(Excerpts from Brie's journal...)
The 8th day of September, we journeyed to John Muir's house!
(From Jen... For those who haven't heard of John Muir, he was an explorer,
writer, and preservationist who worked to keep wild places wild and available to all.
He is credited with the establishment of national parks and is worth learning more about!)
It was amazing to learn about a chapter in Muir's life we'd never known about!
...and such a sweet one it is. He got married to Louie, a wonderful woman (who encouraged him to go on that camping trip with Teddy Roosevelt!), had two beautiful daughters, worked for his father-in-law as a fruit farmer, and lived in a big, rich house.
...there is a beautiful green room with a big fireplace.
An earthquake destroyed the old one, which Muir was quite happy about,
because he got to make his kinda fireplace. I really like his style.
That room felt woodsy and cozy.
(Jen here... We learned about several great friendships of Muir's.
I had thought of him as kind of a reclusive, solitary man,
but he highly valued his family and friends,
and that was reflected by the room Brie is talking about,
designed for groups of friends to comfortably gather around the fire.
Most of us know some great John Muir quotes about nature...
Here is something he had to say about friendships:
"To ask me whether I could endure to live without friends is absurd. It is easy enough to live out of material sight of friends, but to live without human love is impossible. Quench love, and what is left of a man's life but the folding of a few jointed bones and square inches of flesh?
Who would call that life?"
Thank you, dear family and friends, for making life possible.
...now back to Brie's journal...)
We saw his "Scribble Den" where he did his writing!
His room was very messy!
In his kitchen, it said that when John Muir was young, he often went hungry;
when he traveled in the wilderness he had bread crumbs;
and here in his home, he had a cook and ate very well....
he could have fresh bread whenever he wanted.
The baby sequoia Muir had planted is now a giant,
and we got to see it and touch it! It was amazing!
We also met Leafer, the sphinx cat that wanders around the place.
She had peach fuzz!
Muir and his daughters, Wanda and Helen, explored mountain hills right next to their house!
He named those hills after his daughters, and we got to hike Mt. Wanda!
It was beautiful, and steep. :) We all loved it!
"Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in,
where Nature may heal and cheer and give strength to body and soul alike."
It was so good to learn about the "Father of National Parks,"
and thank GOD for this man.
-Brie
Wow Brie! Like your mom I had never heard of this man before your post! (Maybe it's because we both grew up in MT☺️) What a blessing he was. Love the quote about "needing Beauty as well as bread.." So true. Such a great remind to me to STOP and smell the roses! �� Thanks so much for this post! So nice to learn about this man through your eyes. ��
ReplyDeleteAnd sweet Jen, to live without you as a friend would TRULY be absurd!! ��
Love you guys and am loving your adventure!
Auntie Steph
SO, SO, SO thankful to be living this life with you, my sweet friend. ...Jen
DeleteOooh....I have a book for his writings!!! Inches thick!!
ReplyDeleteHis writing is very thought provoking! and inspiring! We were laughing about how he said something like, "Go out into nature! Nothing will harm you..." and then you go to places like Yosemite, where he spent a lot of time, and the rangers tell you all about the bears and the safety precautions you need to take... Oh! and there's the mice and the diseases they carry... Oh! and don't go near any water or you might drown... Different message today. ;) It's a different world in many ways. And still, his thoughts are inspiring and relevant.
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