A Mother's Day Gift

Many years ago Lauren brought me a bouquet of flowers she made of tissue paper, drinking straws, and a can full of rocks wrapped in gift paper. I've had them in my bedroom for all these years. Last weekend Randy was returning my phone to my side of the bed. He began to clean (he is known to do that) he was right- it was a mess and needed to be dusted. He picked up the bouquet of flowers and blew on them sending dust into the air. He gave me the look that said to me, "Do you really need to keep these?" So the next morning I cleaned my corner and took pictures of the flowers. ( kept the card.) I loved having these remind me of the grade school Lauren I loved. I still haven't thrown them away but now they are in the garage awaiting their fate. Thank you Lauren for the many years of enjoyment these flowers have given me. (Gosh- now I'm really not sure I can get rid of them!)

Goblin Valley

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I loved going to Goblin Valley in Utah. The terrain is a wonder to behold. Strange creatures dot this part of our Earth. One must visit here to truly appreciate the strange and marvelous shapes that create the "Goblins." The Little Wild Horse canyon Hike is so beautiful. The day we hiked was hot and we all had our shorts on. We've done this hike before. We have our water and a few snacks. As we hike the walls loom over us giving the much desired shade. The girls spot and give chase to little fast running lizards Over we go and under we go as we come to huge boulders and just smaller rocks. We find hiding places and narrow places. There are very narrow turns and continual beauty. Some places are so narrow our feet don't touch the earth, just the wall sides. There are times we can't even see the sky. We sing and shout to hear the echo. Dad, as usual gets silly and we hear him sing, "Rawhide." We each take a turn to whoop and holler. We laugh and giggle. We come to this very big boulder and have to crawl under it. Each of you need a boot up to sit on this rock. There is a favorite moment caught in time when all my silly loved ones sing together. "Rawhide!"

Can you hear it echo?

Redfish Take three

What about the time when Aubrey was shaving her arm pits at the hot pools and when some one started videoing her she put her arm down like she was resting it.

The view of the Sawtooth Mountains out the window of the community church building.

The giant sockeye salmon blow up balloon.

The smell of "yuppie food" wafting from the lodge.

The gold dredge.

The smell of fish food in between you fingers.

Fuggy eating brownies and sunflower seeds off the rocks.

Riding Curtis's tube and bouncing till you fall off.

The blessed swim suit fight.

Can anyone say SUNBURN???

The game of one, two, three, go with Kelsey as a toddler. She and Randy racing to the freezing water.

The buss that was stuck on the boat ramp.

New skin peanut toss, new skin peanut toss.

Feeding the squires and chipmunks out of you hand, and not to mention catching that chipmunk with the fishing pole.

Fun games like boccie and the one with the golf balls.

Card games in the tent trailer as the rain pounded on the roof.

The time we camped up in Glacier View and went to play night games that we sneakily called "safety kids" in order to fool our parents into thinking we were playing a very safe game. It was really sardines with a flash light. But one time I was "it" and I turned on my flash light to find my hidden cousins only to find that the weren't hidden at all, except their faces. The moon sure was bright that night.

Redfish - Take Two

How about all those years Dad would swim out to the rock and try to get all of us to join him. Or fishing for hours at the shore for little fish with our homemade little nets. Don't forget boating down to the other end of the lake just for fun (and to jump off that dreaded gigantic rock). I remember one year hiking up to one of the upper lakes and trying to catch frogs. We ended up stripping down to our undies to retrieve lily pads from the lake. I don't think Mom and Teeke were there. What about shaving your legs or washing your hair at the log jam only to feel guilty ten minutes later that you just might have killed a fish down the stream.

I can remember riding the bike along the trail that leads to the log jam and seeing my life flash before my eyes everytime I rode over that strip of trail that was only 4 inches wide (I can still see it in my mind) and on one side is a big hill and the other is a cliff that leads straight to the water. Scarry!

Making trips to the flushies with Ray. Melissa with the gas and hanging her bum out the window of the camper. Changing your clothes like three times a day to adjust to the weather. Holding your breath to go into the outhouse. Mom's homemade doughnuts. Oh, the food could be a whole separate post. Doughnuts, treats and snacks we would never get during any other time of the year, fish fry, dutch oven cakes, dutch oven roasted chicken, potatoes and carrots. Hot chocolate. Tang. Mmmm. What else?

One time, Erin and I got into some kind of rock splashing figh down by the fish trapt. I think I lost. Can anyone recall the details?

I remember one year staying at a campground that I don't think we've stayed at ever again (I obviously don't remember what it's called) but we had our own little 5 by 5 beach that we could hike down to and mom made candles out of melted crayons and our own hand or footprints in the sand.

I remember one year Aubrey brought her guitar and I felt like I could spend hours singing girls camp and Oakcrest camp and church hymns around the fire.

What about all those trips to Stanley for the much needed ice? During the later years, Dad would always ride his bike and you could see him bum coming up from a mile away. Don't forget scalding yourself, or worse, seeing a naked man at the hot tubs.

Who could forget the fish hatchery and the multiple trips we would make there during our stay. There was just something simply amazing about seeing fish that big. Don't forget the milking and spawning and of course the near pass-out!

Very often it would seem like it would rain on the day we left thus speeding up the onset of the blues at having to leave. One last stop at the lodge for ice cream and the thought of a shower would quickly make the thought of home more appealing though, at least for me.

Before I make and end to my post, I must visit everyone's favorite time of the day at Redfish: campfire time. Roasting marshmallows, everyone taking their turn at being the pyromaniac, and games around the fly-attracting latern. Starlight, star...BRIGHT, first star I see toNIGHT. I wish. I may. I wish. I might. Not have to hear any more "starlight's" tonight. Or, "Let's everyone go around and say what they like most about campfires." And, who could forget the every popular, yet nearly extinct Oompa Lumpa (well, I could since I haven't heard it in years)? I hope it will be resurrected when we go on camping trips with grandkids.

Oh Redfish, what wonderful family times. Nothing compares!

Redfish Lake

As I consider my thoughts as I stroll down Hemingway Lane, on of my first stops is Redfish Lake. What a beautiful place with many Hemingway/Wall memories. Who can forget the stay at Little Redfish with the leaches, the trips to the log jam, or the many trips to the "movies."

One of my favorite Redfish memories was the infamous Randy and Janette skit performed by Melissa and Elsha. The skit was so true to life with Janette's knee brace and denim shirt along with Randall's bike helmet and Snoopy sweatshirt. Thanks for the Kleenex show and the awskome view. Don't forget Lurge goes fishing or ice-scapades. Good times yes very good times.

Memories of our Cat - Cedric

Haven't we all enjoyed a family pet at some time in our life. Well, we once had one, a cat that went by many names. I called him "Little Boy", "Clarence", and "Greggy", although I believe his actual name was Cedric (see above). Anyway, our cat passed away several years ago, after a long and illustrious career of mischief. Here are the lyrics to a song I once wrote about the little fellow:

CLARENCE

C is for the Chaos that he causes.
L is for the Lion heart he has.
A is for the Agony that dad gives him
R is for the Rats he chases away.
E is for the Ego he possesses.
N is for the Noggin' knockers he loves.
C is for the Cat he wished he was.
E is for the urinary Emergencies he has.

Put them all together, they spell "CLARENCE".
The kind of cat that everybody loves.

NOT!

by Randy Hemingway

Welcome

Remember when Mom stripped off her apron and danced on the coffee table. Remember when Dad used to pet the cat and the cat would end up biting him, Dad would get real mad but then start laughing? Maybe a memory just popped into your head that I've forgotten about...well, why don't you share it here?

Introducing "A Stroll Down Hemingway Lane." This is a place for us to share thoughts and memories of growing up in the Heminway house. Don't worry, there are only two requirements for membership (membership meaning you can post to this blog): 1. You must be a Hemingway 2. You must contribute one blog article AND one comment a month. It's that easy and because I like you, I've already invited you to be an author on this blog. You can log in whenever you'd like to share whatever you'd like.

So, I guess I'll take my turn and start first (I'm sure the 2nd and 3rd posts will be about when I got a bloody nose at Redfish and got mad and probably started crying and when I got bonked in the face with a Barbie at Lauren's birthday and started crying)...

PS - If you need a tutorial on how to use Blogger, please let me know. Teeke, perhaps you could fashion us a header image please?

New Bike

For one of my early birthdays, I was probably turning 8 or 9, I got a 'new' bike. It was blue, with a rust orange seat. I was quite excited to have a new bike that wasn't yellow with a banana seat so excited in fact that I took the bike out for a ride. I rode around the block and when I got in front of what was Hudson's house, I could see some kids playing up ahead at the corner. One of the girls I recognized as the mean scary girl that lived on the corner in the two-story brown house. I was a little afraid. Turns out, I had good reason to be. The girl stood right in the sidewalk and I had to stop. She picked up the front wheel of my bike by the handle bars with me still on it. She was shaking me and the bike and saying something that I don't remember and I'm sure I said something that I don't remember, or maybe I just started crying. She finally let me go and I rode the rest of the way home. Grandpa Johnson was waiting in the driveway for me and I pulled up to him, and, if my memory serves me correctly, the handle bars fell off. I surely started crying then.