Valerie – Page 64 – Valerie's Voice

Memorable Hikes – Cape Town, South Africa 2015

Continuing my Friday series on memorable hikes…

Table Mountain in Cape Town, South Africa

After spending Christmas and starting the New Year (2015) with our son and his family in Mozambique, my husband and I flew to Cape Town, South Africa. It was great to see another country on the African continent. Cape Town is a more progressive city and we were excited to see it and the surrounding area, including the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point, at the southern most tip of Africa.

Table Mountain is in the center of Cape Town and is visible from anywhere in the city. It’s flat top makes it looks like a table, hence the name. We decided to hike to the top of Table Mountain.

Getting closer to the top…deceiving photo though – you cannot see the people in it.

It was going to be another beautiful, sunny day in Cape Town so we started hiking up the mountain in the morning with much anticipation and energy. The climb soon became difficult: it was steep, rocky, hot and slow going. But we made it to the top and we were glad when we did.

As we were hiking two people stopped to ask me if I had enough water. I did. We are always careful a about carrying enough water with us when we hike. As people passed us up I noticed a lot of them were younger than we were. About two thirds of the way up we stopped to rest under a rock overhang, to stand in shade for a minute because we were so warm. A young man came up to me and asked if I had enough water. I said yes, and then he asked me to hold out my hat…when I did he poured his water into my hat and told me to pour it over my head. I did and it felt so good. I said thank you and he took off and continued on his way and I never saw him again. I was impressed with such a random act of kindness.

A beautiful view of Cape Town off to one side of Table Mountain.

The views at the top were fantastic and we spent a fair amount of time up there. When it was time to head down we took a cable car instead of hiking. The cable car is continually taking folks up to the top of the mountain and back down again. Usually hiking down is harder than hiking up, so I was grateful for the option to ride down the mountain.

A funny story about the cable car is we happened to be first in line for the next ride down. When we stepped into the cable car we were excited to get a front row view out the window. Once the cable car filled up and started descending, the floor of the cable car started rotating so everyone was able to have a chance to have that front row view. It was surprising, but what a great idea.

A cable car coming down from the top of Table Mountain.

Even though the hike up Table Mountain was a difficult one, we are happy we did it!

Earrings – a Haiku

Favorite earrings

Set with care in a safe place

Where is that safe place?

The Jetsons, part two

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about The Jetsons, a comic book based on a cartoon series back in the 60’s (link to blog post). So when I saw an article in the Minneapolis StarTribune on Sunday, March 4^th entitled George Jetson would be impressed I was intrigued.

The article written by Daisuke Wakabayashi and starts out:

“Flying cars are just starting to inch their way out of science fiction. But that is not stopping some companies from planning for flying taxi service.

A grow collection of tech companies, aircraft manufacturer, automakers and investors are betting that fleets of battery –powered aircraft will give rise to air taxi services, perhaps as soon as the next decade. Some of those taxis, the companies hope, may even use artificial intelligence to fly themselves.”

Hmm…It seems this “George Jetson air travel” may become a reality, and it may come sooner than expected.

Name and date of newspaper with article about flying cars.

Tulips

My friend gave me a bulb garden last fall. She had an abundance of tulip bulbs and decided to plant a few in baskets to store over the winter so she could bring a little spring indoors six months later. I wrote a note on my calendar to bring the basket from our garage into the house on March 1^st, so I did. I stored the bulb garden in a cooler next to an inside wall in our garage during our Minnesota winter. I didn’t how it would survive the freezing cold. I was pleasantly surprised when I opened the cooler and five bulbs had already popped through the soil, and had grown an inch already. I was delighted! The basket is now indoors where it is warm and enjoying some good afternoon sunlight. It will be fun to watch the tulips bloom and grow.

I think there is a lesson in this somewhere…like “bloom where you are planted!”

Memorable Hikes – Tucson, Arizona 2003

Continuing my Friday series on memorable hikes…

In 2003 we went to visit friends who spend their winters in Arizona, away from the Minnesota cold, snow and ice. They bought a lovely town home in Tucson and we enjoy visiting them, over a long weekends, in February, when it works.

There is a lot to do and see in the area where they live: Tuscan Botanical Garden, Saguaro National Park, Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, DeGrazia Gallery, Old Tuscon Studios, Mt. Lemon and the Santa Catalina mountains, good restaurants and several places for hiking. Sabino Canyon is one of those places.

Sabino Canyon is a desert oasis in the Coronado National Forest. When you arrive at the park you can take a tram up the canyon and walk back down if you desire. That’s a great way to hike! But there are several trail options available to hike back down. We have hiked in this canyon on several different trips. On this day in Sabino Canyon we were casually hiking down along the canyon in the beautiful, warm, sunshine. There was water in the canyon; water pools in the canyon during winter months and being near water while hiking is a always a treat. As we were walking we caught up with a couple in front of us that had stopped on the trail. They pointed to a rattlesnake coiled up in the sun on a rock along side the trial. We tiptoed past it and kept on going. That’s the first time, and hopefully the last time, I see one of those snakes!

Other than the snakes, the desert landscapes in this park are beautiful and it’s especially nice when one can enjoy warmth and sunshine knowing it’s cold and icy back in Minnesota.

Seed Exchange

I went on a field trip to the Faribault Public Library.

The Thomas Scott Buckham Memorial Library in Faribault, MN.

This was my first visit to the Thomas Scott Buckham Memorial Library housed in a historic building in downtown Faribault. It dates from 1929. The first thing I noticed was the stone plaque outside, standing tall, with the Ten Commandments written on it. That was a pleasant surprise.

I was curious to see a Farm Animal Portraits exhibition by Julie Fakler that I read about on Minnesota Prairie Roots. They were delightful to look at.

After I looked at the artwork I took myself on a tour of the library. I really enjoyed the children’s area. It’s a very spacious and colorful with a lot of kids size table and chairs, kid friendly posters, special areas for toddlers, an inviting information desk, and lots and lots of books and dvds, of course. There is a lot of natural light coming in through windows and it’s very inviting. I trust it gets used a lot. There were no children there during the hour I sat there. It must have been nap-time.

I like this colorful, fun rug in the children’s area.

There were a couple of artifacts in the library. One was an old bookshelf with glass doors storing old books.

A beautiful antique bookshelf with old books.

But the best discovery was how they re-purposed an old card catalog cabinet. They are using it as an heirloom seed exchange.

The re-purposed card catalog cabinet with a hi-tech computer close by.

The seeds are in brown envelopes divided by varieties and placed in an old library card catalog cabinet. Apparently, interested gardeners can “borrow” seeds from this cabinet, bring them home to plant in their gardens and then at the end of the season bring more seeds back to the library to restock the cabinet for next year. What a clever idea.

The sign painted on the side of the old card catalog cabinet.

I hope this seed exchange works well. Since this is my first time at the library I do not know how long the program has been in place.

The library has its own organic garden…I will plan to visit again next summer to see it in bloom.

A Week in Winter Wonderland

Last week it snowed one day, and then another, and then another and for some reason the snow mostly stayed on the tree branches making the world around us a winter wonderland. For me it was breath-taking. Everywhere you looked the trees were frosted. I tried to capture a few photos.

The first snow – ice crystals clinging to tree branches and glistening in the sun.

The second snow – Evergreens along County Road 9.

Second snowfall – we went snow-shoeing on French Lake.

Overlooking fresh fallen snow on an open field.

The third snow – walking in vehicle tracks on Crystal Lake.

Chunks of ice carved out of Crystal Lake, preparing a hole for a polar plunge (which we did not stay to watch.)

Continuing to walk all the way across Crystal Lake.

Into the woods on the other side of Crystal Lake.

A lone pine cone hanging on to a snowy branch.

Stunning beauty all along the Highway 3. I can only imagine what it would look like with blue skies.

Every branch (and every tree) is covered with snow.

Memorable Hikes – Itasca State Park, Minnesota 2011

Continuing my Friday series on memorable hikes…

My husband and I went camping in Itasca State Park. This park is a beautiful treasure in Minnesota. In this park, the headwaters of the Mississippi begin. We camped here with our boys when they were younger, but this year it was just my husband and I.

It’s always fun to say “I’ve walked across the Mississippi River.”

One afternoon we took off hiking on a trail from the campground, and I was in the lead. As we were walking along I noticed black in the treetops above me, on my right. I stopped to look and noticed there were two black cubs high in the tree…so then I thought…hmmm, where’s mama?

I looked to the left of the path and there she was, staring right at us. At that moment I couldn’t remember what I was suppose to do. We’ve been to so many parks and read so many signs telling one how to react to bears…black bears or grizzly bears… play dead for one and act big for another, but in this moment – when I needed to know – I forgot! So we stood there, and then slowly stepped backwards. The cubs climbed down the tree, walked over the path in front of us and joined their mama, all the while the mama kept her eyes on us. And we kept our eyes on her too!

When the cubs were safely with their mama we watched them scamper off into the woods and we kept going on our hike, happy to have had a safe, and memorable, encounter with the black bears.

Billy Graham

I saw this image on a billboard today. After hearing the sad news of Billy Graham’s death this morning, I was surprised to see this billboard already on display along 35W a few hours later.

Billy Graham was 99 years old. Today the world mourns his passing, yet celebrates the amazing life of this good and faithful servant of God. He was a powerful man of prayer, and a man of positive influence. He touched the lives of so many people around the world.

Here is a link to the official obituary for Billy Graham.

In 8^th grade my church youth group went to see the movie The Restless Ones, a Billy Graham movie. After the movie I went up to talk to a counselor, but half way there I got nervous and turned around. Years later, when Billy Graham came to Minneapolis in 1996, I went through counselor training for the Minneapolis Crusades so I was available for others if anyone wanted to talk after Billy Graham spoke. What an interesting twist.

My own two sons, and their youth group at the time, went to hear the evangelist. Afterwards kids were running to the bus when my youngest son accidentally ran into a fender and cut open his leg. We wrapped it, got on the bus, and kept his spirits up while we drove back to Northfield Hospital’s emergency room. He had several stitches that left a scar on his leg for many years.

I think I will always remember where I was when I heard the news about Billy Graham’s death; just as I remember where I was when JFK was shot, or when the planes flew into the Twin Towers in NYC on 911.

The Jetsons and Starman

Sometimes when I’m caught in heavy traffic I have thought about the Jetsons. The Jetsons was a cartoon show on television in the 1960’s and I used to watch it as a little girl: George the father, Jane the mother, Judy the daughter, Elroy the son, and Astro their dog. It made an impression on me.

The cover of 1963 The Jetsons comic book.

The Jetsons had the coolest vehicles called spacemobiles…and they traveled fast through the interplanetary expressway. In rush hour traffic I have envisioned being in spacemobile rising above the traffic and zooming home, leaving the mess behind!

The other day I was looking through a box of books and found an old comic book: The Jetsons, Volume 1, January 1963, published quarterly, “Now only 12 cents!” What fun!

Also, the other day a friend, not knowing about this comic book I just uncovered, suggested I look online at pictures of “Starman”, the name of the mannequin dressed in a spacesuit orbiting the universe in a bright red, Tesla Roadster. The photos are interesting, intriguing, and a bit eerie. Click here to see photo. The roadster might even crash into earth some time in the next million years, click here for article and photo with short video of traveling by Earth.

So to see these amazing images from outer space and then look at an antique comic book from 1963 depicting the same theme felt like an intergalactic experience!

Stopping by for a picnic on a “planetoid”.

Back to the comic book: the Jetsons take nutrition pills as their dinner; George, the father, says in a huff “keep your synthetic shirts on”; they take their dog Astro for a “float” instead of a walk; and when they have to use an airplane to fly to Hawaii because their spacemobile breaks down (darn – I guess there will never be a vehicle that doesn’t break down) the kids think the airplane is an antique. Although not featured in this particular comic book, I do believe the Jetsons had picture phones…like Skype or FaceTime!

Here are a few photos of pages from the comic book.

The first page of the comic book…notice year on time box in upper left corner: 2062 A.D.

Afternoon float and inter-canine intercoms…o my.

I’m still wondering if someday we couldn’t find away to rise above all the traffic and use space as our freeway. Hmm, just think…no snow removal… construction zones… no traffic jams…