Dear Family, Friends, and Diary,
This is the story of a weekend trip to see fraternity friends from old college days. Half a century ago, I was part of Sigma Tau Omega, a social (non-residential) fraternity at the University of Portland. Five years ago, when we returned from our time overseas, I reconnected with the California wing of Sigma Tau and we now try to make the annual Fall gathering. In 2019, it was hosted by Ted and Nancy Michaud in Sonora.
We left home early Friday, early enough to hit our new favorite breakfast place, Wild Fig in Coarsegold. (We had been there exactly one week earlier.) This time, we tried the house specialty scones. Tasty.
Wild Fig is surrounded by several rustic shops, selling typical tourist trinkets. Marianne needed a bit of shopping before we continued on our way. I'm never sure how these tiny places sell enough to make it worthwhile. I mean, how many cute signs can a place sell?
Shortly after we left Coarsegold, Marianne got a phone call with results from a biopsy she had gone through earlier in the week. Not good news. Just when we think we have life planned. I think that she had been expecting the results since the biopsy and had already started the process of steeling herself to the new reality. We continued on the road to Sonora.
Driving past Mariposa we expected smoke and inconvenience from the Briceberg Fire, but only experienced a little haze (which software removed from my picture!) . Highway 49 goes through very rugged parts of the gold country and we seemed to have the road almost to ourselves. We did see a number of fire trucks heading south, moving from one fire to the next. Hopefully, the recent power shutdown helped reduce the number of fires in the dry Sierra foothills.
About four hours after we left home, we arrived in Sonora, too early to check in, so we searched for a place for lunch. I don't remember the name of the Mexican establishment we found, but Marianne's shrimp cocktail was pretty good and my salad with chili verde was filling.
At this point we had some time to make an art delivery to the Michauds, our favorite art collectors. Their neighbors had a row of trees in great fall colors, so I worked in a few pictures. Always good to do.
Nancy and Ted had bought a pair of pieces from Marianne's July show at Vernissage and now that the show was over, we could deliver. The larger painting, "Walk Walk", is one of our favorites and we will miss it from our own walls, but it went to a good home.
By now it was time to check in to Barretta Gardens Inn, our home for the next two nights. The 1904 Victorian is quite charming, comfy, and clean. We could tell it was a good find almost immediately.
Dinner had been planned for The Standard Pour, a local watering hole that we had been to and enjoyed on an earlier visit with Ted and Nancy. Unfortunately, Pacific Gas & Electric had shut down power throughout Northern California as a fire avoidance measure two days before and the restaurant had not recovered power in time to open this Friday evening. After searching for other options for our group of eight, we opted for take-out pizza, brought back to the Michaud house. As good as any restaurant.
Saturday morning started as it should, slowly. I worked on pictures and diary while Marianne read and lounged. Hostess Astrid served a delicious breakfast at 9:00. She and some of the other guests gave us several suggestions for ambitious walks in the foothills and forests, but all this sounded too much their thing, not ours.
Instead, we drove over to "downtown" Sonora to window shop. We started at the Saturday farmer's market. Nice, but not too useful for travelers. After that, we stopped at a shoe store, "just to look". Twenty minutes later we each had a new pair of shoes. So much for "just looking".
Across the street, we stopped at Studio B, a four-artist co-op above a corner candy store. Leslie Hurst was just setting up her space and she and Marianne were quickly talking art. I wandered and took a couple pictures.
After all that hard work, it was time for a little lunch so we stopped at The Independent Wine Company. Astrid had recommended the place for its European feel and we are suckers for old-world ambiance. Besides, when on vacation, wine in the afternoon is OK. Owner Eric Davis recommended pairings for the small cheese sandwiches we ordered and his son, Gardner, cheerfully brought our food and drink. Later, we heard from another Barretta guest that the place was jammed Saturday evening, so I'm glad we did our sampling early.
After that starter, it was time to hit the Sigma Tau Omega Fall Fest at Ted and Nancy's house. Lots of talking, eating, and reasonable drinking. Fifty years ago, "reasonable" was different for this group.
Pictures:
As we were leaving, Nancy was nice enough to insist on a tour of her Marianne Trotter artwork. She is our biggest patron, after all. Naturally, the artist obliged. All friends were invited to the next show, Thursday in Los Banos, but there didn't seem much enthusiasm for such an obscure location. Oh well, prices will be higher when Marianne shows at SFMOMA (San Francisco Museum of Modern Art). Soon. Maybe.
Sunday breakfast was as good as Saturday's. The big table filled with guests and interesting conversation, while the small table had a smaller group. Maureen was taking grandkids, Arabella and Camden to all the local attractions, from Western-themed Columbia to a train ride at Railtown 1897. Nice gramma-custom.
After breakfast and check-out, it was back to Ted and Nancy's. My goal was to get some pictures of their backyard finches and hummingbirds. On Saturday, I did not have the right camera to be able to stand back far enough to make the little guys comfortable, but now I brought more appropriate gear - a regular camera with a longer lens. (Camera lesson: no matter how good the Leica is, it's not for birds and animals.)
The little finches were particularly skittish. I counted maybe eight or ten, but all would disappear the moment any individual was spooked.
Hummingbirds were more comfortable with people. The green guy (left) kept control, chasing others away and only occasionally letting others drink in peace.
These two pictures of the same bird, moments apart, show how the perceived color changes with the position of the bird, with the properly-angled feathers reflecting the surrounding red feeder.
After the birding session, it was time for a real geek treat: tour of a Rolls Royce rebuilding operation.
Ted had arranged for Fred Buess to take time to show us his auto restoration operation. Fred and his wife Rhonda operate the Inn on Knowles Hill, when Fred is not rebuilding/restoring/fixing some of the finest old cars I have ever seen.
The visit started with pictures of Fred's past projects. The middle-top picture is the as-found version of the Rolls Royce pictured to the right. Buess said they had only the old picture as a guide. Pretty amazing.
After the picture show, we had a chance to look at a fire truck, a fire truck built with a Hooper body on a Rolls Royce Silver Cloud frame and running gear. The truck has been maintained, but not really restored, and even after 500,000 miles, it started with one turn of the crank.
Just inside the workshop, Fred described this gorgeous chauffeur-driven Silver Ghost. I was particularly taken by the engineering details Fred explained, from the pressurized oil and fuel systems, to the multi-injection copper cooling system, the solid nickel head- and side-lamps, dual (coil and magneto) spark plugs, and even automatic cruise control. 100+ years ago.
Further back in the crowded shop were under-way projects. The cream-colored one was getting a transmission transplant. Apparently the owner was never able to properly double-clutch the original and Fred is replacing it with a modern truck transmission (hidden inside the old transmission case to keep the old form.)
The next car was a real star, a movie star. The 1931 Phantom II had stared in the 1965 move The Yellow Rolls Royce. Just think, Ingrid Bergman and Rex Harrison climbed through this very door. Fred and Rhonda will be restoring the car for use in connection with their inn.
At the far end of the shop, Rolls Royce Number 2338 was undergoing a complete reconstruction. It was originally a one-off racer, lightened for speed, not comfort: wooden bodyworks; no doors; copper fenders. It should be restored to glory in another year or so.
Scattered throughout Fred Buess' shop were pieces of projects new and old. His grandfather's wooden-wheeled bicycle from the start of the Twentieth Century hung over head. Shelves five-high lined the walls, filled with car parts, including toys from Fred's own history.
Benches throughout held bits and pieces temporarily removed from one Rolls Royce or another. Somehow, everything will all be put together so the grand old machines can return to their glory, a century after leaving factories in England and Massachusetts.
All in all, an exceptional weekend. Thank you Ted and Nancy.
Now we continue. Next activity: Art show in Los Banos (Thursday, October 17)
John and Marianne