Letters to grandchildren

I visited the school here in Supai this morning.  How would you like to have recess with a view like this?  This is their playground with the equipment for climbing easily seen, but past that is a play court with basketball hoops.  School starts here at 7:45 and goes to 4:00 Monday through Thursday and then half day on Friday.  They get about 40 minutes a day for recess.  they serve breakfast and lunch at school.  

There are 8 grades plus kindergarten, about 80 students in all.  There are only 4 classrooms with shared grades 1-2, 3-4, 5-6 and 7-8. There are 6 students in the 8th grade.   You have to go outside the valley to go to High School.  

Oh, boy!  I get to see you on Saturday.  I am leaving the canyon tomorrow by helicopter, which is a great ride, but it would be fun to ride out on a horse.

This is what I see in the mornings outside my house: a group of pack horses ready to go up the 8 mile trail to the top of the Grand Canyon and bring supplies down to the town here in Supai.  Every day the mail also comes down by horses since a mailman in a vehicle could not come down the path.

Here is the air ambulance helicopter ready to take someone to the hospital.  It takes an hour and a half for them to come after I call for them and about 45 minutes to get to the hospital.  What do you think of our ambulance?  That is the 6 wheeler by the dog that transports patients.  The nurse I work with is driving it.  In this case the patient was able to ride in the seat, but if you look closely you can see a space in the back where a person could lie down if they needed;  not very comfortable, but it works.

Hiking......which way?

The weekend afforded Jon an opportunity to do a little hiking.

Protocol is for the doctor to leave a note on the door of his house, telling the police where he has gone so they can come get him if needed.  They don't want him going too far, like 'up and away' out of the canyon, or over the falls with the ladders, etc.  Guess they don't want to go that far.

 Campgrounds along the Havasu River require diligence in case of flooding. . . like, LEAVE!

Mooney Falls........
See the campers in their tents at the top of the falls?  Wouldn't want to sleepwalk!

This trail leads to the Beaver Falls, I believe...the one with ladders, etc.

A Trail Walk

The clinic is closed on weekends.  I alert the police of my wanderings so they can come find me should an emergency arise.  So this morning I walked a couple miles north up the trail from Supai towards Hilltop.  That’s the 8 mile trek that some 200-300 hikers travel daily to see the beauty in this isolated crevice of the Grand Canyon. 

 Sounds carry far as they bounce off the canyon walls:  crows arguing, birds singing, the plodding crunch of hikers’ footsteps or their conversations—often a foreign language, the laughter of a stream as it tumbles over the limestone slabs, the steady clip-clop of the hooves of packers’ horses preparing to bring down camper’s gear or community supplies on their return.

It was kind of an Emmaus walk with a bit of photography thrown in.  Unfortunately,  even with the amplification of the narrow canyon walls, Jesus’ voice is not necessarily louder.  So it seemed a bit of a one sided conversation.  The topic was suggested out of the book by Chris Webb, The Fire of the Word; Meeting God on Holy Ground.  Ponder the paradox of John12:24-25:  life comes through death.  The one who loves his life will lose it; the one who hates his life will keep it.  I continue to process that and wait for new insight.

One thing is reassuring, it seems to me that Jesus struggled with the concept as well (“Now my heart is troubled..” and later, “My soul is overwhelmed…” ).  When my friends and colleagues were gunned down last year,  I asked, (shared my complaint with) Ken Robinson, “What is there about this dying business that is supposed to bring good?”   He was troubled, too.  So, I guess I am in fine company with the pondering.  But it was good to consider we walked together, even in the silence.