It's probably not the first thought that comes to mind when driving into view of our house, but there was a distinct feeling of being nearer some Major Crossroads, Tuesday, when we had three sets of friends coming/going/passing through! It was way fun and quite a change of pace from our usual, rather more quiet existence!To begin with, Noel and Kyle Becchetti had somehow patched us into their crazy quilt of meetings, international travel and visits with myriad friends/relations. Truly moss-free rolling stones (I checked). They arrived late afternoon on Sunday (just after we got home from one of my choral concerts--the Opera Program).
Though we keep in touch electronically, how rich and wonderful to be able to hang out in person for a couple of days! They are jetting to India and back every few weeks, it seems, as they grow into their new involvement with the ministry, Truthseekers (http://www.truthseekersna.org/--I've mentioned it here before, but check it out, again, as the website is always changing!). Truthseekers is an Indian movement with the goal of breaking down the millenias-old caste system (gee, what'll they do after that?).
On Monday afternoon, Noel, Kyle and I took ourselves off to the Endangered Empire Mine SHP, which gave Tom a chance to get a bit of work done. We hiked all over the trails, ending up at the center of the Park where you can enter and learn all about gold mining through indoor exhibits, an unintentionally-hilarious mining film from the fifties and an outdoor actual-factual defunct mine and adjacent fabulous owner's mansion and gardens. It's one of the facilities in danger of closing due to the budget crisis, unfortunately (check it out here http://www.empiremine.org/, but, more important, do what you can to lobby your reps to keep the parks open!).
After a great visit of conversation and laughter, byTuesday morning the Becchettis had to be heading back to San Diego and missed, by a few hours, the arrival of Kathy and Andy Frederiksen (also good friends of the Becchettis). The Frederiksens have kids and grandkids in the area and we were lucky to be folded into the itinerary this time! After lunch, and as we were showing them around the place, Tom received a call from his cousin Joan, who, with a friend, happened to be shopping in Grass Valley that day (Joan lives in Southern California). So, she and Pam came to hang out for a little while before they went back to Pam's place in Auburn. Good to see Joan (after a few years) and meet Pam! Unfortunately, the part of my brain that takes the pictures was dozing at the time, and I didn't get a shot of our afternoon visitors.
Far too soon, Wednesday morning, after more stimulating conversation (gardens, politics, boat-building, quilting, family, etc.) and lots more laughter, with adventures in Taiwan thrown in (they were missionaries there for 30 years!), the Frederiksens had to be trekking south toward home in San Diego, as well. As they drove away, we couldn't help but notice how quiet and still it was! We're back to our usual schedules, today, but loved the fun of having good friends around for awhile! We know they're all busy and we live far away, so it makes it quite the special treat to be included in their travels!
