Tag Archives: Hot Springs

The Hana Chronicles: Month 8, Day 31

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Posted by on in Assistance, children, collaborating, Education, Entertainment, Family, Historical, Inspiration, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

September 21, 2026- Hana does not hold back, when it is time to express her opinion. She was not happy about being left out of ice cream for dessert. (We have a rule that there will be no sugary foods until she’s at least a year old, and maybe not until her “two-year” molars come in.). She didn’t throw a tantrum, but she did voice her objection, along with three strong taps of her hand on the playpen fence. Then it was over, as we acknowledged her feelings, and she went back to playing.

This afternoon, when I set her down in the crib, for her second nap, she was sleeping happily for about forty minutes. Then the afternoon sun came shining brightly, even through the fairly thick shades, She got up and called for me, then slept on my shoulder, in the recliner, for another hour. The girl is not shy about expressing her needs, and I want to keep it that way.

Today is the last day of summer. It’s been a season of loss- my friends Annie Lovell, Carole Hitti and Eva Kahn left this world, much as Randy Smith and Betty Cooper Ritchey did in the spring. Another, very dear, friend is deathly ill. Suffering and pain are widespread, both due to mismanagement and to climatic cycles.

Still and all, it has been a good summer. Hana has begun standing up, both with and without support. She feeds herself, at least 60% of each meal and has “told’ us that she wants the hot food before the hand-held cold items. She likes the little standing shower device that lets her parents bathe her, while she experiences something very close to a ‘grown-up” shower. Toilet training is right around the corner-and it is something she seems to want.

HANA’S NOTE- I just want a spoonful of ice cream-or maybe three or four.

EXPANDING CIRCLES– Arkansas- It would be very sweet to visit the Crater of Diamonds State Park, near Murfreesboro, with my family, and devote 2-3 hours to digging and sifting. That is just one of the reasons to stop in Arkansas, which borders Texas on the northeast.

The turf- Arkansas is largely rolling hills and small mountains, in its western two thirds, and flat riparian plain, “the Delta”, in its eastern third. The Natural State is drained by the Mississippi, into which flow the White, the Ouachita and of course, the Arkansas River.

First Nations- Arkansas is the ancestral home of the Caddo, Chickasaw, Osage, Quapaw and Tunica peoples. The Nations, as entities, have moved to Oklahoma and Louisiana, but Arkansas is still their hearts’ home. Ceremonial mounds abounded in the state, with Toltec Mounds State Park being the largest preserved collection of mounds in the area.

I have visited the State Capitol and the Clinton Presidential Library, during visits to Little Rock, in the 2010s. The western Arkansas “twin cities” of Fort Smith and Van Buren are worth a day or two, especially the riverside Fort Smith National Historic Site. A favourite of my son and daughter-in-law is Hot Springs, for obvious reasons. The Ouachita and Boston Mountains extend into Arkansas, from Oklahoma and the Ozarks dominate the northern region. There is a lot to be said for stopovers in the Natural State.

Where I feel most at home: De Queen, downtown Van Buren, Little Rock Fitness Park

NEXT- Louisiana

The Road to Diamond, Day 289: Bridging Divides

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Posted by on in Assistance, collaborating, Community, impediments, Inspiration, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

September 12. 2025, Keflavik, IS- It was rather fortuitous, that today should be the day that I was able to visit the European-American Continental Bridge. Here, near Iceland’s southwestern tip, two tectonic plates are separated by a now slight gap, called the Silfra Fissure, which is widening by a few centimeters each year. Eventually, there will be even more distance between the two continental shelves. https://perlan.is/articles/tectonic-plates-iceland

I engaged the services of a local gentleman, in bridging the gap between my hostel room in the Keflavik suburb of Kellir and Pingvellir National Park, where both the Bridge and active, free-flowing hot springs are located. Here are some scenes of the park:

PIngvellir National Park, Iceland
The geological limit of North America-for now
This could be the surface of the Moon.
An Indian gentleman ran here (from Bengulu).
My look at the Pingkellir Gap, between North America and Europe.
Pingvellir Canyon, with a wealth of volcanic soil.
The summit of Pingvellir-East
The summit of Pingvellir-west
The midpoint of the continental gap.
Stay off, and avoid a hot foot!
Tapping into the Earth’s might (above and below)
Saving on coal

Thus was my last full day in Iceland, for now, proving to be the most auspicious. Mankind has once again seen the fruits of division. Let’s take a lesson from Mother Earth, and show that there can be unity, even as we move through tension.

The Road to 65, Mile 25: Truth, Consequences and Delayed Gratification

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Posted by on in Hiking and Nature, Travel

December 23, 2014, Lordsburg-  When I was a very young child, about 4 or 5, my maternal grandmother would occasionally babysit us, so both our parents could work.  Grama would sometimes have the radio broadcasting something about truth or consequences.  I could barely say the second name, but I knew what truth meant, and figured consequences were some kind of lies.

In March, 1950, shortly after i would have been conceived, the game show host Ralph Edwards, celebrating ten years of his successful radio show, “Truth or Consequences”, took an idea from a couple of staff members- to name an American town after the show.  The town selected was Hot Springs, New Mexico, which had the advantage of already being a prime tourist destination, due to its eponymous mineral baths and nearby Elephant Butte Lake, a man-made reservoir of the Rio Grande.  On April 1, Mr. Edwards, his wife and several crew members went to Hot Springs, for the official renaming, and the City of Truth or Consequences, “TRC”, was born.

I spent Monday night and Tuesday morning, enjoying the hospitality and vibrant civic spirit of this remarkable little community.  Here are some scenes from the Hot Springs Historic District and Geronimo Springs Historical Museum, Sierra County’s place of record.  The painted water tower and some brightly coloured homes reminded me of Bisbee, AZ.

SAM_3437

The San Andres Mountains rise to the southeast.SAM_3439 Quirky shops and eateries are scattered throughout the town.SAM_3447 Geronimo Springs Museum is a well-ordered and delightful place in which to learn of west central New Mexico.SAM_3441 A display of coloured glass and ceramic greets the visitor, outside.SAM_3443 So, too, does a log cabin.

SAM_3442 SAM_3465 Inside the museum are many features of paleontology, anthropology, local culture and history.  I started with Pleistocene relics, a mammoth skull, and one of a mastodon.

SAM_3455SAM_3456 Going backwards in time, here is a Devonian coral.SAM_3459 Next, are some fern fossils.

SAM_3460 This is the tale of a chair, brought from the original Sierra County Courthouse, in nearby Hillsboro.  The two towns disputed which would be county seat, and the State of New Mexico ruled in favour of Hot Springs.SAM_3463 The historical exhibits showed portraits of Geronimo, Don Juan de Onate, and cowboy author Eugene Rhodes.  This local hero outshines them all, in my opinion.SAM_3468 I left “TRC” a bit later than I had planned, but some serendipity is worth delayed gratification elsewhere.  I would end up putting off a visit to Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument and a walk around Silver City, but along the way to that area, I encountered several little gems.

Hillsboro, the aforementioned rival, was mostly closed up for the holidays.

SAM_3470  Not far up the road is Percha Creek, with a truss bridge and adjacent walkway/overlook.

SAM_3479 Emory Pass, at 8230 feet, is the highest point along this exquisite highway.  Here, I encountered a writer from Martha’s Vineyard, who is looking to relocate to warmer climes.  I gave him a few possible sites to explore, in that regard.  Emory was definitely not one of them- but it is a place of splendour.

SAM_3485 I stopped for lunch at La Tienda del Sol, in San Lorenzo, before visiting the Mimbres Ranger Station, which confirmed my suspicions about Gila Cliff Dwellings closing at 4 PM.  This delightful little place was full into the holiday spirit, as was Sunset Grill, in TRC, last night and this morning.

SAM_3487 I headed to Silver City, in the end, spent a short time at Fort Bayard National Cemetery, then continued down to Lordsburg.  The dusty desert town has its own gems, among them the comfortable and inexpensive Holiday Motel (NOT “Inn”) and Kranberry’s Family Restaurant, open for lunch and dinner.  I was treated like royalty in both places.  Days like this will bring me back to this area in the Spring, and then we’ll see about Gila Cliff Dwellings and vicinity.