Old Timers 2011

Today some of us met at the CLEO office in Winton to get the reminder cards ready to mail for the Winton Old Timers Reunion. Back row is Agnes and Rosalie; front row: Ivaleine, Avanell, Wilene, Wanda, Marilyn and Carolyn.
The tradition of Winton's annual reunion was started 51 years ago. It's held on the last Sunday in September, which this year is September 25.

The location is the Winton Middle School on Cypress Avenue, between Almond and Gertrude Avenues, across from the cemetery.
Registration starts at 10:00 a.m. This gives people more time to visit with old friends and new acquaintances.
Lunch is served at 1:00 p.m., which allows people to attend church first if they wish.
When you register, purchase a lunch ticket for $8.00.
Lunch will be chicken breast from Rizzonellis, KFC coleslaw, Winton Old Timers' baked beans, dinner roll, and dessert. This year dessert will be birthday cake to celebrate Winton's 100 years. Beverages include coffee, iced tea and lemonade.

This year the Winton Historical Society will have their "Winton Centennial" recipe book for sale for $15.00 and the coffee mugs with a picture of the Winton Depot for $5.00.
Some back issues of the "Hometown News" will be available for $1.00. All the back issues can be purchased on CD in the PDF format for $5.00. This year there are 32 newsletters on the CD.
Members of the Winton Historical Society will also be collecting the annual dues at this meeting. Dues are $10.00 per year, which includes 6 newsletters with stories about Winton people from the 'good old days' mailed out every other month.
Still available is Winton's first history book, "Memories of Winton 1911-1950" written by Rosalie Heppner and Lorraine Richards. This hardback book with 530 pages and 750 pictures is $35.00.
After mailing the postcards, six of us met at Josie's Mexican American Grill in Atwater for lunch.
We hope to see a lot of Winton Old Timers this year. Come out and help us celebrate Winton's 100th year.
You don't need to receive a postcard to attend the Old Timers. The postcards are just reminders sent to people who attended in the past. Put it on your calendar and come out and mingle with old friends.

Summer Family BBQ

Today was the Heppner / Dirks / Wiebe family barbecue. Cousin Marvin belongs to the Lake Yosemite Sailing Association, so he arranged for us to meet at their clubhouse. It was a nice day for a picnic.
Everyone brought a side dish to share to go along with the hamburgers and hotdogs. The food table was overloaded with a delicious array of salads, beans and other potluck dishes.
Behind the table of food is the small older house that used to be the caretakers house, but now it belongs to the sailing association and they use it as their clubhouse. It is a very nice place for a family gathering. Very private, with a bathroom inside the house. No need for the public toilets. lol
Here is a picture of one of the tables set up for eating. Very pretty setting, with the red tablecloths and the large sunflowers. About 8 tables were set up like this to seat the 50 or so extended family members who showed up.
Last is a group picture that was a little too dark, so had to lighten it up. They are near the lake with the sailboats behind them. Can you recognize any of them? Click on the picture to enlarge it.
It was an enjoyable day. Thanks to Marvin and his cousin Monette.

The Honkers

Every morning and every evening these Canadian geese fly low right overhead. Seems like they take off somewhere around Atwater's golf course in the morning and fly southwest towards Los Banos. Or so it seems. Then around 7:30 in the evening, they return, flying low like they are getting ready to land. Sometimes there is a huge flock of them and then they are really noisy. I enjoy watching them and hearing them honk. One neighbor down the street said she didn't like them because of all the bird droppings, but I haven't noticed any of that.
I finally replanted all my Irises. Nine of them are planted among the flowers between the cherry trees.
You can see one planted between the 'pinks' and the red and white Penstemon. The fern looking plant is a volunteer Cosmo. Much bigger than the parent plant that the seed came from.
Twenty-eight Irises were planted between the two parking spots near the road. I have 37 different Iris plants. I have 4 that I don't know the names of. They were given to me without the names. The rest of them I purchased from local Iris growers and have kept track of their names. I guess some people think that's silly, but to me it makes it more interesting. Also if you happen to lose a favorite, you can try to get the same one again. I lost Lorilee years ago and the grower I bought it from didn't have it anymore either. Oh well.

On the left are the Irises planted by the road. Have to keep the ground moist so the roots will start growing right away.
On the right are the duplicates planted where they were before, next to my neighbor. The Fuyu Persimmon tree has been planted in the middle of that plot.
I also took the Plumbago from the large pot and put it in the ground. I always liked the blue flowers on it.
I will give most of the duplicates away next year. The plan is to just keep one row of my neighbor's favorite Irises next to her walkway.

Lunch at Josie's

Carole D. and I had lunch today at Josie's Mexican American Bar & Grill in Atwater's shopping center where Super Target is located. Josie's at 1301 Commerce near Applegate Road. They just opened Monday, August 8. They are open from early to late every day. I think Josie said from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Long hours, but Josie said she is going back to Mi Casa, their Merced restaurant on Childs Avenue next week. Her son, Hugo will be in charge in Atwater.
The food today was great. I've never had a bad meal at Mi Casa and I'm sure it will be good every time at their new restaurant in Atwater as well.
Here is a picture I took of Josie and her son Hugo.
Stop by and welcome them to Atwater. It's a really cute place, everything is new, bright and clean. There is even a bar with tall tables and chairs. Check it out.

Thursday Night Party

Last Thursday night (August 4)Roxanne and Marty threw a big surprise birthday party for Marty's right-hand man, Mike. The party was held at the Winton VFW, the theme was Hawaiian. In the above picture is Roxanne and Marty. In the background you can see people sitting at the bar.
Marty and friends, Kory, Jay and Danny cooked the dinner. A live band played and people got up and danced. Marty danced with his Mom, Virginia and she looked like she was having a grand time.
Marty's sister, Caroline baked a very impressive cake, shaped like a beer bottle. It was hard to believe that white bottle with a label was really a cake. I cloned out the word that was in between 'Best' and 'Cabinet' I didn't want to use the "f" word on my blog. Sorry to mess up the picture. lol.
Below is a picture of Caroline cutting the cake she baked. She turned the cake around to show the backside of it, which she said is her favorite side.
It's very pretty; the palm trees carry out the Hawaiian theme.

And where is the picture of the Birthday Boy? I think the only ones I got of Mike, he is holding up the special tee shirt they had made for him. The tee shirt covered his face, so no picture of him. I guess Mike was surprised, they had to convince him to come to the VFW, he wanted to just stay home. The place was packed with his friends and family. People were sitting around the bar all night and others at the tables listening to the live music or dancing.
My sister Carolyn and I went home kind of early, about 8:30, but some stayed until around eleven.
Pictured below is my sister Carolyn in the middle, her granddaughter, Stephanie on the left and Carolyn's daughter Roxanne on the right. Stephanie is Roxanne's daughter so it's a 3 generation picture.

Last Weekend

Saturday I had a nice visit with Mandy and John. They drove down from Chico to attend Mandy's other Grandma's birthday party in Modesto.
When they got to my place around four, we went for a dip in the pool. This was my first time in the pool since moving here. It wasn't quite as relaxing as I expected. My feet cramped up and my leg muscle tightened. Maybe the water wasn't warm enough.
After that we went to Nagame's for dinner. The picture of them was taken there. I love Mandy's new top. Very cute.
Sunday morning we had a late breakfast at Granny's Kitchen in Atwater. It was our first time there. Nice homey place to eat. A little noisy (voices) but hey, sounds like family. I'm sure I'll go back again.

Tuesday was the Winton Historical Society meeting. I took the last of the Iris plants with me and begged people to take them home.
They did!!! Thank you everyone.
I gave them a link to my Iris flowers at flickr.
What really surprised me, was the next day (August 3) people discovered my old Merced post cards at flickr. It had the most hits I have ever seen. Photos were clicked on 858 times; 8 photo streams and 63 sets.
All that in one day. Wow!! That sure was a record for my photos at flickr. Most of the hits were the Merced post cards. You can find the link to my pictures there on the left, if interested in seeing them, or click here to see the set of vintage Merced post cards.
I'm having Joe the gardener do some extra work for me Saturday, so I'm hoping to get my Iris flowers replanted next week.