Jim Dailey

Traditions first …

Almost everyone has some sort of tradition … maybe it’s the family gathering at Christmas or Birthdays, maybe the annual trip to the ski slopes or the beach, maybe it’s certain beverages, decorations, songs, biblical/poetic readings on special occasions.  

I have lots of traditions … my Charlie Brown Christmas Backpacking, my Friday lunch with a group of guys and our annual ski trip, my annual hike in a National Park, my yearly holiday celebrations with friends and relatives and Christmas Eve Mass in one of our beautiful downtown churches.

The Tradition profiled in this blog entry has centered for 40 years around this shoe … actually a pair of these shoes …

Some 40 years ago the Dailey and Goodin families were enjoying a summer canoe float trip on the Buffalo National River.  Patti Dailey was having difficulty keeping her flip flops on while dragging the canoe through shallow water.  Gwen Goodin was perfectly comfortable in her tennis shoes. The Goodins grew up around lakes, rivers and boats … the Daileys grew up around concrete swimming pools and indoor plumbing.  With 10 miles remaining on the river there was no shoe solution to be found.  Note the operative words … To Be Found.  Yep, miracle of miracles … a pair of well worn Adidas materialized and have continued to materialize at special events for over 40 years.

There was another piece of humor at the time of the find  … the shoes were too small for Patti, in fact too small for Gwen even with her very petite feet.  What to do? No problem, Patti would wear Gwen’s shoes and Gwen would wear the newly found pair … simple, why didn’t I think of that?  … now both ladies had shoes that were too small.  Never underestimate the creativity of wives and mothers in a challenging situation.

Now Flash forward forty years to New Year’s Eve 2013 … this series of pictures should sum it all up.  Gwen thought she was opening the boxes containing the glasses for our traditional New Year’s Champagne toast.  Was she surprised or what?

Over the forty years, this pair of shoes has shown up at weddings, birthdays, anniversaries … always when least expected.  Sometimes painted colors of the event, sometimes decorated for the season but always in the spirit of friendship and tradition … tradition being one of the ingredients that binds couples and families together whether near or far.  We are blessed to have had this friendship for all these years … Happy New Year to All 

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Family and Friends Celebrate to Backpack, Camp and Decorate …

This is year four of a tradition aborning … backpacking into the beautiful Richland Creek Wilderness to camp and, in the spirit of Christmas, decorate a “Charlie Brown Tree”. Our numbers have grown slightly from the original three … with three glow lights … to nine plus a polar bear size canine this year and many more glow lights. We were blessed with perfect weather, albeit very cold the first night.  

Above and below: Our fully decorated Charlie Brown Tree.  We leave the candy canes and bird  seed decorations on the tree when we leave but remove all others … well, we did leave one for the enjoyment of passing hikers.

2013 Charlie Brown Attendees: 

DJ, me, Randy, Bryan, Daryl, John.  Front: Jeff, Napoleon, Eileen and Spencer.

Below … a few more candid shots.

Eileen and Jeff and Napoleon … this was her first camping trip … Napoleon’s as well.

Above: Santa’s helpers, ready for duty.  Below: Rock Sculpture, Rock skipping and photo ops on the spectacular Richland Creek.

Below: Frosty Morning in Santa’s Tent … warm and Cozy inside.

Parting Shot … Ready if Santa calls.  It was a great weekend.  Merry Christmas To all.

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Checking out our traditional Christmas Tree Backpacking Camp site …

Yesterday on my return from North Arkansas, I drove the northern entry to Richland Creek … all fifteen miles of it … on curvy and steep gravel roads.  At over 2000 feet elevation, the mountains were shrouded in a foggy mist and I was alone … well sort of alone.  It was deer hunting season … the annual ritual which converts city folk and country folk alike into tribal hunters complete with powerful weapons, camouflage clothing, so they can’t be seen and iridescent orange vests and hats, so they can be seen.

My goal was to hike to and check out a favorite camping spot on Richland Creek … a place where, for the fourth year, a small group of friends will again hike to, set up camp and decorate our own version of the Charlie Brown Christmas Tree.  Fully aware of the hunters in the woods, I donned my own iridescent orange vest, grabbed my camera and trekking poles and made the short hike downstream to my magical world of Charles Shultz and his beloved Charlie Brown Christmas Tree.  Since this is about friendship, traditions and the Spirit of Christmas, here’s a quote from Charlie Brown that sums it up: “Christmas is doing a little something extra for someone.”

What I found upon arrival at the old campsite was perfect … it was just as we left it 12 months ago. The fire ring was there, some left over firewood was stacked nearby, the scraggly Charlie Brown tree  was the same scraggly cedar tree but the magic that made me smile and take the picture below was the single still shiny ornament hanging from this random spot in the Richland Creek Wilderness area.  Wow!!!

Christmas Past …

As one can witness, we have evolved … from an accidental happening …  JC’s wife had sent three glow lights and a tradition was started.  Remember, other than a symbolic conventional decoration like this ornament, we only leave on the tree that which birds and animals can safely consume.  It was probably the wine we consumed in 2010 that stimulated our creative juices.

I can hardly wait for our 2013 Charlie Brown Christmas Tree Backpacking trip.  

If you would like to see more detail on the previous Charlie Brown Christmas, or other of my blog posts, go to:

Jim Dailey at WordPress.com  

Happy Thanksgiving and a grand Charlie Brown Christmas to you!!!

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A Perfect Mountain Wedding …

Summer vacations in Colorado are perfect enough … I will get back to that shortly. However this year our time in the mountains was even more of a Rocky Mountain High event …  our youngest got married in one of the most beautiful settings in America … high on a mountain vista overlooking Lake Dillon and the still slightly snow peaked Ten Mile Range near Breckenridge.

Eileen and Jeff

 Proud parents and a very happy coupleThe entire wedding party … mothers,fathers, sisters, brothers, cousins, uncles, friends.

Jeff and Eileen will be living in Little Rock where Jeff will continue his documentary film business and Eileen will continue her work with a DC Corporation.

Son in Law John performed the ceremony … Eileen and Jeff sign the license.

Relaxing … Hiking … Fishing and Camping and Lots of photos …

Clearly the wedding was the highlight of the trip but, not all.  We had plenty of time for other activities and the following pictures will speak for themselves.  Suffice to say it was beautiful, fun, relaxing and one of the best vacations ever.

Patti and I spent the first couple of nights in Taos, NM … this is one of our favorite Catholic Churches … besides that, Taos is one of our favorite Southwest Art Cities.

In spite of the limited success fishing, John (shown above) and I managed to scare a bunch of trout in the Ten Mile Creek, Lake Dillon, the Blue River and Clinton Reservoir.  One does not need to catch fish in this incredible environment.

Okay … now for a few shots to show just how zany I can be … first a dead tall stump, next a bike sign and then telephone poles.  Why did these catch my eye on the same morning hike … maybe it was because they were different, maybe it was because of the early morning light and maybe because of the deep blue sky.  Regardless… not everyone takes shots like these … Enjoy.

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