An invitation to Upward Trails

Logan Williams

Published on Wednesday, 11 August 2010 01:00

THE FIRST Upward Trails group tackled Uncompahgre Peak (in the background) in 1975.

Not everyone who has attended Delta High School has received an invitation to go on Upward Trails, a school-sponsored backpacking trip for students who excelled in their first three years of high school. The program originated in 1975 and was headed by Alvin Williams, a science teacher at Delta High School.

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Whale of a tale!

Bob Borchardt

Published on Thursday, 05 August 2010 14:47

Pastor Jan Johnson looks up from the crow’s nest for a snapshot from atop the mainsail mast. She participated in an Earthwatch Institute Expedition on board a 60-ft. sailboat off the coast of Scotland earlier this summer, helping gather data through sightings of whales and other marine animals.

“Got a whale of a tale to tell you lads, a whale of a tale that’s true . . . I swear on my tattoo!”

While making out her “bucket list” of things to do before dying, Cedaredge resident Jan Johnson discovered three “must do” items on her list — ﬁrst and foremost, visit Ireland; second, to participate in an Earthwatch Institute Expedition; and third, to make a pilgrimage to the Isle of Iona with John Philip Newell.(Newell is a poet, scholar, teacher and former Warden of Iona Abbey in the Western Isles of Scotland. He is currently Companion Theologian for the American Spirituality Centre of Casa del Sol in the high desert of New Mexico, and is internationally acclaimed for his work in the ﬁeld of Celtic spirituality.)

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Successful artist pens touching memoir

Pat Sunderland

Published on Wednesday, 28 July 2010 01:00

Winter Feed

Although she considers herself one of the luckiest people alive, Bertie Stroup Marah has experienced her share of strife. Her childhood was marked by poverty as her alcoholic parents moved from town to town in search of employment.

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Swords into plowshares

Hank Lohmeyer

Published on Wednesday, 21 July 2010 01:00

Brian Sorenson of Delta, second from left, is pictured with U.S. military escort personnel and a group of Afghan village elders during his 2008-09 deployment to the country as a USDA advisor. Sorenson is the district conservationist for the NRCS in Delta.The group was conducting an on-site visit to the location of a proposed fresh water spring development. The work is typical of many such efforts by American personnel in the country. An American colonel from Oklahoma, fourth from left in the photo smiling with sunglasses, a short time following this photo was killed by an IED on a trip to the south of the country that Sorenson himself was almost assigned to go on.

It could be hard to imagine how a country like Afghanistan, so historically and culturally isolated from our own, might be similar to ours in any way.

Seeing Afghanistan for a year from behind the two-inch-thick armor plated steel door and three-inch-thick glass windows of an up-armored Humvee, Brian Sorenson had constant reminders of war all around.

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The beauty of needlework

Verna Barr

Published on Wednesday, 14 July 2010 01:00

Examples of Barbara Ing’s embroidery work include a vest which began as a part of a uniform, a box of silk fibers made into paper and covered with stump work (right), a colorful patchwork on black handbag, Temari balls with intricate designs, a framed leaf design and a beautiful box lid.

Armed with thread and needle, and with an eye for detail, Barbara Ing has been creating beautiful works of embroidery most of her life.

Many in the Surface Creek area have enjoyed the results of her hard work when they are on display at Pioneer Town in Cedaredge.

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From a small town to the big screen

Kami Collins

Published on Wednesday, 07 July 2010 01:00

Practice makes perfect in rodeo and in movies. Cole, a state champ saddle bronc rider, is seen here doing stunt rehearsals.

Cole and Mimi Baldwin’s story seems straight out of Hollywood. Two small town kids grow up together, fall in love and then move away to pursue acting careers in California.

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Move over Mr. Miyagi!

Bob Borchardt

Published on Wednesday, 30 June 2010 01:00

In a room filled with men and women of all ages, Sensei Rodney Grantham shares his years of experience in karate as his students advance through the various degrees of belts in a quest for for a black belt.

Karate, anyone? Mr. Miyagi (played by Pat Morita) is best known for teaching Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) the art of self defense in the popular “Karate Kid” movie series.

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Trash transformed

Pat Sunderland

Published on Wednesday, 23 June 2010 01:00

KARRAH AEGERTER is a fashion designer who enjoys showing people how they can turn recyclables into jewelry, belts, tops, skirts and dresses. She is currently working with aluminum can tabs and inner tubes from bicycle and car tires.

Think of all the things that you toss in the trash without a second thought. Then there are the items that you set aside for recyling — newspapers, aluminum cans, plastic containers.

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An African saga ~

Hank Lohmeyer

Published on Wednesday, 16 June 2010 01:00

The cover of the book “Chadian Diary” (center) gives readers the location of the nation of Chad where Norman and Dorothy Kehmeier were Peace Corps volunteers in 1978 and 1979. They were stationed in the southwest part of the country. Their experiences with the country, its people, their culture and an African civil war are told in a journal format through 130 very readable pages. The Kehmeier’s village of Bol (right) is seen from the air sitting on a finger of land extending into Lake Chad. Shallow portions of the land are diked off and drained to provide good farm ground, as is done in the Netherlands. Workmen (left) are engaged in a local industry of making sun-dried mud bricks for use in construction projects.

Norman and Dorothy Kehmeier’s many friends will want to read a new book, “Chadian Diary: A Peace Corps Experience.”

In print for less than a month, the 130-page, soft-bound volume provides an account of the true and harrowing adventure that Norman and Dorothy experienced as Peace Corps volunteers in 1978 and 1979, and of the African civil war they became caught up in.

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