Gold Rush Days

Our little town of Downieville began re-living its Wild West heritage five years ago, when the Chamber of Commerce initiated Gold Rush Days as a part of California's three-year Sesquicentennial Celebration. The first one featured a genuine Wells Fargo stagecoach, however, they have been tamer ever since. Many people dress in period costume, adding to the flavor of the event, but we are in the middle of a heat wave this weekend, so the heavy clothing was not as prevalent as in the past.


The local storekeeper runs screaming from the building, setting the stage for a mock robbery and gunfight between good and evil, courtesy of Gunslingers, Inc. 


The "robbers" deposit the loot and attempt to flee. Note, our crafts co-op, Mountain Harvest in the background on the left, and the street sign, harking to earlier mining camp days. 


My sock and I pose in the shade for a moment during Gold Rush Days. I look a bit wilted and disheveled, but it was already 98 degrees, and now I understand why we don't dress this way every day. 

Sunday was spent staying inside trying to avoid the heat wave that has hit us... as it does about three times each summer season. The temps have been hovering around 100 degrees, thunderheads each afternoon, and dry lightening (which means fire danger) in the high country to our east. It struck me yesterday that I can be pinned inside as easily by trying to avoid heat stroke in summer as I can trying to stay dry during the deluges of winter. DD is visiting so we went to the "big" town of Grass Valley so I could get supplies to make a bag for my sock kit pal. I have been hit-and-miss with knitting, feeling restless, and doing a few rows of one project and then a few of another, as well as practicing with the spindle. I am looking forward to a cooling trend predicted for the middle of the week.