Writer's Challenge, #24

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Writers, your challenge is to write a story, poem, play, article, report, micro-blog -- something -- anything -- about this picture. You may write your piece to any length, as long as it doesn't exceed 50 words. The shorter the better, of course. If you want to write a Twitter length story, give it a whirl but don't exceed 140 characters.

Try your hand at micro/flash work and feel free to post as many tiny pieces as you'd like in the Comment section below. Your work is yours, you own the copyright -- we're just making a spot available for you to share your creativity with the Sunflower Ranch visitors. You can experiment here and tweet them or post them or even use them as seeds for longer, more involved work.

Let's have some fun and start the weekend with a new little activity to spark your imagination. May you be inspired to make your writing soar and produce some wonderful work! Check out last week's Writer's Challenge and add your interpretation of the photo there as well.

Your comments are always welcome, too!

Thanksgiving Day

Happy Thanksgiving, Americans! Here are some of my favorite quotes about Thanksgiving, to help put the day into perspective [without getting preachy or overly sentimental, two of my biggest flaws. LOL]

The Pilgrims made seven times more graves than huts. No Americans have been more impoverished than these who, nevertheless, set aside a day of thanksgiving.
~H.U. Westermayer

Let us remember that, as much has been given us, much will be expected from us, and that true homage comes from the heart as well as from the lips, and shows itself in deeds.
~Theodore Roosevelt

A thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue, but the parent of all the other virtues.
~Cicero

Have a Wonderful Thanksgiving!

Over The River & Through The Woods...

The Grand Ronde River, Oregon
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"O Lord that lends me life,
Lend me a heart replete with thankfulness."

~William Shakespeare

The Willowa Mountains, near Enterprise, Oregon

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"On the mountains of truth you can never climb in vain: either you will reach a point higher up today, or you will be training your powers so that you will be able to climb higher tomorrow."

~Friedrich Nietzsche

Writer's Challenge, #23

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Writers, your challenge is to write a story, poem, play, article, report, micro-blog -- something -- anything -- about this picture. You may write your piece to any length, as long as it doesn't exceed 50 words. The shorter the better, of course. If you want to write a Twitter length story, give it a whirl but don't exceed 140 characters.

Try your hand at micro/flash work and feel free to post as many tiny pieces as you'd like in the Comment section below. Your work is yours, you own the copyright -- we're just making a spot available for you to share your creativity with the Sunflower Ranch visitors. You can experiment here and tweet them or post them or even use them as seeds for longer, more involved work.

Let's have some fun and start the weekend with a new little activity to spark your imagination. May you be inspired to make your writing soar and produce some wonderful work! Check out last week's Writer's Challenge and add your interpretation of the photo there as well.

Your comments are always welcome, too!

On A Journey

train in a hurry

The road of life twists and turns and no two directions are ever the same. Yet our lessons come from the journey, not the destination.

~Don Williams, Jr.

In Joyce's Garden

a corner of my cousin's garden

The morns are meeker than they were,
The nuts are getting brown;
The berry's cheek is plumper,
The rose is out of town.
The maple wears a gayer scarf,
The field a scarlet gown.
Lest I should be old-fashioned,
I'll put a trinket on.

~Emily Dickinson

Jury Duty -- Oh, No!

Pierce County-City Building with County Court House

Last Monday I began my jury service with Pierce County. It's a 25 mile bus ride to and from the County-City building in downtown Tacoma -- and with the infrequency of the runs, on the first day, I had to get up at 5:00am to make it to court by 8:30am for orientation. After that long day and return trip, I staggered home about 6:30pm. Whew!

From the moment a juror walks into the building, they are at the disposal of the court. X-ray your bag, walk through security gate, swipe your id card here, sit there, here are the rules, the following jurors line up in reverse numerical order, go to the fifth floor, Judge X's court, meet the attorneys, the defendant, answer this 40 page questionnaire, answer questions from the judge in front of 45 of your closest new friends and on and on. But don't forget you'll have two 15 minute breaks and an hour and half for lunch. Remain close to the courthouse. Or be in contempt of court and entertain a misdemeanor, with fine and/or jail time. Yikes!

I had been called for Superior Court, where the most serious cases are tried.

One day last week we all arrived for our official 9:30am call [most of us were more than half an hour early to secure a parking place or arrange for a bus that would get us there before we'd be considered in contempt.]

We had three trials worth of juries to fill and everyone was a wee bit excited. Sure, we're being manipulated by the officers of the court, the defendant, the attorneys, and the entire court and justice system, but we were there to do our civic duty. Promptly at 9:30am we were told to wait for the call from the various judges. At 11:00am we were given our 15 minute break. At 11:25am, we were told to have lunch but be back by 1:30pm for jury selection. Yeah, right, the jury selections that should have taken place around 9:30 or 10:00am.

At 2:00pm we were given our afternoon break. About 3:00pm we were hoping we'd be excused to allow most of us to get home before dark and miss the peak of rush hour. Nothing happened. So far, 150 people had waited since 9:30am for the calls that never came.

At 3:15pm the jury "stage manager" rushed into the jury waiting room and quickly chose 36 jurors to be ready for court appearance. As she pulled the numbers for the "orange" group and called names, you could have heard a pin drop. Everyone prayed they wouldn't be called. The young lady next to me was #35 and I thought she was going to burst into tears. I held my breath -- but mercifully I wasn't juror #36.

They return to court this morning. Of those 36, twelve will be seated and up to three [at the judge's discretion] will be chosen as alternate jurors. The remaining prospective jurors, not already excused for one reason or another, will be excused from further connection to this trial. However, everyone who walks into the court swears [or affirms] that they will absolutely not discuss the case with anyone -- including family, friends, strangers, or anyone in the court system and especially not anyone on the seated jury! If they do, it would probably mean a mistrial and a fat contempt of court charge, with jail time. Not a good thing!

So, here we go through this long, involved, mostly anonymous yet intensely personal experience [our real names are not used until we introduce ourselves to the judge, the members of the court, and the other prospective jurors, or our number is called in the jury room] and we aren't even allowed to discuss it!! Now, you know that's got to be absolute torture for someone like me who loves to talk. [All through my schooling and professional career I was the chatterbox that used to get myself and everyone else in trouble for talking! My first incident was in kindergarten for heaven's sake, but that's another story, and really, quite traumatizing... ]

Today I begin anew, but am prevented by law from discussing it! The best thing is, I've met a lot of really nice people from all over the county, exchanged emails with several, got into lively political discussions and heard a lot of funny, silly, intensely corny jokes, and of course learned the most personal details about dozens of folks and surprisingly had a great time in the process. Despite turning my schedule completely upside down, it has been an enriching experience.

If you ever get called for jury duty, don't just dismiss the opportunity as a waste of time. Go, if you can, and learn something new everyday you are there. It's worth it!

Thanks for stopping by!

Have a great week!

Writer's Challenge, #22

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Writers, your challenge is to write a story, poem, play, article, report, micro-blog -- something -- anything -- about this picture. You may write your piece to any length, as long as it doesn't exceed 50 words. The shorter the better, of course. If you want to write a Twitter length story, give it a whirl but don't exceed 140 characters.

Try your hand at micro/flash work and feel free to post as many tiny pieces as you'd like in the Comment section below. Your work is yours, you own the copyright -- we're just making a spot available for you to share your creativity with the Sunflower Ranch visitors. You can experiment here and tweet them or post them or even use them as seeds for longer, more involved work.

Let's have some fun and start the weekend with a new little activity to spark your imagination. May you be inspired to make your writing soar and produce some wonderful work! Check out last week's Writer's Challenge and add your interpretation of the photo there as well.

Your comments are always welcome, too!

Veterans Day: Washington Soldiers Home Cemetery

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Here are a few photos from the Washington Soldiers Home Cemetery, near Orting, Washington. The day we visited, it was rainy and cold, with the temperature hovering around 45 degrees. Such a dank and moldy day added to the melancholy of the setting. This cemetery, set on a wooded hillside and surrounded by a short stone wall, looks like it has begun to slip a bit, with the earth sliding away, the rows lumpy and uneven. Mole hills dotted the graves and the flag drooped in the drizzle. A sad and somber day.

We took these photos last month, but thought they would be appropriate for today, Veterans Day. Many heartfelt thanks to everyone who has served in the armed forces or is on active duty defending our freedoms. Your valor and sacrifice have made our nation strong and proud. God bless you!



The men buried in these graves gave everything for our country. They fought in the Mexican War, Civil War, Indian Wars, Spanish-American War, The Great War [WW1], World War Two, Korean War, and the Viet Nam War. There are a few women buried here, too, who either served their country in uniform, or were part of the early Soldiers Home Colony. Many of the graves in the photographs at the top of the post [when enlarged] bear only the Company designation and name of the soldier, not his birth or death dates. They appear to be from the 19th Century.

After their years of service, many struggling Washington veterans moved into the Soldiers Home for care and housing. When the home was first established, many veterans came to the home temporarily, regained their health and a new lease on life, and returned to their families. Read a fascinating report about the history of the Washington Soldier's Home here.

Thank you and God Bless You, Veterans!

Writer's Challenge, #21

click to enlarge

Writers, your challenge is to write a story, poem, play, article, report, micro-blog -- something -- anything -- about this picture. You may write your piece to any length, as long as it doesn't exceed 50 words. The shorter the better, of course. If you want to write a Twitter length story, give it a whirl but don't exceed 140 characters.

Try your hand at micro/flash work and feel free to post as many tiny pieces as you'd like in the Comment section below. Your work is yours, you own the copyright -- we're just making a spot available for you to share your creativity with the Sunflower Ranch visitors. You can experiment here and tweet them or post them or even use them as seeds for longer, more involved work.

Let's have some fun and start the weekend with a new little activity to spark your imagination. May you be inspired to make your writing soar and produce some wonderful work! Check out last week's Writer's Challenge and add your interpretation of the photo there as well.

Your comments are always welcome, too!

A Dark & Stormy Finish

more Carbon River trees

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Lunch had been a pleasant break at the character soaked Pick and Shovel tavern/restaurant on Wilkeson's main street. In the back of the cramped tavern, a couple of tight-lipped guys lazily shot pool. The stools at the long and sagging bar were occupied by a variety of nonconformist gents, and a pair of women, just as picturesque, loudly discussing each others business between guzzling beer and gobbling down an assortment of tavern foods. Though they were enjoying themselves, the "ambiance" screamed a dank gloominess, complete with a wide-planked and pock-marked floor. Mercifully, there was no country music wailing in the background. The lively conversation was the entertainment. And the mood for such a rundown place was upbeat. The bartender and cook were very friendly, so we ordered lunch and were pleasantly surprised at how fine the clam chowder and Reuben sandwich turned out to be. Delicious! We were impressed with the homemade chowder and the tenderness of the corned beef and sauerkraut. A very satisfying meal!


The sun played hide and seek through roiling black clouds as we bid farewell to Wilkeson. [Click here for a larger picture of the arch and main street.] We stopped at the bridge over the Carbon River. I snapped a few shots, including the one at the top of the post, and hurried back to the car. In a few moments we were on the road again, speeding toward "civilization." We stopped once more for the afternoon special at a cute latte stand. [The lattes were perfect!] Our trip was nearly finished. We'd be cruising into the driveway at home within the hour. Or so it seemed.

We hit rain about one minute after we'd picked up the lattes. Not the drizzly rain -- but a microburst that hit us hard like a blast of water in a car wash! It never let up! We slowed to a crawl and desperately searched for a place to get off the road until the storm passed, but there were no pull-outs or driveways along that stretch of highway, so we kept going. The wind kicked up fiercely all of a sudden and my sister's substantial sedan rocked gently from the buffeting. About ten minutes into this ordeal a series of pickup trucks, commercial trucks, and passenger cars approaching us from the opposite direction flashed their headlights at us. Sis checked her controls and our lights were operational and normal. We couldn't understand what our problem was with the other drivers, what we'd done wrong.

Until we came around a sharp turn -- and then we saw it. An eighty foot alder, with multiple trunks, long twisted branches and a full head of green/gold leaves lay cracked and crushed on our side of the road. Telephone, electric and cable lines had also come down across both lanes. We stopped, then slowly inched our way around the massive tree. It was so large, we could only pass it on the shoulder of the wrong side of the road. We hoped that anyone coming toward us in the opposite direction would allow us to pass. Otherwise we knew we might have been victims of a greater tragedy. Luckily, we slipped past the mess without incident. After we were once again safely on our side of the road, I phoned 911 to report it, though I am sure the truckers must have reported it earlier. The dispatchers I spoke to, however, had no idea a tree had fallen and now blocked the main highway into the Wilkeson area.

We reached Orting, with the rain still coming down hard, but the roads were more crowded with cars and everyone seemed to be heeding the message and strength of the storm by being just a bit more careful than usual. [Or perhaps they slowed to the speed limit because the Orting Police had set up one of their insidious speed traps?] As we climbed the hill out of Orting, the rain and wind had dwindled to a smattering of leaves floating past the window and when we reached the top of the hill about five miles from home, it had begun to clear. We pulled into the driveway at the ranch and the sun came out! Hubby said it had rained a little while we were gone.

Our adventure into the country had been a success, though not exactly what we expected. You might imagine two ladies on an outing to the country would visit antique stores and fancy tea-rooms tucked into charming bed and breakfasts or restored historic hotels. Well, that's not exactly what happened, as you know from reading the blog over the last week. We did accomplish what we sent out to do -- see some deer, take some photos, and have lunch -- but we also got some scary experiences thrown in, which added a slight edge of excitement to the day.

But of course, that's life, isn't it? I mean here we set out to have a good little outing and discovered that anything could happen. We achieved our modest goals and had some unexpected uneasiness thrown in -- but in the long run, it wasn't much, we made it home safely and shared a few memories. And frankly, we're eager to have another little adventure not too far from home.

May all your adventures all turn out well, too!

Woo-Woo Little Red Caboose!

little red caboose

I took this photo for Hubby because he just loves trains. It's awfully cute, with its own little black track and pots of autumn flowers hanging off the corners. It looked newly painted and as neat as a pin. Just too cute for words.

It sat in the middle of a closely cropped lawn in Wilkeson. It could have been a tiny city park and this might have been the speaker's platform and lunch wagon -- or it could have been a big private lot with a pint-sized caboose-house on it. Hard to tell. No one to ask. And to be on the safe side, we didn't climb up the back and press our noses to the windows. If someone was normally home, they were not there the day we dropped in. And we sure wouldn't want to scare them to death peeking in on them!

Now, if it's a play house, I am just so jealous! What kid wouldn't give a month's allowance to have their very own caboose play house? Every kid has their own idea about what to have in their play house and how they'd fix it up -- but then again so does every grown-up "kid." If this was your caboose, what would you do with it? How would you fix it up?

Let's dream a little and have some fun!

Holy Trinity Temple in Wilkeson

Holy Trinity Temple, 1900

While sis and I cruised the narrow back streets of Wilkeson we came upon this stunning old Orthodox church. We had passed a very old Orthodox cemetery on our way into town and had no idea the church that went along with it was still operational! We were pleasantly surprised to see this building in such fine condition. For more information, check out their website.

Many of the immigrants who settled this town were hardworking miners and quarrymen from Europe. After driving around the neighborhood near the old church, we felt like we'd stepped back in time to a thriving village nestled in the Carpathian Mountains of Central Europe.

I wish we'd had more time to tour the church, but there was no one around to ask. It would have been fun to attend a service in this gorgeous little church. And on a sunny spring day, what a perfect setting for a wedding. Makes me wonder how many couples were married in that building and how many funerals were held there and how many children took their first communion and how many babies were baptized? Sure, the building looks deserted but you just know the energies of all those events just seem to linger and give the building such a warm and noble character. I'm glad we found it.

Thanks for letting me share it with you.

November Blues

Mt. Rainier today

I've missed chatting with you due to a pesky cold [a rarity for me] -- but I'm on the mend and have a lot more energy now and want to get caught up. I have a lot to share! Next week I have jury duty for two weeks and probably won't be blogging very much. [I am sure what I'd like to write about would be off limits if I'm on a case. If I'm just sitting around the jury room waiting to be called to a trial, that might not be as interesting -- unless I do some snooping and that's sure to get me in trouble! LOL]

This is a shot of Mt. Rainier from the second story at my sister's house, about a mile from the ranch, and about 40 miles from the mountain. I snapped it through the double-paned window and it's just a wee bit fuzzy -- but I wanted to share the wonder of it -- a clear day, a fresh snowfall, the sun at the right angle, the trees below so pretty and the sky a perfect shade of blue -- if you're ok with the fuzzy telephoto and my shaky hand -- then I'm okay, too!

See you soon and thanks for visiting today!

Have a wonderful week!