Friday, June 29, 2012

I Left My Heart in Yosemite

Wells hand, he lost his finger roping, a common hazard of the rodeo industry.
Mazie playing home on the range after Wells passed away with his horse Buck
Home With Down To Earth Folks

Yosemite National Park has been a huge part of my family life since I was a we child.
My grandfather Joe Rachuta; a Navy man, father and my best friend brought me and my brother here often for his pals from his submarine days in Pearl Harbor had a cabin rental in Wowona the southern end of Yosemite. We spent days wearing out our swimsuits on natural water slides at our secret spot!  The best swimming hole in America to this date.
I always thought I 'd reside in this park one day and I still crave it.
The photos below are of Tim and Betty Ann Woolstenhulme.
Rancher friends that owned most of the land between Yosemite and Hetch Hetchy area, mainly the SF Camp for families.  My first residence working for the Park Service was at the Stephen B Mather Ranger Station.  I was 20 and I shared the cabin with three other women from places around the USA.
We were all on a huge adventure and brought together by our love of nature and preservation.
One of the friendships I made that was and is very dear to me was with Wells and Mazie Woostenhulme; Tim's parents.
I wanted to live in their cabin at age 20.
I stopped by and asked one day ... how much for your cabin and land?
Wells smiled and said you got a million dollars?
I said no but I will start saving now!
We began a long and loving friendship over many years.
Both Wells and Mazie have passed and the stories I could share would shed a tear or two and great laughter.  We rode fence lines and made art photos and ate and prayed and loved in pure spirit.  I love them still and miss there presence in real time.
After Burning Man 2009 I stopped by and had a visit, brought artist Michael Christian for a home cooked meal in this very timeless setting.  Ranchers with big back bones, solid God like people whom honor and love all that cross their path.
I am reminded of real people whom care and how to care for others's souls being in their presence.  I am humbled and blessed.

Ladies and Gentlemen The Woolstenhulme's
Here's Tim and Betty Ann and a few pics of Well s hand as he sits on a saddle stand and Mazie below their ranch home in Snelling California, its remote and hot and plain old fly swattin country that reminds me of Andrew Wyeth s paintings.

Tim and Betty Ann Smoochin at Stoneman Meadow Cabin
Stoneman Meadow makes my heart sing.


Tim rounding up Betty Ann, lots of laughs with old friends



Me and Betty Ann, great memories from my childhood and as a young woman remain saturated with love and longing to return for the earth and people in this region are full of integrity, truth and beauty.



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