I love gargoyles. Period. So I was all a’giddy when I looked up at the bell tower of the Preston Castle and saw one surviving gargoyle (i.e.: still had his head attached). One other fact. I love crows and ravens…beautiful birds with great sense of humor. 🙂 Guess who had a nest up there with the gargoyles?
Category Archives: Northern California
Preston Castle ~ Preston School of Industry ~ 1st Paracon benefit
Last weekend I joined my sister and two other members of the Northern Nevada Ghost Hunters on my very first Paracon hosted by the Castle Spirits Paranormal group. It was held at the Preston School of Industry (i.e. Reform School for boys) which had the cornerstone laid in 1890 and opened in 1894. All the proceeds from the paracon went towards the preservation and rehabilitation of the Preston Castle. IT WAS AWESOME! While the speakers and the hosts were wonderful (YAY SALLY and CREW!!), I absolutely loved the building. Since I took an ungodly amount of photographs, I’m going to divide them up into at least four different posts. The first being the outside of the building. Then I’ll post about the one gargoyle that’s left up on the tower (LOVE HIM!), the inside and some of the people.
For the history of the building and grounds (and if you’d like to donate to this beautiful building) please check out PRESTON CASTLE FOUNDATION
My Weekend in Photos
Wordless Wednesday ~ 20 August 2014
Osprey at Boca, CA
We have a spot on the Little Truckee River, near the old townsite of Boca, that we like to go to.
While looking at how much the water has gone down, due to the drought, a huge bird swoop overhead. At first all I saw was a white head and immediately thought he was a Bald Eagle. He landed on a tree, just a tad too far for my camera to get a nice clean shot (too grainy)…but here they are. He’s a beautiful Osprey who was eyeing all the trout in the Little Truckee…not very fair fishing, Mr. Osprey, but you go for it. 🙂
A Rambling Tuesday ~ 27 May 2014
Sort of a ramble today ~ Lots of pictures.
I received my craft swap today! A beautiful scarf hand-spun & dyed & knitted by a graduate student in my department. It’s soooo soft! Did I say it was BEAUTIFUL? 🙂 Will be getting out my Scottish Thistle pins! In exchange for the scarf, I made the lap quilt in the previous post.
We stopped by Boca (near the train tracks and Truckee River) on the way home from spending the day up near Hobart Mills.
It’s been warming up here in Reno/Sparks…and being upstairs just makes it hotter. This was Leo yesterday (with windows open and fan on) while I was piecing mini quilts.
Using Jeni Baker’s Nordika I made up a bunch of 1.25″ (finished size) HST’s…making a few mini quilts…and I do mean MINI…will be approximately 8″. The three on the left are finished, still working on the right two. Then will need to quilt and bind.
A Wednesday Round-up ~ It’s been a while!
Wow…it’s been quite a while since I last blogged. Pop some corn, grab a beer. 🙂
Quilting & Sewing:
Since I brought my new Brother sewing machine home, I’ve putzed around with it. I’m still learning what it can and can not do, but all in all am getting the hang of it.
I’ve made up a few of these cute totes, modifying a free pattern.
Had one crafting day with friends…another one coming up. We’re gearing up for a November craft fair.
Canning:
Made up another batch of mustard! Loving the smell and taste of this one! I used Stone Smoke Porter, yellow & brown mustard seed, apple cider vinegar, ground mustard, salt, pepper, allspice, nutmeg. I adapted two recipes I found (Homemade Beer and English Mustard)…it made up 10 4-oz jars. I plan on making a Cranberry Mustard too.
I was given a bag full of clipped lavender from my MIL’s garden earlier and dried it. Part of it is now in a big old canning jar of local Nevada honey with my own dried rosemary. I’ll be putting this into 4-oz canning jars in about two weeks after it’s been strained.
Ghost Hunting:
My sister has quite a few ghost hunting equipment and she booked the Miner’s Shack up in Gold Hill (just south of Virginia City on the Comstock). My niece, Hannah, and her friend Maddie, my sister and I all spent an afternoon in VC and the night in Gold Hill. That was fun! Definitely want to go up with them when they do the Washoe Club in VC.
I know my niece, Hannah, took a bunch of photographs, but I never see them…hint, hint…if you’re reading this, Ms. Hannah.
Carnelian Bay, Lake Tahoe:
Took a Monday off so we could spend Sunday night up at Tahoe. Spent Sunday at one of the free public beaches and Monday morning we tried kayaking (waterman’s landing). So…I’m saving my money up for a sit-in kayak now. 🙂
Truckee Trestle Tour:
We finally made it up to Truckee, CA for the Hobart Estates Trestle Tour! They’ll be having another one in October if you’re local! We toured the lumber railroads and mills.
Baseball Bingo:
How to have fun when your minor league team, the Reno Aces (Arizona Diamondbacks), is losing. Sorry guys for wishing one of you got beaned by the pitcher! 🙂
Miscellaneous:
Wordless Wednesday ~ Hummer’s Day at Carnelian Bay, Lake Tahoe ~ 13 July 2013
A Monday Ramble ~ 18 March 2013
Just a few rambles for this March Monday ~ 18 March 2013
I decided to finish my Denyse Schmidt quilt I started a month ago. Started out with a pile of charms I received from a Denyse Schmidt Charm Swap and with a few cuts from my own stash I went from this:
To a 60″x72″ quilt top ready to be sandwiched, quilted and bound.
But first I must wait to spring my new machine out of layaway prison (should anyone have any money burning a hole in their pocket…she’s sitting at Windy Moon Quilts! 😉 ).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Last week on Facebook I saw this MEYER LEMON LOAF recipe on Mennonite Girls Can Cook.
Oh My Word! It’s very tasty! My husband and I have almost polished off one loaf…I stuck the other on in the freezer.
My loaf isn’t as pretty as theirs…the pan I used was a bit bigger than what they suggested. Use the smaller loaf pan, it’ll look bigger. LOL!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Over the weekend we went to SWAN LAKE, in Lemmon Valley, to see if we could spy any birds. I walked along the Marsh boardwalk, but it was sorta of disappointing. Besides the sparrows and finches…we saw Mallards, Northern Harriers and Canada Geese. That’s it. I’ve been there before when there were quite a few swans and other water fowl.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Headed up to Frenchman’s Lake too…we like the little day area below the dam.