Winding Down

The busy summer schedule is over. The sun is lower in the sky and the days are getting shorter and cooler. We have changed to our winter schedule as far as meal times and worship times. There are fewer sessions on the schedule now and a lot fewer guests arriving daily at the village. Most of the summer staff are gone.

My time here is also winding down. I will be leaving Holden on Tuesday after being here almost 2 1/2 years. This has been an amazing time for me and, although I feel sadness about leaving, I know that it is time to move on. I have come to love living in the mountains and will certainly miss this place. I will miss the beautiful surroundings. I will miss the fabulous weather of the four seasons. I will miss the hustle and bustle of the busy summers and the breathtaking beauty of the quiet winters. I will miss my small room. I will miss sitting on the porch swing. I will miss not having to cook. I will miss my friends here. I will miss the daily worship services. I will miss the opportunity to attend classes and meet interesting people. I will take many fond memories (and pictures) with me as I leave.

My friend and office mate, Nancy, wrote a song many years ago about leaving Holden. It is one that has a special meaning for me and I want to share it now.

There's a place in the mountains I lived for a time
The scent of the river, the fresh air and pine
Even when I've moved on, other places to roam
I know that these mountains will always be home.

And life in the Cascades is calling me back
The place where the snow meets the sun
And the stars shine so bright in the pale moonlight
Life is only begun; I'll be there when my life is done.

There's a trail that I've hiked and a mountain I've climbed
A place on a ridge where I've sat time after time.
I don't know where I'm going or what's at the end
Maybe someday I'll see where I've been.

And life in the Cascades is calling me back
The place where the snow meets the sun
And the stars shine so bright in the pale moonlight
Life is only begun; I'll be there when my life is done.
Written by Nancy Rerucha Borges

When I leave here I will be taking a trip to Wisconsin and Iowa. I will be leaving from Wenatchee by train on October 1 and returning on the 10th. I will pick up my car and my belongings and spend a week or so on the coast before heading east again to visit family in Sheridan, Wyoming. From there I will head back to Texas. I look forward to seeing my family and friends there and make plans for my next adventure. So stay tuned!

Clothespins in My Pocket

I haven't had much to do this past week. My bookkeeping job is in good hands now and I am no longer needed in that capacity. I have finished up some research and writing for my supervisor and attended Bible Study and even vacuumed the Fireside Room one morning. So, looking for something to do (besides packing) I volunteered to hang out sheets for the laundry. I love to hang clothes outside and the weather has been absolutely perfect. When I got done hanging the sheets yesterday, I discovered I had been using the pocket of my jacket for a clothespin bag without realizing it!

Bilbo's Birthday

Ahhh, it's Bilbo Baggins' birthday again. It is an annual event here at Holden to celebrate Bilbo's birthday. If you are a fan of "The Hobbit" and "Lord of the Rings," you may remember that September 22 is this famous Hobbit's birthday. You are probably also familiar with the fact that Hobbits eat ten meals a day, everyday, not just on their birthday.

At Holden we celebrate Bilbo's birthday by, yes, by eating ten meals a day. It starts with breakfast, followed by second breakfast, third breakfast, elevensies, nuncheon, 1sies, afternoons, dinner, rounding off the corners, and last, but not least, a little something at bedtime.

Holden has a Hobbit House in the woods near the creek

On Bilbo's birthday, our own Hobbit, Dawn Coffey, served cookies for the "afternoons" meal

Bilbo's birthday is another fun day at Holden. Volunteers sign up to prepare one of the "meals." We are busy eating all day. We just finish one "meal" and it's time for another. It's hard to keep up.

It's Elementary!

This afternoon I went for a bike ride with the youngest Holden Villagers. We rode down the road to the bridge over Ten Mile Creek and hung out there for a time. (They were very nice and let me keep up with them the whole time.)

Ellie (9), Jordyn (11), Nyrie (9), and August (11) line up for pictures. They insisted on putting on their "pilgrim faces." When I asked what that meant, Nyrie explained that whenever you see a picture of pilgrims, they all look very serious. So pilgrim faces it is...except Jordyn seems to be having a little trouble with the pilgrim face. Her smile got in the way.

At the creek they took a rest from trying to splash me and let me take a picture. They were throwing rocks into the water, originally to make a dam, but then the splashing got to be more fun.

We have a great bunch of kids here at Holden. Besides these four, there is one more elementary student who is in kindergarten and there are nine students in junior/senior high. They are so blessed to have the opportunity to live here and attend this little school.

Movie Night

In 1947 MGM made a movie using Lake Chelan as the background. The movie was called "The Courage of Lassie" and starred 12 year old Elizabeth Taylor!

We had heard about this movie a lot (it's one of the historical events talked about on the boat ride up the lake). Last week during the Miner's reunion, one of their slide show pictures had Elizabeth Taylor in it along with some of the (then) Holden kids. Dawn Coffey started asking questions of those "old timers" and found out more facts about the making of the movie from them. There was a trained bear and a trained raven in the move (as well as Lassie, of course). She also found out that Elizabeth Taylor stayed in one of the chalets here.

Tonight we watched the movie. Well, what do you expect from a movie made in 1947? It was a little corny and overacted, but we had fun watching it. We even had popcorn and real old fashioned movie candy to eat during the show. And we all clapped at the happy ending!

"Golden Holden Olden"

Fifty-one years ago, the Howe Sound Mining Company closed the copper mine they had operated for 20 years in Copper Mountain. The Holden Mine was named after J H Holden, the man who discovered the mineral vein in the mountain in 1896. The Mining Company built the town of Holden Village in the 1930's and began mining copper here in 1937.

This past week, sixty-six of the miners and their families celebrated the 50th anniversary of the closing of the mine. Of course, if you do the math you will discover that this was actually the 51st anniversary. The 50th anniversary was originally scheduled for last year, 2007, but because the village had been evacuated due to a forest fire, the reunion had to be canceled. It was rescheduled and was held this year and they called it Golden Holden Olden, take 2. Many of the original miners are dead now or their health prevents them from traveling, but some of them were able to attend, along with some of the wives and many of the now 50 and 60-somethings who lived here as children as well as some of their children and grandchildren who never lived here, but have heard stories from their parents and grandparents about life here. They had some very wonderful memories of those days. It was fun to watch their slides of and see how the town looked then. Of course we are using the very same buildings today that were built back in the 1930's by the mining company. And down the road, in what was called Winston Camp, there are still remnants of the stone walls and steps the led to the over 100 homes built by the miners for their families. When the mine closed and everyone left, the homes there went to ruin and in the early 1960's the Forest Service had to burn them down as they had become a forest fire hazard.

In 1961 the Howe Sound Mining Company gave Holden Village to the Lutheran Bible Institute in Seattle. It eventually became it's own corporate entity and the story continues with the history of Holden Village as a retreat center.

Watching them this week and hearing their stories of the early mining days was so interesting. I enjoy hearing about the history of this place. I picture the life here then, which is not so different that the one now, except, of course, it was a lot noisier then with the mine in operation and the ore trucks moving up and down the road. Now we have peace and quiet and much stillness in this valley (usually).

One of the main organizers of this event is Linda Jensen, who lived here as a child. Linda continues to publish "The Miner," the town's newspaper and mails it to the former residents. She comes to Holden several times a year and is one of the main curators of the museum here that depicts the history of both the mining days and the retreat center days. She puts in many hours every year working on keeping the history alive. During the summer she also presents programs about the mining days to guests in the village. (For more on Linda, see my July 4th entry). I just admire her work here so much and she has become a good friend of mine.

It is quite a legacy that these miners and their families have left in this valley. I, for one, am very touched by their continued interest in this place and admire their memories and the fact that they still get together to share those memories after all this time.

The First Day of School

It was a beautiful fall day today; the sun was shining, the sky was the bluest blue, the temperature was perfect.

And it was the first day of school! This is quite an experience for the entire village.

In keeping with tradition, the kids were all picked up along Chalet Hill by a yellow school bus. The distance between the top of the hill and the school is less than 1/4 mile, but we have to make sure no one misses the first day. So beginning at 8:45, the bus started up the hill. Of course there were many challenges along the trip. There was the couple who cried and tried to keep their kids off the bus, there was a weaver weaving a rug in the middle of the road; there were some Roman (I think) soldiers in a fort who attacked the bus at one point. Then just beyond that, there were some laundresses blocking the road while folding blankets on a long table. At the top of the hill some people were having the last camping trip of the summer in the middle of the road with their tents set up sitting around a campfire roasting marshmallows. One of the students was dressed as a piece of pizza and had three security guards surrounding him to keep off the bears, chipmunks and hungry people gathered to watch the goings on. On the way back down the hill, the bus was stopped again by a road construction crew and had to wait until the way was cleared.

The bus was finally filled up with students, some Holden School alumni who were visiting, a few parents, the security folks (with pizza boy) and various and sundry others who happened to hop on. Then, of course, the bus driver got lost and drove the wrong way down the road, up, up the hill to the old mine portal. The bus driver claims she thought that was the school....but we knew better! Then she finally drove back down and "found" the real school where all disembarked and had group pictures taken.

The bus is stopped by some stargazers

Are these guys Roman guards or what?

This weaver was taking advantage of the beautiful weather to work outside (in the middle of the road, of course)

The Agape Security Force guarding Pizza Boy from munchers on the bus

The crazy bus driver actually thought this was the school. Very suspicious!

The kids FINALLY got to school!
Here are the 2008-2009 students in all their glory.
It was almost 10 a.m. by this time! And, yes, this is the entire student body of the Holden School.