TEXAS...

They say that things from Texas are bigger. With that the stories and experiences that my very good friend Tom and I had were certainty larger than life. Well - maybe not large than life but we sure could embellish them. Tom made a trip from San Antonio visiting during Pam's Bday.

Photos - H by H productions...

Peace Love, T

Poem from a friend...

New Star
by Jeff McKenzie

“There’s my new star in heaven tonite…
It’s when I’m gone I’ll shine bright for you.
There’s my new star in heaven tonite.”
-Woody Guthrie

There’s a new star in heaven
Tonight.
From earth, it seems to have
Just now come into existence. To have come
From nowhere. Appeared.
But you could ask some old, old Okanogan woman
If you could find one,
And she would laugh and tell you
“Hoot-a-who!”
Which means this:
Oh, that star has been here all along,
My young one. Yes, yes. What seems new is old.
What can we name that has not happened before?
Our world is full of tiny sounds made in powerful places:
One drop of water from a spring-flooding
River, spit high from the foaming surface
To mingle with the warming pine-scented breeze,
Travels in a graceful arc and lands on
The smooth, white rock, dry in the center of the
Torrent. What sound does it make
amid the rush to the sea? No one has
Ever heard the sound. So delicate and perfect
And beautiful; it floats upward like a soul,
And nestles into the cool darkness of night.
And becomes a star.
“Hoot-a-who!”
A snowflake, silent as it falls among
One million of its brothers and sisters,
indistinguishable
Until you inspect it closely,
Touches down on the tip of
The Douglas-fir needle on
The fourth bough from the top
Of the tree which stands high
on Grandfather Mountain. It is no
Surprise to the tree or to the snowflake,
Both have known for ages that winter is coming,
Have been waiting, have done nothing to stop it,
Could do nothing,
But each receives the other in the beauty of fulfillment.
A promise kept, and a sound so sweet
Emanates from the kiss of the
Snowflake upon the branch –
Ah, there you are!
“Hoot-a-who!”
It is a gift, this sound that becomes a star
And swishes and swirls its way up the mountain
Skirting the trees, just above the untracked snow
Back from whence it came
Into the sky to join
One million million more brothers and sisters
“Hoot-a-who!” the old, old Okanogan woman would say,
What seems new is old.
What seems far is close.
What seems gone is reaching out to us.
"Hoot-a-who!"
They teach you in schools that the stars
Are unimaginably far from us
But that is not true
They are unimaginably close.
In fact if you were to stand atop
Grandfather mountain
On a clear night
In the dead of winter
With no moon to blind your vision
You would say that the stars
Are very close. Maybe a ladder would get
You there. Or a simple stepstool. But of course
They are just a little farther than that.
So it has been, so it shall always be.
The stars beyond our understanding,
winking at us, close by,
outsparkling a sea of diamonds, and each more beautiful
being out of reach. And each calls
to you: “Here I am!”
“Hoot-a-who!”
“Here I am!”
“Hoot-a-who!”
“Hoot-a-who! Hoot-a-who! Hoot-a-who!”

A Great Message From a Friend

Peace Love T

Pam's B-Day...

What a great birthday party! The weather was perfect, the food was fabulous, and a wonderful time was had by all. Can't say enough of the support from our family and friends with you it makes our lives so much better.

Thank you,

Peace/Love T

Decked out...

As things change, we adapt. Expecting a new power chair soon that will allow better mobility.

However, with this mobility comes the need for a new deck and ramp. With friends, this is becoming reality...

We have been having lots of fun putting this project together. As you can see in some photos, we have plenty of supervisors.

The finished product will be soon.

P/L T

Dictation by Bradley

My mountain...

we watched a ski movie last night (go figure) it talked about the mountains and how they are alive, how we are inspired by them.

The question "how do you handle it"? comes up often which made me think "how do i handle it"?...

it would be easy to make a play on words like "its not a challenge - its an opportunity", after some thought we have great laughs, we appreciate what we have, we adjust.

being in the mountains i have had great journeys and adventures, which are cheerished moments.

today my journey and adventure is still just as satisfying, still contains beautiful moments - the only change is "my mountain"...

peace/love t

Re-Okeeee...

over the years a friend and i had joked about visiting Okanogan - my homeland... we would meet at a function and he would ask when was the next "Re-Okeeee"? which meant my next visit to the OK valley.

we have had many great adventures in the valley and i have many great friends who live there - guess you can take the boy out of the valley but not the valley out of the boy...

over memorial weekend we "Re-Okeeed" Brian and Mary had a bbq - it was wonderful. other friends stopped by telling many great stories with 67 in my graduating class we have excellent friendships.

the picture subject (courtesy Ed and Connie) - my initials are on Jackass Butte, what a great name, in sight and just above town.

I'm blessed to have such caring friends...

peace/love t

Hoot-a-who?...

is there a meaning to this? is it a person, place or thing? a birds cry! or a Sasquatch scream!...

for those who have been in the mountains with me - you know this sound...

a trade mark if you will, a distinctive noise that was me...

skiing in the trees, getting separated, you could hear others yelling but in my group all you needed to listen for was "hoot-a-who" and you knew i was near...

this is a high pitched, fast burst yell that spells individuality and made it easier to find friends...

i bring this up because the other night as Pam was putting me to bed, with a tear running down her cheek, asked me if i remembered yelling "hoot-a-who" - creating a beautiful moment...

here are these moments again - even in times of challenge we are making memories...

so create new moments, remember old moments and next time you are walking in the mountains listen closely you may just hear "hoot-a-who"...

peace/love t