ventures

Join us...

Hello to my blog followers out there in blog reading land. I'd like to officially invite you over to the blog that I will be writing while my husband and I are in Kenya for the next three years. This is not meant to be a literary work. It is meant to be a log documenting stories and reflections of our work and experiences to keep us connected to friends and folks that care about us. Thanks for your interest. See you there!

Fall Garden

Something that brings me a lot of delight is eating vegetables from my fall garden. Here you see Giant Purple Mustard, Swiss Chard and Beet Greens. Not pictured, but also included in my garden are spinach and lettuce- the cabbage didn't do well, unfortunately. This love of mine harks back to my parent's love of garden veggies and its influence on me as a kid.  In particular, I see in myself the exact same marvel, as my dad used to say (to which we groaned and rolled our teenage eyes):  "Veggies from the garden in the middle of winter!"In fact, here's a picture to demonstrate it- Just today:

Brussel Sprouts!

Halloween

Halloween has become a special day for me.  I've never previously paid much attention to this day, but now I celebrate meeting my husband for the first time Oct. 31, 2009. Yesterday marked 2 years exactly that we've been in each other's presence. I'm so grateful for that event and how God brought us to the place to be together.  We got some beautiful flowers in celebration.

Out with the Canyon in with the Parking Lot

Here's D's digging handiwork in preparation.

We had a great showing on Saturday for the second cement project of the season. A gorgeous day of warm weather,  4 helpful men, and a pack of at least 10 kids!

This pouring went so much smoother than the first one since there was a little more experience under the belt as well as, slower drying cement.

Here's the final product which should make parking much easier now that we covered the "Grand Canyon" that had been growing as the dirt and sand washed away with all the rain we'd had this summer.

The kids loved the huge dirt piles as well as watching the action. There were only 3 incidents of accidental footprint holes that no-one wanted to claim ("I fell in!"and "That definitely wasn't me!"), but they were easily smoothed over.

Last trip to big mountains in this country...

On the second to last day of our 5 week trip, we hiked for a few hours in Rocky Mt. National Park with D's younger brother, returning to the car in the dark with headlamps.

Our last day consisted of 15 hours of driving across the great plains. It would be an understatement to say we were happy to see that Welcome to Minnesota sign along the highway. We pulled in to our house safe and sound Sunday evening before 10 p.m, exceedingly grateful for the gifts of safety over 7000 miles of traveling, a steady and fuel efficient car, sweet encounters with friends and family and God's amazing creation.

SoCal: San Diego to the Front Range

 We arrived in San Diego in a driving rain and wind storm which was quickly replaced by the perpetual sunshine more typical of the area. D spent time doing computer network contract work for the place he works with back home. We crammed in some visits to some friends. These 4 yr old twins are the youngest of 5 adopted kids of some friends of ours. These guys loved D's ability to "fix" their race track.

The middle child of the adopted 5- she loved having tea with me on the back porch, dreaming of her future in showbiz and doing cartwheels.

Another friend showed us her new chickens. We hung out at a coffee shop while she did school work and I worked on prep for Africa. We went for walks in the "canyons" in the middle of the city where coyotes hang out in the scrub.

I introduced my husband and his co-worker to the delights of In-N-Out burger and their fresh cut potato fries.

After San Diego, we drove east for 2 days stopping to sleep after a quick 2 hour evening hike at Zion National Park in southern Utah (one of the most geographically spectacular states - in my humble opinion). This is sunrise and moon-set as we drove out the next morning.

We took a little more scenic route off the interstate near Bryce Canyon and Capitol Reef National Parks. Here is one of the many many expansive views full of the yellow of fall, the white of snow dustings, and the red of the desert formations.

We saw these petroglyphs from a quick turnout along the road.

We made it to Vail pass, CO just as the sun was descending.  That second day was about 650 miles with endless views of God's spectacular natural creation ending in the expanse of man-made lights of Denver spread out before us as we descended into the front range.

A day of quick rendezvous's with an old friend from college and her 3 kiddos and...

my dad's older brother and his wife who had just returned from their own trip to Utah where he'd played basketball and volleyball in the World Senior Games for a week!

D and his brother hanging out on the balcony of his apartment where we stayed.

To end our first day in the front range areas, we visited some old friends in Fort Collins who escaped the camera. They gave us a strong argument for moving to their town in the future- I must say it looked appealing, especially to live in their neighborhood.We've considered this trip with all its visiting of so many friends and some family to be a little bit more of the "extended wedding reception project"-aka EWRP, where we intend to spend time with the countless numbers of people who we were not able to have to our wedding. Even if it is a quick visit, we hope to get time to meet, visit or share a meal with  the many people of our lives- and hopefully connect a little more than if we'd had them all together under one roof for a meal while we were in our wedding clothes. Its turned out to be an amazing opportunity in this way as well as, a reconnecting with community before we head across the Atlantic.Two more days on this 5 week trip- today we hope to visit another long-time family friend of D's and hike in the mountains in Rocky Mountain N.P. with D's younger brother. Tomorrow we head for home in a 15 hour push. We are eager to return to our own bed, our own routine, our own menu, and our adventure of prep for Africa.

Over the Sierra Nevada

Here's the family that hosted us for a few days in my old home town of Oakhurst and treated us like royalty. I'm not actually a giant, the picture is a bit warped...

Our journey took us back through Yosemite Valley. Here is a picture of us October 2, 2011 and the following is nearly 2 years ago, just about a month after we'd met for the first time.

Historical photo: November 30, 2009

We drove through a controlled burn on our way up to Tuolumne , and Tioga Pass which is the high country of Yosemite N.P.

After our week of visiting my old home and friends, visiting the places where I used to work, we were ready for some time of reflection, spiritual refreshment, and some processing about our next step- MCC in Kenya.

We spent an afternoon trying to stay warm when the sun came from behind the clouds beside the river running through Tuolumne meadow at  8600 ft elev.

We camped on the far side of the park- the east side and did a little tourism jaunt down to Mono lake and the tufas formed by fresh water springs bubbling up into the salt water lake (2.5x the salinity of the ocean).

The weather grew more threatening and chilly with each day of our trip over the Sierra Nevada mountains and down along the eastern side.

It was still sunny further south and we stopped to camp and hike a bit in the shadow of the dramatic spectacle that is Mt. Whitney, 14, 494 elev.

Natural dried flower arrangements. Kudos to D for some good photography.

Our Bureau of Land Management land (BLM) campsite (free!)

We stretched our legs up a small peak behind our site among the Alabama hills at the base of the Sierra Nevada. The peaks get taller as you head south along the range. The valley also is dropping lower as the peaks increase to over 14,000 ft.

Today we awoke to rain and wind driving against our summer backpacking tent. We broke camp and drove through that hard rain and accompanying stiff crosswinds all the way down to San Diego. At one point in San Bernardino we pulled off for a while because the visibility was so bad and I was too nervous to stay on the roads. We've arrived back in the city and enjoyed hot showers. We are preparing for our next week- D will be doing consulting work- long days to take advantage of the time and I will be working on some prep for Kenya as well as catching up with some more of my scattered friends. 

Ansel Adams Wilderness- without students!

One of the highlights of our trip so far was going up into the Ansel Adams wilderness where I used to lead trips. It was such a treat to be up there without students. We did not see another soul- except for 4 or 5 grouse that we flushed out a few times. Here we are on the summit of Madera peak with the Sierra Crest in the background.

D's shirt was a casualty to critter chew- but it didn't phase his enthusiasm! Just slather on the sunscreen...

Burro Lake- a brisk swim at about 9650 ft in a backdrop of thunderstorms

hiking up the ridge to Madera Peak- 10,500 ft.

My old backyard. This is the wilderness that I've traversed many times in the  decade I lived in Ca.

Lady lake from Madera Peak.

Snack time out of wind on the summit

It was a wonderful time to be able to show D a section of my life in Ca- a place that held so much formation for me - very special to my heart.

Two days in Oakhurst

From our day inYosemite, we weren't able to find a campsite so we headed on down to the town where I used to live for many years to some friends who took us in a night early (photo to come). We were able to catch some of the friends that we saw in photos, others escaped un-documented...It was good to see old friends, to feel some sense of home with them, but also to know that my time there was over and we were in the right place- moving to Kenya.

We visited the local creeks and old favorite swimming holes

Notice the technique...

...swim back as fast as possible in the snow-melt fed creek!

Next post... our venture into the Ansel Adams Wilderness where I used to take students- this time with no students!

A day in Yosemite

Ever hear of Hetch Hetchy? Its the other valley similar to Yosemite Valley located in Yosemite National Park except hardly anyone goes there. In the 1920s they dammed it for a water supply for San Francisco. There was resistance to it because it was in such a special place, but because there was a devastating earthquake in San Francisco, people's sympathy swung toward building the dam to help them out. Ideas of trying to find other solutions with less impact were not as popular nor as creative in those days. The waterfalls in this valley are equally as spectacular and record breaking high as those in Yosemite. However, they are not very accessible.

After visiting Hetch Hetchy, we drove down into Yosemite Valley and looked without success for a campsite. Apparently, we were unlucky enough to be coming on the Monday following a weekend where it was free to get into all National Parks so everything was booked to the max. Nevertheless, we spent the afternoon watching  climbing parties on El Capitan, the huge granite monolith. We also got to observe a Helicopter rescue.

Here is the face of El Cap. We found about 5 or so climbing parties across the face. The party to be rescued is circled in red.

The climbing party to be rescued.

The helicopter came in so close to the rock, hovering like a hummingbird next to a flower, examining the situation. It came in about 4 times before it landed in the field beside us to pick up the search and rescue personnel and the climbing rangers who would be lowered in for the rescue. The helicopter and the party to be rescued are circled here.

Here, the rescuers (2 of them) were lowered via rope. They then tossed something in toward the climbing party and pulled themselves in toward the rock.

The rescuers landed on the same ledge as the climbing party. They left one of the rescuers to assist the non-injured climber back down the rock with all the gear. The second rescuer and the injured climber attached to the rope and swung outward with a controlled movement. As they swung out, the helicopter moved away from the rock giving them the ride of their lives through the air all the way back around dropping them lightly in the meadow.

They circled above us and came into a landing pattern above the meadow.

We hustled to the far side of the huge meadow, but didn't get too close. The injured and the rescuer landed into the helpful hands of this set of  Yosemite Search and Rescue, one of the highest esteemed of its kind in the country simply for the kind of rescues they have to do- case in point. Here is a link to a full story with clearer pictures and more inside description of what happened.