Thoughts during self quarantine

Our country's leaders asked us last week to stay home, self quarantine, social distance ourselves from each other.  We can't visit anyone in nursing homes.  There is no Mass today.  Toilet paper disappears from store shelves as soon as it arrives.  Events and trips are cancelled every day.  Washington's governor ordered all restaurants, dental offices, hair salons, and many other businesses to close.  Everyday something new happens!  California residents can only leave their homes to shop for groceries or pick up medicine at local pharmacies.  School teachers struggle to set up online learning and teach from their living rooms.  Schools are closed, graduations cancelled.  Even our local hospitals are preparing for the CoVid-19 crisis.  St. Joe's closed outpatient surgery and plans to isolate respiratory patients in that section of the hospital.  I'm grateful for the prayers and ways to be hopeful that that are showing up in my daily Email.  I continue to find solace in my daily reflection books, both from scripture, Richard Rohr, or OnBeing posts.  Today's readings are about Jesus curing the blind man and subsequently about light.  From Ephesians 5:  

Live as children of the light, for light produces every kind of goodness....

Thank God for all these people!

AARP suspended all tax preparation, so I've basically been out of a volunteer job since March 14th.  Yesterday I learned that the IRS delayed the filing date until July 15th, so there will be time to produce goodness again for our seniors and others who can't afford to pay to get their taxes done!

My brother, Don's, been using his quarantine time as Lenten penance to organize Mom and Dad's old photos.  He's been sending all the siblings a photo a day and here's the one for today.

Dad had a small piece of paper taped to the wood paneling in the basement bedroom which read:

 Deep in the heart of everyone is the old town, where they first went barefoot, got their first licken, traded their first pocket knife. Grew up and went away thinking they were too big for that little burg, but that is where your old heart is.  Will Rogers

My Magnolia tree is beginning to bloom!  Yesterday I hiked with the LCValley hikers and we noticed many trees blooming as we looked across the river to Asotin.  Today God blessed us with a beautiful sunrise.  I try to notice God's presence and LIGHT in many moments throughout the day.

It's been quite a challenge for me to shift gears and find things to do after our spring break trip was cancelled.  I've been working on refinishing my bedroom door and putting together a Grandmother Fan quilt.  Seaport Quilt Guild members made these blocks for me in 1991 when I moved to Boise.  Now I have the time to put them together and celebrate the goodness of these creative women.

Speaking of goodness..... my friend Regina brings so much light to my life.   She sends me a text every morning asking if I'd like to walk.  She finds ways to reach out to those suffering from cabin fever and this week she surprised me with this lovely gift from St. Vincent DePaul.

Our family embraced some new technology last week - this came  from Maureen on Wednesday:

If I set up a free conference call for later today with the family would one if you lead us in a rosary?  Mom told me to do this and my voice sounds horrible.  I missed the conference call because I was hiking with Duane, Anne, and Colin.  But it led to new apps suggested by Marilyn and Karen, House Party and Marco Polo.  Last night Marilyn figured out a 3-way phone conversation with Allan, so we could find out how our California family is dealing with social isolation!

Anne told me she and her friends are teaching their children Home Economics and Life Skills.  Colin learned how to sew on a button, change a tire, use jumper cables, turn the water off to an overflowing toilet and then he memorized his social security number.  

I'm digging into my fabric scraps and making cotton face masks for Karen and her co-workers.  There is a shortage of face masks to protect our healthcare workers and these might help relieve the shortage.  The project reminds me of women who rolled bandages to support the war effort.  The Coronavirus is an invisible war....I want to do my part.  There's certainly more time for me to be on my knees and I love this prayer and encourage all the have a listen!

https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2020/03/02/coronavirus-prayer

Utah Hiking, Part II

More glorious pictures as we made our way to Capitol Reef National Park and the fruit orchards planted by Mormon settlers that later became a part of the park.  We started the day by visiting the historic Gifford house where we bought cinnamon rolls and coffee, which we enjoyed in the warm sunshine, all the while appreciating the view of one of the huge reefs.
We then took a walk along the Fremont River, alongside the orchards, and watched a family of deer enjoying the fruit that had fallen on the ground.  Visitors are encouraged to pick fruit and we certainly found our share of wonderful apples and a few pears.

We did enjoy our hike through the Capitol Gorge, noticing names carved into the rock at various points, mostly farmers using the great wash as the way to peddle the hay in a small town, Loa, at the end of the wash.  A volunteer guide told us the name carvers were standing on ladders on top of the hay wagons.  I imagine it took a long time to carve a name into the sandstone.  

I like this photo of Ann with the new hat she bought at the Gifford House gift shop.

Sunday morning we hiked to the Hickman Bridge, a natural rock formation.  It's a famous site in this park and we had lots of opportunities for photos.

We met, Don, the volunteer guide again on this trail.  He gave us all kinds of information about the park, where to eat, his job as a Parole Officer, and how best to hike along Sulphur Creek.  

We had to ford the creek seven times!  My shoes were really wet, but the water was surprisingly warm.

At the end of the hike we saw a small waterfall, quite unusual for this time of the year.

Utah Hiking Trip

I often took a deep breath and whispered prayers of gratitude while hiking or admiring God's glorious creation throughout the two week trip I was privileged to take with my sister, Karen, and our friends, Christine and Ann.  Those three people planned the trip, researched the hikes and assigned people to make night time reservations.   We put 2500 miles on Christine's van, hiked over 60 miles and took 150,000 steps in several state and national parks in Utah.  We stayed in small towns - a manufactured home in Hanksville, a two story cabin in Torrey, a cabin near horses, sheep, and llamas in Tropic, and a cottage in an orchard in Virgin, Utah.  All delightful owner-owned spaces with friendly hosts and far away from the maddening crowds!

How blessed I am to have a younger sister willing to have me tag along on these great adventures!  Notice that we are not wearing our hiking shoes in this picture.  She had a brilliant idea to spray our hiking shoes with some water repellant spray our first night in Salt Lake City.  Then she stored them under the kitchen sink and neither of us remembered to retrieve them so it was quite an ordeal to get our AirBnb host to have her cleaning person overnight them to our next stop in Torrey, Utah!  I hiked for 5 days in my new Clarks walking shoes and she in her Keens!  Our hiking shoes finally made it, not to Torrey, but to Tropic because no overnight delivery on the weekend.  

We visited Goblin Valley State park and took our pictures among the HooDoos!

Our first big day of hiking in Little Wild Horse Canyon turned out to be our favorite for the whole trip.  We loved the challenge and the way the light shown throughout our trip on the canyon walls.

Lots of challenges over and under the boulders

This woman worked for AARP, now retired, she volunteers to take trash out of Lake Powell every year.  She and her husband spend a week on a houseboat and clean up all around the lake.  We liked her shirt, Trash Trackers!

Karen managed to capture a rainbow in this picture of rest!  I think it was near this stop that a young couple from Belguim showed us a little video on their phone of a rattlesnake! 

We loved the wildlife!

Memorial Cards

Don recently packed up several notebooks and boxes filled with Memorial Cards and asked me to deliver them to our brother, Larry.  When we don't know what to do with Mom and Dad's treasures we assumer Larry will be happy to have them.  I've spent some time looking through these notebooks and wondered, "why did Mom take the time to collect and organize all these Memorial cards?"

 I don't think she wanted them to be a reference library, a way to document dates of birth and death.  They are not organized in any orderly fashion, in fact, there are lots of duplicates in the notebooks.  She probably knew other family members would be into genealogy and there would be other ways to record just the facts about a person's life.  I think I know why she did it because I also have notebooks filled with memorial cards and newspaper clippings of obituaries.  We did it as a way to honor someone's life.  A life that touched us in one way or another.  Because of my Mom's work, I learned that Rich Riener's birthday is August 25 and that my Dad and Dan Kuhlmann's Mom both died in August.  

Look at the smile of Jeanne Seubert and the sober face of A. George Seubert, wonderful people who touched the lives of both Mom and Dad.  As I looked through these books today I thought, "there is no better way to honor a life in the memory of our minds."  Page after page, I found myself saying, "aah to this person and "ooh to that one.  To those who died too young,  Kelly Hinkleman, Michael Joseph Wren, Keath Schmidt, Darrel Alan Enneking, Tammy and Mitchell Lorentz.  There are lots of relatives, the Seuberts, the Schmidts, she even saved cards from the Wessels family.  And all those friends, just other people in Cottonwood, whose funerals she attended and probably brought a salad or helped serve the meal.  She remembered them all!

I'm drawn to Richard Riener's card.  He married one of my best high school friends, Eloise Arnzen, right after our high school graduation in 1964.  He developed cancer in 2000 and died on March 19, 2001.  Eloise has been fighting inflammatory breast cancer for six years and probably will be joining him in heaven soon.  The ebb and flow of life continues and I'm grateful for the memories today and all the people that Mom honored by taking the time to put their memorial card in a keepsake album.  

She also saved this little treasure!  I think it was her way of saying, "I love you and I'm proud of you."  And now, Larry, please continue to make her proud by storing and savings her precious notebooks.  

Good bye Hoene Hardware

Yes, it's true - after 114 years the beloved Hoene Hardware is closing its doors on Friday, May 31.  Connie and I did one last walk through and expressed our thanks and grief to Gus Hoene, Greg Nau, and Don Clark.

This store had a little bit of everything, from gift items to pesticides and garden gloves.  I remember the shelves filled with toys in the big front windows at Christmas time.  Everything was 50% off, but the shelves were not empty.  We were told that a liquidator would come next week and give them a bid for the remaining items and haul them all away.

Connie bought all their foam brushes anticipating the re-finishing of her bathroom cabinets.  Notice the pressed tin ceiling!

I had a nice visit with Gus and he told me how hard it was to come to the decision.  "The youngest generation purchasing things now days does it all from their smart phone.  They have no need to come in, touch, or compare in a store.  They read reviews and hit the order button because they know they can send it back, usually without paying extra postage.  We tried, but are not able to compete with that.  I asked him, "well, who is going to fix our broken washing machines or lay our carpet?" "that generation tries to fix their own broken things by watching YouTube videos, ordering parts, and they'll try maybe two different things and if they can't fix it, they just buy something new.  They have no qualms about sending stuff to the landfill or waiting for the repair man."

“The town went from an old wooden town, like you see in the movies, to all brick and concrete,” says Deb Clark, a fourth-generation resident of Cottonwood and co-owner of Hoene Hardware. “The buildings here now were mostly built between 1908 and 1910.” 

Businesses like Hoene Hardware still welcome neighbors and visitors alike to this community of fewer than 1,000 residents.  In the shadow of nearby grain elevators and a towering railroad trestle, a steady stream of cars and people move along the streets and sidewalks. 
“My dad’s grandfather, John Hoene, came to Cottonwood in 1899 from Greencreek, Illinois,” Clark explains. “He bought a sawmill and threshing machine, then in 1907 he decided to build the hardware store on lots across the street.  He opened for business in April 1908, and on July 20, 1908, fire destroyed downtown Cottonwood.” 
Her great-grandfather lost nearly everything, Clark says, but he bounced back selling building materials and hardware to help rebuild the town.  In 1912, he moved the store to its current location, and Hoene Hardware has been a fixture on Main Street ever since.  Visitors often comment as much on the building as on the inventory. 
“We have a pressed tin ceiling, and we always get people from the East who come in and want to buy the ceiling,” laughs Clark. 

Gus showed me a photo taken in the 1920's of Uncle John Hoene in his office and this same clock was on the wall.  "We haven't touched it since my Mom died...she was the only person who knew how to keep it ticking."

Maybe there is some meaning to being at the cemetery and then at the Hoene Hardware.  I'm tempted to write, Rest In Peace, good and faithful hometown hardware store!