Aspens and Sea Smoke

This photo was taken on a VERY cold morning in February . I think it was almost 20 below zero the morning I made this image. There was a lot of steam or "sea smoke" as people like to call it, rising off the lake. More common in early winter, it was a treat to see the steam in late February. My friend Roger and I had spent sunrise right along the water's edge taking photos of the rising sun and the ice on Grand Portage Bay.
To give you an idea of just how cold it was, while we were walking through some deep snow drifts to get to the water's edge, I tripped and fell in the snow. My tripod went right down under the snow, and was only in the snow for a few seconds. The tripod had been warm from being inside the car, and as soon as I pulled it up out of the snow it had ice on it. The snow had melted briefly when making contact with the warm tripod and as soon as I lifted the tripod up into the cold air it the melted snow that was on it froze instantly. I had a difficult time the rest of the morning adjusting my tripod legs due to the ice that now covered it.
After about 20 minutes in our first location we headed up to an overlook which looks down onto Lake Superior and Wauswaugoning Bay. From this elevated vantage point it was magical watching the sea smoke as it rose off the lake and drifted out away from shore. Roger has a Vari-ND filter which lets you block several stops of light and I thought this would be a perfect place to use it so I borrowed it for several exposures. The stationary trees and the edge of the ice combined with the moving steam made for a very compelling photo. Exposure time on this shot was 15 seconds, aperture f16, ISO 50. It was taken with my Canon EF 100-400mm lens.

Why Wye?

As I was getting ready to leave Springfield Wednesday morning (September 9th) I discussed my travel plans with my hosts. My intention at that time was to head north to Lawrence, Kansas to see what I could find on Samuel Fisher, the brother of my 2nd Great Grandmother, Louisa Fisher Phend.

However, I made a stop to purchase a few things before leaving and “something” jogged my memory – a small town in Arkansas was calling my name.

In 1985, I corresponded with Arba Phend Showalter, a daughter of Marion Ora Phend and granddaughter of Christian Phend. Her uncle, Clarence D. Phend was the fellow who wrote the early version of the history of the Phend Family.

Though undocumented and rife with errors, his version of the family history nevertheless provided invaluable information and clues for further research. I will forever be grateful to Clarence for putting it all in writing and to Arba for sending me a copy of it!

Clarence was first married on May 18, 1901 in Elkhart County, Indiana to Myrtle Clyde. It is not known whether Myrtle was deceased or if they were divorced, but, according to Arba, Clarence was married a second time to Lora West on September 22, 1908.

I haven't found Clarence in the 1910 Federal Census but in 1920 he was a 43 year old preacher living in River Town, Mayes County, Oklahoma along with his wife, Lora. She was also 43 years old and a school teacher. In the 1930 census, Clarence and Lora were found in Wye, Perry County, Arkansas. His occupation was given as farmer and she was a public school teacher. In both 1920 and 1930, he was listed as having been born in Indiana and she in Missouri.

It seems that Clarence may have been an itinerant preacher for a time. In an article found online in .. (the url is no longer valid) about the Branson, Missouri Presbyterian Church by Townsend Godsey in the White River Valley Historical Quarterly (v 9, Winter 1987) there was this brief sentence “... Revivalists, identified by the Branson Echo as Reverends Ross and Phend, began asking for subscriptions to build a church...”

Of her uncle Clarence, Arba wrote “My information is that his second wife's name was Lola Gray. I wrote to Alice Selby, pastor of the Wye and Bigelow, Arkansas United Methodist church in 1981. She wrote that the church records show that Clarence and Lora Gray Phend became members of the Wye United Brethren Church on August 22, 1943. Lora taught school in the community and Clarence did some preaching. I quote 'They lived in a little cabin about 6 miles south of Bigelow, Arkansas on Highway 113' and 'Lora was raised in Graysville, Missouri and I know that in early days, Rev. Phend was the pastor of a U. B. Church in northern Missouri which may be where he met Lora.' Clarence died on either the 11th or 22nd of March 1945. Lora died November 30, 1951 and both are buried in the Wye, Arkansas cemetery. My mother's information is that Clarence died on the 11th of March 1945 but Alice Selby writes it was March 22nd 1943 which can't be right.”

So it was to find Clarence's burial place that I headed south from Springfield instead of going north. Though I knew “about” where it was, I couldn't find the town of Wye on the road atlas that I had and, luckily, as I entered Arkansas on US Rte 65 there was a welcome center. The nice man gave me a more detailed map and even helped me find Wye, which is about 30 miles northwest of Little Rock.

Even though it was raining and overcast, I opted to get off the main highway and take Scenic Route 7 from Harrison. Route 7 winds and wends its way through the hills and valleys - it wasn't quite so scenic as it would have been on a nice sunny day, but it was still quite pretty. And it didn't rain the whole way. After turning off onto several other back-country roads and traversing their ups and downs, I eventually found myself in the small community of Wye. You can't really call it a town since there are no open stores but there are some houses. And a church. And some vacant buildings.

The half-mile road back to the cemetery is really a one lane gravel path, barely wide enough for one vehicle, with trees bordering both sides of the lane. And it was raining, again. Pouring down. But as I arrived at the cemetery, it let up some and after a few minutes slowed to a drizzle. It was about 4 o'clock. Trees surrounded the cemetery and their darkness contributed to the gloomy day.

Wye Cemetery covers a fairly large area but there aren't that many stones there. It only took half an hour or so to walk the entire cemetery. Clarence and Lora were alongside the front of a fenced in area and I had somehow overlooked them on the first pass through from front to back.




It surprised me that they were buried next to the Rev. Alice Selby. The very same Alice Selby who had provided Arba Showalter with information about Clarence!

Clarence D. Phend, son of Christian and Mary (McConnell) Phend, was born September 18, 1876 in Kosciusko County, Indiana and passed away on March 11, 1945 in Bigelow, Perry County, Arkansas. Lora (West) Phend was born about 1877 and died November 30, 1951. They are buried in Wye Cemetery, Pulaski County, Arkansas.

Note: The 1930 census shows Wye Township in Perry County, Arkansas. The GNIS database and Find-a-Grave both show that it is in Pulaski County. I haven't yet found when the change was made.

The Flight 93 Memorial

Thursday - September 6, .. - - The small town of Shanksville, a few miles south of U.S. 30 in the rolling 'hills' of central Pennsylvania, made headline news eleven years ago on 9/11. In the midst of so much confusion, disbelief, and all of the horror of that day a group of courageous people stood up and prevented what could have been an even greater disaster.



Knowing that their lives were likely already lost, they forced the plane down before it could do further damage to our nation. To them we will be eternally grateful and for them and their families this memorial has been created on the site of their deaths to honor and remember them. It is a very simple memorial but very moving and profound at the same time.





Exhibits depicting the events on the site on 9/11/.. are displayed in the front 'courtyard' and the entrance to the Memorial area is along a long walkway through a portal. The black, sloping wall along the left side extending into the background marks the northern boundary of the greater crash site.





The walkway extends about a quarter mile to the wall of names, shown in the background.





Within the wall are several niches where visitors can leave mementos of remembrance, if desired.





At the end of the bordering wall and to the left of the wall of names is a gate.



Beyond the gate, off in the distance, is a boulder marking the location of the crater and the approximate location of the impact site. After the crash investigation was complete, the crater was filled in. The remains of the flight crew and passengers are buried in a small cemetery just beyond the boulder. I believe this area is off limits except to family members.





The wall of names begins to the right of the gate. The names are engraved on individual panels and are listed in alphabetical order. Family members and friends sometimes leave memorial bouquets as shown in front of the memorial for Lorraine G. Bay. to the right of her is the memorial to Todd M. Beamer.





There are 40 panels inscribed with the names of the flight crew and passengers who died in the crash. We remember few of their names individually, but we will always remember them collectively.





The wall of names approximately follows the direction of the flight path... on top of the hill to the far right there was a huge tent. They were preparing for ceremonies to take place on 9/11, just five days after my visit.



The memorial is still a work in progress, but a diagram of the completed area can be viewed on the National Park Service Flight 93 Memorial Website.

Premier

Ring ring ring...



Erin: Hello



Emron: Hey sis, want to go to the premier of Toy Story 3 with me on May 8th?



Erin: Are you serious? YES!



Emron: Great! I'll start looking for flights. You'll need to bring a formal dress.



Erin: I don't have one of those...never worn one. Guess I get to go shopping.



Emron: K. Good luck. Excited to have you. See you soon. Love ya!



Erin: Thank you Emron. Love you too!



Click...





I called Alicia Runolfson seeking help in the dress department. She quickly scheduled a time to drive down from American Fork to assist in the search for the perfect dress. We had our work cut out for us. The day she arrived we drove to St George...we had our work cut out for us. Several shops were no longer open. after searching for them way to long we moved on. finally we found one still in business. We walked in...there before my eyes was the most beautiful dress. No way was it going to be my size...everything was one of a kind...and the Manichean it was on was tiny. We perused around and found a few dresses to try on. I found myself going back to this dress and wishing, just wishing it could fit me. In the dressing room trying on the dresses i was caused to have very good posture and to breath shallowly after the 10 minutes it took to zip the dang dresses up. i tried to convince myself i could be comfortable in them for an entire night. Then i had a vision of me passing out somewhere in the middle because my oxygen intake was so low. 20 minutes had gone by and i was already getting frustrated...i didn't know how much longer i could shop. I walked around one last time. Found myself staring at the beautiful bronze dress. I decided to look...oh my gosh it was a size 10...my size...it was pinned in the back to make it fit the stupid doll. It was PERFECT! I found the necklace and earrings to match it all in the same store. The ladies working the story that day said they had only put it up on the rack the day before....I believe it was meant for me!!!!!!







When I arrived in San Fransisco Emron took me on a tour of the city and Pixar.











Golden Gate Bridge





















Read the sign behind me...should i call?



Alcatraz



Our next stop was Ghirardelli:









Over look of San Fransisco



Oakland Temple



Then he finally took me to see Pixar!!!!!!!!





This is my favorite room in the entire building. The Cereal Room. I want one of those in my own house!



Where is Erin?

Tell me this isn't freakin' amazing!'Lego my Woody and Buzz'







Then the Party Began!!!!!!!!





The Paramount Theater Waiting for the show to begin











The 'Wrap' Party

Giant Chair...and it was just right











Bustin' his moves!







Dance...Dance...Dance!





















































AND THAT'S A WRAP!

Middle Falls Moonlight

WOW... it sure was cool watching the half moon over Middle Falls of the Pigeon River last night as the last of the daylight faded from the sky. Walking back to the car in the dark was fun, too. When you've got moonlight and a headlamp to guide your way, being in the woods at night is a magical experience.

Rock in Road

I'm not sure why there were barrels around this rock that was almost in the road. Could have been just to causion drivers. But it looked as if the rock had slipped more toward the road or maybe the road crew was afraid that it might slip some more. We have seen lots of rocks in the road on this trip and others but never any this big.

Alpental Ice ..

So the quest for ice begins. (Earlier this year due to La Nina.) Adam and I were thinking of getting out earlier in the week to check conditions at Alpental. Early reports were not positive, so we delayed. I was hoping to head to Leavenworth this weekend, but that plan fell through, and so a quest for ice at Alpental was planned. I was going with Rod, while Adam, Zach, Steen and Kristy were also coming separately from us.

Rod and I were one of the first cars in the lot and we geared up in what felt like weather that was too warm. We commented that we might be "taking the tools for a hike" as Washington State ice climbers will often say. We donned snowshoes, and hiked into Alpental Falls where we hiked up to the falls.

Hiking up to the falls

Alpental I looked in from the base. There was a bit of a boot track to it, so perhaps it was climbed in previous days. I didn't like the drum like nature of the right side as it seemed not to be bonded to the rock underneath. Right in front of me was a snow gully like feature which I told Rod I'd give a try at. So we geared up and I started climbing. When I got to the first step, I didn't feel comfortable with the thin ice, and down climbed off the route collecting my screw on the way. We decided to head up valley to see if anything else was in to climb.

Around this time our friends showed up and went past us before we regained the trail. Zach and Adam headed back to the car to get their snowshoes for the off trail travel. We joined the women near the base of Alpental IV. Rod and I inspected the possibility of climbing Alpental IV while the other group set up some top ropes in the woods. We eventually joined them as neither of us wanted to lead any of the falls. Way too much running water.

So we all got to top rope three short lines in the woods. A fairly thick line on the right, a mixed (mostly rock) line in the middle, and a mixed (mostly ice/snow) line on the left. After we all tired out and started to get cold we took the top ropes down.

Kristy on the fatter ice

This outing went about how I would have expected it to go. I was happy to use my (new to me) tools and go leashless for the first time. Surprisingly, I did not over grip. But I was very concerned about dropping them as I have yet to build my umbilical. The freedom of going leashless was wonderful, and I was surprised that it did not take much for me. Perhaps because I haven't climbed ice in a while, I forgot about relying on the leashes. I look forward to more leashless climbing.