Gilgal Gardens

http://gilgalgarden.org/

What an adventure hidden near downtown SLC!  You have to know what you are looking for to find it.  I have seen lots of photos of the sculptures in this garden but was fascinated by the scriptures, songs, poems, etc etched in stone around the sculptures.  They more completely tell the story of how the sculptures came to be, and the thought processes by Child (the creator) that contributed to his faith/spiritual journey.  It is one eclectic Mormon journey.  It isn’t every block that reveals a Joseph Smith sphinx. I loved the symbolism of stars (aka Masonic symboism).

Child named the garden Gilgal after the Biblical location where Joshua ordered the Israelistes to place twelve stones as a memorial. The name ‘Gilgal’ is sometimes translate to mean ‘circle of standing stones,’ an appropriate appellation for a sculpture garden. Gilgal is also the name of a city and a valley in The Book of Mormon, a sacred scripture in Mormonism.

Because I am a rock lover and a storyteller, I’m including a lot of these stone verses that enhance the meaning behind the actual sculptures.

A Tale of Three Cemeteries

All smaller, older cemeteries in the Port Orchard, Washington and surrounding area.

• Bethel Cemetery
• Sedgwick Cemetery
• Colby Cemetery

The Bethel Cemetery is located 3 miles south of Port Orchard, Washington. The cemetery is located on the corner of Lider Road SE and Bethel Avenue and is behind the Grace Bible Church.

Driving Directions:  To get to the cemetery one should leave Highway 16 at the Sedgwick/Southworth exit driving east. At the Sedgwick and Bethel intersection, turn Right and travel on Bethel over the crossover of Hwy 16 just past the Bethel Towing Co. Crossing the overpass will have you facing Grace Bible Church.

 

 

 

 

The Sedgwick Cemetery is located on the outskirts of Port Orchard on Sedgwick Road.

Driving Directions:  From SR 16  take the Sedgwick Exit.  Turn right onto SR-160 (SE Sedgwick Road).  Stay on Sedgwick Rd for approximately 5.5 miles.  Cemetery will be on your right hand side. 

Sedgwick Cemetery was founded by the Ladies of G.A.R. General John Sedgwick Circle of Harper and Colby.  This cemetery was named in honor of General John Sedgwick, a Civil War Officer.   In the year 1905, a group of women, wives, daughters, and nieces of Civil War Veterans, organized the General Sedgwick Circle, No. 28, Ladies of the G.A.R., Women’s Auxiliary of the Grand Army of the Republic.  The charter members were Miriam Grant, Annie Cox, Mrs. Premo, Rosa Carr, Eva Peterson, Alice Kenney, Mrs. Ford Kenney, Juaquina Higgins, Annie Malone and Mrs. Myron Mix, all residents of Harper and Colby.  The Circle at once adopted a project, namely, a suitable burial place for the future use of veterans and their families.  Two acres of land, level and uncleared were bought from Major Carr of Harper.  In 1910, the little cemetery had been surveyed and platted.  Driveways and alleys were laid out and a formal dedication was made to the public.  Records have been faithfully kept and their pages show the names of many pioneers, women and men, who, by their industry and integrity, have helped to bring Kitsap County to its fine level of today.

The Colby (South Colby) Cemetery is located at the crossroad of SE Mile Hill Drive and Alaska Street SE in Colby (outskirts of Port Orchard), Kitsap Co., Wash.This small cemetery is in a wooded area and is on a slight hill, with a narrow dirt road leading up to it. The cemetery appears overgrown and unkept.

 

Froggie’s Cairns Christmas Tree

Nature never did betray the heart that loved her.   ~William Wordsworth

I love cairns.  Love making them, love designing them, love the symbolism behind them.    I love them so much I have devoted an entire page to both Cairns  and Inukshuks

They are trailmarkers, pointers for helping one to find ones way.  They have been painted or decorated for increased visibility or religious reasons.

I’ve made hundreds of them over the course of several years.  But this is the first Cairns Christmas tree I’ve ever made, or heard of for that matter.   It points upward towards the heavens, draped with crystal icicles and glittered cranberries.  The pantheist in me loves the natural easy flow upwards towards the heavens.  The Green in me appreciates the idea that when Christmas is over I will tear down this Christmas tree and recycle the stone for a pathway in my backyard.

Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all!

A Cairns Christmas

Living Nativity Village at Discovery Baptist Church, Gig Harbor, Washington

 “For unto us a child is born.” Isaiah 9:6   

Peninsula Baptist Church, 4902 Gustafson Drive, Gig Harbor.

This is the first time I have ever been to a living nativity village.  It was easily the coolest thing I’ve seen in a while.   I am not a practicing christian but it was so neat to see a christian community come together to create such a very interactive, vivid representation.  There were sheep, goats, horses, donkeys, chickens, ducks…markets full of grains and shekels and candles and traditional clothing.  There were guards and shopkeepers and shepherds in full garb, and little children welcoming with “Shalom!  Welcome to Bethlehem” as I was invited to go into the stores to browse and sample their goods.

It was very apparent the amount of planning, work and detail that had been put into recreating old village Bethlehem.  Kudos to the Discovery Baptist Church for creating a real, authentic place for us moderners to experience.  If ALL christian churches made the effort to bring in sheep and donkeys to their programs I’d be more inclined to be interested.

“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”  ~Corinthians 12:4-8

The angels watched their flocks by night.