"River of Now"

The Snake River has its beginnings in Wyoming; a beautiful river that starts as spring runoff, turns into rapids and ends up far and beyond the borders of Wyoming.

I have written posts on many objects such as trees, bridges and flowers and how they have been 'object lessons' in my life. I love nature and the lessons it teaches us; if we listen we can learn many life's lessons from mother nature.

The subject I am going to write about today is about the "River of Now."

Rivers have played an important role in the creation and evolution of our civilization in our nation and around the world. Rivers have been used as roads and the modes of travel into the wilderness for explorers and transporters. There is no denying that rivers are the foundation of our civilization; where there is water, there is life.

Today, I would like to write about a 'spiritual river' which has transported two kindred spirits to a union of respect and friendship.

Not too long ago, San posted a virtual tour of her gallery. I was infatuated with a staircase painting which she had displayed and told her so in one of our email correspondences. She informed me that the painting was for sale and that she would be happy to sell it to me. I told her that "even though the painting was interesting, I would rather have one of yours hanging in my living room."

I asked her if she had a painting with greens and purples and a splash of red because that is what I envisioned in my mind hanging in my living room. To my surprise, she told me that she had just finished one and it was still drying on her easel! To make a long story short, she e-mailed me pictures of it and I knew that she had been reading my mind because it was EXACTLY how I envisioned it! She had named it, "The River of Now."

Today, it arrived and is now hanging on my wall, my drama wall. There it is, full of life and movement, connecting our spirits as a river, a river of friendship between two souls who have never met but are in so many ways, unified.

"River of Now" with San....

"River of Now" with me....

In so many ways this painting depicts my life, my pain, sorrow and happiness. Thank you, San, for painting my life and giving me a part of you!

My Five Factor Personality Profile...

Your Five Factor Personality Profile

Extroversion: You have low extroversion. You are quiet and reserved in most social situations. A low key, laid back lifestyle is important to you. You tend to bond slowly, over time, with one or two people. Conscientiousness: You have medium conscientiousness. You're generally good at balancing work and play. When you need to buckle down, you can usually get tasks done. But you've been known to goof off when you know you can get away with it. Agreeableness: You have high agreeableness. You are easy to get along with, and you value harmony highly. Helpful and generous, you are willing to compromise with almost anyone. You give people the benefit of the doubt and don't mind giving someone a second chance. Neuroticism: You have low neuroticism. You are very emotionally stable and mentally together. Only the greatest setbacks upset you, and you bounce back quickly. Overall, you are typically calm and relaxed - making others feel secure. Openness to experience: Your openness to new experiences is medium. You are generally broad minded when it come to new things. But if something crosses a moral line, there's no way you'll approve of it. You are suspicious of anything too wacky, though you do still consider creativity a virtue.

The Five Factor Personality Test

Computer Blues....

My computer is still in the shop so I have no pictures to post. I hope everyone continues to have patience with me and will continue to check-in from time to time.

Have a great and adventerous weekend everyone!

Tell me what you are going to do!

My computer is in the shop again.....

You Are Best Described By...

Petite Fleurs By Pablo Picasso

What Famous Work of Art Are You?

The Sinks and the Rise...

On the east slope of the Wind River Mountains, the Popo Agie River (pronounced: PuhPawJuh)runs wild and free. Then all of a sudden, without much warning, it disappears, plunging into a huge cavern they call "The Sinks."

In the picture below, notice the rock at the top of the cavern:
Five days later, when we returned with some friends of Gary's, the water dropped significantly as depicted in the picture below:
The rock at the top of this picture is the same one which I pointed out in the picture previously.
It's amazing that in only five days that much water would travel off the mountain, underground then reappear 1/4 of a mile downstream and then be so low!

The place where the water reappears is called "The Rise." In this area there is a lookout to the water below. I zoomed in on the 8-10 pound trout. You are allowed to feed the fish but you cannot fish in this area. The water is almost calm as it reappears out of the ground in a gentle bubbling fashion. Once in awhile you can see the sand coming up off the bottom where the water comes out of the ground.

8-10 pound trout...

On my next blog I will post pictures of Atlantic City at South Pass and an old gold mine called "Miners' Delight." I hope you find it as interesting as I did.

This weekend we are going to Riverton on the motorcycle to see the "Old Car Show."

Buh bye, for now!

Jo

More Vacation Pictures...

On my last vacation post, before my computer crashed, I posted pictures of the beautiful flowers on the mountain but I got a little ahead of myself. Before we camped on the mountain we took a road trip on the motorcycle. (I posted a map of Wyoming and the route we were taking.)

Here are some pictures of some of my favorite people that we visited along the way.

Saturday night, we stayed in Thermopolis where there are natural hot springs. We met up with Gary's sister, Anita and her family. Anita and Dan live a block from Gary in Rock Springs and were on their way to Yellowstone. We swam and soaked and relaxed. It was refreshing and enjoyable. The next morning, Sunday, we left early so we could meet Ellie and Ed in Buffalo. Ellie posted pictures of our mother's headstone on one of her more timely blogs. ;o)

After we decorated graves, we sat in the shade and visited for awhile before we were on the road again. Of course, Chuck had to be the center of attention and had to visit too!

This is Ellie's son, Ed. He is such a delightful and intelligent man!

After leaving Buffalo, we headed south on the old highway instead of the interstate to Kaycee. The old highway winds along the foothills of the Big Horn Mountains. Sitting on the back of the motorcycle gives me a bird's-eye view of the countryside. When we were about 15 miles north of Kaycee, I was looking to my right observing some very large buck antelope when I heard a noise. I asked Gary, "What was that noise?" He said, "A fawn antelope." I thought he was joking with me but it did sound like a sheep bah. I said, "No really, what was that sound?" He replied, "Yes really, I could have reached out and patted him on the head he was so close; I almost ran into him." I told Gary that I didn't even see it because I was looking at the huge bucks but I sure heard it! I'm glad Gary is a careful driver; I feel very safe with him.

After we cooled down and rested at the Kaycee Rest Area, we continued south on the Interstate to Bar Nun where M&Ms live. Melissa was on her way to work so we were only able to visit with her for a few minutes and the girls went to play across the street with their friends so I was only able to get a picture of Monte. They have a lovely home and lovely family. (Ellie posted pictures of their house and kids in an earlier blog.)

Monte

The next morning, we took Aunt Goldie out for breakfast. We had a good visit with her. Ellie posted pictures of her in an earlier blog too! :oD

Aunt Goldie and me...

Monday morning, we traveled back to South Pass and Louis Lake road where we camped. During the week, we took several rides to places on the mountain that I have never seen before and some places that I have but enjoyed seeing them again. I will post more about this on a future blog.

This is "The Sinks" where the water flows underground and comes up at "The Rise" a quarter of a mile down stream. They have put red dye in the water to calculate the depth of the cavern where the water flows. It takes approximately two hours for the red dye to appear at "The Rise." It's an amazing place! (More on this place later!)

The beautiful and daunting Wind River Mountains!

I will post more pictures next time. Have a great weekend everyone!

Jo

Computer Crash!

Sorry everyone, my personal computer has either a virus or a worm; it is in the shop getting fixed and that is where all of my pictures from my vacation are stored! Please be patient with me and I promise to have new postings next week once I get my personal computer back.

Have a marvelous weekend!

Jo

Butterflies and Flower Power...

I am back from a restful vacation and have the pictures to prove it! After our initial road trip on the motorcycle, we spent the remainder of our time in the mountains. I love the mountains this time of year as the spring runoff makes for lots of moisture in the meadows and the wild flowers are abundant. I will be blogging with more pictures later in the week but for now, I am going to post the wildflowers I captured with my camera shutter. Sit back and enjoy!

My favorite wild flower the amazing shooting star!

Here is a wild rose growing amongst the sagebrush!

This is mountain lupine.

Here are some little blue butterflies I happened to come across. There were about 50 of them but they fluttered around so much I was only able to snatch a photo of these two. Notice the wings were opaque!

Mountain Meadow Cinquefoil

Bitterroot

Indian Paintbrush - Wyoming's State Flower

Another great picture of the lupines.

I don't have the greatest of cameras and it only has 2 pixels so the colors are not as vibrant as they are in true life but I loved all the flowers and did my heart good to see them.

More pictures later!

Have a wonderful day everyone!

JO