FINALLY STARTING MY CHRISTMAS CARDS!!!
This was a post from last year….my cards were quite late last year! It takes a long time to paint the envelopes I am hoping that even with my late start this year that I will get them out in time but the blog may suffer a bit…We’ll see…I have a whole bunch of projects going on at once….To further my panic I received my first Christmas card yesterday…one of my friends is going to the Amazon for a month so she sent her cards early! Wow I hope she takes lots of photos!!
From last year…
Every year I paint the envelopes of the cards I send out. Someone suggested I start signing and numbering them, but then I would have to make sure that they were perfect. I got lazy and used a Sharpie for the address because it was so much faster. I will never do that again. It takes away from the artwork. With my family emergency this year I am trying to beat myself up too much….but that is how my brain works. My Christmas cards are a sort of meditation or prayer to God. I abandoned any formal religious themes this year because religion is the cause of so much pain and hurt on this planet.
PHOTO I TOOK IN THE REDWOODS
THE ENVELOPE
As simple as they may look it takes several layers of paint to get good coverage. I’m getting to where I need to start them in October to make sure they get to people by December 25th! I thank my Uncle Vic for writing that he doesn’t care how late they are they are worth waiting for! I have a distant relative that is pissed off at me because she didn’t get her card from me before Christmas!
Everyone should go on a hike every week instead of going to church. Unplug your televisions! See what you are missing in your state I guarantee that just about every city has trails you can hike within 60 miles. We get lazy and ignore our surroundings….we ignore the things that are important and instead go to the mall or a movie….TV…
Here is a picture of me teaching my nephew Frankie how to be a tree hugger!
FRANKIE AND ME HUGGING A GIANT REDWOOD
BOYCOTT DISNEYLAND AND BUY A NATIONAL PARK PASS FOR $80.00 AND THEY ARE GOOD FOR A WHOLE YEAR!!!!
FRANKIE AND HIS MOTHER JUANITA IN THE REDWOODS
OUR NATIONAL PARKS HAVE HAD THEIR BUDGETS CUT AND MANY OF THE TRAILS ARE IN BAD REPAIR…..ONLY THE MOST POPULAR TRAILS ARE KEPT UP.
GUS AND HIS MOTHER JUANITA THE YEAR BEFORE
IT PISSES ME OFF WHEN PEOPLE LEAVE TRASH ON THE TRAILS. I ALMOST ALWAYS CARRY A TRASH BAG IN MY BACKPACK. I ALWAYS FIND THE TOPS OF GATORADE OR POWERBAR WRAPPERS ON THE TRAIL. OCCASSIONALY I FIND A PILE OF BEER CANS.
SHAME ON YOU!!!
GUS AND HIS MOTHER IN THE TRUNK OF A FALLEN TREE
THE BOYS LOVE THE REDWOODS
FRANKIE A YEAR LATER IN THE SAME TRUNK
THE TREES DON’T GROW THIS BIG IN VIRGINIA
FRANKIE ON A LOG
IT BOGGLES MY MIND THAT LOGGERS COULD TAKE A CHAINSAW TO THESE INCREDIBLE TREES.
FRANKIE IN A HOLE BURNED OUT BY A LIGHTNING STRIKE
OREGON CUT DOWN ALMOST ALL OF THEIR REDWOODS THERE IS A ROAD THAT HAS A LITTLE SIGN THAT SAYS OREGON REDWOODS BUT YOU GET THE FEELING IT AIN’T LIKE THE CALIFORNIA REDWOODS. I WILL HAVE TO GET UP THERE THIS SPRING THERE ARE SO MANY PLACES I WANT TO GO.
GUS PRETENDING HE IS DEAD IN THE REDWOODS.
ALL OF THESE PHOTOS ARE FROM STOUT GROVE EXCEPT FOR MY CHRISTMAS CARD WHICH WAS TAKEN A BIT OFF OF MILL CREEK TRAIL.
SPRINGTIME IN LAKEVIEW, OREGON
I have family that lives in Lakeview, and my nieces grandparents have a little ranch that is so cute….Their Grandmother is a very good decorator and the inside of their house is decorated in a western motif. Actually one of my paintings is hanging in their house and the next time I go up there I will take a picture of it as I don’t think that I have one! The outside of their house is also decorated very cute and they have wonderful poppies that bloom in the spring….the rest .
- AN OLD RINGER WASHER
POPPIES UNDER THE CLOTHES LINE
BIG RED POPPY
POPPY BUD AGAINST TREE
BIG METAL CONTAINER
DISKS
TRUCK DOOR AGAINST SHED
WHY PARENTS SHOULD STOP TAKING THEIR KIDS TO DISNEYLAND
I have the best nephews! They are the only regret that I have since moving back West. Teenage boys are not fond of talking on the phone so some of our conversations are awkward, they are becoming fine young men though. I am proud of them. However, when they come out here I get to show them how wonderful Oregon is.
My oldest nephew Gus is what they call “popular” in school. He is cool, skateboards, plays drums and guitar, is in a band. He excels in sports as well as in school due to his good upraising by his fine parents. He is kind to those he encounters. This is not easy for a skateboarder. Their is a hierarchy among skateboarders, some weird…I can’t talk to you if you aren’t as good at skateboarding as I am. I have personally witnessed my nephew being nice and talking to the younger kids who idolize the bigger, cooler kids. I do wonder if he knows how much that means to the youngsters. He is even nice to his little brother who ain’t so little anymore!
Gus came to visit me two years ago and I was so excited , telling him the places I was going to take him to. He told his Mother “I hope Auntie knows that “I HATE NATURE”. Teenagers!!! So I took him to the skateboard parks everyday and then hiking. I think his words about the West compared with the East was that it was so much bigger. The stretches of high desert, old growth trees and the mountains….
Then I took him to Crater Lake. we drove up (not where all of the tourists are) and we walked to the rim and he was just astounded. OH MY GOD! I WANT TO DIE HERE! THIS IS WHERE I WANT TO DIE!
MY SISTER JUANITA AND MY NEPHEW GUS AT CRATER LAKE
CRATER LAKE
CRATER LAKE
We drove around the entire rim got out at all the view points. Hiked to the bottom.
CRATER LAKE FROM THE WATERS EDGE
One of the view points has a plaque that tells the story of how Crater Lake was discovered by John Wesley Hillman while riding his mule. You can read his story here.(I figured out how to change the color of the links!)
CRATER LAKE THROUGH THE TREES
Wow! How awesome to be the first to discover Crater Lake. Of course I think that the first time ANYONE sees it is the first discovery ever. It is so powerful and breathtaking.
CRATER LAKE
This is where the post would have ended if that problem causing Monica Charles (joke) over at alt.native. had not interfered in my own self centered, egotistical, all about me thought process that plagues white middle America. It’s not a malicious thought process.
PHANTOM SHIP.
Apparently those Klamath Indians in Oregon had lost that 6 mile wide lake sitting at the bottom of a giant crater for the last 6 or 7,000 years. They should probably thank us for finding it for them!!!(sarcasm)
Yes our arrogance really comes that effortlessly!!!
I can completely understand Indians frustration with white Americans claiming to be Cherokee (I have lived in Southern Oregon for 2 years and have yet to meet a white person who says they are a Klamath Indian! Lot’s of Cherokees though!), hijacking the culture, worshiping fake medicine men and shamans. All the while refusing to acknowledge the reality of the problems facing Native Americans. (I confess that I have a string of little Tibetan prayer flags hanging above my bed.)
On the other hand do Indians REALLY want white Americans to continue embracing the European mindset that continues to haunt us so? Much worse the European mindset that continues to haunt and harm the Indians? And anyone else who has something we want to claim as our own.
GUS DINING WITH A SQUIRREL
My sincere apologies to the Squirrels and the National Park Service for feeding the squirrels nuts. I promise to never allow this to happen again!
MY EQUALLY WONDERFUL NATURE LOVING NEPHEW FRANKIE...CONTEMPLATING THE LAKE
FRANKIE PLAYING IN THE SNOW AT CRATER LAKE IN AUGUST
FRANKIE STANDING ON TOP OF A BOULDER AT CRATER LAKE
THE PALISADES
My brother is a writer. On one of his favorite hikes, he took me to THE PALISADES in the GEARHART MOUNTAIN WILDERNESS of Eastern Oregon. He was so moved that he wrote a poem about this extraordinary place.
THE PALISADES
The Palisade castles standing alone
And silent the trail I climb to see .
The Palisade castles stone upon stone
THE PALISADES
From the heart of the earth, the lava thrown
I stand at the gates of the mountain free.
The Palisade castles standing alone.
CLOSEUP OF ONE OF THE "CASTLES"
The sun on the face of the castles shone,
Pine needles strewn by the Sugar Pine tree,
The Palisade castles, stone upon stone.
MORE CASTLES
Heaved from the earth in a violent groan
And torn from the bed of a lava sea
The Palisade castles standing alone.
CASTLES HEATHED FROM THE EARTH
Struck by the cry of the wind intoned,
At one with the breath of eternity.
The Palisade castles stone upon stone.
THE CASTLES FROM ABOVE
Escaped from the eyes of a god unknown,
I see with the eyes of a soul set free
The Palisade castles standing alone,
The Palisade castles Stone upon stone.
STONE UPON STONE
The Palisades are the result of an eruption by a shield volcano(click here) that erupted millions of years ago. The formations are composed of Basalt and Andesite that have eroded into the “castle” formations.
RAIN CLOUDS ABOVE THE PALISADES
More photos of the Palisades and Gearhart Wilderness trail.
THE PALISADES
I THINK THIS MUST BE THE SPIRIT OF THE PALISADES
GEARHART WILDERNESS TRAILHEAD this is how you get to The Palisades
MY NEPHEW AND COCO ON THE GEARHART WILDERNESS TRAIL
MY SISTER AND NEPHEW ON THE TRAIL
CLOUD COVER OVER THE PALISADES
EASTERN OREGON 2
Unfortunately I ruined a roll of film. These are the rest of the photos from Eastern Oregon…oh well its an excuse to plan for another trip!
SMOKESTACK IN HINES
I’m so afraid of heights no that just the thought of climbing to the top makes my heart quicken and my palms sweat. I can remember a time when I would have dreamed of climbing to the top and feeling like I was invincible.
SMOKESTACK IN HINES
I like the smoke stack because it is just this big tall thing in the middle of a tiny town….not sure if it is reaching for a blessing from God or trying to smite him!
You can read more about the small town of Hines.
THE HIGH DESERT
I LOVED THIS HILL
There was no place to pull over and take a picture so I just slowed down to 55 and put the camera out the window and hoped for the best!! Thank god they haven’t made photography and driving illegal yet!!! This was between Ontario and Baker. I thought about moving to Ontario but it is the onion capital of Oregon and even in the spring it smelled like onions….I wonder if you sent a Christmas package from there would it smell like onions when the recipient opened it.
SOMEWHERE BETWEEN ELGIN AND WALLOWA
MOUNTAINS ON THE WAY TO ENTERPRISE
HEADING TO ENTERPRISE
This is the Grand Ronde and here is link to more photos by a much better photographer!!!
THE TOWN OF JOSEPH
More information on Joseph. Check it out it is by far the best website for a town I have ever (yes thats E V E R) seen!!
It even has panoramic photos that you can load up!!
THE WALLOWA MOUNTAINS
THE WALLOWA MOUNTAINS
THE WALLOWA MOUNTAINS FROM ENTERPRISE
ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST 
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