Washoe Lake Pilgrimage

We recently spent 10 glorious days in Nevada with our family.  Woven in with the love, joy and laughter of friends and family was the sad plight of the southwest deserts.

Washoe Lake is a large but somewhat shallow desert lake.  Its located between Carson City and Reno at the base of the Sierras.  It has gone through droughts before and has come back - or at best retained a small bit of water in the very center.  Today the only water that can be seen is at the north end in 'Little Washoe Lake' and that isn't very much.  

In the shade of a few scraggly trees sat this bench.  A monument to a wind surfer who  shared these waters with his fellow surfers.  Sadly I don't know anything about him and couldn't find anything on-line about him.  But I join this tribute to him  with my tribute to the Lake.

While we were there I walked out into the lake-that-was-no-more and collected a couple of rocks.  I hope, with all my heart that the rain and snows will come back some day and with them bring the rebirth of Washoe Lake.

"Life is a bed of water filling from many springs and we seem not to know when one gushing flow will oe'r flood the banks only to be succeeded by a drought." - Anonymous



   

Flitting Away

Thanks to Google Images

 

Tomorrow we'll be flying out west.  Hopefully our transportation will turn out to be more substantial than this one appears to be.

As it happens we'll be visiting Taos, New Mexico where Kit Carson once had a home and then move on to Nevada where we'll again encounter Kit Carson, this time in statue form dedicated to his presence in that area.  That guy really got around!

See you in a little while...

"I have seized the light.  I have arrested its flight." - Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre

Traveling Tidbits

Here I am in Nevada surrounded by all sorts of beautiful chaos and confusion.  The total opposite of my 'everyday' life where there are only two of us and it is tranquil and quiet and orderly!  I'm actually reveling in the noise -- especially the laughter of children.

In thinking ahead of my days out here I thought about taking all manner of stitchery with me -- but in the end I decided to just throw a few bits and pieces into my 'send-ahead-of-time' box.  I included an embroidery hoop, some threads, needles, scissors, pens for drawing and a couple of predrawn patterns that I might like to play around with. 
Now let's see if I actually pull out any of these things while I'm here.

"I dwell in possibility" - Emily Dickinson

Desert Haunting

We are off today on a trip back to the Nevada desert.  After being shaded in (and I do mean shaded) by trees and shrubs and plants I am looking forward to having open space surrounding me.  I want to spread my arms, much like an angel would spread her wings and savor the endless sky, the long vistas and the shapes and shadows of the desert.

Not to be denied is also the draw of family.  To be able to spend hours and days visiting, laughing, hugging and loving is a gift that I treasure beyond anything else. 

During this visit we shall attend football practice and a football game, a school carnival is on the agenda and a birthday party.  There will be meals shared and walks/hikes taken.  There will be visits with friends from long ago and extended family that we only see once in awhile.

During this visit there will be joy - and I'm packed and ready for any and all of it!!

"This is the sense of the desert hills, that there is room enough and time enough". - Mary Austin

Going to Nevada

No, that's not me perched precariously on an old, old airplane -- but considering the state of air travel these days I may feel like that by the time we wing our way across the country to Nevada and back.

I'm so excited to be traveling to see our youngest grandson graduate from high school, to hug my son and to meet his new family.  Its been quite awhile since we've visited there and my desert longings have been growing and growing these past few months.

We'll be staying in Virginia City - an old silver mining town up in the hills above Carson City.  As you can see, this picture was taken when snow was on the surrounding mountains - the pictures I bring back this time to share will surely show no snow.  But I love this picture of the old cemetary.  Its a lovely place to walk - quietly among stories that were created long, long ago.

For now, I'm off to make my own story -- which I'll gladly share with you upon my return.

"He who would travel happily must travel light". -- Antoine de Saint-Exupery