T is for traveler.

“The great thing in this world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes

Poor Tiger. Poor, poor Tiger. As it sat in our driveway all winter, it got buried many times in snow. But yippee for the wonders of 4 wheel drive! I zip it up the driveway and into the street, then I slip and slide around on my aluminum ladder and sweep the snow off the top. Then it gets parked in the sun, where it dries off in no time!

Now that it’s spring, it will be out and about soon.

When I travel, I move in all directions. The more, the better. I just pass through. I don’t stay.

But, I do travel to many places over and over. 

In my dirt-biking days, each spring a large group of biker friends went to Canyonlands National Park in Utah. In the early 1980’s, during one of our trips up Salt Creek, we found the 13 Faces rock art panel. 

In 1993, I painted part of the scene and made a quilt, which was Bob’s birthday gift from me during a trip to Moab in 1993. The fabric is hand-dyed. I made stencils from freezer paper that I ironed onto the fabric. Then I used thick fabric paint for the figures. In the bottom left corner are 3-D leaves representing the thick growth of bushes that made finding the faces difficult.

Another place I’ve often been to is Capitol Reef National Park, also in Utah. Many a springtime I have spent a night or two in their campground. Each time, I scarf down pies from the Historic Gifford Homestead. The homestead was part of the Mormon pioneer village of Fruita, settled way back in 1880. The orchards, planted and tended by the villagers, are now the largest orchards in our National Parks, and they are protected as part of our Rural Historical Landscape. I’d like to spend more time in their orchards, perhaps as a volunteer.

One of the orchards has black walnuts, trees that are close to my heart. My great-grandparents planted black walnut trees along the Yokum Ditch on their property in Arvada, Colorado. My dad grew up on the family homestead, as did my two sisters and I. The trees are still there. This is my great-grandmother Amelia Slayton’s recipe:

Black walnut icebox cookies

3 cups brown sugar
3 eggs
1 cup butter
4 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
some salt
1 cup black walnuts
1 tsp vanilla

Mix all ingredients into a long, narrow loaf (better if made into 2 loaves.) Let the loaf rise overnight in the icebox. Slice thin. Bake at 425 degrees for about 10 minutes.

Being a traveler is awesome!