Ozark, MO

Here we are in a very funny place! We are at the Stage Stop RV Park in Ozark, MO, and it is a hoot. This park has absolutely NO amenities---except it is convenient, quiet, has electricity-sewer-water hookups, and Springfield, MO television works fine here. It only has a few spaces, and is located on a large gravel lot behind a strip mall that has a cheese factory sales, a neat quilt shop, and several other stores. It is behind the world famous Lambert's Restaurants. This is the "Home of the Throwed Rolls" A place that has phenomenal food, is absolutely totally 100% FUN FUN FUN to visit, and where they in fact do pitch hot rolls for you to catch, and waitresses in cute outfits visit your table with sorghum mixed with molasses to put on them. They also pass delicious "side" dishes, served out of big carried around tubs,--and my dinner (one of the most popular there) was served in a 12 inch skillet. I hope to get some photos of the inside to share tomorrow night when we go back. But as for the r.v. park??? Moving on Thursday to another---one that has a bit more to offer!

The rolling Ozark hills are ablaze with color that is quickly fading, and a drive through the surrounding areas proves that Springfield Suburbia is well populated, growing and there are absolutely gorgeous subdivisions and beautiful Malls popping up among the many antique stores that dot the towns.

Digiscrappers, I used posting bonus from the October scraplift at Scrap Habit, presented by designer Gayle Richter that included the ribbon, the bow, and the center scarecrow for this layout (the background scarecrows are pictures I took today outside the Lambert's Restaurant mentioned here--part of their Autumn welcome)

Waving Goodbye to Summer

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When we arrived in Joplin a week ago, the trees were still in their summer green, and as the week progressed and the autumn set in in earnest--the trees completed a rapid color change, dropping leaves that waved goodbye to summer.

We drove to nearby Grand Falls today, which is the largest, continually flowing natural waterfall in Missouri. These falls only tumble 25 feet, but with the autumn colors surrounding the park-like setting, it was quite beautiful. (top photo) Along the little road to the Falls was "Inspiration Point" which looked across the Missouri landscape and Shoal Creek east into the changes of Autumn. (bottom photo)

Please visit my flickr gallery to see more pictures that I took on this amazing day for a photoshoot. (Click the flickr icon on the right to get there)

Twenty Third Psalm--Precious Moments Chapel

The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:
He leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul:

He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name' sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil: For thou art with me;
Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies;
Thou annointest my head with oil;
My cup runneth over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the House of the Lord forever.

The beautiful stained glass windows of the Precious Moments Chapel alcoves, reflecting the sunlight and beautifully depicting the meaning of this most beautiful of Psalms, inspired this page. Font is Vivaldi

Precious Moments Chapel

I'm pretty proud of this two pager---photos of the upper side walls of the Chapel at Precious Moments, Carthage, Missouri. The murals are so beautiful, with Sam Butcher's signature teardrop eyed children and angels. The Chapel is pretty tough to photograph--hand held and no flash allowed, so this one shooting on an angle down the sides was a fun challenge for me.

The journaling reads: On a hill overlooking a quiet blue stream
Is a Chapel of Beauty and praise
That graces a landscape of flowering fields
'Neath a piller of heavenly rays.

It is to the weary, a haven of rest
Where the spirit of God gently falls
On those who find peace from the spiritual scenes
That cover the beautiful walls.

On wings of soft music a story is told
Of the one who has come from above
To a world without hope, with a message of peace
As he spoke of his Father's great love.

In the Chapel his message is still carried out
In a sweet way as never before
And all those who come feel the presence of Jesus
The moment they walk through the door.

Samuel J. Butcher 2003

Working Together

In this set of bronze Precious Moments statues, Mr. Butcher is seen sculpting a Precious Moments figurine. He assisted by his friends who are holding the directions book and the sketch for the finished product, and without whom he could not finish his creation. This casting can be seen in two places at Precious Moments--one outside on the Chapel grounds and one inside the Fountain of Angels building. I have prepared them both, because they have a slightly different viewpoint.

Precious Moments

WHAT a phenomenal day today! We re-visited Precious Moments near Carthage MO, which we hadn't seen in almost a decade. It was a life-changing experience the first time we came, and we found it so again today. This photo is of the mural in Phillip's Prayer Room. Sam Butcher (the painter of Precious Moments) lost a child (as we have) and he created this mural as a way of working through the heartache he felt when he lost Phillip, and he says that it was one of the most difficult tasks of all the Chapel murals. It is among my favorites.

The Prayer Room is off the main Chapel, and is a quiet place of peace and comfort, and very near the Books of Rememberance where you can post your thoughts as you share the peace and serenity that consumes you in this incredible Precious Moments place.

Digiscrappers--the background is a two color rendering of the clouds filter, overlayed with "precious moments" font. I also used "beautiful es" to journal Psalm 30:5 "....weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning”

The Little House on the Prairie

Here are photos from a stop we made today. A most wonderful, quiet, no-traffic and beautiful drive from Kansas to Missouri via Route 166 along the Oklahoma border. As the wheat fields gave way to rangeland, horses and cattle, turning oak trees and quiet communities, we came to The Little House on the Prairie, which is located just off Hwy 75 south of Independence, Kansas (not MO,) and there we stopped for some pictures. This is not a much-visited place, and is on the property of a beautiful home and large farm with a lot of cows, horses, and donkeys in the fields. Preserved there too is the old Sunny Side Schoolhouse (and outside schoolbell that summoned the children in the early 1900's) Beside the school is a preserved log-sod house, a rock hitching post, an old buckboard, all located on the property where Laura Ingalls was lived as a little girl, and from which the story "Little House on the Prairie" is drawn.

The sign in this layout reads:
This log cabin resembles the one described as the Ingalls' home in "Little House on the Prairie."
The Osage (Indians) signed the treaty selling the land to the government on Sept 10, 1870. The family home was listed as the 89th residence of Rutland Township in the 1870 US Census, and the family lived here about one year. In her book, Laura told of building the cabin, of encounters with the Indians, of going to Independence for supplies, and of Dr. Tann's treating
the family members for "fever'n'ague." Dr. Tann's grave is in Mount Hope Cemetery in Independence.

There is no parking there at all (just a wide spot in the road). ...and this road really goes not much of anywhere---so, when we were finished, we drove about 20 feet out onto the prairie sod of a fallow field---turned around and went back the short distance to the highway and on to Joplin.

Digiscrappers---I used CM Whitesel's papers, button corners and tag, and Ariel Rounded and Rosewood STD fonts for the second layout.

Plantin and Plannin Kansas

Here are layouts that peek at the fun we had planting winter wheat yesterday on one of the 1000 acres of Kansas wheatfields Lloyd and Dale farm in Southern Kansas. It was hugely interesteing to be in the big tractors as a few of the 1000 acres were prepped and seeded for this year's crop.

Reflections on the Past

Reflections!

The End of the Trail

These are several shots of the Buffalo Bill sculpture that is in the Jack and Phoebe Cook Gardens. Beautiful flagsone walks, and winding streams take your through tremendously beautiful gardens, planted native plants--and past gorgeous sculptures, one of my favorite things to photograph. Light seemed "just right" for these shots today and my Nikons got a work out!



This world famous sculpture greets the visitor at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City. We revisited the beautiful Museum today and thrilled to new exhibits and a delightful walk in the gorgeous gardens. (More pictures to come).

This layout is "End of the Trail" --standing 18 feet tall and weighing approximately four tons, James Earle Fraser's magnificent and powerfu sculpture creates a dramatic first impression for each visitor to the museum.

I had a funny thing happen on the way to the museum. ....I had my big "baggy" purse, not really very big, but big enough to hold my cameras wallet and other junk. Well it didn't fit inside the little box--so I couldn't take it into the museum. I took out my camera, and then of course, it 1/2 filled the little box---but NO---not allowed. So I took it out and locked it in the truck, and entered with only my cameras. I think it is very funny that my purse was such a suspicious grab and pocket some irreplaceable (and alarmed) sculpture and run away out the door red-flag to museum security. Didn't stop the pleasure of the visit (of course), and while they were rather nasty about it, (stretching it out and showing me that 14 inches of cloth (it's a pouch purse) was longer than the side of the regulation size ! Humourous--huh!

Big Texan

Amarillo by Mornin!--and that's where we came today!

Tonight we went to SUCH a fun restaurant! It is one of those advertised along the road billboard by billboard---and ---so you wonder! Well it was just too much fun--the BIG TEXAN!

A limo, with big longhorn steer horns on the front picked us up--and down the road we went to a wild-west-Texas-west themed restaurant, complete with Texas music, Texas sized delicious steaks, Texas atmosphere, a Texas sized chair, and wild-west fun! So here you have a picture of some of the exquisite taxidermy in this place, its facade, me in the TEXAS sized chair, the wooden Indaian, the entertainers, the limo---and the menu (in the background!)

Lotsa fun!

Ballooneeddddd OUT!

Today we didn't go to the Balloon Fiesta Park, and we're not going to again. We're ballooned out, so the rest of our stay will be with KOAT and their coverage of the Fiesta.
Yesterday we went to see the Special Shapes balloons' "Glowdeo" which was a lot of fun. I have never seen so many people in one place in my entire life; and the balloons, tethered were having difficulty staying inflated in a brisk little COLD breeze. At the Glowdeo you see only the special non-traditional hot air balloon shapes inflated. It is done after sundown, so the only illumination is by the firing of the burners. The balloons are so crammed together they are touching each other and you can only see those directly in front of you--and not the 70 or so others behind them! AND the crowd was so huge, that any attempt to take a picture of this always had someone step directly in front of you. So the top picture is of some of the special shapes in one of the mass ascensions we saw. The event also has wonderful live-entertainment, with noted performers, and is followed later by fireworks. We were chilled, aren't night-people, and didn't stay very long---but we did go, and are glad to have seen it.

So today we made a Costco run--and saw Photoshop Elements 5 there for $79. AND while I picked up some more photo paper--saw the sign for Flu shots. So we got ours! How about that for lucking out! Now we're excited to be planning to meet dear friends for breakfast tomorrow. We're also talking about heading out a day earlier than we'd planned to give us one more day in Oklahoma City for a revisit to the Cowboy Museum which is so amazing (lots of Remingtons there)

So the map book's out, the weather remains perfect to end a very wonderful time in Albuquerque.

A Day at Fiesta Park

Here are some photos from an absolutely PICTURE PERFECT day at the Albuquerque Hot Air Balloon Fiesta October 11, 2006. We got up reee early and got out to the Park by 5:00. We were so treated to the Pre Dawn "Dawn Patrol." This is about a dozen illuminated balloons who fly into the darkness checking the conditions, winds, and safety for the 700 ballonists who will follow them at daylight. This is an orchestrated display, with the balloons firing their burners (illuminating their balloons with the firey blast--in synchronization and accompanied by loudspeaker narrative about the pilots and the owners of each one as it lifts. The time exposure (the first one above) gives you a feel for the the rate of travel of one balloon during this pre-dawn flight.

The second one was one of my favorites--a beautiful balloon surrounded by lovely Kachinas

Then there's one of about 30 photos I took of the special shapes balloons. They are delightful, and this Humpty Dumpty especially posted for DGD.

The last one for today is just an incredibly artistic capture of a group of balloons going up at about the same time.

The weather cleared up in Albuquerque after two of the stormiest days I've seen in the desert in a long long while---to the glorious day that this Wednesday at the Fiesta became.

Enjoy!

Out of the Blue---day 2

Today we viewed the Mass Ascension, and kickoff of the Hot Air Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque, NM. What a treat. We got up and out and down to Fiesta Park by 4:30 in the morning when the gates opened. We had tickets for the Gondola Club which offers a beautiful champagne breakfast, nice embroidered special Club sweaters, a pretty pin--and the best viewing (and parking) at the event. We had chosen the first day's Mass Ascension for this celebration, and Glad we did!

We met a lady named Bobbie, who was one of the first 10 female hot air balloon pilots licensed in New Mexico (1979) She told us SO much about how the ascension works, how the pilots send up little dime-store balloons filled with helium called p-balls--to check the drift, the rise-rate, and all the conditions. Conditions were dreadful when we arrived at the Park. It was misty raining--and turned to enough rain to put on raincoats---and the skies were dark, and threatening--but no wind.

About 30 minutes past the pre-dawn test pilot ascension, the skies cleared, and it was GORGEOUS--a spectacular sunrise, and one by one, and then ten by ten and then more by more, the hundreds of balloons lifted gracefully into the New Mexico morning. There is nothing to describe the incredible serenity and the beauty of this very special day.

We have opted NOT to go back out to the venue for the afternoon classic GAS BALLOON race, because there are billowy cumulus clouds, and we think that this is likely not to come off. We'll plan to do some other excursions tomorrow--and then return to the Park for activities with shape-balloons on Wednesday. It's a week filled with wonder.

There are quite a few pictures of this on Flickr, so if you're interested click that button and have a look.

Out of the Blue

Here are the first pictures from the 2006 Albuquerque Hot Air Balloon Festival. Hundreds of hot air balloons fill the sky and enthrall nearly a million spectators. The average hot air balloon takes about 15 minutes to inflate, and contains at least 65,000 cubic feet of hot air. This gives them the power to lift a thousand pounds. BAD weather is forecast for the opening day tomorrow, and through the weekend, but today we went out and watched some of the preparation and set up after viewing the Albuquerque Aloft which was a launching from each of the elementary schools in Albuquerque. The balloons were spread from horizon to horizon marking each school's special ascension for the kids. By mid-week the weather will improve, but our special tickets for the exclusive Gondola Club viewing of the Mass Ascension kick-off tomorrow is certain to be a nice breakfast and introduction to the festival. Perhaps disappointing, because there would be no more tickets this late for the Gondola Club another day during the event--but you can't foretell what Mom Nature has planned for our time here, and it is very exciting to just be there. AND YOU SHOULD SEE the R.V.'s drycamped in the parking lots around the field---there are THOUSANDS of them, and we are SO GLAD that we are where we are! But for Katrina, we'd have been with the Creative World Travel group stuck in the mud!

Canyonlands and Arches National Parks

Two quotations today inspired these layouts of a truly amazing landscape.

The first, by John Wesley Powell who explored the Colorado River and its tributaries in the 1800's--described the landscape: "Wherever we look, there is but a wilderness of rocks. Deep gorges where the rivers are lost below cliffs, and towers and pinnacles and ten thousand strangely carved forms in all directions."

The second quotation is by John Steinbeck, and reads: "The desert is a good school in which to observe the cleverness and infinite variety of techniques of survival under pitiless opposition. Life could not change the sun or water---so it changed itself. "

Today there was quite a spectacular thunderstorm over the Canyonlands National Park area, near Moab. Pelting rain and zero visibility wiped out the vistas from the upper part of the Canyonlands National Park today, but below, and as it continued to rain, I captured the exceedingly rare and very special photos one can have only when it rains. Photos of waterfalls dropping fast and furiously over the precipices of rock are waiting to be shared. It is one of the most exciting experiences anyone can have in this arid area. Have you ever seen a blood RED waterfall? Well, you can in Canyonlands National Park, where the fast flowing water picks up the red sandstone soils as it cascades down the faces of the cliffs and rocks on its way to the Colorado or Green River.

I will share these when I have had a chance to work with them. Of course the sun came out and it has been a brilliantly sunny cloud studded afternoon---but we didn't drive back the 40 miles to see if we could view the miles and miles of canyons that make up Canyonlands National Park. There will be more canyons tomorrow on our way toward New Mexico.

Arches National Park

What a wonderful day---a quite short (three hour) drive from Grand Junction to Moab UT where we'll be for another day. We took the afternoon for a SERIOUS photoshoot out at Arches National Park, just a short drive north of Moab. We started in a glorious cloudy overcast, which gave way to broken clouds, and bright sunshine. The monoliths and arches formed so many millenia still astound and treat the visitor. I walked out a short trail to "double arches" here, and was treated to views through the arches that were just wonderful. I hope to post some of the best shots today on Flickr when I get a minute.

Will keep you up with more of these, and planning to scrap some of them using Misty Cato's wonderful sketch challenge templates that I got over at http://www.thescraphabit.com this month.

Grand Junction

We are really enjoying a visit with cousins whom we haven't seen in nine years. This photo is looking east from their beautiful 16 acres of pastures and meadowlands in Grand Junction CO where they have lived for 41 years. The Iron Horse statue is a beautiful piece of iron art that is at an entrance to a new residential area of Grand Junction. The weekend has been a mini-family reunion where we could meet the new grand children, and the new family members of this branch of our family--and we are having a wonderful time. Sunday was photography day, and updating the family photo albums. Ink's gone, fingers are tired, and life is grand!