they can figure out how to fix that little humidity problem, we could hop a jet and head on back at a moment's notice!!!

 

Aloha ... Amory

 

 

You know how when you plan for something every year and you get excited as the time for the event is at hand. Then you find out that through someone's incompetence, the event is cancelled!!!

 

That's how I feel!

 

Disappointed and angry!

 

You'd think that an event that had been happening for many years in a row wouldn't be that hard to rechedule, but apparently I am wrong!

 

For the last three or four years I've gone to the Isleton Rodeo on the River ... a great rodeo especially because, by being small, the action happens only a few feet away from you! The riders, the horses, the bulls, everything happens "Right there!"!

 

Well, not this year!

 

So I'm crying in my ten gallon hat and hoping that it returns again next year.

 

Boo hoo hoo, Amory

As some of you know, our backyard hosts several different kinds of entertaining wildlife! Even though it's a small backyard, the skunks, raccoons, oppossoms, squirrels, and birds seem to love living back there!

 

We've had a skunk who we named Cheeky because she came in the cat door to eat their food and wasn't in any hurry to leave. She's had two litters of baby skunks and you can't imagine how cute and funny they are! Last year's litter of three were scared of everything! If one skunk went around a flower pot and met one on the other side, they would both get scared even though they had just been playing together. A leaf falling on the deck near them would make them scurry away! This year's baby doesn't seem to understand that skunks sleep during the day and come out at night ... she was out all night and all the next day just eating and eating!

 

A group of what I called teenaged raccoons came through one night raising a ruckus like teenagers do ... making noise, touching everything, trying to come in the cat door, looking in the slider ... one even climbed the tree upside down and looked so surprised when she fell off! I call her a she because she was not the normal color, her fur was light tan and her mask was a light brown ... she looked like a blonde raccoon and acted like all the blonde jokes you hear ... sorry blondes!

 

For years squirrels never stayed in the yard. I guess there was nothing that interested them, but this year we have a gorgeous fox squirrel that hangs around eating bird seed and the plums off the tree. He's such a pig that you can practically get right next to him while he's sitting in the bird feeder eating sunflower seeds. And he loves peanuts! When I first began to put peanuts in the feeder, he went off and brought back a friend to show them the good stuff he gets!

 

The various birds that come by are lots of fun to watch as well ... the mourning doves who sit in the sunflower seed feeder so no one else can have any and boy do the other birds complain! The finches who will only eat the thistle seeds out of a feeder sock so they can eat hanging upside down. The jays that squawk and squawk while eating their fill. There are so many birds that come by that it is hard to keep track of them all. One mockingbird baby got lost and the mother was squawking forever trying to encourage it to try and fly back to the nest!

 

Needless to say, I just love watching what goes on in my backyard!

 

Have you looked in yours lately?

 

Maybe you have some fun wildlife back there that you've missed!

 

Enjoy!

 

Cheers ... Amory

A week ago an important event happened in our daughter Jessica's life ... she received her Master's Degree in Social Work!

 

It was a beautiful day for a graduation ceremony ...

 

The sun was shining bright, friends and family gathered together, speakers told the students how proud they all were of them, some speakers spoke on a little longer than we would have liked, but you know how it is ... a chance to speak on and on about yourself and it's not considered a political rally!!!

 

Then all the candidates receiving their Master's Degrees stood in front of a little raised platform where a teacher placed around their neck the Master's Hood showing the colors of their specialty. Jessica's Master's Hood in Social Work is black with crimson and gold edging. The graduates looked very pleased and rightfully so ... they have worked very hard these past two years to earn this degree and deserve to be pleased and proud!

 

The President of California State University, East Bay, Norma S. Rees handed Jessica a rolled diploma, shook her hand, and congratulated her on a job well done!

 

The photographer took her photo.

 

The Dean handed her a wine glass commemorating this being the first graduating class from CSU, East Bay and then she walked off smiling!

 

She had done it!!!

 

After a lot of studying, paper writing, class lectures, worrying that this was the right choice, etc, Jessica has earned the right to put Jessica Anne D. Shaw, MSW as her signature!!!

 

Congratulations Jessica ... you make us all very proud!!!

 

Cheers ... Amory aka Proud Mom

I did something on Monday that I hadn't done in a long time ... I went home!

 

Now, I've lived here on the same street in Martinez for 30 years so technically, this is home, but I went back to the home and area that I grew up in, Sutter Creek and Amador County.

 

My going back there and taking my husband and driving all around and showing him the area where I grew up must have re-set the earth on its axis because, you wouldn't have believed the weather and events that happened while we were there!

 

Pouring rain, thunder, fog, lightening, raindrops as big as dinner plates, flooding, hail, horses standing in a flooding creek, b b q's not being able to light, milkshake machines burning up, only peach pie being on the menu, and raw steak just to name a few!!!

 

As we drove around ... Sutter Creek, Jackson, Ione, Amador City, Fiddletown, Plymouth, Dry Town, River Pines, Sutter Hill, Martel ... it would sprinkle or rain a bit, but when we would get out of the car, it would pour down in buckets!!! In Fiddletown, even with an umbrella, the rain was so hard that my pants were drenched up past my knees!!! We just stood in the pouring rain and laughed and laughed and laughed!!! But we went on anyway ... getting out to walk around and take photos and tell Peter about the towns and the people who lived there when I did.

 

Mrs. Cassenelli, my first grade teacher, who, when she couldn't drive any longer, hired a young and handsome man to drive her around in her sky blue Cadillac much to the gossiping of all the townsfolk! Staying over night at my friend Betsy's house, riding horses and milking Honey the cow that we had to gather from the far pasture. Ever had fresh milk strained through cheesecloth? I have! Walking out Volcano Road in the summer in our barefeet seeing who could stand the hot asphalt the longest and then swimming in a swimming hole in Sutter Creek ... creek and town had same name.

 

When I lived there, there was only one winery ... D'Agostini's ... jug red ... that was all!!! Now, there are 24 wineries all over the Shenandoah Valley and area all with tasting rooms so you can make a winery crawl if you have a designated driver!

 

It was fun going back to visit ... population has changed a bit, but not as much as I would have thought. There is still lots of acreage that hasn't been developed thank goodness. People can still have sheep and cows on their property in town! Won't find that around here will ya?!!!

 

So if you want to go back in time and see another part of California, drive on up to Amador County for a visit. I think you will enjoy yourself ... maybe it won't rain on you!!!

 

Cheers ... Amory