Whisperings and Explorings

 

 Indistinct; from which direction come the sounds? Standing on a creaking board I hesitate, trying to absorb it all. Though it's sunny outside, it's chill and dim here inside. The old living room wallpaper still shows the taste of a former rancher wife. Large pieces are peeling off the walls, but overall there is still a cheerfulness and hominess to the pattern. As I move into the kitchen I can see that the wooden kitchen cupboards are painted green, and adorned with old chrome handles. Some of the doors are hanging crookedly by just one hinge, and the old white porcelain sink is streaked with rust stains and dirt. Amazingly, the window glass is still here, but is too smeared and dirty for me to see through. I can imagine that the same rancher wife must have had a good view from her kitchen sink of the high desert sagebrush, the vast sky, and maybe even livestock grazing. The pack rats have been busy, making piles of debris across the old linoleum floor, and I move gingerly. Something catches my eye on one of the kitchen shelves and I reach up to find a very old pack of Rolaids that has been chewed on and then rejected.
Next I climb the narrow back stairs, watching for rotting wood, and gain the second floor. Walking through a succession of small rooms, presumably bedrooms, I scan for bits of lives left behind: an old metal curtain rod perhaps, or any furniture or broken items left behind, unheeded. The wind gently blows around the eaves up here, and I feel those whose lives were bound up in this place. Little skittering noises run around the floorboards, but all else is entombed in the whispering silence. How many children were tucked into bed up here? I know there were children as there are still broken swings in the yard. How many seasons of harvest did this family see? Was it a good life?
Back downstairs in the main room, I stand before the stone, cold fireplace, once the heart of the home. It looks to be made of rock possibly quarried from the surrounding dessert. There is a dusty, broken desk in a corner, and piles of leaves strewn about the wooden floor. Abandoned and lonely, the home whispers of its past, its glory days and its stories to any who will pause and listen in the silence. I can almost feel the people who once lived here, can almost touch their lives. This is the place where together they struggled, laughed, despaired, cried and loved. This is the house they called home and that sheltered them. They once came and I've gone back, so the two of us can almost, almost touch.
I shiver and head for the back door, back to sunlight and the company of my real-life husband. He is sitting on an old rusty abandoned tractor, lost in his own thoughts for a moment. Beside the back door a lone rose still blooms, on a bush struggling for life. As I bend to smell, it also whispers to me that here in this lonely place there is still life and beauty .

 

By Jennie

Beauty in Resting

The insurance man and I recently returned from a California vacation. We decided to follow highway 49 on the middle-eastern side of the state, down through Gold Rush country.

This route took us through many small old towns, that once were boom towns from 1849 to approx. early 1900's. The town of Sutter Creek is in the Sierra Nevada foothills, and very cute and tourist worthy. There were a lot of vineyards in the foothills, and we wound all through the area until reaching the small town of Angel's Camp which is where our timeshare was located, as well as a major gold mining museum.

We made different excursions during the mornings, as the afternoons were HOT. We visited Columbia, which is a California State Park as well as a restored gold rush town.

Lots of restored buildings and shops.

This was the post office and Wells Fargo office as well.

This is the Columbia Hotel and where we ate a delicious lunch. (One of the only places in town with air conditioning.)

They have a wonderfully restored 2-story brick schoolhouse, and it looks like it is perpetually waiting for the students to arrive.

There were also a lot of wonderful old buildings and houses that have miraculously escaped fires over the years.





 

One day we drove south, and spent the day in Yosemite sightseeing. 

What a wonderful park, and what amazing rock and land formations. We enjoyed it so much.

 

This is the famous 'half-dome' and it is an immense part of the granite in Yosemite.

We saw the effects of the 4 year drought everywhere we went, and it was very evident in the lack of water in Yosemite. This is Yosemite Falls, and although it's often reduced in autumn, this was heart-breaking.

This was the view as we entered the park. What amazing beauty and power.

We also took a day, and visited the Big Trees National Park. We had not realized that sequoia's grew inland as well as along the coast. There is a large grove here, and although they are stressed from the lack of water, they do look healthy.

This was once a great tree, but after discovery men cut it down to ship around the world as an exhibit. Now it remains a famous artifact.

Such amazing size and it does make one feel rather insignificant. I'm glad God sees our insignificance ("What is man that Thou art mindful of him?") and loves us each.

A napping squirrel, tired from all his harvest activity.

We enjoyed this park, and the peace of the forest and the big trees. It was great to be off grid, and off schedule and able to do just what and when we wanted. We are blessed.



 

 



 

 





 









I Can't Believe It's Been 30 Years!

This last week, the insurance man received recognition for his 30 years as a Farmers Insurance Agent. He received this certificate in the mail, along with a nice catalog of gifts to choose from. He chose a new watch, which he'll probably get around Christmas time.

Then several company people were visiting our area, and invited us to a nice dinner out to recognize his 30 years of business. The agents from our district 09, went together to get him this engraved glass plaque.

One of the district agents from Prineville wrote a poem in his honor, and read it at the dinner, to good laughs by all of us. We toasted his effort and success...and ate a really nice dinner.

We capped it off by taking this photo with Kim, who is in charge of Washington and Oregon with Farmers Insurance.

 

His actual 30 year anniversary is October 15, and we are going to plan a little celebration at the office as well.

Congrats Insurance Man!