Home Again!!

November 26, 2008

Home in beautiful Silverton after 49 days---36 at sea and the rest in England. It was a delightful journey and we did a lot of learning about what is out there!

BIGGEST NEWS: Audrey Grace Heskin arrived on election day! There is a link on this blog to the Heskin Family Cradle, another blog, which has Suzie's details about the dear little munchkin's arrival. I am one happy Grammie---a grand-daughter and a grandson!

December 3rd will find me winging my way to Pennsylvania to meet Audrey and hug Suzie and James---I can hardly wait! Home again December 11th to get ready to travel to New Zealand and Australia where I will spend the holidays cruising around New Zealand with Finn, Maggie and Travis. After the cruise we will go to their home in Perth. I will be there until time to take the train and work my way back across Australia to catch a plane home from Sydney Feb. 12.

Happy holidays to anyone who reads this! I am expecting to post photos from the recent freighter trip---thought you might like a few views for your enjoyment!

Sailing the High Seas on The Grande Europa!!

Adventures come in many sizes and shapes---here is the vehicle much of my next "lark" will take place upon, and I am expecting to have many "yarns!" Read on...

"Yo ho ho! Fifteen men and a bottle of rum!" Not sure about the rum but we're off to sail the bounding main, leaving September 28th!!! My great travel companion, from here in Silverton, Ruth Ann, and I are excited to be setting forth on a freighter trip which will take us from southern England on a lap around the Mediterranean, back to England and then to Ireland and the west coast of Europe. We will be aboard approximately thirty five days and will be calling in at ports in eleven countries! What an adventure for a couple of mountain ladies!

Here we are in Greece on a ferry, summer of 2006, headed to the little island of Lipsi. Now we are off to do some more "boating", but on a larger scale.

Above are my attempts at scanning items and getting them onto this blog---I need Maggie to give me some lessons! Anyway, you can get an idea of our route (map of Europe) and the general appearance of the Grande Europa, an Italian car transport freighter.

If you would like to receive an occasional e-mail, when we find an internet cafe', let me know!

Meanwhile, our motto is from Voltaire's "Candide" : "If we do not find anything pleasant, at least we will find something new." And, no, we are not working on the ship! No deck swabbing or painting---return here for new posts in mid-November when I return home!

Quilting for "Baby Heskin"

There is great joy in our family! James and Suzie are expecting "Baby Heskin" in early November!! Babies bring such happiness and hopes for the future!!!





It seemed appropriate for me to make a special quilt for this welcome child. Knowing Suzie's fondness for things African (thanks to the time she spent there as a high school senior), and because the Heskins have opted to NOT learn the gender of their offspring until its birth, I selected an African theme. After all, don't all children love monkeys and elephants?

What fun I had making the animals come to life! The elephant has a floppy ear, the snake has a bright red tongue, the zebra is so geometrically busy he is hard to look at very long!, and the smiling hippo is guaranteed to make a child smile!
Giraffes wandering through the grass....
The King of the Beasts lounging on the grass...
The s-s-s-sneaky s-s-s-snake s-s-s-slithering s-s-s-s-ilently along...
The zany zebra contemplates the monkey's tail...

On August 28th I am off to Pennsylvania for a visit with Suzie and James. While there I have been scheduled to do some sewing for the nursery to go with the lovely new cherry baby furniture. Lucky me!!! I am liking this "grammie" thing---

Stay tuned---nursery pictures may turn up next!!!

Fly Fishing on the Rio Grande

One of my new great joys is learning to fly fish!!! My long-time friend, Lyndon Skinner, has been patiently teaching me how to "think like a fish" and "read the stream" as well as how to make that silly little fly land where I think there might be a hungry fish. No day has ever gone by as quickly as a day fly-fishing in our beautiful wilderness. I even catch a fish every now and then!

Last week we set forth early in the morning for the headwaters of the Rio Grande River, which just happen to be over the pass, right here in our own county. We stopped at the top of Stony Pass, which grants a glorious view of the sunrise, a bank of last winter's snow, and the endless mountain ranges of the Weminuche Wilderness.
Traveling down the pass we were soon on the very upper reaches of the Rio Grande River. It is a great delight to drive through the forest and the meadows where often deer and elk can be sighted, where the wild flowers are beautifully abundant, and where there is a minimum of evidence of man...
Soon we were donning our waders and boots and sliding and skidding into the deep canyon formed by the river (or maybe that the river runs through....)
This canyon is quite spectacular; note the sphinx-like formations behind me!
Who do you suppose this happy fisherwoman could be?
As the day wore on we worked our way upriver in the canyon and the walls became higher and the entire scene more spectacular---what a gorgeous place to spend a day!

The fish were sneaky and challenging to catch---

We kept trying to outsmart them---
Lyndon measured this 19" beauty before turning it loose---
Day's end on the river sort of tugs at your heart---you don't really want to leave!
Climbing up this cliff was tricky in our fishing boots (they have flat felt bottoms!)---can you see the river at the bottom? (If not, click on this photo to enlarge it.) Time to head for home---

I hope you now better understand my fascination with this new endeavor!!! Care to come to Silverton and we'll go fishing?

Springtime in the Rockies!!!!!!!!!!!!

Spring doesn't really come to the high country until June, as you can see in the picture below. As I arrived home for summer in the San Juan Mountains, this view greeted me just 35 miles north of Silverton---the Dallas Range and Mt. Sneffels, still covered with snow! The breath-taking beauty of this "every day" sort of scene still fills my prairie heart with joy that this is now home. Up the river from Silverton, my friends Doris and Dick, from Dallas, and I found lots of snow in June! Here is their vehicle parked in the roadway that leads to Animas Forks, a ghost town at the head of the Animas River northeast of Silverton.
Snowbanks and snowballs are reality here in June after a deep winter such as 2008. Here are the Underwoods enjoying the snowcut left by the plow.
So, just how high do you think THIS cut really is?
It is still amazing to me that there can be this much snow and the daytime temperatures can be so comfortably warm. If you haven't been here to visit in June, you should plan to come in 2009 just to experience this sort of thing. It really is amazing!

There still is lots of snow in the high country, even in July. I went fishing over the continental divide a few days ago and we saw wild flowers blooming right beside six-foot-deep banks of snow! Come see me and we'll fire up Scarlet (my red Dodge Durango) and head for the high country and the snow! Meanwhile, thanks for visiting my post. PDM

Meandering About Minnesota with Marie

Sometimes computers are annoying, are they not? Serious efforts have been made by this writer to post details of a delightful journey in May to Minneapolis and my computer has always opted to dump the pictures or lose the text---so I shall try again! Here is my friend, Marie King, with whom I toured China a year ago. She is standing on a balcony at the Guthrie Theatre, overlooking St. Anthony Falls on the Mississippi River. We enjoyed touring the theatre as well as seeing "Midsummer's Night Dream", easily the best theatrical production I've ever seen!
Minneapolis is a wonderful city, with lots of cultural features and events, enough good restaurants to keep one eating for days (the Greek brunch Marie took me to at Santorini's took me right back to Greece!), and, blessedly, mild traffic.

Marie took me along the North Shore of Lake Superior into the part of Minnestoa the locals call "The Arrow" where we saw lots of lovely, wild, lakeshore country. The waterfalls were abundant, the forests were lush, and the air was crisp and clean. We enjoyed a picnic lunch at the great iron shipping harbor at Duluth, toured interesting old lighthouses, and even saw a wolf one morning, crossing the highway, headed for the lake for a drink...just as if he went there every morning!
The little blue lady is Marie by Gooseberry Falls, formed by water rushing out of the north Minnesota hills (mountains---a little difficult for me to say, comparing them to the Rockies!)
headed for Lake Superior. (photo below by Marie)We had a wonderful hike through the woods to an area with waterfalls and a swirling pool called "The Devil's Cauldron", which is misting away in the background and I am obviously enjoying!

One overnight was at a charming Scandanavian lodge on Lake Superior---seen here at twilight. Once again, the food was wonderful and we enjoyed the breakfast as it reminded us of our travels in Norway and Sweden forty years ago.
Split Rock Lighthouse is one of Minnesota's signature places. We spent an afternoon there, touring the buildings and climbing around on the rocks along the lake front.
Of course, no trip to Minneapolis is complete without going to the Mall of America! Above you can see a view of the indoor amusement park at the Mall. Pick out the people in the foreground for perspective, please.
A lovely spring afternoon called for margaritas at one of Marie's favorite spots, "Psycho Suzie's", a sort of Polynesian bar with plenty of outside seating. (You don't have to just eat in Minneapolis---there are plenty of places to bend an elbow, too!)

Back to the Mall of America---the Lego display was astonishing! (Travis must go there someday!) Look for the man above the Gap sign to establish the size of the thing---all built with normal-sized legos.)
Last of all---here I am with a dinosaur built of tiny little legos and don't miss the green tail of another dino nearby---how many thousands?

Marie---I thank you for a great visit and I am hoping that this posting won't vanish into cyberspace as have my other attempts! I am looking forward to visit #2 in Minnesota!

Playing in Portland

Portland, Oregon was my next stop on my Spring Tour of the West, 2008. I flew there from Denver to visit my dear friend, Cynthia Francisco, who was the judge for whom I clerked in the San Juan County Courts. Here is a view from one of the city's hills, with Mt. Hood in the background. (You will have to sort of scruntch down and pretend you can see a very white mountain peak behind the skyscraper!) Cynthia had lots of delightful activities planned, and one of the first things we did was head for the coast via Ft. Clatsop, Washington, where Lewis and Clark spent the second winter of their journey. I was very happy to go there, as several years ago my students and I did an exhaustive study of their travels, including learning many details about this woodsy fort. Here I am, at the fort, with one of the trees which was being readied for demolition---it had fallen across one of the footpaths. The journals of L&C indicated they had only six days without rain, that winter, and I could better understand, after being there, what a wet, soggy existance they must have had.

Before we left for our coastal trip, we toured the Rhododendron Gardens where I saw flowers that surpassed anything I have seen before. They were utterly gorgeous! The blooms were great lush bundles of color---even one named Cynthia!
Here are some azaleas that were slipped into the garden...
Here are two more "beauties" found in the gardens that day:
Not sure why I have such squinty eyes here but you can see we were having fun!
Now---back to the coast. We went to Canon Beach, one of Oregon's most famous beaches. Here is the rock that always shows up on postcards and calendars. Our hotel was right on the beach just a few minutes from this scene and we enjoyed walking on the beach---even braving the cold Pacific breakers with our bare feet.

For some reason, this photo appears again!
Back in Portland we enjoyed shopping, sipping icy cold wine in Cynny's backyard where there were more beautiful rhodies, eating out (you could eat yourself to death in good restaurants in Portland), shopping for quilt supplies for Suzie's baby, going to see the opera "Aida", and enjoying a day at the Japanese Gardens.

Waterfalls and mist at the gardens...
It was a wonderful visit and I look forward to returning to my friend's comfortable house with the lovely flowers and a backyard that has blueberries and strawberries! Next stop: Minnesota!