Manzanar National Historic Site

 On my first longer visit to Death Valley, a chance encounter with another visitor introduced me to Manzanar.  We were not going to be on that road again for a long time, so as we were traveling north on US HWY 395, I was determined to stop and see Manzanar.  When I was growing up and going through high school, by the time we got to May we were just barely getting to World War II and maybe the Korean War.  Knowing that now kids have 50 more years of US history to cover in one year makes me know that it is hard to cover everything.  Regardless, in my high school and college history classes, no mention was ever made of the US Japanese internment camps like Manzanar. he lady that told me about her visit talked about the gardens and what remained and how the Japanese there tried to make something beautiful and that one could still see their efforts so many years later. 

My visit was during the afternoon on a day with wind warnings.  Stepping out of the car, the sand whipped and stung my face and skin blown by the strong winds.  It reminded me of Texas Panhandle winds that you had to lean into to walk.  It was a warm day in the desert.  

Manzanar sits in the desert with the Sierra Nevada mountain range close on one side.  

For those of you like me that have not heard about places like Manzanar, the bombing of Pearl Harbor started the United States involvement in World War II.  We had Japanese people that were already living in the United States.  Many were citizens with jobs, businesses, families, etc. Many owned property.  Beginning shortly after Pearl Harbor in 1942, more than 110, 000 men, women, and children were ordered to leave their homes and were detained in ten remote, military-styled camps.  10,000 Japanese Americans spent their time during World War II at Manzanar.  

The visitor center was closed, being renovated and painted. The visitor center has a film available on YouTube. I just finished watching it:  Remembering Manzanar This documentary has interviews from people who were there.   

 

COVID restriction notices were posted on each doorway.  Only one family group at a time was supposed to enter the buildings and masks were required.  It was not a busy time at Manzanar when we visited.  There were only a few other people, but at the end of my visit a busload of teenagers showed up. They began playing basketball.  

I did not make it to some of the remains of the beautiful gardens they created, but I did go in all the restored buildings. Most of the buildings are gone with only the foundations and the walkways remaining.  

There was no privacy for using the bathroom or for showering.

Manzanar means "apple orchard."  They grew much of their own food and they prepared food to serve this large number of people. 

Most  of the buildings are gone.  But the sidewalks and paving stones are left.  I did not see a path to where the remnants of the decorative gardens remain.  The desert is not kind to plants.

The next day we drove by the Tule Lake National Monument.  It was late and closed. It has a different story to tell. This is where George Takei of Star Trek fame spent his World War II childhood. 

 

Drive days - Arizona, California 395

Road trips offer many opportunities for shooting photos out the window.  Memory pictures . . .   Near Wilcox, Arizona was this HUGE dust devil. 

The differences between the Chihuahuan Desert, the Sonoran Desert and the Mojave Desert are striking.  The Mohave has less plant life and more bare ground. 

We spent much of our time in Arizona along the interstate. But we also drove up along the Colorado River near Lake Havasu.  I remember stopping to take photos along the Colorado River, but I am not finding them.  

This is near Needles, California.  

Sunset was gorgeous that night. 

The southern part of US 395 through California goes through volcanoes and lava fields.  

Next stops along HWY 395 are Mono Lake and Manzanar. Both worthy of their own post.

Paton Center for Hummingbirds

For years I had known that southern Arizona south of Tucson was a place to see hummingbirds.  We try to do something fun each day of our trips, so when I saw how close we were going to be to the Paton Center for Hummingbirds, we decided to take a detour.  There was certainly the possibility for life birds there. For my non birder friends, a life bird is a bird species that you have never seen before.  There are hummingbird species in this most southern part of Arizona that can be seen no where else in the United States.  I had an evening and a morning.  When I entered the property, I knew it was going to be glorious. It reminded me of Salineno in south Texas - feeding stations, water stations, and chairs for comfortable viewing.  This was originally owned by Wally and Marion Paton.  They opened their yard for birders beginning in 1973.  The property is now managed by the Tuscon Audubon.  

I did not wander much that evening, so I did not see some other parts until the next morning.  

That evening the most common hummingbird was the Broad-billed Hummingbird. While I HAD seen it at the Tucson Desert Museum in a hummingbird house, I had never seen it in the wild!  The males are really striking with their bluish purple throat and red bil

Other birds seen that evening were White-winged doves, Ladder-backed Woodpecker family, Lesser Goldfinch and Blue Grosbeak.

Costa's Hummingbird was another delight.

We drove to Nogales to spend the night.  There IS a hotel in Patagonia, but we were trying to mimimize our expenses so Nogales was significantly cheaper.  The hotel in Patagonia looks great, perhaps I can stay there another time when I come back to spend more days at the Paton Center.

The next morning I set about exploring the trails.  WOW!  There is a big hummingbird/butterfly garden. I saw my first Butterfly Weed Milkweed in bloom.  There was a small pond with a mulberry tree that the birds were coming in to eat the mulberries.  I spent at least an hour on the bench there watching a hummingbird feeder and the other birds coming in. 

Then I moved farther along the trail towards the residence.  A lovely covered seating area with all sorts of feeders: hummingbird feeders, seed feeders, oranges, etc.  Another birder and I started chatting.  Hummingbirds seen Black-chinned hummingbird, Rivoli Hummingbird (Magnificent), Violet-crowned Hummingbird, and lots of Broad-billed hummingbirds.  At one point I thought we might have had White-eared Hummingbird, but iNaturalist did not confirm it.  

Violet Crowned hummingbirds were the third life birds for me at this place.  

The last hummingbird species I saw there is the one that is my summer guest: the Black-chinnned Hummingbird 

Another bird showed up and gave me a good look but NOT a photo was the Yellow breasted chat.  I think I had seen it during the City Nature Challenge in Austin, but not a good looks wee.  So this was also a life bird.  Albert’s Towhee was a new bird species for me, as was the Brown-crested Flycatcher.  There were Pine Siskin - not as exciting this year because I had so many at my house during the irruption.  In addition there were Gambel’s qual, White-winged doves, a woodpecker, (probably Gila), Phainopepla, House finches (eating oranges), Scott’s Oriole, Black-headed Grosbeak, and Blue Grosbeak.

This is really only a 2 day drive from where I live.  I hope to go back. 

Side note - a week or so later their Facebook page noted that they had to take down their feeders temporarily because of bear sightings.  So glad I was there while the feeders were going. 

Franklin Mountains State Park

We made it to El Paso the first day’s drive.  I have been wanting to bird there for a long time, so we stopped at the Franklin Mountains State Park that morning.  The Franklin Mountains are surrounded by the city of El Paso and I think the entire park is within the city limits.  Before the park was created, developers were eyeing the land for residential development.  A group formed to “Save the Franklin Mountains.”  They were successful in getting a state park created and saving a special habit and beautiful area.  We saw joggers running in the cool of the desert morning. 

The park has a bird blind and feeding station.  I spent maybe an hour at the feeding station.  

 

I loved getting close looks at Scaled Quail coming in both to the feeders and the water feature.  

 

There were White-winged Doves

 

and Mourning Doves.  

There were LOTS of House Finches - with several of the color variations. 

Black-chinned hummingbirds visited the feeder that was close to the blind.  

I had a Northern Mockingbird 

and a Western Kingbird visit. 

And an oriole came to visit, probably Scott's Oriole.  

At the Visitor Center there was a bird nesting in the eaves of the porch, a closer look and photographs showed it to be Say’s Phoebe.  

And then there were the small mammals:

Texas Antelope squirrel 

Rock squirrels, adults and juveniles 

I look forward to returning to the Franklin Mountains during different seasons. 

50th Anniversary Trip

 We left Saturday, June 5th for a road trip celebrating our 50 years of adventures. Our days on the road are very full . . .  So . . . Blogging about things will occur later.  I am currently in Idaho on a make miles day - so I will start making my blog posts about the trips and then add photos later. 

Fully Aware

Because I have spent so much time outside this past year, I have gotten very aware of my surroundings. I am always looking for birds, insects, spiders, clouds . . . whatever the day may bring. 

I have also been attending virtually a birding festival: For the Love of Birds Festival.  There are three days of "bird sits."  I have watched one of them so far.  The focus was on being fully aware of your surroundings, the sights, the sounds, the colors, etc and looking all around you. 

I eat my meals outside whenever I can. Yesterday, I sat down to eat my lunch and watch my birds.  As I was surveying the sky around me, I saw something very interesting. It was a swarm of tiny white insects.  The night before I had seen something similar above my head near the pond. Those had been brown and I knew they were gnats, also called midges.  Today, these were white and glistened in the sun.  My camera was ready, but I was doubtful I would get pictures. How was my camera going to focus on something so tiny? But, I have learned to be disciplined with my photography.  Take the shot regardless and hope.   Checking the screen, I had something in some of the shots.  When I magnified some of them in the camera, I became even more hopeful. So I kept adjusting the amount of zoom and hoping it would focus and I took a number of shots.  Once again I checked my images. There were some that WERE picking up detail, enough to see it was definitely small winged insects, most likely midges. 

So . . . When I came in and looked on the computer, yes, I had something. Probably not enough to identify to species level, but enough to post a few places and get some ideas.  The first place I went was to the Facebook page: Entomology.  I got confirmation that yes, these are Chironomidae, midges.  And I learned that this was a mating swarm that occurs in warm sunlight. OK, it was bright sunlight today, but not so warm.  They will also move to be above your head, called hilltopping, which indeed they were doing about 8-10 feet above me.  The midges from the night before had also done that but close to me. 

This was the most detailed image I got.  Beautiful, dainty, and amazing.  These were high enough above me that if I had not been in the habit of being observant, I might have missed them. And my practice of attempting to capture what I see with the camera gave me something new to marvel.

Meditation: Life's Blinders

I go outside almost every day to spend time in nature and spend time soaking in my surroundings, reading Bible, praying, meditating, and observing the nature (usually birds) around me.  This morning was cold.  

While it was in the 50's, I knew I needed more than just my wool sweater, so I grabbed this jacket with hood, and I immediately put the hood over my head to conserve body heat. 

I immediately discovered that it was strongly affecting my peripheral vision.  I could not detect the movement or moving shadows that help me notice the birds around me and above me.  Even pulling it back a little still left me without the full range of vision I am accustomed to.  I knew I was missing things. I was not getting the full view of the world around me this morning. It bothered me. 

As is often the case, my mind immediately thought about how this applies to other parts of my life.  We all have things that are "blinders," that hinder us from seeing the full picture in our world.  

The first thing that came to my mind was news sources.  It is so easy to read our daily news sources that support our own political beliefs.  But, that may blind us in seeing why other people see things differently. It may also prevent us from seeing important news that our favorite sources may not report. I have worked over the last several years to have a Facebook feed that does show me news articles both from "main stream media,"  from more liberal news pages, and from conservative news sources.  I also look at Facebook pages from Christian newspapers, Christian writers, and my Christian friends.

What else can we have blind spots about?  

We can be blind about our personal strengths and weaknesses.  Throughout my life it has been easy for me to dwell on my weaknesses and my failures without giving equal time for my strengths and my victories.  

We can be blind about sins in our life.  We all have the things that we know that we need to do better in our walk with God.  But, I suspect that we also all have sin in our hearts that are hidden from our own sight.  The pschological concept of the Johari Window (https://www.habitsforwellbeing.com/johari-window-we-dont-know-what-we-dont-know/) has 4 "windows."

1. Known to self

2. Known to others

3. Not know to self

4. Not known to others

Conclusion: My time spent outdoors in observation, reflection, and meditation helps me be more aware of some of these things.  My time reading inspirational and scientific things to develop understanding of how my intellectual and spiritual self works also helps me be less blind. My time on Facebook where I truly look at what other people think and why, where I read news articles that both support my beliefs and but also look at news that may not support my belief.  I have to be careful to study and discern whether the news sources I read accurately portray what is going on in the world around me so I can reduce my blind spots.  This is very difficult right now.  It is why I read my news from a wide variety of sources.  It is why I analyze my news sources here: https://www.adfontesmedia.com  This is their methodology and why I trust their analysis:  https://www.adfontesmedia.com/how-ad-fontes-ranks-news-sources/

What blindspots are there in your life? 

Be Still and Know I am God . . . Nature Meditations

 In today's modern world, we are always "busy."  Productivity is highly valued.  Sitting quietly and seemingly doing nothing can feel like a waste of time.  

From scripture:

Exodus 14:14 "The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still."

Nehemiah 8:11 "Be still for this is a holy day."

Psalm 37:7 "Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him."

Psalm 46:10 "Be still and know that I am God."

The dictionary definition of still is "deep silence and calm." Another dictionary adds the word "tranquil." Other definitions:  "Not moving or in motion.  Free from disturbance, agitation, or commotion."

A couple of years ago I was introduced to the concept of "forest bathing."  No . . . this is NOT taking a bath in the forest, rather it is a methodology of being still and fully aware of your surroundings. It is a process of slowing down and becoming emersed in God's natural environment.  It is taking time to tune in to the smells, textures, tastes and sounds around us. Nature sounds, the scents of the flowers, the sight of sunlight hitting the hillsides, the fresh smell of rain, and the sounds of morning birdsong affect our body in positive ways. They comfort us and reduce our stress and our worries.  For me, it gives me a sense of joy.  It also helps us relax. More importantly it helps us to think more clearly. Time spent emerged in the  nature that God created restores our inner tranquility, gives us energy, washes our weariness away, and rejuvenates us for our other daiy tasks.  

I also find that when I take the time to do this type of meditation, that I often receive life lessons from the experience, insight that is very useful. 

I will be doing a series of posts with some examples. 

For today, I encourage you to find a place near you to go spend time outside.  It could be your backyard, it could be your local park.  Perhaps there is a creek or river near you.  The first time you do this it may seem difficult, but practice doing this.  Once you have found your place, sit or stand quietly for 10 or 15 minutes.  Notice what is around you. Notice the breeze on your face, the clouds moving above you, the water ripples, the textures, the natural sounds around you, and any scent on the air.  Resist thinking about all the things that you need to do or the problems that you will face later in the day.  Keep your mind centered on the nature around you.  It may be difficult for you at first.  I believe that this is a mental and spiritual discipline that will be very rewarding for you as you practice it. 

Interesting Ruby -Throated Hummingbird with Orange Gorget

A few days ago I noticed this unusual hummingbird visiting my feeders.  The common hummer at my house is the black chinned hummingbird, but this is definitely NOT a black chinned.  The next most common one is ruby throated.  As I rummaged through my bird apps and web photos of ruby throated, I uploaded to iNaturalist and someone confirmed it as Ruby throated.  

But this is SUCH a different color than what I expect from a ruby throat. So I sent photos to an expert comparing several hummingbirds that have been at my feeder this summer. He asked for more photos.  

The fork tail is an indicator for ruby throated as opposed to broad-tailed which would be rare bird for my location. 

I am currently trying to use the internet to learn more about my interesting hummer.  

 

Praying for COVID-19

Long ago I learned a concept of praying the scriptures.  In times of stress I find the Psalms to be meaningful.  I have also experienced when reading one of the One Year Bibles that has a Psalm and a Proverb reading every day, that many times the reading for the day has words of encouragement that are especially relevant for what I am experiencing.

My reading today was Psalm 69.

I also write my prayers during my morning time.  My prayer for today, using Psalm 69:

Dear God,

Save me for the virus seems to be approaching.

All around we seem to be sinking in the mire of infection.  As a nation we have not found a foothold.  We are approaching deep water with overwhelming floods of sick people.  Our medical personnel are crying for help.

It seems that we have people trying to destroy us with lies.

Father, you know how foolish we are.  We can not hide our sins from you.

Father I keep praying to you to have mercy on us.

Please answer our prayers with your sure salvation from this disease.

Rescue us from the mire of this infection.  Let the measures we are attempting keep us from seeking further.

Pull us from these deep waters.  As individuals, don’t let this viral flood overwhelm us or deep waters swallow us, or the pit of death devour us.

Answer these prayers, Lord, for I know your unfailing love is wonderful.

Take care of us, for I know your mercy is plentiful.

Come and redeem us, free us from this virus.

In Jesus name,
Amen

Thinking about how to deal with this difficult time

It feels like things have changed in a heartbeat.  From an active life where I was always on the go, I am now choosing to stay at home for an indefinite period of time.  I am a realist, I think this time of social distancing will be measured in months, not weeks.  From regular contact with my grandson, I may not see him in person for months.

But I believe that God had done some preparation for me.  Back in January I got back into a morning time with God pattern.  This time of Bible study, reflection, journaling, coffee and breakfast help me start my day with the reminder that in the midst of the unknown, the chaos of an unfathomable disease, the drastic changes to every day living, the separation from vital social interaction and the monetary uncertainties, that God IS still in control. In so very many places, the Bible says "Do not be afraid."  "Do not be anxious."

So my game plan is to look outside every day for something joyful and blessed.  It is spring in Central Texas. The flowers are beginning their glorious bloom.  We had blessed rain yesterday.  The butterflies and birds are going about their daily activities.

I will also be working at home on projects that have been neglected such as going through my photographs and making submissions, writing articles and making submissions, go through the house and trying to get rid of 30 some odd years of accumulated belongings.

 Please join me in finding positive ways to spend your time during this unexpected change in our lives.  Be mindful of the beauty that surrounds you.  While you can't ignore the bad news, the number of  cases that will surely rise catastrophically, the difficulties in getting your needed supplies, you can make choices to direct your focus on what is GOOD around you.  You can be grateful for what you have rather than focusing on what you have not right now.

And please, don't forget to spend time meditating with the God of creation.  For me, it will be His peace that passeth understanding that will help me weather the trials that are coming our way.

Grace and peace to you!  May you find a special blessing every day to give you hope during this dark time.