Better Than A Baptist Love Fest

The Mallard Loop Church of Universal Harmony met at the lake August 10-12. Folks came from at least three states for this annual gathering. There were 40-45 people who sat down together at the groaning tables to celebrate life in general and each other in particular. David gave the blessing, and Robert gave the instruction..."children eat first." This basic tenet assures the long term future of this group. They give the best they have to nourish those who need it most. Amen.

Tony cooked all the meat for the feast. Dennis and Mary maintained the hospitality area.....we all ate and visited mostly at their site. Alecia did the planning and kept everyone up to date with her computer expertise. An event like this could not have happened without many hands pitching in to bring it all off so successfully.

Belated birthdays were celebrated. Chris got her wish for a pecan pie.lPaula dressed up with a little help from her friends.

Dennis, our resident clown--"McDuff," appears to be taking the event quite seriously.

Jim's boys, Reese and Carsten, found no shortage of things to do. There were lots of other kids to play with.

Ready for whatever the day may have in store for us.

Justin, at six plus months, was the youngest camper. Aunt Ginger, at 85, was our oldest. Grandpa and "Mr. Congeniality" greeted the early risers.

Some of us camped at the lake and some were day campers.

The emerald "holy" water of the Illinois now holds not only our children..... but their children also.

The ORIGINAL COUSINS of the Cousins Float

Lathyrus Odorata---------2007

This has been "The Year of the Sweet Pea." They have grown vigorously and continue producing way past their expected--gone with the heat usual habit. They have traveled to friends, neighbors, BD's, weddings, picnics, and even scrabble games. These heirlooms have elegant beauty and superb fragrance. They seem to give all who receive them the same delight they fill me with.

So powerful are these flowers, they can come back as a song after seven or maybe even eight decades. DJ favored us with what she could remember of a song from her childhood

The spot I planted the sweet peas had pole beans last year, and was given lots of rock phosphate. It has shade during parts of the day.....a blessing in our numersous 90 degree plus days.

Some time back the plants started to set seed......they continue to do so now with more enthusiasm. Some seed pods are appearing almost just as the top blossom on a stem opens. I have assiduously been removing the seed pods. Quite a difficult choice, as saving my own seeds would make it not necessary to buy seeds next year. Frugality gets jetisoned when it comes to sweet peas! Hard to hold to my acceptance of "to everything there is a season" when it comes to sweet peas.

The seed package said the vines would grow to 13 feet!!!! No way.....well, now I am adding another string to the support and reaching as high as I can to pick them. Keeping their "feet" cool with alfalfa hay mulch has helped them as has the fact that I fertilize them once a week now. Their stems have shrunk from the 10 inch wonders they were early in the summer to just enough to hold in your hand. The aphids have taken a stand in the patch....not enough to bother anything really. The fragrance of these late season flowers is just as intense as the first ones that bloomed.

These are the hands that Nora says have----"wrought the sweat pea miracle."

SOS......Sisters of the Sage Sojourn at Sheldon

Madelyn and I spent some very enjoyable days out in the Sheldon Antelope Refuge area. We did some exploring also in the Warner Valley and ended up camping the last night out at Cottonwood Lake east of Bly. Previous trips have had us focused on looking down at the rocks. This trip focused us in the opposiste direction. Madelyn moved into her new persona--"Birdwoman." She talked and sang to her people... the birds, and I reverted to my original work of watching the light come and go.



One of the phenomena of desert light? The sunset happens not only in the west. It is a surround you happening.



Camping at Big Springs on the refuge meant coyotes hunting and singing, wild horses coming to water, pelicans, and a magnificent sunset. Just imagine how many times this light show happens a year-- and no one sees it.

We drove the 26 miles to Denio Junction to see if the cell phones would work there?? NO...OK...95 cent connection fee to use our calling cards on the public phone. Meeting this fellow alone was worth the drive. He is the mailman. He drives 240 miles a day from Winnemucca to Denio. He does it 6 days a week. He has been doing it for 45 years....and...he is 83. Junior gets out of the rig (big suburban) 26 times to stuff boxes before he leaves Winnemucca even. He was just stopped to drink his pomegranite tea before heading back south. He and his dog are quite the team. He's an example of the kind of person the northern Great Basin molds.

Bog Hot Spring is just what the name says.............HOT. This time no huge chunk biting deer flies assailed us when we got out there.

The sign as you leave Denio cautions..."No Services...next 81 miles." True story...you plan ahead out here.

The thunderstorm we had produced this double rainbow. Once you have breathed the fragrance of rain soaked sage....you are never the same.

Great neighbors in the campground always enhance the trip. So many times I wanted to grab up the video when someone was sharing some outrageous, inspiring, wonderful, adventure they had had.

Michael rode his bike the 10 miles back from the Royal Peacock mine instead of riding in the motor home on the washboard road.

Robert taking the hiking cat out for a stroll.

The crowd started to gather and we were very curious as to what might be going to happen? OMG .....it's the Schwan ice cream truck. He comes every other Wednesday to the the hot springs. Write it on the calendar..........July 18---plus two weeks--etc.

Ask and ye shall receive.......We actually got "OUR" camp spot under one of the two trees at the campground. Even though there were quite a few people in the campground--early mornings were totally quiet and peaceful. Heaven with the first coffee, a Tuesday Oregonian I splurged on and some cookies...........plus being next to glorious water in the desert.

The main draw at the Virgin Valley is, of course, opals. A couple from Bellingham showed us what they had found last year. It was quite impressive. The price to dig had gone up to $400/day this year, and they did not find near as much material.

Every trip seems to unfold with it's own plan. An unexpected delay of a week was a gift in disguise as it put us into an unusually cool interlude in July in the desert. Mornings and evenings had us in jackets and after the first night just under a sheet....the sleeping bag felt pretty good. It was a great trip....all in all...Madelyn and I agree, "One of the best."

"Remember that the yield of a hard country is a love deeper than a fat and easy land inspires, that throughout the arid West the Americans have found a secret treasure....a stern and desolate country, a high bare country, a country brimming with a beauty not to be found elsewhere."

Bernard DeVoto

The Year of Decision: 1846

Stella Lives!

Award Winning Luthiers

Forrest Vorce

Carole Vorce

Forrest has made three violins, and now a magnificent cello, named "Stella" by his mother. Carole Vorce is also a luthier of long standing. Her many mountain dulcimers testify not only to her superb woodworking skill, but her talent as as artist. She paints flowers, animals, and landscapes on her instruments at clients' requests. Carole has also completed three violins. She and Forrest learned from Michael Klein of the Gardinari Program of Violin Building.

The long awaited day when the bridge is carved and installed, and the strings are put on is really the final "report card" for any instrument. The sound is glorious-----it exceeded all hopes for what it might be.

"Artifacts are alive. Each has a voice. They remind us of what it means to be human---that it is our nature to survive, to create works of beauty, to be resourceful, to be attentive to the world we live in."

Great Basin Archeology, Fremont Story


Forrest has created an artifact that will live and sing for many generations. Not only is it a magnificent piece of woodworking.....it is a tool for communication. What cannot be conveyed in mere words, the cello is able to express.

Strike Up The Band!

I wanna sing the anthem for our times. The Matriots' Anthem. You know the tune of America the Beautiful don't you? These words are ones that have some real meaning.

" International Anthem"

By Chris Highland

Oh beautiful diversity, third planet from the sun
A spinning ball of land and sea
Embracing everyone.

Chorus One
Oh Planet Earth, Oh Planet Earth
Creator blesses you.
On every shore and land of birth
We're Muslim, Christian, Jew.
(second time: We're Buddhist, Sikh, Hindu)
alternate.....Confucian, Taoist, too
Earth, pagan, wiccan too
All Spirit paths are true
A Matriotic Crew

2. Oh wonderful, this common life
All creatures great and small
We breathe the same united air
From birdsong to wolf call.

Repeat CHORUS ONE

3. The beauty of our precious home
A rock of blue and green
Protected by no one alone
In Nature's holy scene.

CHORUS TWO

Oh Planet Earth, Oh Planet Earth
Our only Motherland
In every tongue, of every race
No borders, hand in hand.

4. Of mountains wrapped in glistening snow,
And river waterfalls
Of trees to climb and paths to find
Our song will break all walls.

Repeat CHORUS TWO

5. Now listen for the cry of hope
That opens every soul
And work to make the Good and Just
A bell of freedom toll.

CHORUS
Oh Matriots, Oh Matriots
One country we defend
We live for peace, compassion, love
The light without an end.

After you are done singing, you can put your hand over your
heart and fervently join me in the Pledge.

The Pledge of Resistance

We believe that as people
living
in the United States it is our
responsibility to resist the
injustices
done by our government,
in our names

Not in our name
will you wage endless war
there can be not more deaths
no more transfusions
of blood for oil

Not in our name will you invade countries
bomb civilians, kill more
children
letting history take its course
over the graves of the
nameless

Not in our name
will you erode the very
freedoms
you have claimed to fight for

Not by our hand
will we supply weapons and
funding
for the annihilation of
families
on foreign soil

Not by our mouths
will we let fear silence us

Not by our hearts
will we allow whole peoples
or countries to be deemed
evil

Not by our will
and Not in our name
We pledge resistance

We pledge alliance with those
who have come under attack
for voicing opposition to the
war
or for their religion or
ethnicity
We pledge to make common
cause
with the people of the world
to bring about justice,
freedom and peace
Another world is possible
and we pledge to make it real.

"WE MUST BE THE CHANGE WE WISH TO SEE IN THE WORLD"
Mahatma Gandhi

Maximum Light Celebration

"In the right light

At the right time....

Everything looks extraordinary."

Aaron Rose

It is only just now spring at this elevation. The little yellow violets and vanilla leaf are still blooming here.

I think this is ribes sanguiness---garnet gooseberry. The color is so very fine.

These pussy paws laid a fuzzy pink carpet down in the "astral observatory." Just after the Kings Saddle Trail widespot....there is a track heading uphill to the left. Take it.....you will be on top of the world very shortly. This large flat area is the scene of our pursuit of meteors in the Perseid showers several years ago. Robert tells me the right moon phase will be giving us ample opportunity to see the August extravaganza this year.

This area around Bolan Lake is of glacial origin. The lake itself sits in a cirque. The road to Tannen goes out around to the south and on the backside of the cirque. The geology is very different with house size boulders left sitting wherever the melting glaciers dropped them.

Most of the wildlife I saw was 6 inches big....chipmonks! One doe was just at the entrance to the campground at the lake. There were, however, a huge number of diverse butterflies on the Tannen Lk. road. I felt at one point like I was "herding" them with the car!

Even after leaving the road to Bolan Lake, the Tannen Lake road

is very good. It is wide, flat, and has no potholes.

"On all the peaks lies peace."

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

This very day we are gifted with the most moments of light we ever get in any given day. Some of us, still hear the call of ancient voices speaking of connection to the workings of the universe. So, being one of those lucky folks.............I was very present to all this day offered.