Author: cometsgirl

I’m journeying to Texas today to visit the spaces where my two oldest grandchildren are experiencing passages of some import.

Jack turned 19 this week, and has gone off to college.

Georgia, having graduated from college with a nursing degree 9 months ago, and secured a job, has moved into her own apartment.

They each will usher me into their new living and learning spaces. It’s important to me to share these spaces with each one for a time. I want to know what to visualize when I think of each of them.  I want to listen and to hear, to see and to experience these new chapters.

Their father, my oldest son, is about to experience a passage of his own.  At the end of this month, he will be separated from the U.S. Navy.  Having served 28 years as a naval aviator, his service to his country as a member of the military comes to a close. I expect there to be a “pre-separation” fete soon after I arrive.

All this has me thinking about passages as I myself move through the sky.

Life passages can form, revise, and restore. Especially if one is open to possibility. While I have less passage opportunities ahead of me than my children and grandchildren, I find I’m still in the mix of moving through and toward. I’ve no intention to dawdle.

Come along. Let’s see what these passages in Texas look like.

Traveling mercies.

Those who gather do so for a variety of reasons. To honor. To celebrate. To share. To mark a milestone. This particular gathering was for all the reasons just mentioned.

While the achievement we marked on this day of celebration could be seen as an individual accomplishment, it was not a solo effort.

Many who gathered this day, had shared some of the drives, the walks, the climbs to the highpoints. Others had encouraged, supported, cheered on. Offered prayers.

It took fifteen years. Years of lives lived as the determination to succeed grew. With the successes, came some disappointments. Followed by increased determination and desire.

And so it came to pass, SUCCESS!

All 50 state highpoints accomplished. Done. Won.

Time to gather.

Tools of the effort on display.

Let the gathering begin!

A call for a speech.

A much louder call: “the highpoint pose!”

It was a GRAND moment.

Choreography was at the center of yesterday’s arrivals. At one point both my brother and I were in the air at the same time soaring to the same destination. Since our landing times were hours apart, pickup and subsequent activities required choreography.

There was a kind of choreography even as I landed. Having arrived 30 minutes early, the meticulous planning that airlines must do was thrown off. The captain informed us there was another plane at our gate and we must wait until it departed to park and deplane.

While we waited, idling between gates and runways, I could see outside my windows another kind of choreography. Aircraft was arriving and departing, making their way from gate to runway, from runway to gate. I had a front row seat.

While this transportation played out, other transport choreography was at play. My pickup party was caught in traffic by a drawbridge in the up position. An unexpected choreographic move brought them to a temporary halt.

Soon I was standing in my place as my pickup pulled into that same space and reunion was sweet and joyful.

But wait, there’s more….

The Sounders, the local MLS team was soon to begin play. And this family has season tickets. So off we went to to the soccer game. My daughter-in-law, my grandson, and me. What a surprise! It shouldn’t have been, as this family seems to move about in its choreographed activities with great regularity.

So I took in a soccer game. Talk about choreography! The scene on the field was precision as the ball was in play  they went on to win, with a great fireworks display.

 

Todd showed up at half-time, surprising me; then he was off to the airport for my brother’s arrival.

We all arrived home at just about the same time. It would have been exact, but that pesky drawbridge made another choreographed move.

The day ended with evening conversation around the fire.

By then my time-choreography askew, I retired to bed.  I had been awake for 20 hours as I moved through distance and time and I had one final move left, a pirouette into bed .

Every state in the United States has an identified and declared highest elevation point. The “lowest” highpoint is in the state of Florida- Britton Hill, elevation 345′; and the “highest” highpoint is in Alaska, Denali Peak, elevation 20,310′.

My youngest son set out 15 years ago to summit each of the the 50 state highpoints.  Highpoints range from the ridiculously easy – some you can drive up to the highpoint;  to the RIDICULOUSLY hard, the most difficult being Denali. Denali takes a minimum of three weeks to summit.

On July 22, 2018, Todd summitted, Borah Peak, Idaho, to complete his goal of having summitted every state’s highpoint!

Just over 300 individuals have summittted all 50 state highpoints. He is number 305.

Many friends and family members have joined Todd on a number of state highpoint summits. Even me.  I joined him for the South Carolina and Tennessee highpoints. I also have North Carolina and Georgia on my puny highpoints list. And most recently I experienced the “highpoint” of Tórshavn, Faroe Islands. Haha.

It seems all this began with a small book I bought in a state park gift shop over 15 years ago.  It was to be a stocking-stuffer- interesting facts and figures.  It didn’t end there.  It ended on Borah Peak.

I have found that as a mother, you “get” to participate in many of the highpoint efforts.  Especially the higher, and the highest, ones.  Your participation is through prayer, concern, worry, fear.  Your participation is also through pride, joy, and celebration.

Today I journey to the great northwest – Seattle – to be part of a gathering of friends and family to celebrate Todd and to celebrate this HIGH milestone.

There is another Heckel in the highpoint wings.  My oldest grandson has 21 highpoints to his credit.  I gave him the book pictured above last year.  I also suggested he wait on the Denali attempt until I have completed my highpoint summit to on-high.

 

For the next 30 hours or so I will be making my way home.

The slog began with a bus ride from the hotel to the bus terminal to transfer to a larger bus for the 45 minute ride to the international airport.

The views on the way to the airport reminded me of the first time I traveled to Iceland and was astounded by the look of the land.

Keflavik Airport has seen such an increase in flights bringing so many to this island country. Art has a prominent place

Thanks to Evan our travel is filled with convenience, including access to Saga lounge where the seating, and the food & drink, made the waiting time so very pleasant. This part of the slog home is no slog at all!

Flying time estimated to be 8 1/2 hours. That’s a slog for sure.

I had hoped to see Greenland as we crossed over, but solid cloud cover precluded any views.

Cloud cover now breaking a bit over Quebec. A beautiful sight to see- a glimpse of an engine and a wing holding us aloft.

I’m reminded of a poem that pilots claim describes the experiencing of flying aircraft.

I’ll have tonight in Dallas and an early flight to Atlanta tomorrow. I’m grateful Evan will pick me up as it’s likely I would not have any slog left in me for the two-hour drive to my mountains.

I’m blessed to have you all along for this most excellent adventure!

Traveling mercies.

Today was a walking day. All day. Unburdened of a car, and with no need of public transportation, it was all foot traffic. And the day was beautiful. Blue sky. No rain. In the mid 50’s.

Walking limits the distances traveled and allows time to browse, to consider, to pull up a chair at an outside cafe.

There’s time to take note of the designs that color the walk.

Bowls of designed noodle soups for lunch.

An afternoon walk to the waterfront to view the sculpture Sun Voyager.

We ended this walking day of design by attending a concert at the performance hall, Harpa,

The concert was Skalmöld, a heavy metal group, and the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, along with two adult choirs and a children’s choir. This was the last of three nights of concerts by this group, all having sold out. We learned that individuals from 37 countries had attended these performances.

We loved every moment of this amazing musical design experience.

As I climb in bed, my Fitbit announced I am an overachiever with 15,084 steps. A walking day indeed.

Late yesterday afternoon we hopped over to Iceland. It took just over an hour to get here. The view outside the windows as we flew across south Iceland from east to west was stunning.

Especially as we flew over the glacier Vatnajökull.

Then over the largest river in Iceland, the Ölfusá.

Hallgrímskirkja in full view as we landed.

A quick taxi ride to the Canopy Hilton and an ever quicker walk to dinner. Soup’s on, literally. Súpa.

I’d rather not leave today. Really rather not. But, in order to return, leave I must.

Awakened to clear skies and a lovely sunrise,

an abundant breakfast,

and a cappuccino at a favorite cafe, writing postcards.

All packed up and ready to travel. Headed to Reykjavík this evening and will have a couple of days to explore the city by foot.

This morning there was time to wander around Tórshavn for a time.

Then off to Vagar Island and the airport, with time for a picnic with a view,

and more vast vistas.

As I said, I’m reluctant to leave.

Now at the airport waiting to board.

Traveling mercies.

Rain was forecast today. And so it did. Most all day. As I write this at 8pm, the rain just now appears to have moved out. There may even be a sunset.

The breakfast served at the hotel each morning has a wide variety of foods and beverages, including the specialty drink of the chef. – a mixture of turmeric, ginger, and orange juice. It has some kind of good health properties. I did try it the first day, but it’s not really to my liking.

It’s the small glass in the center.

The view while enjoying breakfast makes most everything delicious. That’s Nólsoy Island across the water. It’s the easiest island to get to from Tórshavn, foot traffic only. We’ll not be able to fit it in this trip, but will get there when we return.

After breakfast we headed east, then almost due north. Such a beautiful drive out of Tórshavn. (We passed by the prison.)

In addition to the sheep always seen, the geese and cows made there appearance.

Here’s the weird thing…. from our high up road location, we could see a mass of cows running in one direction. We joked that they were hurrying to get in place for when our descent would be complete and we’d drive by. As we approached the cows, it was clear they were all lined up and even jostling for position. Crazy!

We continued north up the east coast of Streymoy Island (our lodging Island),

crossing over to Eysturoy Island, and continuing north all the way to the northernmost village.

We then drove across the top of Eysturoy, negotiating a good number of hairpin turns.

Stopping for delicious bowls of soup,

we had made it to the top of the island.

Following the path to the cliff’s edge,

we were once again gifted with the presence of puffins, a hundred or more, all perched in their burrows. What a thill it was to watch them soar out and then return to the welcoming gestures of their burrow mates.

The return drive was under heavier rains, with increased size and numbers of waterfalls.

It was a glorious day, even with all the rain. Clear skies tonight, our last night on the Faroe Islands. It’s going to be really hard for me tomorrow when we depart. Knowing we intend to return, certainly helps.

In the meantime, we have most of tomorrow on the islands, and then two more days in Iceland.

Now that I have your attention…

We set off today for Vágur Island. The destination was the west coast of the island at the very end of the road. We were on a journey to view Múlafossur Waterfall, a gorgeous waterfall which drops down, in a single drop, over 60 meters and ends in the Atlantic Ocean. This definitely was a destination with my name on it.

We set off after making a stop for espresso drinks of choice.

Climbing out of Tórshavn, we were enveloped in a cloud.

We could just barely make out formations spinning on the hills above us. Wind turbines. Looking eerie in the cloud fog, they also sounded eerie as they spun. Kind of an other-worldly moment as we parked across from the stand of the power-makers.

The Faroe Islands have set a goal of producing their entire electrical energy needs from renewable energy sources by 2030.

It was not long until we began to break out of the cloud.

And then the vistas showed up.

Remember the above view. We shall return to it.

One amazing vista after another. Too much for one soul to hold.

The road ended as we reached our destination. Múlafossur Waterfall. A small path through the grass marked the way.

But….. just as the waterfall came into view, a woman standing nearby pointed at a puffin just on the edge of the promontory. A puffin!!!

This was a totally unexpected sighting for this time of year.

My anticipation grew with each step I took, bringing me closer to the actual waterfall I had experienced through photos and videos posted on the Faroe Islands Instagram page.

Múlafossur Waterfall. I could hear its power before I could see it. Then there it was, thundering over a cliff into the sea below!

Here it is on its way to becoming powerful waterfall.

Awesome!!

Turning around at the end of the road, we began our drive home, stopping in a church along the way for afternoon prayers.

Our drive continued….

Now, about prison…..

On the early part of the drive to Vagar, about the time the skies cleared, we pulled over for gaze at the land below.

A sign outside the structure that was just a few yards below us read; Joel Cole, art gallery and studio. Access was through a signal gate with the words “prison/probation”. Hmm. We chalked it up to a weird translation of something or other, as we have seen a number of very odd translations of Faroese.

Determined to stop on our return, we did just that. Pulling up to the signal gate, pushing the red button and waiting for a good bit…. the gate finally swung up, and in we drove.

As we neared the main building, an armed guard stepped out. I quickly parked the car, got out, and called out: “Hi! Is this the art gallery?” To which he responded, “It’s a prison!”

Uh oh.

I asked about the artist’s sign to which the guard said something about a small building in the complex and the artist.

We then made a hasty exit.

Googling later I found a Forbes article entitled, The Coolest Prison in the World?” “The prison only has room for 12 inmates, and is only used for nonviolent offenders serving brief sentences. Each get their own individual cell with a working television. They also have a mini-golf course out back to while away the hours. But would you look at those valley views? ”

Yes, a day to experience power, puffins, and prisons.