Jack’s first piano book recital

 

Great Grandaughter Aurelia Eleanor Talbot in her Kindergarten Christmas Show

 

 

Memories from Fairbanks

The smoke doesn't rise when it's cold.

The wind doesn't blow.

The roads look slick, but they aren't.

Even the moose has frosty eyebrows.

The sun doesn't shine much.

Kennedy Assassination Remembered

John F. Kennedy was murdered on November 22, 1963 in Dallas, Texas.

No more than eight months later, we were there.

Dealey Plaza is bounded on the south, east, and north sides by 100+ foot (30+ m) tall buildings. One of those buildings is the former Texas School Book Depository building, from which, both the Warren Commission and the House Select Committee on Assassinations concluded, Lee Harvey Oswald fired a rifle that killed President John F. Kennedy.



Not open to the public in 1964.

A makeshift Memorial to John F. Kennedy

Dealey Plaza across from the Depository

There is also a grassy knoll on the northwest side of the plaza, from which, the House Select Committee on Assassinations determined that there was "...a high probability” that a second assassin also fired at the President, but missed. At the plaza's west perimeter is a triple underpass beneath a railroad bridge, under which the motorcade raced after the shots were fired.

This Court building is one of the buildings surrounding Dealey Plaza and is where Lee Harvey Oswald was killed.

Information included came from  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dealey_Plaza. 

THE AFRICAN CHICKEN

In late September of 2001, my husband and I traveled to Malawi, Africa for a year of work in the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian. We lived in the capital city and learned to love the area, the people - and the animals. Less than a month later, we purchased a dog that we loved and cared for until his untimely death in 2009. 

 

In August of 2002, we acquired the gift of this chicken! (She was an "honorarium" for my husband preaching in a village church of 8,000 members.)

 

 She was an agile one and is pictured here on the back of our truck.

Obviously, she owned the garage.

 

 

One day, we noticed that we had a visitor. He was a rooster with an attitude.

We smiled at what we considered his "lack of beauty," never having had this sort of chicken back home on the farm in South Dakota. 

 

He was proud. He strutted all over the garden area and beyond.

One day, our gardener, Mr. Masina, called us to look at our chicken! He had made a nest for her in the garage and she was making good use of it, all day, all night for several weeks.

 



 

We watched every day to see if our chicken would reappear with her brood, and sure enough, there she came, herding her precious babies around the bushes and watching out for any dogs or roosters.

 

Out of the four chicks, we noticed that two of them "took after" her and the other two "took after" the rooster!

Our neighbor, a friend, came over, saw the chicks and said, "That was my rooster that visited your chicken and the custom here is that the owner of the rooster gets half of the chicks!" We agreed to his claim and had a good laugh.

There was no question as to which two were his!

Two Boats of the Arctic

This baleen boat was a gift to us from friends in Barrow, Alaska in 1999.

 The baleen boat is a prized possession of ours and will always hold a place of honor in our home.

This is the explorer schooner Elvira, before she was crushed by arctic ice in the Beaufort Sea.
Photo by W. E. Hudson, 1913.

I was struck by the similarities between this boat (the schooner) and the baleen boat above.

I have always displayed them together.

1971 TENTING ON THE TUNDRA

It was July, 1971. We had lived in Alaska for less than a year.

A plan was made for the youth of First Presbyterian Church in Fairbanks and the youth of the Utkeagvik Presbyterian Church to join in a survival camping trip to the North Slope. It would be an adventure remembered for decades by the whole group.

 

Tents were set up right on the tundra.
Everyone was getting acquainted and some were wondering
how they would survive without candy, chips, sodas, etc.
The food for the camp would be fish and caribou plus greens from the tundra.

Everyone joined in Bible study and worship together.
Parkas were the preferred outer clothing -
due to the high mosquito population and the low temperatures.



These boats carried the campers on the Arctic Ocean and various rivers to
"Half Moon Three," an old reindeer corral.




The Brower cabin became a very visible landmark after this paint job.
The only trouble was - the caribou were scared off!
By the time this shot was taken, both youth groups were enjoying new friends.

Photos are from the Straatmeyer collection of 25mm slides.

Salt Lake City Views

Slides from 1963

 

Custer’s Last Stand

Located in southeastern Montana, Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument memorializes the site of the Battle of the Little Bighorn which took place on June 25-26, 1876.

 

Photo taken by Jean E. Straatmeyer June 26, 2012

It was an overwhelming victory for the Lakota, Northern Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes led by Crazy Horse, Chief Gall and inspired by the visions of Sitting Bull.

 

Photo from 2012

The US 7^th Cavalry, including the Custer Battalion led by George Armstrong Custer, suffered a severe defeat.





35 mm slide by Gene Straatmeyer
Circa 1966-1969

 

The US casualty count was 268 dead and 55 injured.

The Native Americans have never determined exact statistics, but a reasonable guess is 136 dead and 160 wounded.



Photo from 2012

Devils Tower in 1966

We were young.
          Going West.
                    Exploring new vistas.  
                              Enjoying God's creation in Wyoming.
                                 

Geologists agree that Devils Tower was formed by the intrusion of igneous material, but they cannot agree on exactly how that process took place. Geologists Carpenter and Russell studied Devils Tower in the late 19th century and came to the conclusion that the Tower was formed by an igneous intrusion. Later geologists searched for further explanations. Several geologists believe the molten rock comprising the Tower might not have surfaced; other researchers are convinced the tower is all that remains of what once was a large explosive volcano.

 

35mm photo by H. Gene Straatmeyer

 This is a view of the west face of the tower.

35mm photo by H. Gene Straatmeyer

We walked all around this huge monolith. This is the East face.

Devils Tower in geological context. The oval-shaped mesa around the Tower suggests the old volcano's shape. The red rock is the Permian-Triassic Spearfish Formation, and above that is the younger, white Gypsum Springs Formation. Aerial photo, 2010.

 

Thanks to Wikipedia for the information and the aerial shot above.

"Old Faithful"

1966

 

 

I remember waiting, waiting, waiting for this amazing scene.

 

 



Mt. Rushmore - 44 years of change

In the year 1967 our family took a trip to Mount Rushmore in the South Dakota Black Hills.

In the year 2010, we were privileged to take our two youngest granddaughters to see the same sight.

The only changes I see are a few additional trees. But the build-up of tourist activities is HUGE!

I would even say - overwhelming!


This is where they "herd" the tourists along the way to the viewing station.

 A buffalo - just in case any tourist misses the live ones down the road.

Above, is a huge picture of one of the presidential noses. There is a large gallery showing the history of Mt. Rushmore.

This is a depiction of buffalo hide drawings on the wall of a saloon.

From Iowa to Alaska in 1970

  

In 1970 we began our new life in Fairbanks, Alaska.

We left a beautiful open country setting in Iowa for a great adventure in North Country.

Colfax Center Presbyterian Church, cemetery and manse in 1970.

It is strange how odd furniture looks 
in the open air instead of in its place in the house.



Here, Cindee had suffered a bee sting

on the back of her leg and the only mirror available

to check it out was sitting on the ground beside the church.

 

 

We had a huge auction sale where folks came from miles around to get a glimpse of our stuff. We sold as much as we could and sent the rest by moving van. We waited many weeks for that van to finally reach Fairbanks.

We made the trip in a 2-door Ford LTD. We thought it would be safer for our kids than a 4-door. That was before seat belts, so our two girls each picked a side in the back seat while Mike bounced back and forth, many times stretching out on the back ledge. We traveled slowly and carefully on those 1100 miles of gravel roads.

Eventually, after ten days of travel, on September 29, 1970, we drove into Fairbanks. There was snow on the streets, the lawns, the houses and everywhere. We didn’t see the bare ground or the streets again until perhaps April. These pictures show how the snow piles up higher and higher. In those days, it was unheard of to have a wind storm or blizzard in Fairbanks.

The church (instead of being in the open country) was located right in the heart of the city. We spent nearly eight years learning to love Alaska so much that when we left, we said we’d be back.

 

And we were! It took twelve years.