I arrived a little early, but apparently not as early as Ed. Just FYI, Ed said that the park actually opens at 8:30 and there is a chain on the gate if you arrive before then. They did open early on this day, as I had arrived at 8:15. When Ed arrived at 8:00, it was locked.
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| Ed hanging out and waiting in his car |
Our guy, Mike and his Mug arrived shortly after.
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| Mike & his Mug |
Then a few surprises. First came along a Robin, now you're probably expecting to see this
And, while there were plenty of birds about, what I meant was this cutie.
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| Our Robin |
Yes, she's been too busy traveling the world to come paint with us much, but she's back now.
The next surprise was our biker, Michelle.
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| Michelle |
As we all just hung out in the parking lot talking
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| (L to R) Mike, Ed, Michelle, Robin all casting long shadows |
Another smiling face arrived.
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| LeAnne |
So, we decided since it was late enough we'd start walking somewhere -- I wasn't sure where to go so I followed Mike & Ed.
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| (Front to Back) Ed, Mike |
I just happened to capture those two as they walked on up the hill but what I really stopped to take a picture of was the signs. I did realize at the time that I most likely wasn't close enough for you to be able to read anything. So, I'll include a link to the info about this Stupa. Before I do that though I need to correct something I had said to Ed while we were there - so here's the background.
I had followed Ed up towards the Medicine Wheel and when we got there I started looking around and saw the big green water storage tank. A flashback came to me and I remembered hiking around Thunder Mountain and that water tank years ago. At the time this park nor the Stupa existed. I had told Ed that the place really hadn't been around that long, maybe 10 + years. Well, I was right on the + side - turns out it's 20 years old. Amazing how fast time flies and how much things change! I did confirm with my husband though about the hiking portion and he remembered the place well too as we did do hikes up that way frequently - but obviously it was 20+ years ago. Anyway, here's a link to information about the park and the Stupa, but once again -- REMEMBER to come back and finish reading this.
If you clicked on the link you would have noticed that in the "About" section, there is a link to "inscribed bricks". I'm mentioning this because this location does hold a very special place for Mike as he and his wife had frequented the park often. He did have a brick inscribed in her memory. Mike still brings his pup to the park for walks.
It turns out there is really a lot to see here and between the Stupa, statues, benches and flags, it's almost overwhelming. Except for Mike and Ed who were both familiar with the location, the rest of us spent a tremendous amount of time wandering. While we wandered, a couple of others showed up. They were recognizable because of all their painting apparatus.
Dona was one of them and while I thought I got a picture of her, turns out I didn't. The other person that arrived is Pam, she's been with us before, so not a "new girl".
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| Pam |
You can also see some of the flags in the background, I guess in the picture they sort of look like laundry. They don't when you're there though.
Here is another pic of some of the flags.
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| Just realized that's LeAnne in the background |
Here it looks like Ed was eyeing the ground as a place for his paints -- perhaps this wound up being his spot, but no -- you do wonder what he was looking at though.
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| Ed |
Nope, that wasn't his spot -- just found it, it's here.
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| Ed in his spot |
I actually didn't get a lot of people in their spots -- the paths are many and crisscross around. I didn't have time to find them. That's also partly because it took me so long to pick a spot -- spent too much time wandering around trying to decide.
We still have one more artist to arrive, needless to say, it's Timestamp 8:54:01 Nita 1 - actually I'm surprised she found me. For all I know she was there much earlier but I couldn't see her for all the stuff. Oh, and I failed to mention the ton of visitors.
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| Nita 1 |
You have to see this great little accordion fold watercolor paper booklet she bought -- the thing is only about a 2 inch square. I can't wait to see what she winds up doing with it.
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| Nita 1 and the accordion fold |
Oh, I just found the picture of Dona when she arrived. Granted when you see it, you'll understand why I had such difficulty finding it.
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| Dona - not exactly a "close up" |
As you can see, the trails though many, are narrow. I believe this was Pam in her spot -- she actually took her sunglasses off - wow!
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| Pam |
I stand corrected - I think I did get a lot of people in their spots, here's Mike.
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| Mike in his spot |
There was one point where it had to be a busload of people arrived. All of a sudden there were about 50 people wandering around the Stupa.
Oh, here's a surprise artist in their spot.
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| Surprise - it's Me (photo thanks to Pam) |
How about that, Pam caught me in my spot -- Thanks Pam!! Look, I was standing at a crossroad.
As we gathered to build our gallery, there was someone missing - it was Robin. Fortunately, her spot wasn't far away.
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| Robin (seated in her spot) and random visitors |
Well, the time flew by. Already it was time to pick a place for our gallery. We decided on a length of one of the paths. We did have a slightly early leaver, it was Pam. She shared a pic of her painting though.
Wow, they are all really great. Bet, those of you who weren't there wished you were!
Of course, there was a debate about where to stand for the group photo, but we picked a spot on a trail and all smiled on 2, except I seem to be giving a surprised look to my left (your right in the photo). I think it's because somehow Pam snuck in - just another one of those mystery sightings!
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| (Back Row - L to R) Michelle, Ed (Middle Row - L to R) Mike, Nita 1, Dona, LeAnne, Robin (Front Row - L to R) Me, Pam |
Till next week!
Cecilia