Memorial Day and beyond

My last blog was written at the start of the Memorial Day weekend, but on the 27th of May, the actual Memorial Day we went for a hike.  
We revisited “the scar” and went to an overlook of Queen’s Canyon.  On the way and at our destination we could really see some of the fire damage reslting from last year’s Waldo Canyon fire.  
A lot of mitigation work to prevent severe flash flooding and debris flow has been done in the area.  Monique and Rick were with us and they went right up to the edge of this overlook.

This was scary to me, because I don’t like to get close to any edge, even more so, if it is very high.  With proper encouragement, however, I did make it to the edge as well.  The Monique only picture shows Palmer’s dam in Camp Creek, which runs through Queen’s Canyon.  At this dam the water is diverted to a collection and pipe transportation system, which replenishes some of the reservoirs, now in Colorado Springs.  Also this picture shows the fire damage on the other side of Queen’s Canyon. 
 In a previous blog I published a picture in this area where a flood mitigation fence was built. 

 This time I included a picture of the new castle lawn as seen from this overlook area; it is beautifully green.  We all pray that there won’t be any flash flooding in the area.  Not only to preserve the beauty of Glen Eyrie, but also the area in the city where Camp Creek is canalized.

Meanwhile there is a large fire in the NE area of Colorado Springs, known as Black Forest.  Again the resources of those who fight fires are being stretched.  Many people have lost their homes and possessions.  Today, June 14, there is some rain in the area. 

 In Iowa the drought is over.  There is actually some minor flooding and the rivers run at flood-stage. We took a long motorcycle trip on June 13.  The weather was beautiful; no wind to speak of, sun-shine, and about 80 degrees.

Memorial Day 2013

On April 26 I blogged about the flood mitigation work ongoing at Glen Eyrie.  The work was hampered some by snow and rain, but I am happy to share some new pictures of the green green grass of (this) home.

We are starting Memorial Day weekend, and the weather is just gorgeous.
There are weddings, graduations, and memories of those who have gone before us.  It is good to be in this place of quiet memory of a man with a vision, namely William Jackson Palmer, who built this place for his home.  
For the protection of the Almighty, to preserve this place for its current function.  
For the insight of the Navigators, who share this place with the public; for retreats, contemplation, rest, and restoration.   

A quiet place in a busy world.  Even the animals know this and some come here to graze and rest. 

 



Our tenure here will end on June 2, after which we shall return to our home in Johnston, Iowa for most of the summer.  

 
On our past day off, we went to Pueblo.  Here we enjoyed great day of relaxing as well.  

Walking the river walk, enjoying the down town area and relaxing for a cup of coffee. The river walk also commemorated Medal of Honor recipients, as well as service members of all branches of the military.  
 A nice prelude to this Memorial Day weekend.

EPHESUS

 Although we are still at Glen Eyrie, in Colorado Springs, and although we still experience many
adventures here, I would like to write something Ephesus, Turkey, at this time.
 
On October 10 we visited this ancient city.   
Our first stop was at the shrine of the house of Mary, mother of Jesus, who is thought to have lived and died here after the crucifiction of her Son. This is based on the command of Jesus to the apostle John to take of His mother as recorded in the gospel of St. John 19: 26,27.
This was a very busy place with only on bathroom facility for women and there was usually a waiting line, hence the humorous picture.

 
 This is in contrast to one of the ancient bathroom facilities in Ephesus, where you could sit cheek to cheek. No privacy, though!  The local guides refer to this affectionately as “the chat room.” 

While we were there, we happened to catch a re-enactment performance of Roman times, with a dance and a mock gladiator fight. 
 
 This city has a great history, which is know to most of us because of the record in the book of Acts, when the apostle Paul visited this city.  Most of this can be read in Acts 18 & 19.  Also there is an interesting quote by St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:38.  Many of the now ruins of Ephesus must have been seen by him as well.  Most obviously the large amphitheater, where the riot was quelled (Acts 19: 23+) and where he might have fought the wild beasts, mentioned in 1 Corinthian 15.









I included an (obligatory) picture of the remains of the great library.  The whole experience begs the question, “What will be remaining of our civilization?  What will be remembered about us?” 

SPRING 2 (?)

As I eluded to in my previous blog, spring has finally arrived; albeit much later than we had hoped. 

 We have had three snowstorms and very cold temperatures in the past few weeks.  But, the grass is getting a little bit greener, the bear is awake from hibernating, and I saw blooming crocus today!
We have been at Glen Eyrie for almost three weeks already, so I am again overdue for an update.

Initially I was going to write a bit more about our fall cruise to the middle east, but that can wait for a bit. I just want to share a littlet about the flood mitigation projects going on here in Glen Eyrie.  Because of the Waldo canyon fire, the soil above Queen’s Canyon is hydrophobic.  Any significant rain will cause flash-flooding in Camp creek.  Much debris is expected to come down the canyon and the strong current could damage the castle foundations. 

 So, two barriers have been erected in Queen’s Canyon and the creek bed has been reinforced, “armored” is the term, to protect the castle foundation and divert the stream from washing away the Carriage House.
 

Crews are in the process of replacing the rocks at the creek sides and reinforcing this with concrete as well.  The final activity will be to re-sod the sloping lawn with grass.   They have made a lot of progress this month.  We have been busy hosting and helping.  I have done some educational tours, primary school children get to come here as part of the heritage of Colorado Springs, which was after all, founded by General William Jackson Palmer.  The wild life is here as usual, the big horn sheep have reclaimed TheGlen for grazing and resting.

The bear is awake and had to be chased off, he tried to climb the tree in our back yard to get to the turkeys, who nest in these trees overnight.  

We continue to share the grounds with deer, turkeys, 

 

coyotes, squirrels, and rabbits. Of course all species of birds and then there are the human visitors as well.  Life is fun at The Glen, we are blessed to be able to serve here.

Spring is coming

If you would look at my blog from October 24, 2012; you would see my bride and I working on a patio - deck at the front of our son’s house in Saint James, Missouri.
I shared a few pictures of this event during this short blog. 

Well, just these past few weeks we have had similar events as I shared in that blog.  We visited with our oldest son and his family the week before Easter.  We were able to attend both our grandsons playing in the honor band at Austin high School. 
 
Yes, they were both selected to attend honor band this year, albeit in two different bands.  

After waiting for the snowstorm to clear out we went home and packed to go to Missouri.  Our son there was expecting us to help hime finish the deck we had started last fall.  He and his wife anted to cover part of the deck with a roof.  If you revisit the blog of October, you would notice some tall posts at the front of the deck.  These were designated to become roof supports.  

We finished the project in about three days, and then focused on celebrating Easter together.

Home for one week and now we are preparing for another trip to Glen Eyrie, in Colorado Springs.  Our help was needed for more than just the month of May, so we were asked to come earlier to help out.  We gladly obliged.

TURKISH DELIGHT

 

How about a Turkish bath?  Is that a Turkish delight, or what?  (We did have some of that as well.)  On 9 October we visited the port of Marmaris on the south east coast of Turkey. This is a beautiful mountainous area.  We followed a very picturesque  access way through the myriad of islands which are here on the Turkish coast. 

At this port of call we had opted for a side tour to experience a Turkish bath.  After undressing to wear a swim suit, we joined our group in a dry sauna, where we all got very warm.  After this we went into the room where there was a large marble table in the middle.  This room was also very warm and it was humid. The marble slab was actually hot, but we were expected to lie down on it and relax.  Obviously this continued to open up our pores. 

To cool off some, we could pour on tepid water, Corrie and I did this to each other!  This was great fun!  After this the attendants came to scrub all the dead skin off the exposed parts of the body,  - so the men got a better job than the women, more exposed skin... 

After this we were expected to take a shower.  Although the water was not really cold, it was not warm by any means. Because I was really warm from all the exposure to heat, it really did take my breath away!  Felt like a cold shower by any means.

Hereafter we got a olive oil soap wash and massage.  The table became really slick, but the attendants were standing right up to the edge of the table, so that I did not slide off.  After this another cold shower!  Which actually started to feel really good.  Took a few more of those, while waiting for others in our group to get washed. 

 Once this was all done, we were wrapped in three towels and had an opportunity to replenish some of our body fluids with sweet Turkish apple tea.  Quite a great experience. 


 There was an option for a full body massage as well, at extra expense, but we were relaxed enough, so we waited at the pool side for every one to get done and took the bus back to the ship.
 

ANTALYA October 8 2012

Our middle east journey continued about the same way the apostle Paul traveled by ship to the southern coast of Turkey, called Asia minor in those days.  We made landfall in Antalya, which is very near to Perga, where Paul went in accordance with Acts 13.  Riding a bus in this beautiful mountainous area reminded us of the clean European areas, which we have visited before.  Green grass highway divide, which groomed and cared for.  Fountains and flowers along the way into town. Just a sense of order and pride in their city.  A very refreshing change from Egypt.  These are both Muslim countries, although Turkey is know for being a “secular” Muslim state.  We saw less of the traditional dress here in southern Turkey. 

The whole of this area seemed much more relaxed, prosperous, affluent, and catering to the visitors.  Any port of call is innately oriented toward tourism, but we certainly experienced less of this in Antalya. The obligatory souvenir shops are here, just like elsewhere; but the urgency of the vendors was much more subdued.  Their wares we on display and we could in all quietness look and decide.  The complementary hot sweet tea was a welcome diversion during our browsing experience.  The inner city has a plethora of mosques, some traditional some more subdued.  We were able to visit one of the more obscure ones in the old part of town.  


A local “guide” had joined our small group of three, and he shared that he had spend many years in Berlin as a Turkish guest worker there.  He must have heard Corrie and I talk in Gronings, which is close to German, because he addressed us in German.  The third person in our group was from New Zealand, however; so I got to practice my German and English translation skills.  We had a great time and a wonderful tour, seeing parts of town we would not have ventured in alone.  Obviously, he expected some compensation and we obliged.  Our guide had left us the edge of the old inner city pointing us into the direction we should go.  Fortunately we had a good map of the city so we could find our way back fairly easy, once we knew where we were. Going back to our pick-up point following the more touristy-route we stopped off for some coffee and pastry.  We made our way back through relatively civilized parts of the old city and made it back to the rallying point where we caught a bus back to the ship. 

 The weather was very nice, warm and dry.  I must confess, “ It was as expected.”  We are conditioned by the glossy brochures and video clips to expect the best in beautiful weather all the time.  I can share with you all that we were blessed to have beautiful weather in all our ports of call on this trip.  No need for umbrellas, except for about a 10 minute spell of light rain in Katakolon, Greece.  A small port we visited on October 12, 2012.  But that is another story.