Kentucky Folk Arts Center

 Trish and I are in Morehead, Kentucky, for the Cave Run Storytelling Festival.  Yesterday and today we have school students on field trips to the Festival.

When our school day was finished yesterday, we went for a visit at the Kentucky Folk Arts Center, located here in Morehead.

Folk Arts include any form of self-taught artistic expression.  It may be quilting, painting, woodwork…there is no limit. Often Folk Artists are not recognized and often their work is left to decay and disappear.  The Kentucky Folk Arts Center recognizes Kentucky Folk Artists and preserves the best of their work in this tiny museum.

We loved this depiction called “Hurricane Hugo.”

Much of the work collected here is of  Biblically based content. From the Garden of Eden to The Last Supper we saw many serpents and many naked versions of Adam and Eve!

There was also a lovely gift shop.  Helpful for shoppers but also an opportunity for many artists to sell their creations.  We were very tempted by the fox with a chicken in his mouth.  This place is worth a stop.

A Quick Week!

 One week ago today we were finishing our work in Utah.  Looking toward home, Tropical Storm Ophelia looked to be heading toward our island.  So, Trish and I started home. From Torrey, Utah, our early morning route started through beautiful Capitol Reef National Park.

We got to Grand Junction, Colorado, by 10:30 am where we had a plan to get a new set of tires for the car.  At exactly 11:00, we were back on the road!  We got to Hays, Kansas, that night, to Mt. Vernon, Illinois, the next day, and back home on Thursday afternoon.  We beat the storm!

Though the ferries were closed and we had some rain and wind the next day, the biggest result we could see at home was shredding the leaves of one of our banana trees. (The trees do this naturally to protect them from losing leaves in a storm.)

By the next day, we were at work in the yard.  The storage addition to our garage that was just started when we left on this trip is now all finished and even painted.  It also includes an additional outdoor shower.  We had wood delivered before we got home for building additional flower beds, and, we got to work on that project.

By yesterday we had three new beds, one filled with irises and pansies, and one filled with ornamental grasses.  Whew!

This morning we are back in the car headed to the Cave Run (Kentucky) Festival and from there to Jonesborough for Teller in Residence and the National Festival.  It is all fun!

The Rest Of Thanksgiving Point

 Most of our time at Thanksgiving Point on this trip has been at the Ashton Gardens as the Gardens were the setting for both the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival and the Garden of Quilts Festival.  There is, however, much more here than the Gardens. 

Trish and I keep an annual membership so that we can enjoy all that is here whenever we are nearby.

There is the Butterfly Biosphere where hundreds of butterflies are hatched and released each day.  It is easy to have one make an up-close visit if you are patient.

There is the huge Museum of Ancient Life where you meet beautiful dioramas populated by more dinosaurs and other early life forms than you can imagine seeing in one place.

Then there is the Museum of Natural Curiosity, with a wing for each age group, as well as popular discovery encounters for all ages.  (While we were there there was a huge display of hands-on Rube Goldberg machines!)

The newest thing here is the brand-new and beautiful carousel which has marvelously artistic horses for everyone to choose from.  The carousel is enclosed in glass so that it can be ridden all seasons of the year.  Trish and I had to take this ride on two different days so we could try out different horses.

On this trip we did not even make it over to Farm Country where the multi-acre Cornbelly’s Corn Maze is just about to open along with other Halloween features. 

No matter what is happening here, Thanksgiving Point is a place to spend time whenever you are just south of Salt Lake City.  It is marvelous!

Garden of Quilts

 After our week at Zion Canyon, Trish and I headed back up to the Ashton Gardens (where the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival was held the week before) for the Garden of Quilts quilt festival.

All of the tents for srorytelling stayed up and were now filled with not just hundreds, but actually in the thousands of quilts!  In addition to the tented sites, there were quilts and quilts in rows and dozens all throughout the beautiful Ashton Gardens.  It was amazing to see.

We got to join Karen Ashton and the Thimblecreek Quilters for a lovely formal English tea at high noon on Friday. It was a civilized and lovely time!

But…the best thing of all about the Gardens of Quilts was that one of Trish’s quilts, a hexie she has worked on for five years, was selected to hang at the Festival.  It was like a lovely center piece in the tent where it was displayed!  We had a great time!

Best Friends Animal Sanctuary

 On our way to Peek-a-boo Slot Canyon, we drove across the land belonging to the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary.

The Sanctuary owns 3,700 acres of land and leases an additional 33,000 acres from the Bureau of Land Management.  They are a no-kill animal shelter working to give animals that would otherwise be euthanized a place to peacefully live out their lives.

At any one time about sixteen-hundred animals live at the Sanctuary.  They live in communities with houses just like adoptive homes where they have their own little towns.  There is Bunny House, Dogtown, Cat World, Birdland, and others.

The Sanctuary has connections all over the United States and actively promotes spay-neuter programs as well as advocation for adoption rather than euthanasia.  Many animals are adopted from here, but, if not, they still live out their lives peacefully.  

There is a large area for houses, another large area for abandoned pet pigs, and a full veterinary clinic.

There is a very beautiful cemetery here for those animals who live out their lives at the Sanctuary.  If you adopt a pet from here, you may still return it for burial here when it dies.  People come back here again and again to visit the cemetery.  It is filled with hundreds of wind chimes to keep wild and unwanted animals away.

We loved visiting and learning about this place.

Peek-a-boo Slot Canyon

 On our last day at Zion, we drove over to Kanab, Utah, so we could visit Peek-a-boo Slot Canyon. There are many slot canyons in this area of sandstone that have been carved through the ages by water and wind.

When our guide, John, picked us up, he was very excited.  He had seen that he was to have Donald Davis on his tour and he and his wife are attendees at the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival.  His first comment was, “It’s really you…now I get to tell you stories!”  He was excellent and we had to stop every little bit so he could take pictures to send to his wife!  It was sweet.

There was a big visible storm in the sky with rain in the distance. This was something to be on the lookout for. We did not want to be in this narrow canyon if rain fell…the canyon was where the water goes and can be very dangerous. Every year people die by not heeding the rain warnings.  We were fine, though, as the storm was downstream from where we were.  In the end we got only a dozen drops or so.

Finally we came to where we could go no farther. The only way left was up!  We each tried to see if we had the power to go up, but, this is as far as I got!

It was a day of beautiful color and rock formations to remember.

A Canyon Drive

 Yesterday we drove out of the Canyon so I could show Trish more of Zion.  We headed east and started the climb up toward the historic 1930 tunnel.

The amazing coloration of the rock was perfectly spotlighted by the morning sun.  We kept imagining what the first people thought of this place when they happened to come here.  From where did they come how did they live among this gigantic landscape?

How did early people make their way through this land, and, how did those who envisioned this becoming Parkland dream of making it accessible to travelers like us?  The rod re traveled wound back and forth multiple times gaining altitude before coming to the most remarkable project: the tunnel.

Built in 1930 by hand, the tunnel runs just inside the rock parallel to the outside edge and is 1.1 miles long.  There are numerous windows to the outside showing you that you are just inside the rock.  How was this conceived, mapped, engineered, and done in 1930?  Amazing!

We had a wonderful drive and would not have missed this day.

Zion Canyon

 It is a real treat getting to stay in the Park at Zion Canyon Lodge.  Today we had morning showers that washed the Canyon and the skies until the afternoon was clean and beautiful.  Trish and I are sitting on our porch reading and watching all the people enjoying this lovely place.

There is not direction which is not filled with beauty.  Even at the Cafe where we enjoy an outdoor lunch, the sandstone cliffs form the backdrop.  

Just a glance in the opposite direction and we see the towering cliffs.  We have a had a deliberately restful day today. Tomorrow we go to Kanab, Utah, and a trip to a slot canyon.

Zion National Park

 Trish and I have a few days in Zion National Park before our next Utah event.  We love the Utah Parks!  We think the entire bottom third of the state is like one big interconnected National Park…all of which are different but beautiful.

Here is our evening view from our porch.  We plan way ahead of time, so, we got reservations at Zion Lodge, the only place you can stay up inside the Park.  It is so very calm and lovely here. Children and mule deer both playing on the lawn of the Lodge.

If we look up from our same seats on our little porch, we see the magnificent sandstone cliffs of Zion Canyon.  Today we walked up the Canyon to where the solid trail ends and the river walk through the Narrows begins,  From here on you have to walk in the very cold water…we decided we had gone far enough!

Everywhere we look, there is beauty.  From down in the canyon, it is so far to the top that you have to really look up to see the sky.  It is easy to see why the river floods so easily as there is very little extra room for increased water flow here.  It is all an amazement.

We still have a few days of discovery here.

Mormon Tabernacle Choir

 One of the great privileges of being a Featured Teller at the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival is that in Sunday morning after the Festival is over we are taken up to Salt Lake City to the Mormon Tabernacle to be part of the audience for the live weekly broadcast of Music and the Spoken Word by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir accompanied by the Orchestra at Temple Square.

We met inside the door as the audience was arriving.  There was reserved seating since the Timpanogos Storytellers were announced as special guests for this broadcast.  The Tabernacle is beautiful as you enter.

We ended up seated on the first occupied row, just below the orchestra.  When the full orchestra and the 360 member choir sang to the fullest, we were almost lifted from our seats with emotion.

What a wonderful way to finish our Festival weekend together.  Afterwards the Festival committee took us to brunch before we all said goodbye.  We are already looking forward to next year!

Timpanogos Storytelling Festival

 We are at the 34th Timpanogos Storytelling Festival with some wonderful other performers.  Some of them (but not all) are Bil Lepp, Carmen Deedy, Antonio Rocha, Brigid and Johnny Reedy, and Mara Menzies.

People start arriving early to see the flowers at the Ashton Gardens location.

This Festival has always had a family audience flavor with every age in attendance.  There are lots of activities for children in addition to storytelling.  We meet parents now with their children who themselves grew up being brought in their own childhood.

In addition to the tents, there is a huge waterfall Amphitheatre that holds thousands of people. This is one setting for evening performances. Here are people gathering, some areas for blankets only and others for chairs.

It is nice to be first in the Amphitheatre, since before dark falls you can see all of the audience!

I got to finish yesterday afternoon with Brigid and Johnny Reedy. Here they are playing the same guitar together!

What fun!

Thanksgiving Point

 Trish and I are now in LEHI, Utah, for the thirty-fourth Timpanogos Storytelling Festival.  I perform here every year and we love this Festival.

The Festival is held in the stunning Ashton Gardens at Thanksgiving Point located in LEHI, just about a half-hour south of Salt Lake City.

Before the Festival starts, we got a chance to visit the Gardens and check out all of the performance sites and tent stages…and…the astounding flowers!

Trish and I were here last for a workshop week at the beginning of May when 750,000 tulips were in full bloom.  Now it is dahlias and a host of mixed summer flowers filling this fifty-five acre wonderland.

The tents are spaced out among all of the beauty. Even before the stories are told, you are soothed by the magic of simply being here.  There is even a waterfall on one side of the Garden.

After a preview show called “Look Who’s Talking,” last night, today all eleven of us who are featured tellers get to work in earnest.  If you have never been here, it is a place to think about coming for sure.

Through the Tetons

 Trish and I love the Grand Tetons! We try to come here every year.

This year our visit was cool and wet and somewhat subdued…it was restful anyway.

We got one pretty good day when the mountains were visible, then the clouds took over. Even then the sky was beautiful!

This is the land of the elk.  Now it is rutting season. We could see a large female across the meadow on the lookout for mating.  None of them  are close up right now.

Evidence of the elk population is everywhere. In downtown Jackson the city park has these huge elk antler gateways on each of its four corners.

Just down the road, in the small town of Afton, elk antlers bridge their entire Main Street.

We will come back here next year and be looking for more animals and better weather!