San Antonio Zoo - December 25

Years ago we started going to the zoo on Christmas Day. Back then we pretty much had the place to ourselves, but that isn't true any more. There were many, many people enjoying the nice weather and animals right along with us. Sure beat sitting in a movie theater.

San Antonio - December 4

These are three scrapbook pages from the DSP (digitalscrapbookplace.com) San Antonio Get-Together. The weather wasn't very cooperative, but it could have been worse and we had a fun weekend.

Arkansas: Mountain View - Wild!

Galen was playing washtub bass with the Old Memories group and after the last performance of the day a woman came up to talk to him about how he got such good sound out of a washtub. People do this all the time, but what made this time different was that the woman was in Galen's high school graduation class in in small Illinois town way back in 1961. It took them a minute or two before they recognized each other since neither expected to run into the other at the Ozark Folk Center in Arkansas. I emailed the photo and story to the Stark County News in Toulon, IL and they will be in the newspaper in the next week or two.

Arkansas: Scenic Overlook - Oct 28

We went to Mountain Home yesterday to visit a friend in the hospital and stopped on the way home to take photos at an overlook not far from Mountain View. We were surprised at how pretty the view was on yet another rainy day. It has rained most of the time since we arrived in Mountain View on 9/1/09.

Arkansas: Mountain View - Puffin Map 10/14

I just discovered the "bug map" feature on geocaching.com. This map shows the route the travel bug I left in Newfoundland has taken since I left it there (near the Skerwink Trail) in 2008. It now has almost 16,000 miles on it. My other travel bug, a memorial bug carrying a photo of our granddaughter has not been seen since it arrived in Colorado months ago. I keep hoping it will show up, but I don't have much hope any more. :-(

Arkansas: Mountain View - The Gang - Sep 30

Bill and Susan left the end of September and we enjoyed a farewell dinner at their place on one of the few days we haven't had rain. Front row, left to right: Mary Jane, Susan, Jean. Back row: Bill, Karen, Galen, Ron and Donna.

Arkansas: Mountain View - Party Animals

The party wasn't really wasn't a wild one, but you can't tell that by this photo. :-)

Arkansas: Mountain View - Ozark RV Park

You will find few parks more friendly than the Ozark RV Park and the office is the place to be in the morning. There is always coffee, usually donuts or other goodies, lots of laughter, and sometimes a mini-jam session. That's Galen on the far left and next to him is Andy, the owner of the park. Major, the sweet Corgi in the middle of things, belongs to Jack and Mary.

Arkansas: Mountain View - Courting Dulcimer - Oct 8, 2009

Jack and Mary playing the courting dulcimer on the daytime stage at the Ozark Folk Center. The theory was that a couple could be left alone in a room as long as music from the two dulcimers could be heard. :-)

Arkansas: Mountain View - The CD - Oct 8, 2009

We picked up our CDs yesterday! Here are a few photos taken during the recording.


Jack at the controls in his home studio. He was endlessly patient with us and his and Mary's musical talents added so much to the final product.


Bill, Susan, and Galen listening to the playback of September on the Mississippi that we had just recorded. Each of us played a different dulcimer part on this beautiful song that Larry Conger originally wrote to be a teaching tool.


This was Emily's first time to be on a CD. We conspired with her parents to get her to play her fiddle on the song her grandmother helped write as a surprise for her grandmother.

Mountain View - CD! - October 2, 2009

We finished up with the recording and mixing our first CD yesterday and I put the final touches on the cover today. Off to the duplicating service early next week.

Arkansas: Mountain View

We are alive and well - just haven't had time to take any photos because music and friends are keeping us busy! We have hardly left the campground except for quick trips to the grocery store and JoJo's for grilled catfish and the most wonderful hushpuppies. I'll try to get some photos up soon.

Kansas: Birthday Party - August 29

Not your average family portrait, but I love it. Shep rarely eats any sugary junk food and it was his birthday party and his birthday cake so he had a piece. This photo was taken a short time later. :-)

Colorado: John Martin Reservoir SP - August 16

This field was once part of the Santa Fe trail.

Colorado: John Martin Reservoir SP - August 18

We took a picnic lunch out to the point. We went for a walk after we ate and saw these colorful critters.

Colorado: Hasty - John Martin Reservoir SP - August 16

This was home for a couple of nights. You can't see our rig, but it is on the edge of the lake at the far end. The park was practically empty the whole time we were there.

Colorado: Las Animas - Kit Carson Museum - August 17

It is hard to imagine that this was once the basis for phone service!

Colorado: Las Animas - Kit Carson Museum - August 17

A noose and ball and chain that were in the former prison.

Colorado: Las Animas - Kit Carson Museum - August 17

Two prison photos. The first prison was the metal box. It must have been horrible to be there for any length of time.

Colorado: Las Animas - Kit Carson Museum - August 17

The museum is currently housed in a building that once held German prisoners of war, but the building is falling apart and the museum is going through stuff and organizing it in anticipation of moving to a new building. Looked like a really BIG job to us. Normally photos are not allowed in the museum but I promised not to use the flash and was allowed to take some photos.

Colorado: Las Animas - Old Bent's Fort - August 17

We saw this cool mailbox on the way to Old Bent's Fort.

Colorado: Las Animas - Old Bent's Fort - August 17

I love the way Native Americans told their story in a circle like this. This one tells of the death of Charles Bent, an outbreak of measles, and a meteor shower. The photo was taken at Bent's Old Fort.

Colorado: Las Animas - Old Bent's Fort - August 17

Greetings from Old Bent's Fort.

Colorado: Las Animas - Old Bent's Fort - August 17

This impressive adobe fort was totally reconstructed by the National Park Service using dimensions written down by a visitor to the park around 1840.

Colorado: Hasty - August 16

Here is home now. We are in site 38, which we think is the best site in the Hasty campground in John Martin Reservoir State Park. Electric only. $24 a night. Big tree and lots of shade in the afternoons.

New Mexico: Cochiti Lake - Aug 6

Home sweet home for almost a week at a cost of only $6 a night for old geezers with National Park passes. Huge sites, water, electric, no sewer and about 25 miles from Santa Fe.

New Mexico: Santa Fe - Loretta Chapel - August 11

Legend says the Sisters prayed to St. Joseph, the patron saint of carpenters, to solve the problem of getting up into the balcony. On the last day of their nine day novena a man appeared looking for work. It took him months to finish the staircase and after he finished it, he disappeared without pay and could never be found. Some think maybe it was St. Joseph himself who built the stairway.

The staircase has two 360 degree turns and no visible means of support, something that still has experts scratching their heads today.

The stairway's carpenter, whoever he was, built a magnificent structure. The design was innovative for the time and some of the design considerations still perplex experts today.

The staircase is quite famous. There was even a television movie titled "The Staircase."

New Mexico: Santa Fe - August 11

A couple images of downtown Santa Fe. Very interesting city and I wish we'd had more time to really look around.

New Mexico: Tent Rocks National Monument - Aug 10

We visited Tent Rocks National Monument this morning. Getting there involved a l-o-n-g drive down a four-mile washboardy gravel road but being there among the funky rock formations was fun. The four of us did a 1+ mile loop. The guys said it was too hot to go on and hike the steep climb to the top of the mesa but they did it anyway. Lu and I waited for them on a bench under a comfy shade tree. Galen took all the photos today.

New Mexico: Tent Rocks National Monument - Aug 10

Larry and Lu being brats and looking happy about it. :-) Galen crouched down to get a different angle on the shot and the lower he went the lower they went.

New Mexico: Tent Rocks National Monument - Aug 10

Don't know what this is, but Galen got a lovely shot of it.

New Mexico: Tent Rocks National Monument - Aug 10

Wish I hadn't missed this slot canyon, but am glad Galen got some good photos of it.