I don't want to move on without a salute to the beauty of fall folliage. It's easy to start talking about getting away with the wander I did shooting multiple pictures of bolting dill umbels and leaf on brilliant leaf. Almost as soon as I shot this (11/28) the spectacle is over.

One other spectacle I wasn't going to miss was seeing Orien sworn in to the California state bar last Friday in S.F. Here is Lauren, who is also now an attorney and Suman, who is finishing up her own area of study as well as my own sweet child and proud me.

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 After going to lunch we wandered back to the BART via the Occupy Encampment. Lively with human interaction and "stuff" it was in a hum with warm weather and high (both meanings) spirits. I'm sad to say that a police sweep last night dismantled the camp, kicked everyone out, destroyed private property, including the library. I was discouraged with some of our local process issues but not with the movement itself and am eager to see where we go from here in Chico as well as the entire country. Occupy Lives!

 We picked up bio-diesel at Bio-diesel Oasis in Berkeley and made it as far as the Delta. We camped in a gale of constant knock-you-over wind on Sherman Island among fisher-people of all nations for the night. Great place to have wind turbines though.

The next day we crossed the valley on Hwy. 12 and ended up spending a lot of time in Grinding Rock (Chaw' se) State Park. This was home to the Miwok people for the last 3000 years and is the largest grinding rock in North America with 1185 mortar cups, the only place you can see intentionally decorated petroglyphs among the bedrock mortars.

We wandered along learning about how the Miwok Nation had built their homes, their roundhouse, their playing field and about their foodsources, healing methods, basket plants, etc.
At some point I was visited by a very serious image of women bound together in great terror in the area where the viewing platform is now. That image has stayed with me and I have been plying it with spoonfuls of love and relaxation since it came to me. I have no doubt of the veracity of my vision. I did not go into the museum and learn about what the gold rush era whites did but I know it was another genocide.  An energetic blueprint of those horrified women is frozen over that tableau that should be one of industry and sisterhood and I am returning to it when I can to give what support I can to unfreezing the past and freeing those spirits.

 And at Caples Lake we saw a literal freezing event of great beauty. The wind in the high country had created beautiful shapes at the north end of the lake in the previous days.

 We went on to complete our loop to Reno. We stayed one very cold night at Lower Bear Lake and then swung up to Grover Hot Springs before cutting back down to the East side of the Sierra to Reno where we spend an illuminated night in the Peppermill parking lot before picking up the Veggie Voyagers book from Sundance Books (wonderful bookstore.. so sad not to be wanted by... small whines and whimpers but no major howls or growls. Unrequited Love... too bad and toughened up.) We picked up more bio-diesel from Simple Bio-fuels in downtown Vinton before lowering down the Feather River canyon to our valley in the glowing jewel of dusk.