Bryce National Park - A late Winter-Early Spring long weekend for Bob and Sharen

One of the gifts of our lives, over the last 50 years, has been the opportunity to travel, both Nationally and Internationally.  Our family has enjoyed camping and sightseeing, and Winter has always been a time for skiing and other Snow activities.  The attached pictures are from a long weekend trip Sharen and I took a few years ago to Bryce Canyon in Southern Utah.  It was a combination of hiking and cross-country skiing, as well as a great photo opportunity.  The Rocky Mountains, running through Utah, provide activities and unbelievable beauty through all four, unique seasons.

I can smell fall in the air today and will soon have my annual opportunity to drive and hike in the Alpine Loop, to capture the new colors of fall.  Life is good with many more opportunities to enjoy its richness.

Timpanogos Storytelling Festival Sept 2011 - Time with old friends.

Most of Facebook feels unnecessarily intrusive to me, but sometimes, because I have a Facebook page, I have connections with friends from the past who are important to me and/or to my family.  I have connected with Jay and Matt DeFord this way.  They were teenage friends to our son David when we lived in Houston, and both are musicians, enjoying the kind of music I enjoy.

Jay sent me a note that his group,  The North 17th Street Band, would be playing at the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival at the Mt. Timpanogos Park up Provo Canyon on Saturday, Sept. 3rd.  I decided to go and the result was a delightful several hours listening to Storytellers, watching puppeteers, and enjoy good music.  Jays band (He now calls himself Willie) included himself, his wife Sally, and a friend and neighbor, John,  with a variety of instruments including stand up bass, guitar, violin, banjo, and Dobro Guitar.  Most of the music was written by Jay, Sally, or John.  An added gift was the presence of Brandon Peterson, another friend of David's, along with his brother Aaron, from Houston.

Attached are some pictures from the day.

Another long bike ride on the Jordan River Pathway and the Legacy Pathway

I went for a short bike ride this morning, but ended up with a long one.  I started on the Jordan River Pathway at 21st South in SLC and traveled North.  As I went along, I found I was enjoying the ride and moved from the end of the Jordan River Pathway to the beginning of the Legacy Pathway.  As I continued on I stopped a man who was walking and asked him how far it was to the end of the Legacy Highway.  He said it was about 10 miles more to where the Legacy Highway merges back with I-15.

I thought about my current philosophy of life - to "Treat every event in my life as if I was seeing it for the first time and/or to assume I would be doing it for the last time".  "Why not?", I thought and decided to keep riding to the end. "This might be the last time a ride this far on this path."  The Legacy pathway literally ended at the point where the Legacy Highway merged with I-15. I realized that I was at the Farmington Station for the new commuter train, AND, right across the freeway was Lagoon, with the structures for the rides shooting up into the air.  I stopped for some lunch and then road back to my car - with some stops to replenish my water supply.  50 miles and a tired body, but a smile on my face.

I like my new philosophy for managing the events of my life, and plan to continue to apply it in my life.  So far, I am always pleased with the decisions I have made based on it.  Didn't carry my camera today, so no photos, but great memories.

Oliver Archer Brown

Four of the current joys of my life are my grandchildren.  Over the last few months, Sharen and I have had an opportunity to spend time with each of them with the exception of Oliver, Larissa and Steven’s son.  Our grandchildren include:

Sophia Johnson                                                age 10              Mark and Pam

Austin Robert Brown-Johnson                          age   8              David and Kellie

Oliver Archer Brown                                        age   4              Larissa and Steven

Elliot Efftim Johnson                                         age    3 ½         Stephen and Alexa

I realize I haven’t seen or spent time with Oliver for over a year, so I thought I would add some photos to review and reminisce Oliver’s life.

This is for you Oliver.

How fun, to be a part of the lives of our children's children.  I love you Oliver.  Grandpa Bob

Ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny

Many years ago as a freshman or sophomore at Oregon State College (now Oregon State University), I memorized a statement from a Biology or Genetics class - "Ontogeny Recapitulates Phylogeny".  Essentially this is saying that the life cycle or development of a single organism  replicates the evolutional development cycle of a plant or animal species.  For some reason, that short quote has stuck in my brain and often pops up to explore and use as context for other events or cycles in my life.  I am convinced that many of my normal activities or cycles in my life essentially provide me with the opportunity to think about and explore my life cycle and to reflect on the quote above, one more time.

The developmental stages of a human life are interesting and, in the early stages, the human being has little or no control over what happens.  I believe that a baby is born whole and complete and with the essential wiring that lets them know that they are LOVABLE and CAPABLE.  Whether they hold on to these essential internal parts of self-worth and self-esteem, depends on their environment and their primary care giver.  If their primary care giver - usually Mother and/or Father - support this primary wiring of LOVABLE and CAPABLE, then the child develops a SECURE Attachment style which becomes the lens through which the world and all interactions with others  is viewed for the rest of their life.  It is very hard to change this basic view of the world after it is initially attached.  And then life goes on, and the human being has many opportunities every day to learn and explore the meaning of life..

I have found that my bike rides and hikes provide me with many opportunities to use what I know about life and many metaphors to help me explore the meaning of my life and my development.  For example:

1.  I was riding on the Jordan Parkway trail, near the Jordan river recently,  and as I went around a blind corner, I found there was a biker on my side of the pathway,with his head down, traveling rather fast.  He did not know I was there.  As a survival action, I yelled "Biker".  He looked up, was startled and fearful,  and then moved over at the last moment, and we both went on our way.  At the end of my ride I sat and thought about how fortunate I was and about the importance of letting others know in my life when I am changing or taking an action that might affect them. I am doing a better job of that in my life now.  I also determined when I am riding that every time I come to a blind intersection, or enter a dark tunnel, or come to the top of a rise, or approach a biker or walker from behind - I always yell "Biker" and then both of us have better information.

2.  Today I hiked to the top of the Grandeur Peak trail, up Mill Creek Canyon.  The path was steep and rocky, particularly near the top.  As I started down, I chose a wrong turn and had gone quite a ways down a steep, shale covered path before I realized that I was on the wrong path.  It literally came to and end in the middle of scrub Oak.   For a moment I thought, "Oh, I am already part way down this hill, I will just find my way down." and then life's experiences reminded me that short cuts usually do not work and often can be very dangerous.  Climbing back up the shale path was no fun and took a lot of energy, but at the top I found my correct path and was glad that I had been able to apply some of my life's learnings to an immediate situation.

I have attached some pictures of my hike to Grandeur Peak.  I hiked around 8 miles, was on the path for almost 6 hours, was absolutely tired with my knees crying for relief as I finally reached my car but came away, one more time, with another learning that will continue to help me address and manage my life.