23392 Meyer Ravine Rd, Grass Valley, CA 95949Come check out this amazing property that has so much to offer a new lucky owner. Upon arriving the first thing that will come to mind is an amazing view, framed in the best views in the house. Come inside and you will find a beautiful living rooms with large vaulted ceilings. The kitchen has plenty of storage and a butler's pantry. A nice open concept the family room overlooks the valley and every morning you can wake up to some gorgeous sunrises. Head on up to a luxurious master suite that has an amazing tub with spectacular. In the summertime, you have the amazing ability to head down to your very own river access. Invite friends, family over to swim and have a BBQ. Bring your gold mining equipment because there is gold in that river!! Com... 02/05/2020

The South Yuba River is a wild river, unencumbered by locks, dams or resevoirs and left in its natural state, which is unusual in California. We drove over the South Yuba River on our way to the Malakoff Diggins State Historic Park north of Nevada City in the foothills of Sacramento. This is a place that has been on our list for a long time to visit. It has historical significance to California in many ways, one of which resulted in the first California environmental law.You can read more about the hydraulic gold mining site, its ghost towns and the hiking trail to the cliff-face, and see the photographs, including an amazing panoramic view starring yours truly as bookends, in my personal blog today at this link: A Sunday Afternoon at Malakoff Diggins State Historic Park. 10/12/2015

By:  Diane Sawdon These are truly Random Ramblings~~nothing jumps out at me this month. My brain has turned to mush.Today is the third day of August. It is only 84 degrees outside on my front porch right now. This temperature is a blessing. During the 31 days of July, I lived inside of a furnace~~a humid furnace. I am not sure if there is such a thing, but I know it existed in Nevada City. Heat makes this old woman cranky. Well, crankier than most days, I guess. I think I detest Summer now. Is that too strong of a word?? As a child growing up, I could not wait for Summer to arrive. On the last day of school, when the bell sounded, it meant I was headed to the Russian River for twelve weeks of blissful living in the home of my Grandparents. It was a time of swimming every day in the riv... 08/31/2014

By:  Diane Sawdon Today is our 46th Wedding Anniversary.  Congratulations to both of us.  In today’s world, I would call us “survivors.”   Try as I might, I cannot fathom where all those days, weeks, months and years have gone.  As with all marriages, there have been many ups and downs along the bumpy path of 46 years.   We have experienced some incredible highs~~times filled with joy and happiness as we watched our family grow and mature.  But, the flip side of that coin is that we have suffered periods of excruciating lows~~points in time where our souls were dying and our hearts were broken.  Together we weathered these storms of life.  One of us was always strong for the other and we always seemed to know our part of this equation.   We are a formidable force when we stand side by ... 07/07/2014

    Homes for Sale in the Altair Subdivision Nevada City, CA 95959     Why do people live here?   Altair is a beautiful neighborhood located in Nevada City, CA. It is not uncommon to see people taking their dogs for a walk or families enjoying the beautiful weather that is home to Nevada City.  This scenic city faces the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada Mountain range which means that the temperatures are similar to what you would find in the Mediterranean.   Looking for a home in Altair?   Interested in finding homes for sale   Click that link to find all the currently available homes in this area of Nevada City.   For additional information contact Kris Painter CAL BRE 01459087 Call or text 530-615-7810 or website: www.forsalenevadacounty.com.   What's the Neighborhood Like? The ho... 06/19/2014

By:  Diane Sawdon I received a wonderful gift last evening.    It was a priceless treasure to me.  It made me smile the rest of the evening.   There was not a single cent of monetary value involved in this gift.   I was watching some late afternoon HGTV when the phone rang.   Because we have a “smart TV” and a Comcast “bundle” of phone, internet and cable TV, the phone number is always printed across the bottom of the screen with an identifying name.   We never answer our phone unless we recognize the name and phone number of the caller because we are constantly barraged with phone scams and telemarketers.  Oh, and to bring more joy to our telephone life, because of the coming election, every candidate wants to chat with us in a recorded message of his/her choice.    This phone call si... 06/02/2014

By:  Diane Sawdon I must confess that my yard stinks.  I know, I could be polite and say that certain areas have a bad odor, but, in actuality, it reeks!!   This year the deer population has been very pesty and Bambi and his Merry Band of Brothers seem to think that my little parcel of just shy of two acres is The All You Can Eat Buffet for Deer.   To try and defend our space against the attack of the ravenous deer population, we have invested way too much money in various and sundry products to deter the hungry herd from consuming our flora.   We have strategically placed “Yard Guards” which emit a piercing sound that is said to keep the critters away.   By now, they have figured out where to walk and not set off the annoying sound.  I am the only one, it seems, that is foolish enough... 05/04/2014

By:  Diane Sawdon I have absolutely no idea what made me do it.   We were sitting in our room at The Little River Inn this past January and I was fooling around with the Roommate’s laptop.   Not  positive that it was divine intervention or just my nosey nature and the reading of too many mystery novels, but I slid the Mouse up to Google and typed in an address from my past.   It is an address that I will never forget.  I can draw the footprint of the entire house and plot out the steps leading down to the front patio.  This was my “happy place,”  my “safe zone.”  9397 Rio Vista Road~~~~the home of my Grandparents.   These two people probably had more of an impact on the person I am today than any other people in my family.   With the death of my Father at the age of forty,  my Mother w... 04/07/2014

By:  Diane Sawdon We have almost completed our task.  Last December 9th, we set out to paint the entire interior of our home.  We were not even sure if we could do this ourselves.  After all, our Senior Citizen bodies are not as young as they once were.  Some body parts do not bend and stretch as well as they did back in the day.   But, on a fool’s errand, we challenged ourselves to give it a try.  Every piece of furniture in this house had to be moved and the walls were stripped of all ornamentation, and then everything had to be returned and re-hung.  The laundry room, a bathroom, and pantry are the only rooms that must be painted before we cross the finish line.    We have gone through endless paint rollers, paint brushes, rags, paint trays, close to nine gallons of paint and countl... 02/06/2014

By:  Diane Sawdon Happy New Year!!   The book has been closed on 2013 and this brand new year, this new book to write,  stretches out in front of  each and every one of us with a countless collection of blank pages to be filled with experiences and adventures, both good and bad.   Who knows what awaits us in the days, weeks and months ahead??    The “Storms of Life” will rear their ugly heads from time to time, but, just maybe, if we spend less time concentrating on what we are not doing and more timefocusing on what we are going to do, we might find the voyage through The Book of 2014 to be an outstanding adventure.Last year, in January, I wrote about wearing my big boots and spreading some glitter about my journey through the days of 2013.   I tried very hard to do this in the past t... 01/05/2014

By:  Diane Sawdon   December is upon us~~that month of the year which never has enough hours in the day or days in the week.   I think we do this over programming and over scheduling  to ourselves.   We have way too high of expectations for a time span of thirty one days.  I am going to, once again, get on my verbal “soap box” and preach about stopping to smell the roses.  Or in the case of this month, the pine boughs.   When I look over past December Ramblings, I seem to travel down this same road every time.   Maybe I am the one who is the slow learner here.   In defense of myself, I must say with extreme conceit that I did what I set out to do last month.   Yep, thirty little scraps of paper stuffed into a large envelope and each one dated and containing that one small blessing that ... 12/04/2013

By:  Diane Sawdon Thirty days of “grateful.”   This is my personal challenge for the month of November.   I will be writing down a small blessing for each day~~~I will be looking for that one instance, one vision, one small action that will put a smile on my face or warm my soul just a bit.   My plan is to put each day’s written accounting in an envelope and read them all at the end of the month.  Who knows??  Will this devout contrarian be able to do this??   It is effortless to list those people and things that I hold most dear~~~I am on the prowl for that one minuscule happening.   So far, I am three for three.  Wish me luck!!So much has happened to my family this past year and we all have so much for which to be thankful.   One’s good health is a powerful possession.   My advice to... 11/04/2013

By: Diane Sawdon The views outside every window in our home offer a gift~~a feast for my tired eyes.  The Red Maples, Sugar Maples, Japanese Maples, Redbuds, Dogwoods, the Burning Bush, the Virginia Creeper and even the grasses are decked out in their Autumn Finery.   Mother Nature has outdone herself this year.  If you know me at all, you know that Fall is my favorite season of the year for a variety of reasons.  I have always claimed that Mother Nature uses her paintbrush to provide us mere mortals with such fiery and striking colors.   This year she has not disappointed.   In fact, I think that the colors this Autumn are more intense than years past.   As we drive through Nevada County, I am a tour guide of color.   I constantly point out trees to my Roommate who does not seem to be... 11/04/2013

By:  Diane Sawdon I was just sitting in my favorite chair staring at some mindless TV while trying to hide from the heat and humidity outside, when I glanced at the clock and realized that it was 4:09p.m. on the first day of the new month and I had not spent any part of this day giving thought to what I would commit to paper, or in this case, the computer.  The day has managed to slip away from me.  It seems like the Summer has done just that, too.  In my mind’s eye, it was just the Fourth of July and a quick check of the calendar tells me that Autumn begins in twenty one days.      This past month we celebrated the Family Trifecta Birthday Gathering.  We commemorated a son-in-law turning 40, a daughter turning 40 something and a husband who would prefer to remain ageless!!  I noticed ... 09/02/2013

By:  Diane  Sawdon Old Friends~~~those scant few people who have blessed your life for countless years.   This past month we were fortunate enough to share some priceless hours with some of our oldest companions.  These six people have been, at various times in our lives, a classmate, a confidant, a sidekick,  a best friend,  an ally , a kindred spirit and in the vernacular of today, a homie.      Our first encounter began at Bullard’s Bar, a lake very close to our home.   For years, we owned a houseboat at Lake Shasta and a ski boat.  Stuart and Sherrie joined us at Shasta on many, many lake trips.   We met Stuart when he was 14 years old and his parents lived next door to us.   We watched this teen ager grow into a man and marry Sherrie.  Our family was in their wedding, we celebrate... 08/04/2013

By:  Diane Sawdon   I took a huge chance today.   It was an opportunity for change.  But,  for me,  it was a huge step with unlimited consequences if I did not make the correct decision.   For years now, too many to count, I have been stuck in a rut.  It was a matter of convenience and operating under the theory of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”     About a year ago, or maybe even longer than a scant twelve months,  Burt’s Bees  Inc., manufacturer of many personal products from shampoo to diaper cream, stopped making the color of my favorite lip shimmer.   At first, this was not a problem.  My Roommate was able to find this item on line and the little yellow and brown tubes arrived at my back door within a few days.   As time went on, these perfectly colored lip shimmers were becom... 07/01/2013

By:  Diane Sawdon When I hear people use the words, “at my age,” when they refer to being a member of the older generation,  my blood does a slow simmer and I want to make them swallow their words.   My Grandma used to tell me that “you are only as old as you feel,” and she lived by these words to the grand, old age of 93.    Well, I must confess that I succumbed to the “at my age,” words.   I was standing on this step stool/chair piece of furniture that we have in our master bedroom closet, attempting to grab chair cushions which were on the very top shelf.  I will also confess that I did not flip the chair part into the step stool position and, worst of all, I did not make sure that this solid oak piece of furniture was latched into the chair position.  When I planted my size eight f... 06/06/2013

By:  Diane Sawdon What am I going to type on this page??  My mind is an empty vat of stagnant thoughts.  Nothing is jumping to the forefront of my brain.  In fact, until about noon today, I had completely forgotten that I had to write Ramblings for my Better Half’s monthly Newsletter.   Not wanting to disappoint my seven fans, I am planted in this chair and will not leave it until I fill up this page with idle blather.     I just took off my shoes.  Maybe this will help me think.  We have been in the yard for an extended portion of this day.  We even did the unthinkable in Nevada County~~~~~we planted vegetables before Mother’s Day!  That act seems to be the kiss of death for one’s vegetable garden.  The mere act of sticking a vegetable start in the ground before May 15, is enough to i... 05/06/2013

By:  Diane Sawdon Happy April and Happy Spring!!  Mother Nature is doing her best to fool us with an April Fool’s Joke~~~our weather is anything but Springlike.   I am choosing not to be bothered by the grey clouds, heavy rain showers and, just for excitement, throw in some thunder and lightning.   I am in a Springtime Frame of Mind.   I have been waiting for this season to arrive for too many months and it is finally here.   Spring signals are popping up everywhere~~the daffodils are filling the landscape with glorious shades of yellow, the trees have delicate blossoms of white, pale pink, hot pink and even some magenta,  the Daphnes perfume the air, and the entire countryside is waking up and announcing that there really is a “time for every season.”      We journeyed to Fresno this ... 04/01/2013

By: Diane Sawdon Entering the building which houses the offices of California Oncology in Fresno, California, one’s eye and soul is immediately treated to an artistic feast of the celebration of survival.   The walls are adorned with the creative talents of Breast Cancer Survivors who participated in California Oncology’s “The Art of Life Project.”   Each individual painting, collage or sculpture symbolizes the “Colors of Courage.”      My husband and I were in this building to celebrate, yes, celebrate with our daughter.  It was her last  Chemo infusion and it was our honor and pleasure to be there for her on that day.   We had pink tulips and pink balloons delivered and the warm and caring staff made us feel at home.    Music played softly in the background as our daughted cat napped... 03/03/2013