BLESSING OF THE FLEET EXPEDITION!

Probably the first time I heard the phrase, "Blessing of the Fleet", was back in the 1960's, when I was riding in a gondola with my father, through the canals of Venice, Italy.  Or perhaps, it was when we were visiting museums in Italy, where we saw ancient art work, depicting the event, such as the one shown in the photo above.  

 

 However, since I was a naive teenager, from the land-locked state of Arkansas, the phrase went in one ear, and out the other.  Not being around a naval base, probably the only thing that came to mind when I heard the word "Fleet", was a box I vaguely remember seeing, on a shelf at the drug store.  Then, many years later, when I was married to a physician, who specialized in treating patients with constipation, and had samples of said box in his office, the phrase "Blessing of the Fleet", took on a whole new meaning, associated with an "unblocking" of the patient, receiving the "Blessing of the Fleet"!

Fast forward to the twenty-first century, while on a trip to Jacksonville, Florida, there was a television news broadcast about a big event on their waterways, called, "The Blessing of the Fleet".  It looked like such a fun and festive occasion, I determined that I wanted to participate, or at least attend, such an event.  My first attempt was to go to one at Long Beach, in California, where my cousin kept his boat moored.  However, bad weather in Arkansas, caused my airline flight to be cancelled.  But I still kept the idea in the back of my mind.  Then, in 2025, VOILA!  An announcement came across my Facebook feed, about a Blessing of the Fleet event scheduled just a short distance from where I lived, and would not require an airplane ticket!  That announcement is shown below.  I made a trip up to Pontiac Cove Marina (www.pontiaccove.com), to talk with an official there, to get information on the event, and to find out if a kayaking group could participate. (I am part of a group of ladies who regularly kayak together, called the WHOYAKERS.) I met Jabet, and she told me kayaks had never participated in the past, but we would be welcome to give it a try.  Jabet said that way back in 2006, when she and her husband joined her parents in operating the marina, they all worked together to stage the very first "Blessing of the Fleet" at Pontiac.  She said it was her dad's idea, because he had seen a similar event in the Florida Keys, and wanted to give it a try in the Ozarks.  

In researching information on similar events, I learned that the custom of the Blessing of the Fleet can be traced back to Old World European fishing communities where God was publicly acknowledged, and asked for a bountiful harvest and the safety of the men at sea.  Although the WHOYAKERS are not trying to harvest seafood in our kayaks, prayers for safety are always appreciated!  The group of WHOYAKERS who attended in 2025, are pictured below:

Each year, the marina sells tee shirt souvenirs of the event, and this is our group, showing the yellow "Blessing of the Fleet" shirts, available in 2025.  

The event poster encouraged participants to decorate their boats for the event, so Peggy made us owl "breast plates" to go over our life jackets.  The owl got to be our symbol, because this group of ladies started out as hikers, called "Women Hiking (the) Ozarks", or abbreviated "WHO".  Since cartoon owls are often shown as saying, "WHO", the owl became our mascot.  If you are familiar with the Ozarks, you may be aware that experienced hikers usually avoid the tick-infested woods in the summertime, and switch to water activities, instead.  So the land-based WHO, switch to the water-based WHOYAKERS, in the summertime!

 

The date of the Blessing of the Fleet coincided with the birthday of one of our ladies, so we celebrated with a Happy Birthday WhoYaker  birthday cake!

Bull Shoals Lake was experiencing very high water levels in April, 2025, with the water being adjacent to the parking lot.  This made launching our kayaks "a piece of cake"!

Here we are, pictured with our owl breastplates:

The photo above was taken by one of our WHOYAKER ladies, who arrived just in time to see us launch.  

 

The photo below of our group, can be seen on the Pontiac Cove Marina Instagram page:

 Since none of us kayakers had ever participated in this event before, we were not sure what to do.  Jabet instructed us to wait at the end of the breakwater flotation buoy, then she would signal us, as to when to start paddling towards the pontoon boat that had the priest on board.  Jabet had kindly allowed our WHOYAKER member, Christine (in orange shirt) to also ride on the pontoon boat, so she could video our group.

This photo shows Diane in front, then Peggy, then Jana, and then Diana, as we each paddled beside the priest, so he could say a blessing over us, and sprinkle each of us, and our kayak, with the Holy Water.  

After receiving the blessing, we then started paddling back to the marina, as a light mist of rain had started.  

In spite of the less than ideal conditions, the priest gave a big smile, as I asked permission to take his photo.  I learned later from the Pontiac Marina Instagram post, that this was not only a first for the WHOYAKERS, but also a first Blessing of the Fleet event for Father Charles Peirono.

 

When Peggy was preparing the 2026 Whoyaker Schedule of Paddling events, she contacted me to ask if I would like to "RC" (the abbreviation for River Coordinator) the 2026 Blessing of the Fleet, at Pontiac Cove Marina.  She said she would be the Co-RC, and since it was on the same day as her birthday, I agreed, knowing it is always enjoyable to celebrate birthdays!  The photo for the 2026 Blessing of the Fleet not only had a photo of the priest, but also, Christine's husband, standing behind him.  

Our group met at Just Jackie's Cafe, above Pontiac Cove Marina, a little before noon on April 25.  Since they had not yet opened, Jackie invited us to wait on their covered deck, till opening time.  That enabled us to sing Happy Birthday to Peggy, and enjoy Mississippi Mud birthday cake!  (Peggy was raised in Rock Island, Illinois, on the banks of the Mississippi River, so the cake name seemed appropriate!  Plus the WHOYAKER group participated in a Mississippi River paddling event called Floatzilla, in past years.)  

 

Peggy also had the banner across her front, naming her as "Birthday Girl"!

The photo below shows Diana, Peggy, and Jana, with examples of the 2026 souvenir shirts.  

 

As we were leaving the marina store to head for our vehicles, Fr. Charles Peirono was arriving, and told us he remembered us from the year before!

We told him it was Peggy's birthday, so she should get a DOUBLE blessing!

 

I always like for a photograph to "tell a story" without words, so I requested a photo of the priest, beside  the "BLESSING OF THE FLEET" logo on the back of my tee shirt.  

The lake level in 2026 was lower than 2025, so we needed to use the regular boat ramp launch, instead of directly beside the parking lot.  As we were putting our kayaks into the water, Diana pointed to a boat that was idling out in the lake, but had no driver in it.  Peggy walked over towards the boat, to see if the owner needed someone to paddle out to retrieve the boat, and he said, "No, he was controlling the boat with a remote control device!"  That was a first for us!

As we paddled out into the lake, Peggy received the "God Wink" we had asked the priest for, as there was a smiley face balloon floating in her path, just waiting for her to retrieve!  The year before, when we paddled on Bull Shoals Lake on my birthday, Diana had brought a balloon bouquet to tie onto the back of my kayak, so I was delighted that now Peggy could say she also had a balloon for her kayak  on her birthday!

I took this photo as I was paddling towards the priest in the pontoon boat.  He had a loud speaker, so we all could hear him, as he led us in saying The Lord's Prayer together.  

I read  a paraphrase of the prayer of Jabez,  in I Chronicles 4:10 that says, "Oh that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain."     That is my prayer for all boaters and for all those who read this blog! 

This "Blessing the Fleet" event at Pontiac Cove Marina gave me "MILES OF SMILES"!!  Tricia

FDR PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY EXPEDITION!

 A while back, I attended a week-long Road Scholar (www.roadscholar.org) program, on the life of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.  The classroom parts of the program were held at the FDR Library, in Hyde Park, New York.  In the photo below, I am the one in pink, sitting between Eleanor and Franklin D. Roosevelt.  

The statue of the Roosevelt couple sits near the entrance to the FDR Library, and probably has a steady stream of visitors using it as a photo opportunity to remember the occasion.  

This banner with a photograph of FDR is on the exterior of the building, and is very unpretentious, compared to the signage at some of the other presidential libraries I have visited.  The other presidential libraries I have visited include those of Clinton, Ford, Reagan, Truman, and the older George Bush.  I hope to visit the new presidential library for President Theodore Roosevelt, scheduled to open in the summer of 2026, in North Dakota.

Likewise, the exterior of the building is not impressive in terms of modernistic, futuristic architecture.  Instead, the stone and roof design are reminiscent of the early settlements of upstate New York, which is where the original Roosevelt family immigrants lived.

 The Roosevelts had a Protestant Christian background, and when FDR was sworn in as President of the United States of America, the Bible that was used was turned to I Corinthians 13, that has the passages on faith, hope, and charity.    Although we were not allowed to photograph it, the actual Bible used, is part of the permanent collection at the Franklin D Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum in Hyde Park (www.fdrlibrary.org ).  It is a 1686 Dutch family Bible, printed in Amsterdam.  It is the oldest Bible used in a presidential inauguration and the only one in a foreign language.  The Bible was passed down through the Roosevelt family, and contained records from the early 185h century.  It was also used when FDR was sworn in as Governor of New York in 1928 and 1930.  

God's Word was always important to the president, and the USA President wrote a personal message (dated January 25, 1941), that was placed on the first page of the Servicemen's Bible, given to soldiers involved in World War II.  

The photo below shows Springwood House, which was the lifelong home and birthplace of Franklin D. Roosevelt, in Hyde Park, New York.  It is part of a National Historic Site, located on the same grounds as the FDR Presidential Library and Museum.  Our group was able to take a complete tour inside the . , but we were not allowed to take photos.  The thing I remember most about the interior was seeing the stairs to the second floor.  Our guide told us that after FDR contracted polio, an elevator was installed because he had lost the use of his legs.  However, according to the guide, FDR usually refused to use the lift, and instead, used his upper body strength to crawl up the stairs, saying it helped him stay strong.  The other thing I remember about the house is seeing where he worked on his stamp collection.  Although the hobby has lost popularity now, it was the perfect activity for a person with limited mobility and a keen interest in travel and history.  Although my collection of stamps is not organized as was FDR's, I am still fascinated by the designs of postage stamps and have hundreds of them !  Some people collect stickers, and postage stamps are just a type of sticker!  The 300 acre Springwood Estate includes the Rose Garden, where both Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt are buried.   

The Roosevelt dime is pictured below:

It is that fighting spirit that FDR had in overcoming polio, that led to his support of the March of Dimes program, and the reason for the FDR likeness on the US ten cent piece.    I told more details about that situation in a blog I published about visiting the FDR Little White House, in Warm Springs, Georgia.  It is available in the archives of this blog, dated April 12, 2018.  

The photo below shows what the folder looked like that I used in elementary school, to collect dimes for the March of Dimes program to fight polio.  

Our group also visited Val-Kil Historic Site, the cottage built for Eleanor Roosevelt.  Its native stone exterior is an example of the vernacular architecture of that area, and possibly the inspiration for the stone exterior used decades later for the FDR Presidential Library.  The same photography rules applied here as did at the Springwood House, so I do not have any photos of the interior of Val-Kil.  (By the way, many places I visited in upstate New York, had a suffix or prefix of "kil".  It was widely used in areas settled by the Dutch in New York.  It is derived from the Dutch word kille, meaning a riverbed, water channel, creek, or tidal inlet.)  The one image I can remember from the interior, however, was a photograph of President John F. Kennedy and Eleanor inside the cottage, when he came to visit the elderly widow, during his presidential era.  

There was a plaque on the exterior of the grounds, with a motto attributed to Eleanor Roosevelt, that probably would be helpful for all of us to strive for!

 

In recent years, the US Mint Quarters program, came out with a quarter with a design honoring Eleanor Roosevelt, and it is pictured below:  (It is ironic that her likeness is on a coin worth 25 cents, while her husband's likeness is on a coin worth ten cents!)

There is a hiking trail that goes from the Springwood House, along the Hudson River, up to the Vanderbuilt Historic Site, also above the Hudson River.  However, this warning by the Duchess County Health Department, about ticks made me rethink the possibility of investigating that trail.  Perhaps if I had done what the Eleanor motto recommended, I would have some more photos to show you of the trail!

However, I settled for a photo of the start of the trail, and that was enough to give me "MILES OF SMILES"!  Tricia

 

AMPHITHEATER EXPEDITION!

What a delightful surprise it was, when I came out of the woods where I had been clearing briars and tall weeds, to see this beautiful bridge!

When I viewed the moss-covered terraces beside the bridge, I felt like an explorer, who had just discovered the remains of a long, lost civilization!

The photo below shows a small plaque discreetly placed within the amphitheater, telling about its origin.  When I googled "Green Thumb + Arkansas Farmers Union", I learned that The Arkansas Farmers Union Green Thumb was a historical, federally funded program, often employing older, rural, Americans, that contributed to public infrastructure projects in the 1960's and 1970's.  The work they did building the stone amphitheater in Mountain View, is a great tribute to their legacy.  

The way the stone terraces are covered in moss, gives a clue that this is NOT a brand new structure!

The creek that flowed under the bridge, was very shallow, but provided enough water to give a pretty reflection of the orange leaves of the maple tree above it.  

The stream is called Whitewater Creek, and separates the amphitheater into two parts, the grand stone stage, and the moss-covered stone seating area:

Even though the stream bears the name "Whitewater", it has been barely a trickle whenever I have visited.  

 

 

When I signed up as a volunteer with the Arkansas Master Naturalists (www.ArkansasMasterNaturalists.org) to help clear the 1,4 mile trail, that started at the Ozark Folk Center (www.OzarkFolkCenter.org), I had no idea that at the end of the trail, I would be rewarded with a view of this lovely stone amphitheater!

I was working with some other Arkansas Master Naturalists (pictured in orange shirts) to clear the trail of fallen trees, and blow leaves off the trail, so it could be more easily followed in the woods.  

Many visitors to this area do not know there is a hiking trail, that leads from the Ozark Folk Center, to the historic rock amphitheater, even though there is a small sign pointing towards the trail.  

Notice how much better defined the trail is, once the leaves have been blown aside!

So next time you are on a trail, give some thought to the efforts that have to go into maintaining a trail, to keep it from becoming completely overgrown!

The same is true for the walkways shown in this photo.  They did not clear themselves of fallen leaves---someone has been diligently working to make them visible!

Walls are important in landscaping, and can serve as a convenient restraint to collect a pile of leaves for removal!

The first time I stumbled onto this beautiful setting, the date was early November, so the reds and yellows of deciduous trees made for a picturesque setting.  Once again, notice how the walls of the sidewalk, serve as architectural landscape features.  And think about the workers who carefully placed each one of those stones, over sixty years ago.  

I made a return visit to Mountain View in early March, and wanted to take another look at the amphitheater.  However, since on my first visit there, I had come on foot, via the trail from the Ozark Folk Center, I put "City Park" in my Mapquest phone app, and came across a lovely park on Webb Street, and paved walking trail, but the amphitheater was no where in sight!  I saw a city employee, and asked him where the amphitheater was.  He told me I would need to park my car, and follow a trail through the woods, beside the creek, that would eventually lead to the amphitheater.  That trail is shown below:

Thankfully, I eventually arrived at the amphitheater, although it looked very different with no colorful leaves on the trees!  The reason I wanted to go back, was to photograph the walls I remembered from my first visit, to use as a visual aid for one of my First Place 4 Health (www.FirstPlace4Health.com) memory verses that says, "The day for building your walls will come, the day for extending your boundaries."  Micah 7:11

It is interesting to me that the builders left a tree standing within the seating area, or perhaps it "sprung up" since the theater was built, decades ago.  Or perhaps, the stone masons left it because it had a very interesting "burl" growing on its side, facing the stage area.  

The burl growing on the side of one of the trees within the amphitheater could serve as a "side table", it is so big!

When a visitor is at street level, it would be easy to miss seeing the old stone amphitheater, because it is hidden, as it follows the slope of the hillside, down into the valley.  When I visited, there was a sign pointing the way, which is helpful.

What you will see, when you are at street level, is a large stone cooking grill, with chimney.

Also, at street level there is a circular area, paved in native stone, that contains concrete picnic tables, benches, and more stone grills.  

It is appropriate that there be a beautiful landmark made of stone in Mountain View, because the town is a part of STONE County, Arkansas.  To find out many more interesting sites to visit in this area, check out their website at www.mountainviewarkansas.com  .   This visit to such a serene and scenic location, gave me "MILES OF SMILES"!  Tricia