Preparing Camp

We returned from out short mission trip to Tok and Native villages to Camp Baldwin to begin the tasks of preparation for summer. The morning lows have been in the LOW 30s.

One of our first stops was to check in with the pastor and staff at First Baptist Church, Delta. From the parking lot in the rear of the church we have an excellent view of the north face of the Alaska Range. Fresh snow blankets the mountains.

Our first visitor at the camp is this young moose "praying for spring" and nibbling on the new grass on the playing field.

 

We cleaned the dining hall and washed every pot and pan in the kitchen. On Sunday we hosted the church youth and their parents for an end-of-school cook out in the rain.

Alaskan kids don't let a little cold rain stop them from playing.

The drizzle stopped long enough for Dale to climb the slippery ladder to mount the camp's sign. Lynne attaches the lower end of the other sign while I man the camera.

My cousins, Don and Clara visited with us from Texas. They are on a driving trip from Anchorage, to Talkeetna, Fairbanks, and then south back to Anchorage. Don spend several years as a teen in Delta and had not been back since. He said Delta Junction hadn't changed much in 50 years.

They said that our s'mores were excellent.

 

The girls and the boys bath houses  get  frequent cleanings.

We climb the bunks to change mattress pads and then make up the beds with sheets and sleeping bags for the Vacation Bible School team from North Carolina that will be arriving this week end.

Lynne insisted that she document my efforts. A volunteer should be able to say what they are volunteering for, but a servant does what ever is asked. 

I've enjoyed being desert chef, and have made 14 doz. chocolate chip cookies, 4 doz. haystacks, and 4 doz. porcupine balls, as well as helped prepare meals. And 60 brownies (at last count, I think a few were missing). Today I'll bake more cookies for the upcoming teams.

 

 

On to Alaska

        I left Beaumont for California and Alaska on April 13, heading first to Kilgore. While getting gas in Tyler, I was hit by my first adventure, a hail storm that cracked the front windshield. 
        Wifi connections have been few and far between. Cell phone service has also been spotty or "out of service area", so this is my first chance to send a blog from the library in Delta Junction, AK.
       Driving through New Mexico I had my first flat tire. In Arizona, another tire blew out. After replacing 4 tires, I continued on to Prunedale, CA to be with my cousin Diane who had major surgery. She is pictured with her son, Toby. Today she is recovering well. Continue to pray for her.

I must leave this picture large and brag on my youngest son, Chris, and his three year old son, "baby" Chris.  Isn't he cute? Looks like his daddy.

"Baby" Chris is quite a lap full for his mom Maggie. We had an enjoyable but short visit with them and her extended family before I continued on from CA, back tracking I-40 to the Grand Canyon.

        I reached the Grand Canyon Mathern campground late afternoon on a Thursday to learn that all the RV sites were full.
        However I was pleased to find a site at the Desert View campground on the Eastern ridge. I woke at 4 a.m. and drove to the Watchtower to photograph the rising sun over the canyon.
        The awesome view of the black starry night fading and the distant cliffs glowing with pinks and purple, never fail to inspire me to praise the Lord for His handiwork.

       From the Grand Canyon, I drove across Arizona and New Mexico into Colorado to Mesa Verde.
       I met with Lynne and Dale Martin from North Carolina and Lynne's brother, Dave, and his wife, Betsy. I caravaned with the Martins to Alaska. Mesa Verde was an inspirational meeting place. We hiked a mile and a half trail, climbing over 1,000 feet to an overview of the mesa.

      The following day we toured several of the ancient ancestral Pueblo ruins. To reach Cliff Palace we hiked down over rocks to the below the rim and had to climb four 10 foot log ladders to return to the rim.
      We also hiked to the Spruce Tree House pueblo.

        Leaving Colorado behind I followed the Martins through Utah into Idaho where we were greeted with a heavy snowfall on the continental divide. The weather was cold and damp into Montana, but cleared as we entered Canada.
        I have too many photos of Canada and the Yukon, but only included this one of the RV and the Rocky Mountains.

        We drove steadily through Canada with an overnight in Whitehorse, Yukon to spend Mother's Day at the Baptist Church. Dale took Lynne and I out to lunch. After six days enjoying the sights, scenery and animals along the Alaskan Highway we were eager to cross the border back into the USA.
        We continued on the camp in Delta Junction, AK to begin preparing for summer camp.
        Returning to Tok, AK, we were greeted by the Dials who are missionaries preparing the Mission Resource Training Center. However before the showers and bathrooms were complete we hosted a team of basketball players who held basketball camps in four of the Native Villages.

       In addition to cooking, laundry and general duties, I was asked to design a sign for the center.
      Here I am using a power saw to cut out plywood letters. Some of the young people painted the letters for me.
     The Dials say "Thank you" to all of you who sent coats for them to share with the Native Alaskans in outlying bush villages.

        Dale had the job of mounting the letters. I supervised and took pictures.
      We are now back at Camp Baldwin in Delta.  The water lines are operating. Although this morning at 30 degrees, the water was slow. We will be traveling to Fairbanks on Friday to make our first huge grocery purchase at Sams and a trip to Walmart.
      I hope that I won't get this far behind again!!!

Alaska Missions 2014

 Journaling while traveling is a challenge. Preparation for the journey was a bigger challenge.
 This winter in southeast Texas was also a challenge. We experienced several periods of freezes and warm ups. I discovered a leak from a skylight over the bathroom in the RV. My local, favorite and friendly RV repair man showed me where I had numerous leaks. And the bed support in the cab over was filled with old water and rotten Styrofoam.

 

Tom tore off the front nose of the RV, removed the window, supported the sides and began to rebuild the whole cab over section. We waited weeks for new sky lights, and vents. Most of the replacement pieces had to be hand formed.

 

Tom rebuilt the floor of the cab over with new insulation, new flooring and repaneled the walls.

 

This is the new interior with the cab over filled with bags of donated coats, sweats and caps for Alaska missions. Donations have been made by several churches.

 

 

This is a view of the basement storage area. The boxes are filled will donated books for the mission. I should have taken a photo of the two spare tires I ended up with stored for a short time under here.

 

I left home on Sunday, April 13, and took my mom to Kilgore. On Monday I visited with my friend Judy, then before I left Tyler I was hit by a freak hail storm. Suffered a crack in the wind shield.

Over night in Lubbock, the temp dropped to 25 degrees.

Traveling through New Mexico, I stopped for gas and noticed a low tire. Something had gouged between the treads. My spare was put on. I bought a spare.

In Arizona another tire began to split. I was blessed to pull off on the service road. I waited a couple of hours for road service. The night was spent in the parking lot of a tire store. In the morning, 4 tires later, I was on my way. I arrived at Diane's in Prunedale, CA. on Thursday.

Diane had major surgery on Friday. She did well. Was released on Monday. Today we are resting.

 

Thank you for you for your prayers for Diane and for my travels.

"J" Journaling

          Is blogging the same as journaling? Could be if you blog regularly. We think of journaling as a day-by-day accounting similar to the old-timey diary with a lock and key that you hid from your little brother. Today journaling, like blogging, may be for the public.
         Personal journals maybe as informal or formal as you are. Unless you allow someone to read your journal, no one will criticize your grammar or spelling. A personal journal is a place to reflect your heart.
         My great grandfather's journal, kept during the Civil War from 1858-1895 was a personal journal that is a priceless record of history. We inherited the original manuscript and were fortunate to be able to decipher his looping cursive hand writing and have the journal published.

Your journal of experiences is an excellent reference for later publishable manuscripts. Your journals may turn into memoirs, or be the basis of fiction.

My novels are spiced up with some of my journals!

 

 

I don't like to write in those fancy store-bought journals. I make my own. I learned the art of book binding from library books and delight in creating distinctive covers. The large book is a drawing journal with a cover of birch bark and moss with a coating of sealer. The yellow banded book has a cover of hand made paper with marigolds. The smaller cover is a fern mounted on a strip of paneling. Each book contains pages and is bound.

 I went wild with the cover for this travel journal. The book consists of a three-ring notebook covered with fabric printed with license plates. The star is pieced, like a quilt block, and the thunderbird is beaded. The interior of the book is a collection of sheet protector pages for a travel brochures, drawings and notes.

I will be blogging a travel journal within the next few weeks. My summer plans are to travel to California to visit my youngest son and my cousins. Later I'll meet up with other missionaries to travel to Alaska where we will again volunteer at camp and churches.

The internet is often unavailable, so my blog posts may be irregular. I will also keep a computerized daily journal and of course take photos.

Join me on my mission trip!

"I" Introducing Insprirational Novel

            My latest novel, Soul Sisters in Southeast Texas is now in print and available from me and from Amazon.
         
           Soul Sisters is the story of Charlene and Jewel who share the Fabulous Fifties to graduate from segregated schools on the opposite sides of town, opposite ends of society and opposite sides of racial barriers.  The Scandalous Sixties leads to a clash of cultures, while the following decades challenge a friendship fraught with bigotry and hatred.

          Can their friendship endure the turmoil of 2010 when segregation is long past but distrust is still rampant?

          Emotionally powerful and achingly true, the pain and heartache these women experience challenge the reader's belief system of racial relations.

         Send your comments to grandmas_onthego@yahoo.com. I'm waiting to hear from you.

"the year of the Horse"

           I attended Bayou Writer's monthly meeting and was challenged to write something about the Chinese New Year, the Year of the Horse.
          To my surprise, I was born in the Year of the Horse, but I won't tell you which year!
           According to the Chinese Zodiac that we writers were given as inspiration, motivation and to challenge us, a person born in the Year of the Horse is talented, clever and kind. I'll admit to those characteristics. It also stated that some Horses don't listen to advice.  Well, I have to admit to that trait, too, sometimes.
          Horses are advised to marry a Dog or a Tiger, but never a Rat or a Monkey. I'll admit I married a Rat! Should have read my horoscope.
          As a child I was horse crazy, collecting miniatures, reading "Black Beauty" and "The Black Stallion" over and over. I saved my money and by Junior High, I'd bought my first horse.

         My best friend in High School also had a horse, and loved music and art. Today we have reestablished that friendship and spent last wonderful time last week in the excitement of watching the Gala of Royal Horses.

Riding master, Rene Gasser, following in the footsteps of seven generations of trainers commands one of the Royal stallions. I was thrilled, with chill bumps on my arms and my heart in my throat, as the show featured some of the Royal Horses of Europe.

 

Beaumont was honored to by one of the few Texas stops on the equestrian 2014 tour of North America. The show on this tour has be previously seen only at the famous riding schools in Vienna and Spain.

The Royal Horses of Europe are some of the most celebrated in history. They've been the favorite of royalty, riders and bullfighters. The grace and beauty of these magnificent creatures and the dedication of their trainers will continue to enthrall me.

As a writer, I challenge you to examine your interest in one or more of God's magnificent creations and to use that as a theme in your writing.

Check out www.best-horse-photoes.com

"G" Gardening?

I'm still working through the alphabet for topics for writers. "G" gardening has been on my mind even though it's a little early in the season to have spring planting fever.
My last blog discussed fact vs fiction. Here's proof that it's a fact that we had an ice storm in Southeast Texas. See how it affected my veggie garden.

The icicles dripping from the leaves of this bush caused me to laugh at their attempt to survive. With the icicle tails, the leaves look like polliwogs.

A head of cauliflower is surrounded by a collar of ice while sprinkles of sleet coat the leaves. I should have covered them up.

A broccoli head shimmers with ice crystals. The leaves sparkle with sleet.

 

So how does my garden grow? Not to well. However, I harvested the cauliflower and broccoli, cooked and ate some and froze the rest. After all, it was already frozen!

 

My advice to gardeners is to spend the rest of unpredictable winter weather in planning. Plan what you want to grow, whether decorative plants and flowers or edibles. Use this time to peruse gardening books for new varieties, how-to build container gardens or square-foot gardens, improve your compost, and dream for spring.

 

Writers, instead of fighting cabin fever, nature has provided down time for you  to get out some of those old manuscript ideas and work on them.

 

There is a prediction for more freezing weather and rain, so I'm using this time in writing and indulging in another craft. I'm working of a quilt made from sweatshirts I  collected in Alaska.

 

What are you doing indoors when you can't go out?