Mile Marker 18

Speaking of deserts, I wanted to post this photo of one my all-time Top 10 favorite drives: Cottonwood Canyon Road, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.



Grand Staircase isn't a National Park, it's a National Monument, and it's truly an awesome place...southern Utah at its best.

To get here: Leave the Grand Canyon and head north to Page, Arizona.  Drive over the Glen Canyon Dam, and jump on Hwy. 89.  Enjoy the views of Lake Powell off to the right.  Cross into Utah heading northwest, still on Hwy. 89.  Around mile 18, look for the turn-off to your right.  Put your awesome little green Toyota Tacoma into 4WD and off you go!

At the end of the road, when you pull into Cannonville, the Grand-Staircase Visitor's Center is a must.

Wanderlust

Wanderlust: A strong, innate desire to rove or travel about.

As I get older (and, by definition, as I have less and less time to do things), I find myself thinking - a lot - about places I want to see and trips I want to make.  I don't hold any real hope of checking off more than just a few places on the list, but I hope to keep making progress.

For some reason, I love the desert.  I love mountains, too, and the coast (the more rugged the better), but the desert moves me the most. I think it's all the wide open space, the ability to see so far, the fact that life flourishes in such a dry, hostile space.  I thrill in the solitude and quiet, the sunrises and sunsets.  Yes sir, for me, it's hard to beat the desert.

One place I long to see is the Namib desert in Namibia, Africa.  This desert, perhaps the oldest on earth, is home to the some of biggest dunes anywhere.  Here's a Google Earth look at some Namib dunes:

Namib Desert - Dunes from Above

Maybe someday...

Two of my favorite national parks are desert parks:

Big Bend in Texas

Big Bend National Park

Capital Reef in Utah

Capital Reef National Park

There are four deserts in the United States: The Sonoran, the Mojave, the Chihuahuan, and the Great Basin.  With the exception of the Great Basin desert (mainly Nevada), I've spent a decent amount of time in these deserts, and everytime I go to the desert, my fondness for the dry, lonely, quiet places is confirmed.

Stories Up Above

If I step outside my little abode, on almost any clear evening, I am rewarded with wonderful views of the night sky.  Fortunately,  I live in a dark place with little light pollution.  The sky, in all its glory, just sits up there, waiting to be appreciated.  During the times of the month when the moon is hidden and the skies particularly dark, I can see stars by the thousands/millions/billions.  I keep a pair of binoculars handy for sweeping the skies.  I also have an 8" telescope for more intense viewing. However, at this time of year two of the more famous star groups are sitting pretty directly overhead, and need no glass to be seen.  One is the constellation Orion, known from mythology as The Hunter.  Below is a photo of Orion as you might see him on a clear winter night (unless you live in the city...poor sap):

Constellation Orion

Although many people can spot Orion's belt and sword, the entire image of The Hunter can be more challenging.  Here is a similar photo with an overlay of the The Hunter:

Orion with overlay

Proceeding Orion in the sky, as the stars wheel from east to west, is the star cluster of the Pleiades, also easy to spot in the winter:

[caption id="attachment_464" align="alignnone" width="314" caption="Pleiades star cluster  "]
[/caption]

The Pleiades are also known as the Seven Sisters (although it's hard to spot the seven stars with the naked eye).

So where do the names "The Hunter" and "The Seven Sisters" come from?  Greek mythology, of course, where many of the words we use in our modern world find roots.  (Remember the titans?  Have a midas touch?  Drive a Saturn?  Been on an odyssey?  Eaten cereal?  Acting a bit narcissistic?  Heard an echo?  Ever consulted an atlas ?)

Although there are various conflicting stories about Orion (as is the way in mythology), it does appear that, in addition to being a brave and capable hunter, he was also one rascally fellow.  He was quite proud of himself; in fact, he claimed he could kill every animal on earth.  According to some stories, he also spent much of his time pursuing a group of seven daughters of the Titan Atlas.  Atlas, as you might guess, was busy holding the heavens on his shoulders (as punishment for waging war, along with the other Titans, against the Olympians).  Zeus, the chief Olympian god, felt sorry for Atlas and these seven daughters, so he tried to help them escape by first turning them into doves.  When this didn't work he turned them into stars and placed them in the heavens.

In the meantime, Orion's boast of killing all the animals on earth offended Gaia, the Greek goddess representing earth.  To protect the earth, she sent a giant scorpion to kill Orion.  The scorpion was successful (it stung Orion on the heel) and Zeus place Orion in the sky.  True to his old ways, Orion the Hunter still pursues the Pleiades across the sky, chasing them from east to west, but never quite catching them.  At this time of year, if you go outside on a clear night you can see both the Pleiades and Orion making their way across the sky.  The Pleiades lead the way, but the Hunter is never far behind.

As a footnote, the scorpion that killed Orion was also placed in the sky as the constellation Scorpius.  However, to keep the peace Zeus placed Scorpius on the opposite side of the heavens from Orion.  Thus, Orion is a winter constellation while Scorpius is a summer constellation.

And some people just look up and say, "awwww...pretty stars."

A Thousand Words...

Well, since I seemed to have lost my voice for now, I thought I'd post some photos.  Something's better than nothing, I suppose.  These photos were taken in Oklahoma over the Christmas break.

You can see all of the photos (there aren't many) at thedaver.smugmug.com.

--------------------------------------------------

Christmas in Kenya - Recap 3

Our last day prior to the safari featured two quick stops: The BCC campus and the New Life Babies Home.  I have written quite a bit about the BCC, so I'll keep it short.

The BCC (Baptist Children's Center) is a Buckner-managed facility.  Here is a blurb from the Buckner website:

Buckner began operations in Kenya in 2002 with the assumption of the Baptist Children’s Center (BCC) located in the Njiru location of Embakasi Division, Maili Saba Village. In 2001, Arms of Jesus requested Buckner assume responsibility for operations of BCC. Actual ownership of the campus remained with the Baptist Association of Kenya as it does to this day. The Manager’s house and cafeteria buildings were added in the same year. They were followed by the girls’ and boys’ dormitories in the following year and in 2004 the first two education buildings were added with one for the preschool and kindergarten while the other for the technical training program. In 2006, construction was initiated for expansion of the BCC school with the goal of expanding through the 8th grade. Completion of the 1st through 4th grade building was finished in 2007.

The campus now has 3 school buildings in addition to the Technology Center.  As I've previously written, this is a huge advantage for many of the children as they no longer have to walk long distances to school.  In addition, BCC/Buckner have more control over the quality of education to which the children are exposed.  Since the children have so few options upon leaving the BCC, education is paramount in providing avenues for employment. Here is a photo showing some of the school buildings:



---------------------------------------------------------------

The Technology Center is used, currently, to teach sewing to young ladies.  The goal of this program is, of course, to provide a marketable skill so they are able to find employment.  As Tony Wenani (BCC Manager) explained to us, the girls are taught and tested up to a certain proficiency level, and then leave to find an internship or further instruction.  Once this process is finished, the girls are (typically) able to find work.  The photo below shows the sewing tables (with the machines removed and locked away).



Because fabric is expensive, and thus rare, the girls learn and practice using brown paper.  Only after they have perfected their technique using paper are they allowed to progress to using actual fabric.  I found the paper dresses to be fascinating:



It was a quick tour of the BCC, but as always I was very impressed with the facility, the program, the commitment of the staff...everything.  It was good to see Tony and his family, and I also got to see one of my all-time favorite kids, Charles (Charles and I have a close bond).

---------------------------------------------------------------

After the BCC, we traveled to a babies home in Nairobi, the "New Hope Babies Home."   This amazing facility serves to provide a home for abandoned babies, most of whom have HIV.  As you might imagine, a baby, particularly an HIV-positive baby, born to a poor family, would be considered great burden.  As such, many such babies are abandoned.  You can read about the New Life Babies Home here. Once we arrived, those who had been to the facility before were able to immediately jump in and play with the babies.  For those of us making our first visit, we enjoyed a tour of the facility first.  Some thoughts:

• The buildings and facilities were very, very clean and well organized.  There was a critical care room, complete with incubator.  There were several different "units" for different age babies.  There was a room for potty-training.  There were play rooms, feeding rooms, sick rooms...this place had almost everything you would need to raise 50+ babies.


• According to our guide, almost all of the staff were volunteers.  People from around the globe (it seemed) would show up at the home to spend time with the babies.  Administration and management staff was paid, I assume, but there were many volunteers there.


• According to our guide, many of the HIV-positive babies had reverted to HIV-negative after receiving care and treatment.  I had never heard of this even being possible, but our guide insisted this was case.  Amazing!

Below are some photos from the Babies Home:





All in all, this day taught me (or, reminded me) amazing things are going on in Kenya.  God is using all sorts of people to accomplish all sorts of things.  He is providing teachers and buildings and sewing machines and paper so young ladies can have a chance to earn a living.  He is providing people like Tony Wenani to manage the BCC in such a way that both the orphans who live there and the surrounding community benefit.  He is providing volunteers and funding and facilities and medical assistance and generous, open hearts so that abandoned babies can live.  And He is, in some mysterious way, allowing these babies born with HIV to escape from the clutches of this dread disease.

Yes, God is doing these things.  But I am reminded time and time again that his instruments are people, and this, I suppose, is the greatest lesson I've learned.  I'm a "people," you're a "people,"...we're all "people."  And as such, we can, and should, all be instruments for God to use is some fashion.  What a challenge, what a calling.

Next up: the Safari (Lions and Hippos and Secretary Birds, oh my!)