Sticks & Stones

...will break my bones, but names will never hurt me.
But, a fall to the garage floor, twisting one's ankle under the car
door will hurt me -and in this case did break my fibula near the ankle
bone.

I had my choice of about 8 colors for the cast, so I chose Charger Blue. The "Bolt" was added today by a clever artist.

And...

...if you've been paying attention the TV commercials lately, you have heard that 2 out of 3 people over the age of 60 will fall this year. So, seeing that Jossy also had a fall earlier this year -falling on her butt during that treacherous hike to Manoa Falls in Hawaii (hurting only her pride)- you realize that there is 1 sexagenarian out there that is off the hook for the remainder of 2010...

;-)

Ice Cream...

...on a hot summer day, at a picnic table (mostly) in the shade at the confluence of two beautiful, clear, cold rivers in the Sierras.

What a great way to spend a summer day!

Downieville is at the confluence of the Middle Fork of the Yuba and Downie Rivers in Downieville, CA -about a 70-mile drive north of I-80 on historic Route 49.

The drive there is breathtakingly beautiful. The town is small and quaint and rich in Gold Rush Era history. The folks we met there are as friendly and fun as their icecream scoops are big! The single scoop shown above had already been worked on for several minutes...negating the need for any lunch today!!!
;-)

Serendipity

;-)
Go for the falls, stay for the river...

On Tuesday, we set out early to find Rush Creek Falls -near the Yuba River just north of Nevada City- about 40 miles from here.
Before finding the trail to the falls, we came upon the beautiful sight of the Yuba River flowing under the two bridges shown in the video.

I continue to be amazed at the number of beautiful vistas so close to home in Northern California. We hadn't even found yet what we had come to see, and suddenly here before us was this beautiful river with rapids and crystal-clear water! With a little help from a gold prospector (yes, in the year 2010!) we located the parking area at the trail head to Rush Creek Falls. We had to literally duck under State Route 49 (the people tunnel was about 5' high) to get to the trail. One mile later, on a woodsy, hard-packed, level trail we came upon the falls -cascading down the mountain amid foliage so thick it was impossible to see the complete falls from one angle. For the first time in our waterfalls quest, we found one which requires primarily storing the image away in our memory, as photographs and videos just don't do it justice. Yes, we did take pictures and here is the best one: