HALF-CENTURY EXPEDITION!

Fifty years ago, I embarked on an expedition, unlike any I had ever been on before, or would be again.  It was called childbirth, and it made me the mother of an 8 pound, 8 ounce little boy.  Although I had taken a course in college called "Child Development", I had no real life experience in infant/child care, as I had NEVER done any baby sitting.  However, a few weeks after my son (I will call him G for this blog post) was born, a Registered Nurse came to our home to visit, and give me some pointers.  She was the director of the nursery where I attended church, and she was also the wife of the physician who had delivered my son.  However, after my son was older, and I introduced him to this man as the physician who delivered him, the doctor humbly said, "All I did was catch him!"  I felt comfortable taking my son to the church nursery on Sundays, knowing the Registered Nurse would be there to supervise his care.  Also, there were several ladies in the church nursery who had worked there for decades, and were experts at taking care of babies.  I knew I could learn a lot from them, so I started volunteering in the church nursery on Sunday mornings, and it was very beneficial!  I am very thankful for the opportunity I had to take G to church, and was overjoyed when he made the decision to accept the fact that Jesus had taken the penalty for his sins, by being crucified on the cross.  His decision is assurance that we both will be reunited in heaven, after we die.  

 
I have enjoyed celebrating my son's birthday, from the very first one (shown in circular photo of collage), and on through the years, as he left home, and was living in locations around the country.  Whenever possible, I like to continue the tradition of using the red, tradition-laden,  "YOU ARE SPECIAL TODAY" plate, on such occasions!  These photos bring to mind a favorite verse I like to associate with a photograph of loved ones.  It says, "I thank my God upon every remembrance of you."  Philippians 1:3

 I remember a "travel birthday celebration", when my husband and I picked G up at college, and we took a flight to Nevada, to celebrate in Las Vegas. We went to see the famous show, Cirque du Soleil at the Mirage, and stopped to have a photo made at the Harley Davidson Cafe. 

I actually have a thank you note from my son,  that I kept and framed, because it was the only time I have a letter from him, written in cursive!

This blog entry, is about a trip I made from Arkansas, to California, to celebrate my son's 50th birthday.  I flew out of Tulsa, Oklahoma, at sunrise, and started "puddle jumping" across the country, with stops in Denver, Colorado, and San Francisco, California. 

My son picked me up at the Redding airport, and we headed to Costco, to purchase the necessary supplies needed for a weekend of hosting several other family members,  who were also coming to celebrate his birthday.  I was quite hungry, so the first thing we did in Costco, was try out their famous bargain of a footlong hot dog, and beverage, for only $1.50!

My son (G), and his wife (S) were eager to show me the gift S had given G for his birthday, a Pelaton treadmill!  They already had the Pelaton bicycle, which I had tried out on a previous visit.

I use an "old fashioned" treadmill regularly, so I was eager to try out the Pelaton, as was my son's mother in law (J):

The four of us went on a day trip to explore northwest California, and stopped in the tiny town of Etna, to have lunch at a popular spot there, called Denny Bar (www.dennybarcompany.com)

G chose this area to explore because he wanted to see what the landscape looked like, in the area where dams across the Klamath River had been dismantled.  The photo below shows the large, empty reservoir, that used to be full of water that was impounded by the dam.  The body of water you can see flowing through the bottom of the photo is the now-free-flowing, Klamath River. 

Once back at their home, it was time for the always enjoyable mother-son "Show and Tell" update!  G showed me the ship models he as been painting---seems like an appropriate hobby, considering his last name!

I also saw the repair job he was completing on a small cedar chest my father had made. 

It was fun walking on their property with his wife (S), her daughter (K), and grandson (C).  And, or course, their dog, "Indiana Jones", enjoyed sniffing around the woods!

Thankfully, there was not a big snowstorm that impaired my travel, but there WAS enough leftover snow, to show C how to make a snowball, and instigate a snowball fight!

This photo shows S, and her mom (J), teaching C about their container garden, which actually had some green things growing in February! 

Since I like lettuce, C and I posed for a "Lettuce entertain you" photo!

Continuing the outdoor activities, C played in the dirt with his construction toys, then "Pappy G" let him sit on his lap for a photo on the tractor!  The "Pappy G" nickname is a nod to what G called his maternal grandfather---Pappy Joe.

Photo below shows C and his father, D, trying out a "Strider" for the first time.  This device uses the principle of "subtraction", to facilitate a desired outcome.  The goal is to get a youngster comfortable, just walking, with a two-wheeler between their legs, before they possibly become discouraged by trying to learn to pedal a two-wheeler.   Notice there are no pedals to master---the power of subtraction!  The publisher of the theory about the "benefits of subtraction", speculated our culture could have better outcomes in many areas, if we gave more consideration to "subtraction"!

Yippee!  A photo of my son on his fiftieth birthday, with the YOU ARE SPECIAL PLATE, while he enjoys his morning coffee, in a custom-made ceramic mug. 

No birthday celebration is complete without a cake, which K and D "imported" from Oregon.

 

We all got a laugh, whenever C swooped in to blow out the candles before Pappy G!

So now, my collage of birthday celebrations for G, spans from the age of one year to fifty years!

That little boy that was 19 inches long when he was born, is now LOTS taller than the mother who birthed him!

This wooden high chair has quite a history in G's family, and continues to be a good photo prop!

I was very thankful that D got the set up arranged, so we could get a group photo outside, during the short period of my visit, when there was not precipitation falling from the sky!  That beautiful red beard belongs to S's son, who also has a "C" name.  Could there be Vikings in his ancestry??

One of our indoor activities during my visit, was making bread, and S shows C a loaf just out of the oven, that is almost as big as he is!

I was very impressed with this bread machine, because it accidentally vibrated itself off the kitchen counter, and sustained a dent, and broken-off lid.  But amazingly, with the help of a bungee cord to fasten down the lid, it continued to work!  The incident gave a whole new meaning to the phrase, "Breaking bread together!"

One of the places everyone wanted to have a breakfast item from, was the Seven Suns coffee shop.  It was President's Weekend, meaning the town was overflowing with tourists, so we placed our orders by phone, then D and I went to pick up the yummy breakfast burritos.  Notice the quarried volcanic stone, and river rock, used to make this historic facade. 

 

The rain continued, so we treated G to an indoor game of bowling for his birthday, in the town with the worrisome sounding name of "Weed".  G's father once bowled a perfect 300 game in a tournament in Springfield, Missouri, but that was not to be the case for G on his birthday!

G took a video, of C's mom and dad showing him how to use the "dinosaur" slide, to give the bowling ball the necessary speed it would need to make it, to the end of the lane. 

Another table game we played was called "Wingspan".   It will teach you facts about birds and their habitat that can be fascinating, but overwhelming!

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• One reason my son moved out west when he finished medical school, was for the rock climbing opportunities.  He has built an indoor practice climbing wall everywhere he has lived, since he left his childhood home, so it is not surprising that he has now built one at his newest location!  (At one point, he even invested in building a commercial climbing wall, as a part of a venture into retail business)
  
  
  His Pappy Joe also enjoyed building things (as well as fishing!), and is shown in this photo with youngster G, with a fish Pappy Joe caught, and the house he built in the 1940's.  That style of stone work is common in the Ozarks, and is called "giraffe style". 
  
  
  
  Although it is a different kind of "fish", the photo below shows Pappy G and C, as they practice "fishing"!
  

There was a pool table in the downstairs recreation room of G's childhood home, so it is only fitting that there is also a pool table in his present home!  It was fun playing the game with G, S, and J. 

 

I think I could have been a better player all those years ago, if I had seen one of these "training balls", like G has with his present table!

After a fantastic visit with family, G and S drove me to the airport in Redding, where I boarded a plane going eastward, with the first stop being in San Francisco.  I have a much greater appreciation for the famous Golden Gate Bridge leading to that city, after I walked across it, and back, as part of a Road Scholar (www.roadscholar.org) program I attended.  That same Road Scholar program facilitated hiking many of the areas of Marin County, shown in the photo below, that I took from my airplane window. (See the photos I posted about that adventure, in the archives of this blog.  It is entitled "Hiking the Golden Gate Bridge Expedition!", and has a date of June 15, 2019.)

The next stop on my journey eastward was the iconic Denver International Airport.  It is a dramatic sight at any time of the day, but I found it to be especially photogenic from my airplane window at nighttime. 

Speaking of nighttime, it was around midnight when my plane finally landed at the Tulsa, Oklahoma airport.  I retrieved my car from the airport covered parking lot, and made the short drive to the adjacent Hilton Hotel.  A night of restful sleep enabled me to complete a "bucket list" item, that has been in my mind, ever since I heard about the completion of the Tulsa Riverwalk Trail.  A while back I had hoped to walk it on a day I was in Tulsa, but the highway I needed to use to get to the access of it, was closed for circumstances beyond my control.  Hence, the delay!  Fortunately, this time, the highway was open, my GPS took me straight to the parking lot, the skies were clear with no rain/snow, and the temperature was perfect for walking in the outdoors!  The paved trail is used by both pedestrians and bicyclists, and follows the meandering of the Arkansas River, through the Tulsa area.  You can get more details at www.visittulsa.com

The photo below shows my shadow, waving farewell, and saying a prayer of gratitude, that I was able to be with my son on his fiftieth birthday!  This "Half-Century Expedition" gave me MILES OF SMILES!  Tricia

ECLIPSE AND PHOTOHIKOGRAPHY EXPEDITION!

My son came up with the word "manzineering", which he defined as using manzinita bushes to facilitate forward/upward movement on a bushwhacking trek, so I tried to come up with a term that would combine taking lots of photos, while simultaneously exploring and hiking--the term is "Photohikography".  I do not anticipate my new word to be added to the 2024 Urban dictionary, but at least I know what it means!  My son (G) and his wife (S) came from California, to visit me, and I wanted to show them around the backwoods of Arkansas, while as unobtrusively as possible, taking lots of photos of them, since I do not often get to hike with them in my home state.  Our first stop was beside what used to be an old homestead, but the weathered oak boards it was made from, finally were blown over in a storm, leaving a heap of rubble.  However, close examination shows that one can still observe the hand held ax marks, that were used for the foundation joists. But even if all the boards and rusted corrugated tin roof were gone, a trained observer could tell this used to be a homestead location,That is because of the presence of "ghost flowers", aka, jonquils.  These bright yellow blossoms are one of the few blooming flowers that deer will not eat, and, as such, are good indicators of abandoned homesteads.

The old homestead is a short walking distance from a water source.  I learned in my Ozark history classes, that the criteria the early pioneers used for building a shelter was that it had to be close enough to a water source that the wife could carry a bucket of water in each hand,  from the creek to the shelter. I remember when my father kept a houseboat at Bull Shoals Lake, my job was always to carry a big water container to the top of the hill where the Corps of Engineer campground was located, use the pump there to fill the container with water, then carefully trudge down the steep incline and across the gang plank (just a wooden two by ten board), and onto the deck of the boathouse.  It was not an easy task, but it has always given me an appreciation, for when I hear stories about third world countries, where indigenous people have to carry water (often full of pathogens), for long distances.  At least the water I used to have to carry was from a sanitary well!  My limited knowledge of landscape archaeology leads me to theorize that at one time, there was an active spring source of water, that was even closer to the old homestead.  That is based on a small wall of fieldstone that still can be seen between the homestead and the creek.  I have a cut stone, as a door step, that had "1896" carved into it, which I like to imagine, was carved by the original pioneers that homesteaded this land.

The hiking group I am in called "Women Hiking the Ozarks"  abbreviated WHO, always includes information in a hike write-up, about how many "water crossings" the hike is likely to encounter.  I knew we would probably have some on the day we set out, but the width and depth can vary from one day to the next, especially in the spring.  The photo below shows our first water crossing:

One of my favorite type of areas to explore, are the many bluff shelters that can be found in the Ozarks.  I have visited some, that would have held hundreds of native Americans seeking shelter, but this one would probably only hold one or two small families. 

If one gets as far back in the bluff shelter as possible, it can provide a natural frame for a photo:

Photo below was taken when I was under the bluff shelter, and S was standing on a boulder in the creek:

Sometimes in the winter, after a freezing rain, there will be a "wall of icicles" cascading over the top of this bluff.  That is a fun photo capture!

I am 5'2" tall, and can can barely touch the ceiling of the shelter, when standing on my tip toes. 

Judging from the amount of large rock fall here, one might thing this bluff used to be much higher, but has eroded, and fallen into the creek.

Look at the present-day explorers on the distant rock! (S is standing behind G)

Here is a closer photo of the cute couple

Of course I wanted a mother/son photo!

I like this photo of S with "God Beams" (sun beams that are captured in a photo) on each side of her!

S is a skilled knitter, and the cute cap she is earing is one she knitted herself!

Here is a photo of G and S bouldering

One can barely see a human figure in this scene.  I remember when G was rock climbing on El Cap, in Yosemite, and I was in communication with a photographer at the base of the monolith, who was photographing his ascent.  Knowing I wanted to purchase photographs of my son that he took, the photographer said he wished my son would wear a brighter colored shirt, so he would be easier to spot, as he ascended hundreds of feet up the granite wall!  (Translation:  The photographer could sell more photographs, if the climber was easier to see against the wall!)

S took this photo of my son and I, as we were climbing the bluff, to reach the top of the mountain.  I was grasping for a sapling to hang on to, to pull me forward. 

The pointed rock I am sitting on was ok for a photograph, but would not be comfortable for any extended time!

Photo below shows G and S, "putting their heads together", for a short rest, before we proceeded on our hike. 

After the trip to Australia, I learned that the Hebrew word for praise means "Hands Upward Toward God", so now I have an even better reason to make this gesture!

Photo below shows S, with her uplifted hands:

Even though this was the first week of April, the photo shows that these deciduous trees have not leafed out yet. 

I remember the first time I ever raised my arms like photo below,  for a photograph.  It was in 2001, and I was standing on the steps of the famous landmark---the gleaming white Opera House, beside the water, in Sydney, Australia.  I had just finished watching hours of Olympic gymnasts in the 2000 Olympic games in Australia.  Each athlete would complete their routine, then at the end, give the gesture of both arms lifted up.  Having made it to Australia (as a result of a generous gift from my son of a round-trip airline ticket), and climbed the many steps of the Opera House, I felt like I had just completed a "mini" Olympic feat, and raised my arms like the Olympic gymnastics athletes did!  After that turning point moment, I started doing the same gesture , whenever I completed an item on my bucket list, or completed a particularly difficult hike. 

S and I, stretched out on a flat rock in the creek, after the day got warmer. 

These two triangle-shaped rocks, when placed with their tips together, remind me of the shape of a man's bow tie!

So thankful I could get my handsome son to flash a smile for this photo!

 

Couple illustrating "Love on the rocks"!

Here I am, trying to look glamorous, while balancing on this very narrow rock, above the water!

Rock Solid Creek Explorer!

We encountered a waterfall on the second creek we explored, so I used the long exposure feature on my iphone to "fuzz out" the waterflow.  Back in the olden days, one would have to put their 35 mm camera on a tripod, set it for a long exposure, with low speed film, then hope the "fuzz out" effect turns out.  It is much easier with a smart phone to get the same effect!

Here is the couple in front of the same waterfall, but without the long exposure feature.  The newly-sprouted green tree leaves, give a bit of color to the scene. 

Our last water crossing on the hike, was a bit deeper, and there were not any stepping stones.  So G took off his shoes, and carefully walked across, with the help of a fallen limb he found. 

S crossed the creek with no problems whatsoever!

Did you know that the next time G and S come to visit, this waterfall will be farther away from where they are wading, than it is at present?  That is because waterfalls "walk" backwards, as the water erodes the rock surface they tumble over, moving it back slightly with each drop.  (But don't plan on seeing a difference in this lifetime---the process takes eons!)

This photo shows a California couple, who are exploring in the Ozarks,  "outstanding in their field"!

I made a photo prop for the eclipse, after seeing some ideas on line, and this photo shows the "Umbraphiles", wearing their special eclipse glasses, holding the prop. 

And here are the Umbraphiles, just wearing regular sun glasses.  (The root of this phrase means "shadow lover" and "umbra" is also the root word for umbrella!)

 

We put the camera on "automatic", so all three of us could be together for the eclipse photo below.  I guess you could call us the framed "ecliptomaniacs"!  On April 8, 2024, in Mountain Home, Arkansas, these three people, joined millions of other Americans, and gazed at the sky to behold the Creator's majesty!  It was a total solar eclipse and a very memorable point in time!  (But just in case my memory starts to fade into nothingness, these photos, and this blog post, will preserve the celebratory occasion!)

After we returned from hiking, we relaxed a bit on the back porch .  The green bench where you see six feet propped up, was

made by my grandfather Grover.  The white wicker couch G and S are sitting on, is one I purchased when I was in Graduate school at the University of Arkansas in 1971.  It was used, and purchased at a second hand shop, so I am totally amazed that it is still able to be of service, considering it is well over fifty years old!

In photo below, I am standing in front of "Marriage Rock", where Fred and I had our Lakota Sioux marriage ceremony, performed by a "certified" member of the tribe, who brought along a Lakota Sioux peace pipe, to make it complete.  I told the native American before we started, that I was not going to smoke from that thing, as I have avoided smoking all my life.  He assured me that the pipe was used to "tap" each of our shoulders during parts of the ceremony, and we would not be actually smoking from it.  Afterwards, we made a pyramid of field-stones, on top of "Marriage Rock" as "Stones of Remembrance".  By the way, we were not wearing traditional wedding attire; rather, we had on our black leather chaps, jackets, and boots, as we sat on our Harley-Davidson motorcycle, during the ceremony!

My son has a type of soda named in his honor!

The green, vintage metal lawn chairs G and S are sitting in, are the same ones G's grandparents, Grover and Effie, sat in, almost 100 years earlier!  The footstool is one made by my father for his boathouse. 

For viewing the eclipse, we hung out in the front yard, partially in shade, and partially in the sunlight.  Although it was not especially troubling to me, whenever the sun was totally covered by the shadow of the moon, the darkness automatically triggered the bright security light in the front yard to come on, as well as the solar lights.  So future eclipse viewers may want to seek a location away from "automatic lights"!

I wanted to make a stone souvenir of G and S visiting here for the eclipse, so I tried mixing concrete, for the first time ever.  The results are shown below.  If these cement souvenirs last as long as the wooden chairs behind me (made by my grandparents, Grover and Effie) I will be amazed!  (The vintage, push lawnmower behind me also belonged to them, and the brown bench beside them was the wash stand in use, with the old wringer washer they used.  I put my hand between the roller ringers, when I was a little girl, which may account for my weird shaped fingers today!)

 

The idea of "Stones of Remembrance" has been around for thousands of years.   I first read about them in my First Place 4 Health (www.FirstPlace4Health.com) class.  The Bible verse in Joshua 4:21-22  talks about Joshua making  "Stones of Remembrance" and states, "In the future your children will ask, 'what do these stones mean?' ".   The commentary on this phrase says, that a stone monument was commonly useIf that happens regarding these concrete "stones" I made, I want it to be known I am praising God for having the eclipse come over the place where I live, and making it possible for my son and his wife to view it with me!  This gave me "MILES OF SMILES"!  Tricia