Monday, June 9, 2025

OREGON SPRINKLE EXPEDITION!

The photo below shows my first-ever invitation to a "baby sprinkle".  Turns out, it was a play on words, since a "sprinkle" is not a full "shower".  The parents already had one young boy (and, hence, many of the necessities a baby boy would receive at a baby shower), so the baby boy still in his mother's womb, would only need a "sprinkle", not a "shower"!  Clever, huh??!!  The golf cart on the invitation, along with the golf phrases, "PAR-TEE", were hints that this event had a golf theme.  
The hostess for the event graciously invited me to stay in her home the Friday night before, so that I was there all day Saturday, to watch the preparations get underway, and assist as needed.  The photo below shows Jan, Deana, Laury, and Stacy, in the process of blowing up balloons (with an electric device), then tying off the top of the balloons, then stuffing them into bags, in preparation for making a balloon arch.  I have always admired balloon arches when I have seen them at special occasions, but this was my first time to ever participate in making one of them.  Suffice it to say, it takes quite a while to get the balloons tied onto a rope, which is then hung on a wall, to form an arch.      
The hostess had ordered custom-made cookies, each with with a golf theme design incorporated into the icing.  Besides each one being a work of art, they actually tasted delicious!  Likewise, the custom-made cupcakes, had a round piece of chocolate on top, wrapped up to look like a golf ball.  A decorative golf club was also on top of each cupcake.    There was no sneaking around to eat one of the cupcakes, because as soon as you bit into it, your lips and tongue turned green, as shown in one of the photos of little Connor, later in this blog.  There were the usual adult beverages, plus the kids had their own "beverage station", cleverly placed in a little red wagon, surrounded by ice.  
We set up an assembly line to make club sandwiches, once again using the golf theme, by the word "club", and a golf club wooden pick, holding the layers together.  
They had a "pop up" canopy to set up, and we all had a hand in getting it out of its folded up position, and into the completely opened up position.  It definitely took a team to get this accomplished!
I was thanking God for the beautiful weather that we had for the backyard event, as there was no rain, very little wind, and the temperature was perfect!

One of the adult activities, was to guess how many golf tees were in the big baby bottle, with the winner getting a special golf-themed prize. The photo beside the bottle, shows little Connor, with a golf club and golf ball.

The centerpieces on the table were made from artificial turf, and filled with golf balls, tees, and photos of Dean, Kaylee, and Connor out on the golf course.  Also, shown is the "Who is the baby's daddy" game.  Each guest was given a scratch off card, and only one of the cards had an actual photo of the daddy Dean.  The other faces were well-known celebrities.  
This photo shows several of the guests holding up their "whose your daddy" card, but none of them won the prize.  

The balloon arch made the perfect back drop for photos, and this photo below shows the honorees---Dean and Kaylee.  
This photo shows the family of the host and hostess.
The photo below shows why I was invited.  My son is married to Kaylee's mom!  (There were dozens more photos of groups under the balloon arch, but for purposes of brevity in this blog, I just put the photos of people who hosted me for overnight stays.)
This photo shows four generations of my daughter-in-law's family:  young Connor (with green tongue from green cupcake icing), Stacy, with her daughter Kaylee and mother Jan.
And this photo shows just two generations---me and my son, known as "Pappy G", to Connor, because my son called my father, "Pappy Joe".   

However, there were additional generations of "Pappy G" represented in the gift I brought for the "sprinkle".   For decades, I have kept the perforated metal top that fit into a glass bottle, that "Pappy G's" great grandmother used to "sprinkle" the clothes with water, she would be pressing, with a heavy metal object, heated on top of a wood stove.  This was the pioneer's version of a "steam iron".  (for purposes of my air travel to get to Oregon, I had replaced the glass bottle, with a plastic bottle, which contained a gift check that could be used for the baby's diaper needs or other necessities).  The miniature iron I gave to Kaylee, is one that "Pappy G's" grandmother used to iron her doll clothes, whenever her  mom was ironing the grown up clothes.  The badly-faded embroidery shows an elf with wings, sitting on top of an old-fashioned iron.  It was a "tea towel", that had been in my mother's Hope Chest.  The Hope Chest was usually a hand-made cedar box, with hinged top, which girls would start filling as a child, with tea towels and doilies and aprons and baby blankets they made, in hopes of having a husband and family some day---hence, the phrase "Hope Chest"!  My father made numerous cedar "Hope Chests".  Also, included was an old-fashioned clothes pin, made from a single piece of wood, before the invention of hinged clothes pins.


I mentioned the games for adults, and there were also fun activities for the little ones.  The most popular was the bubble machine, which always makes for interesting photo opportunities!

My son and I played one of the children's games, which was new to me!
Connor really got into the idea of a "SPRINKLE", when someone gave him a water bottle with a hole punched in the lid, which he repeatedly filled, and proceeded to "sprinkle" anyone who could not get out of his squirting range!
This event was a wonderful celebration of the precious gift, currently in the process of being "knit together" in his mother's womb, as described in Psalm 139.  It was an expedition that gave me "MILES OF SMILES"!  Tricia

Monday, June 2, 2025

BRYANT CREEK STATE PARK EXPEDITION!

In 2024, I went with friends from "Women Hiking the Ozarks" abbreviated "WHO" to do a hike at a place that had never been on our schedule before.  It was Bryant Creek State Park (www.mostateparks.com), which was added to the Missouri system in 2022.  As always, our group "circled up" at the beginning, to go over the instructions from our volunteer trail coordinators, tell our names, and number off.  (The goal being to have the same number at the end of the hike, as at the beginning!)  The concrete pad where we are gathered also serves as the handicap parking spot, for the two pit toilets, which are handicapped accessible.  The covered kiosk on the left, had helpful information posted behind the glass, plus a container that had paper maps, a hiker could take with them while exploring.

Our large group divided into those who wanted the longer, more difficult hike and those who wanted the shorter, less difficult hike.  I was in the group who wanted the shorter distance, and I took the photo below of my group, when we started our journey:
The long trail group hikers are TOUGH!
At one point far from our starting point, the two groups crossed paths.  I was in the group with their backs facing the camera, while the longer mileage hikers are facing the camera. 




The photo below shows 3 ladies conferring with their map, while the lady at the left of the photo worked on the ambitious goal of getting a very wide angle photo that would show the entire group. 
What the map readers were trying to figure out, is where we were in terms of the waterfall that is listed on the map.  Eventually, we came across the (barely flowing) waterfall, and it is pictured behind me.  We were visiting the area during deer hunting season, which accounts for my bright orange attire. 
  The bluffs that occur throughout the park add to its biodiversity, with a bioinventory indicating 940 kinds of plants, shrubs, wildflowers, and trees.  The photo below shows one of our hikers beside an outcrop of sandstone. 
The park brochure says ledges of Roubidoux sandstone, stacked two or three layers tall, follow the ins and outs of the area hills and hollows.  Sometimes our trail was on top of the sandstone, sometimes beside it, and sometimes between it, as shown in photo below:

The Ozarks is famous for its "hills and hollers", which means there may be a bit of water flowing through the hollers at the bottom of the hills.  As a trail patrol volunteer with the Arkansas Master Naturalists (www.arkansasmasternaturalists.org), I can appreciate the labor that is required to create a trail through a heavily wooded area.  The trails here were built with the assistance of team Fire 1 of AmeriCorps NCCC, a full-time service program (www.americorps.gov) allowing young adults ages 18-26 to serve in communities across the country to learn leadership skills. 

When I was at the park last November, I read the information at the kiosk, that said a track chair was available, by advance reservation, for visitors to the parks.  When I contacted the park to arrange a demonstration in December, the ranger explained that it generally is not available during December, January, February, and March because of weather-related issues, so I was delighted when the park ranger, Nick, followed up with me again in April, indicating that a demonstration of the track chair could now be scheduled.  Friends of mine from church (R and C) were also interested in learning about the track chair, and we are shown below:

After the park ranger explained how it worked,  the liability release form had been signed, and identity verified by R showing a photo ID driver's license, we were ready to start rolling!  C is shown below, using the track chair as it was set up, upon our arrival.  C has limited use of her right hand, so she was having to reach across her body, to operate the "joy stick" that controls the chair, with her still-functional left hand.  This was not an "ergo-efficient" movement, and proved to be very tiring for her left hand. 

Thankfully, there was a solution, as the ranger explained that the controls could be moved to the opposite side of the chair, with advance notice, but he did not have the necessary tools with him, to make the change at that time.  That is when R pulled out a fully-equipped tool bag out of his van, and the two guys started the process of switching the sides of the chair that the joy stick was located.  It did not require a change in the electronics cord, just a matter of unscrewing the control boxes for the electronics, and transferring them behind the chair, to be relocated to the opposite side. The chair runs on battery power, with the amount of battery charge remaining, displayed on the arm controls.  Because of the limited battery power, it is generally recommended that the chair can only be used for a two hour time period, before needing to be recharged at an electrical source. 
It was inspiring to see these two work together on a common goal! 



The chair was much easier for C to maneuver with the controls on the left:


C has an electric wheel chair at home that uses a "joy stick", so once she had the controls on the left side, she was ready to go "full throttle" on the trail!  (The speed is adjustable incrementally, from 1 (slowest) to 5 (fastest).    The photo below shows she was several feet ahead of me, as I was a walker; and, the photo also shows the golden "track chair" blaze on the pine tree, as well as illustrating there are park benches along the trail used by the track chair. 

This tree shows the blazes (hiking trail markers) used for all the trails at Bryant Creek State Park.  The red rectangle designates the  4.5 mile Pike Hollow Trail, the yellow rectangle designates the Pinewoods Trail, and the blaze below it with the symbol for the track chair, means this section is where the track chair is permitted.  The liability release form that a participant signs, indicates the chair is equipped with a GPS locator, so the possibility of a person in the chair getting lost in the woods is minimal.  Also, the liability release form one signs, indicates that park personnel are not allowed to assist the user into or out of the chair, so most users will need to have a helper with them for that maneuver.  The form also states that their photo/video may be used by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, while they are using the action track chair.  However, before I published their photos, I asked C and R, if it was okay for me to do so, which they said was okay.  By the way, the blazes in this photo (which do not harm the trees) are on trees that are partly responsible for the development of Bryant Creek State Park.  That is because the park acreage has a nice stand of Missouri's only native Shortleaf Pine. 

One reason I became interested in accessibility to the outdoors is that decades ago, my nephew was teaching hang-gliding at a location in Southern California.  A gust of wind caught his hang-glider, slamming him against a cliff.  The injury resulted in him having lower body paralysis, causing him to be confined to a wheelchair from then on.  Another learning experience was the week I spent at a Road Scholar (www.RoadScholar.org) program at the FDR Presidential Library and Museum, in Hyde Park, New York.  Learning about the difficulties FDR had when he was confined to a wheel chair after a bout with polio, I was impressed by his determination.  I remember in particular a quote from President Franklin D. Roosevelt saying to the effect, that he had just signed into existence, a new USA National Park, that he would never be able to enjoy, as a person confined to a wheel chair.  Fortunately, since that time, progress has been made to correct that situation.  One group that I follow on social media that has the goal of taking mobility-impaired folks to places they could never go otherwise, is called Luke5Adventures (www.Luke5Adventures.org).  Using a "chair cycle" (similar to what is used in mountain rescues) they take people on some, otherwise unattainable for the paralyzed person, trails.  The name comes from the passage in Luke 5:17-26, that tells about the men who carried a paralyzed man to Jesus for healing, gaining access to Jesus, by lowering the man down through a hole in the roof of the room where Jesus was teaching.  They were demonstrating faith and friendship in action! 

Seeing the faith and perseverance my nephew, my friends C and R, and other wheel-chair folks at my church demonstrate, despite their challenges, is an uplifting testimony.  It is in stark contrast I had many years ago, when making patient rounds at the hospital I worked.  I entered a paralyzed patient's room, to find out his food preferences, and he started cursing at me and throwing objects at me, such that I had to leave the room.  His anger was completely understandable, which makes a good attitude in the same situation, so amazing to me.  

 Hopefully, enabling folks to get out into God's Great Outdoors, will point them to a new-found strength, through accessibility advances, like a track chair.  My experiences at Bryant Creek State Park, both hiking and observing the track chair, gave me "MILES OF SMILES"!!  Tricia




 

Saturday, May 10, 2025

BOYCE THOMPSON ARBORETUM EXPEDITION!

The Boyce Thompson Arboretum (www.btarboretum.org) has been fostering conservation efforts for over 100 years, which they proudly display with the sculpture at their entrance.

 I had the blessing of exploring the arboretum, with my two grandsons (T and R) shown below, on a visit to Arizona in February. 
Along with their parents (K and D), we traveled the approximately 50 miles from their home in Mesa, to the arboretum location, near Superior, Arizona. 
One of the first plants I photographed upon entering, was the Ice Plant, because it brought back fun memories of time spent with the grandfather of T and R, on the coast in California.  We stopped to photograph a hillside over the Pacific, that was ablaze with brightly colored flowers.  Neither of us was familiar with the ice plant, but I was later to learn it has some similarities to a plant we are familiar with in the South---kudzu.  I found this out because I was invited to participate in an ice plant removal project on the Channel Islands (see blog titled Santa Cruz Expedition, dated September 10, 2016,  for my photos of the cliffs of the Channel Islands).  Both the ice plant and kudzu were introduced into the USA for erosion control.  However, since the introduction of ice plant in the early 1900's, ice plant has spread aggressively (as has kudzu), forming dense mats that displace native plants and alter the soil.  One theory says that although ice plant was initially intended for erosion control, ice plant's shallow roots and heavy leaves can actually destabilize coastal soils, increasing the risk of landslides and erosion. 
When one pays the $25/person entry fee, they will give you a map of the almost 400 acres there, but thankfully, there are also placards throughout the property that show the "YOU ARE HERE", to help one navigate through the expansive gardens.
Most of the walkways are dirt, but there are a few walkways that are paved, such as shown below:

Another area we saw also brought back motorcycle travel memories with the boys' grandfather, which was the sign that showed the plant called Mormon Tea.  Years ago, we motorcycled extensively in Utah, and read about a doctrine followed by some of the Mormon faith that called for avoiding coffee and tea, presumably because of their caffeine content, a known stimulant.  Then we read on a display in a national park in Utah about the plant called Mormon Tea (it had that name because early Mormon settlers in the southwestern United States used the plant, Ephedra nevadensis, to make a tea as a substitute for coffee.)  Now we know that ephedra is a known stimulant, and highly regulated in the USA pharmaceutical market.  So what the early settlers were actually doing was substituting one stimulant-containing plant (coffee) for another, more potent stimulant-containing plant (Ephedra)!

There was an entire section of the arboretum devoted to Ephedra!
Mormon Tea had additional uses besides just a beverage, as it was also used for medicinal purposes.  In fact, one of the placards in the arboretum went into detail (giving living plant examples) of plants used for medicinal purposes.  I found this interesting because the first "Science Project" I did in Junior High School, was to go into an Ozark Forest with my mom, and her great Uncle Olney, so he could show us the herbs that his family had used for generations as medicinal remedies for various ailments.  In fact such folklore medicine is one reason the arboretum was originally started---to study folk medicine, isolate chemically active compounds, and study them to make medicines that can be mass marketed.  You have to look no further than aspirin, isolated from willow plants, to see an example of this theory.  The placard at the Curandero Trail photo below, explains that Curandero is a word, in the Mexican culture, for a healer.   Therefore, along the trail, visitors can see plants that served as herbal remedies for various ailments.  In the broadest definition, R and T's grandfather, who was a medical doctor, would fall under the classification of a Curandero. 
One area of the arboretum had plants linked to the stories we read in the Holy Bible.  For example, the plant Frankincense was a gift brought by the Wise Men from the East, when they came looking for the child Jesus. 
A crown of thorns was put on Jesus at the time of his crucifixion, so it was interesting to see the plant shown in photo below, commonly called Crucifixion thorn. 
This part of Arizona is known to have wild horses, so it was appropriate that a full-size horse sculpture has been incorporated into the landscape.  It is so life-like, one might think it was the real thing!  The first I heard of the wild horses was when my husband and I went on a guided trail-ride through the desert in this area, on a sunny January day, after a medical meeting at the Phoenician Resort in Scottsdale.  Our guide asked where we were from, and when we indicated the Ozarks, he told us Branson, Missouri, was where he took his horses in the summer, to offer trail rides to the tourists there.  So, of course, we looked him up the next July, and he was busy as could be, taking young and old, on paths through the hills and hollers surrounding that famous destination!
As the mother of a grown son, I know how much I appreciate seeing a photo of my son and I together, so I tried to get such a photo for K, with each of her sons, with this one being K and T.

This one is K and R:
I didn't want to press my luck by asking the grandsons to pose for several more photos, so the next few photos are taken surreptitiously: 
R with arms up

Rattlesnake warning!
R is a professional in the film industry in Los Angeles, so I was curious what he found of interest to photograph in the greenhouse at the arboretum:
He was photographing the plant called "dinosaur back cactus", or more precisely Myrtillocactus geometrizans.  I found it to be a divinely-inspired piece of sculpture!  The name references its unique crested growth pattern, which makes some people think of flowing water, or a candelabra. 
The arboretum was started by  businessman and philanthropist Colonel Boyce Thompson,  who made his fortune in the mining business, and built a house high on a mountain, overlooking the present-day arboretum, through Queen Creek Valley, which was named after the Silver Queen Mine.  Colonel Thompson called his residence the Picket Post House. 
There is a hiking trail that goes up the mountain, which the boys decided to take so they could get a closer look at the house, while K and I stayed in the lower area.  This photo shows a hiker starting up the mountain trail:
This photo shows me pretending to be a hiker on the trail:
I was glad to get a photo of R, showing he had a water bottle with him, to keep hydrated on the mountain

Getting to the higher elevations of the arboretum, requires crossing Queen Creek, and the property includes several bridges across the stream.  This photo shows K and I on the swinging bridge that lets one feel the undulating movement of the structure, as they walk across it:
Another  bridge photo below

This photo shows Queen Creek, and one of the bluffs that overlooks it:
Four days earlier, my son and his friend had been sport climbing in the Superior, Arizona area, in a section maintained by the Queen Creek Climbing Coalition.  My son sent me the photo below of the crag they ascended, with their technical climbing gear:  (Google "Queen Creek Arizona rock climbing photos" to see the limitless possibilities of routes to the summit of these crags)


This saguaro (pronounced "sah-wah-roh") cactus reminds me of a person waving.  A saguaro cactus takes ten years to get just one inch tall!  A saguaro cactus that is 6.5 feet tall is probably about 70 years old.  The tallest ever recorded was 78 feet in height.  Some of them have "arms" and some do not.  Since the cactus can be heavy when it is full of water it has stored, one theory is that an arm forms a counter balance of the plant.  

When I read that the saguaro cactus has the scientific name, Carnegiea gigantea, I learned that it was named after philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, because his Carnegie Institution for Science established the Desert Botanical Laboratory in Tucson, Arizona, in 1903.    That made me curious if any plants had been named after Colonel Boyce Thompson, who also financed early research into desert plants.  As it turns out, in 1926, a botanist named the newly discovered hedgehog cactus, Echinocereus boyce thompsonii, after the Arboretum where the botanist first identified and collected it in.   


              The creosote plant is common in this area, and research into its chemical makeup, enabled the development of a product that can prevent rot in wooden railroad ties.   Colonel Boyce Thompson also founded the Institute for Plant Research in New York to improve agricultural practices.  The idea of plant research reminded me that I got to participate in a six-week long plant research project, at a science institute I attended at the University of Arkansas, between my junior and senior year in high school, to study fusarium fungus in tomatoes.  Our work did not produce any commercial applications that I am aware of, but it did serve as a delightful orientation of sorts, to what it would be like to be a student at the University of Arkansas and living in a dormitory.  My roommate for those six weeks at Futrall Hall on the U of A campus was Miss Jeffrey Lynn Taylor, and we ended up also being roommates our freshman year at the University of Arkansas.  The U of A Science Institute was actually not my first choice that summer.  Since I was very interested in underwater studies at the time, I applied for a Summer Science Institute at Scripps Institute of Oceanography, but was not accepted.  Forty years later, I learned that during that time, they already had one person with the name "Keeling" in their research department, and another Keeling would have been confusing (or, so I told my self in consolation).  That Keeling person went on to a prestigious career at Scripps, and his data was the basis of the famous "Keeling Curve".  The Keeling Curve is the world's longest unbroken record of atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations, providing valuable insights into long-term trends in carbon dioxide levels.  It was not at a family reunion where I learned of my Keeling connection, rather at a commemorative plaque I saw decades later, when I was touring the Scripps Institute of Oceanography in San Diego. 
The structure built into the rock bluff shown in photo below is called the Clevenger House, and was built by an early pioneer that lived on this acreage.  (There is a remote resort near where I live, that also has all its rental cabins built into, around, and over giant boulders and bluffs.  You can see photos of the unique cabins,  in my blog archives, entitled Longbow Resort Expedition, dated April 20, 2015).
A big section of the arboretum is devoted to Eucalyptus trees, and the largest of those trees is called "Mr. Big".  It stands 117 feet tall, with a circumference of 22 feet, and is about one hundred years old.   Notice how tiny K looks, standing beside the trunk of Mr. Big.   A pleasant memory I have of eucalyptus trees is when my husband and I were driving a two lane highway between Sacramento and Yosemite National park.  The highway was lined with these trees, and at the time, I had no idea what they were, but I was intrigued by their beauty and unusual bark.  Years later, when visiting my cousin whose back yard abuts the original Highway 66, He said he had cut down the eucalyptus tree in his back yard because of that very same bark.  Saying its constant shedding made his otherwise pristine yard look very messy, which he did not like.  If you read the history of Route 66, it will tell you that eucalyptus trees were planted along sections of Route 66 in Southern California, for ornamental reasons.  However, when Highway 66 was decommissioned, these trees ended up being on private property, instead of public right of way, and were not always appreciated.  

As I was writing this blog, it surprised me that so many of my memories are linked to plants!  And the Bible comments on what we can learn from plants, talking about how the seed has to die and be buried, so that it can rise again to life---a life that can give abundant fruits and new seeds.  Even "Mr. Big" was once a tiny seed, and could be thought of in the parable Jesus told in Matthew 13:31-32 that says, "The Kingdom of Heaven is like a grain of mustard seed which a man took, and sowed in his field, which indeed is smaller than all seeds.  But when it is grown, it is greater that the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in its branches."

Learning about the plants I saw at this arboretum, and getting to have this experience with loved ones, gave me "Miles of Smiles"!  Tricia