Even if Ulster-Scots
“Amazing Grace” and “Scotland The Brave” are over-done …
Makes one want to go out and tweak some Sassunach bahookie, eh?
St Patrick’s Day
A Paragraph
It is my policy on this site to not publish any of Gerard’s work until after AD goes dark – and to not publish anything that’s been published in his book.
It’s also my policy that if it weren’t for rules, I’d have nothing to break.
Before AD goes dark in the next few days or maybe a week or so, I’d like to recommend those that haven’t purchased “The Name in the Stone“, to go to the archives and read “A Death On The Net” from Aug 30, 2022; titled “Thomas E Mandell” in the book.
It took the third or fourth time reading this post before it sank in.
An excerpt, just this single paragraph – the part that led to this post:
“What Tom Mandel knew, and what many companies and individuals still refuse to learn, is that on-line is not about selling something to someone or bringing information to the starving masses. what it is about is people wanting to connect in a real and genuine way to other people, free of the filters of older media -to establish, no matter how ephemerically, communities of like-minded souls who are not separated by facts of geography, and to create a place where it really is the content of one’s character that is the first and foremost thing people see. Through his work on The Well and Time Online, Tom Mandel gave the net an example of how to transmit your soul through the medium of conferencing.“
I’d say that Gerard Van der Leun also accomplished that as well as any before and possibly after.
It’s not in my nature to be of that nature but perhaps it was some stirring of some inner voice of the same that led me to step up and start this site – this is not the me that I know. Perhaps it is to be my future self to at least find and follow the footsteps of those before me and to show that same path – good or bad – to those of you who desire to follow along.
Or maybe, just maybe, I’m full of it once again … which is my nature.
Overland Stage – Part 17 Fort Bridger to Weber Station
… and just a bit beyond.
Part 17 – Fort Bridger to Weber Station is now live … and this chapter ends the story.
The nature of the route changed after Fort Bridger. The stage followed other well-established trails: This was part of the Hastings cut-off on the California Trail, the Donner Party passed this way. The Mormon Trail (1847) came through here, as did Johnston’s army during the Mormon War of 1857/58. The Pony Express passed through here in 1860 as did the Transcontinental Railroad in 1867.
The modern highways bypassed the section between Fort Bridger and the head of Echo Canyon though.
The passage through Echo Canyon had been forced by nature – there wasn’t a feasible alternate route – there still isn’t today.
Weber Station was at the mouth of Echo Canyon, where I-84 splits off from I-80 and heads NW to Ogden while I-80 continues on to Salt Lake City. I add a small section showing the Overland Road beyond Weber Station; it followed what is now I-84 and the Weber River a short distance to Henefer then cut SW along what is now a secondary Utah highway, UT65 through the mountains on its own path to Salt Lake. This was the route of the Donner Party some 15 years before the Overland Stage started operations.
This is the last chapter of my tale …
Coming up next: Nothing. This is it.
The Season’s Not Quite Over
The Time Has Come Today
Neo made the announcement today that the last post of American Digest is now up.
Time to go and catch the last of Gerard’s works directly from his site for the last few days the site will be active.
My thanks to Neo for all the work she has done to keep Gerard’s site up as long as it was … seems like not all that long ago Gerard was still writing.
My thanks to her also for her permission and help in getting this site up and running; hopefully “the gang” can stay together and comment on topics far and wide – or even contribute posts for those of you so inclined.
But all good things come to an end … (bad things seem to last forever).
R.I.P., American Digest
Somehow, it’s not hard imagining Gerard during the days these tunes were “new”.
eeriezistahbul…
A short story from Jean …
“So, you’re a carpenter and a wood-carver?” she asked.
He smiled. “And anything else I need to be at the moment.”
She caught a movement in the trees to her left.
Felt herself drawn to the movement and in less than a blink she was in the trees, in the mist.
“Are you frightened?” the mist asked.
“No. Should I be?”
It said “Darlin’, you’ve never been safer.”
She watched as features took soft shape; dark hair, even darker eyes that smiled. The faint form of a strong, healthy body.
She wrinkled her brow. “I can’t see your clothes but you aren’t naked, either. Oh, shit. Are you a ghost?
Why does it feel like I know you?”
“Because you do. In a way. You know me even though we’ve never met. I’m not a ghost. You’re seeing my soul.
And, it’s your soul that I’m talking to right now.”
With a gasp of recognition she said “I didn’t know you were gone! I was coming here to meet you.”
“I told everyone it was happening. Turned out to be sooner than I thought. No tears, babe.
This is a better way.”
“We were friends.” she whispered.
“That hasn’t changed. Except it’s even better now. Listen to me… there is no human way to imagine this. It is perfection here. Accept that. You’ll feel better. I was wrong about a lot of it. Or, at least the way I wrote about it.”
“You were wrong? Imagine that.” she smiled.
“Don’t be a smart-ass. I tried the best I could. Just like you. People make a struggle out of it and it doesn’t need to be. Actually, we don’t get a choice. This is the way it is. This is, I am, nothing is anything like anyone has ever been able to imagine. It is unknown until you get here.”
She tried to glance back over her shoulder, where she had been. How long ago?
“Don’t worry about your friend.” The mist knew what she was thinking. “No one can see you here. When you go back, he won’t know you’ve been gone. There is no ‘time’ here. It’s all ‘now’, and now is forever. Now and forever are one in perfection. This is not the end, there is no stopping.”
“What about the end times?”
“They’ve come and gone many times and will continue. They are never-ending, too.”
She hesitated. “What about the Son?”
“Same as us. He lived. He tried. He died. He’s fine.”
“And the Bad Ones?”
“They’re here, too. Just not here here. Another part of the perfection of the perfect balance. Another unimaginable.”
“Why are you telling me all this?”
“Because you need it the most and you doubt it the most and you want it the most. Now go back to the party.”
“Will I see you again?”
“Of course. You’ll see everyone, all the time, at the same time. Always. Go for now. Let life bring your stories and remember you are loved.”
.
.
The carpenter was staring at her. “You’re looking a bit pale. Am I boring you?”
“Oh, no. It must be jet lag. Something like a dozen time zones and I get here three hours before I took off. Or, something like that.” She blushed.
“Well, how about I walk you back to your hotel and you try to get a good night’s sleep? Would you let me take you to breakfast tomorrow and show you around a bit?”
She took out her notebook. He offered a pen. She looked at his face, dark hair, darker eyes and said,
“Well, my plans have changed a bit. So, yes. I’d like that.”
She wrote her number on a corner of the page, tore it off and gave it to him. Then she wrote:
‘his eyes matched the sky, both wonder and thunder.‘
Feeling a soft breath on her neck, she glanced at the trees, saw the mist fade away.
Not a ghost. Not a dream.
A memory.
(originally posted 7-28-08. Reposted 11-12-2011
The internet is forever …
Lunar Eclipse
Did ya all catch the full lunar eclipse last night? Peaked about 1:30AM MDT.
Pitcher
Harvest
Overland Stage – Parts 13/14/15/16 Duck Lake to Fort Bridger
Part 13 – Duck Lake Station to LaClede Station is now live.
Part 14 – LaClede Station to Almond Station is now live.
Part 15 – Almond Station to Rock Springs is now live.
Part 16 – Rock Springs Station to Fort Bridger is now live.
The Bitter Creek division:
“Bitter Creek is too miserable a stream to have a name. Tho’ I don’t know [how] Emigrants would get across this desert country without it.”
The 80 miles or so from Duck Lake Station until the Green River Station – and Green River itself – offered little comfort and much danger to passers-through and the Overland employees who lived here. The Overland Central Route ended somewhat past the Rock Springs Station where it re-joined the original Northern Road and the California/Oregon Trails. The country was still desolate; none of the towns of today existed before the railroad came through in 1868. Even “Little America” did not yet exist. 🙂
These four sections take the story through and past the Bitter Creek country and on to Fort Bridger – the trading post and “meeting of the trails” established by the mountain man Jim Bridger in 1844.
Coming up next: Fort Bridger to Weber Station … and the end of this tale.