Journey to Topaz

visiting Topaz

We took the back road to Delta, Utah (where you'll find the Topaz Museum), leaving the freeway at SLC and journeying through Vernal and beyond by way of Highway 36.  It was a beautiful drive, if you love deserts and big clouds, which I do.

on the way to Delta, Utah

We passed dozens of bikers--maybe over a hundred.  Guys on hogs, gals on hogs, guys and gals on hogs.  Other than people on motorcycles there was very little traffic on Highway 36, and not one semi.  It was fabulous.

Delta is a stark place; barren, windy, bleak and bland (sorry, Delta).  But in the middle of a too-wide main street there is a beautiful jewel: the Topaz Museum.  It's a gray, modern building with large north-facing windows and inside, lots of airy space.

The current display is artwork from the Topaz art school, which ran while the internment camp was in operation from 1942-1945.  Here is an example of the excellent art on display.

the internment camp, portrayed by an interned resident

Here is what the camp really looked like.

view of Topaz internment camp, approx 1942

And here is what the camp looks like today.

Topaz internment camp, 2015

Topaz internment camp, 2015

The dark gravel was laid down between the barracks, as whenever it rained (and I have a feeling those days were rare) or as snow melted in the spring, the ground turned to sticky mud.  Topaz, like most of central and northern Utah, sits atop what was once the bottom of Lake Bonneville, and the soil is clay-ish.

While at the museum I asked when the barracks were torn down and was told 'almost immediately after the camp closed.'  "People were ashamed of what we did to the Japanese," our museum guide explained.  "They didn't want to be reminded of what had happened here [in Delta]."

 Here's a picture of the ground.  Only the top of the soil is white.  Just underneath, it's dark brown.

looking down at the soil; old nails, shards of tile roofing and small stones

remnants of the zen garden located outside the camp's Buddhist church

The camp was a mile square, and I think is best viewed from satellite on Google Maps, which is pretty amazing seeing as the buildings and foundations have been gone for 70 years.  The view is a sad reminder that scars stay around for a long time.

Saturday's post: After Topaz: a few funky things we found in the desert

BRYCE

Southern Utah Funk

Having been sequestered, just me and The Seeds Project Interviews and my stir-crazy family, for weeks now, I decided to get out and smell the roses.  Or in this case, Bryce Canyon.

Ummmm.....

So I apologize in advance to Mormons everywhere, but if you've ever driven through Salt Lake City or seen the Mormon temple there, you know exactly what I was thinking when I took this picture.  Or maybe not.  Google "SLC Temple" and the resemblance will make itself instantly apparent.

The Zen of Stealth.  Minus Stealth.

We forgot Stealth.  And he was pissed, mind you.  But had we remembered to take him, he would have continued his Quest for Ultimate Zen by plopping his fuzzy black-and-white butt near this tree and promptly falling into a state of meditative bliss.  Until, that is, the zesty, 30-mile-per-hour-wind tossed him over the cliff (upon which the edge of this tree resides) and into the depths of Bryce Canyon.  Then I would have had to trudge back into said depths to fetch him.  Unless a foreign tourist (of which there were more than Americans) confiscated him as a souvenir.

**The Seeds Project Interviews is close, my friends.  I'm in the final edit.  Perhaps just one month more.**  

the famous canyon

and while we wait....

birds on a wire

While we wait for SEEDS to be released (and yes, it's getting closer), I thought I'd post how the world has been looking from my POV lately.  Cloudy yes, stormy with regularity, but warmer, too.  Birds are coming back from wherever they winter and hanging out in clusters.  Here's a pic of 12 starlings from about the 2000 that had crowded into a nearby softball park a few days ago.  It was quite Hitchcock, except I didn't really fear that they'd peck out my eyes.  But they were chatty, which was a bit unnerving . . . .

The Seeds Project Interviews: cover sneak-peak

It's the Seeds Project Interviews cover sneak-peak!  I'm looking forward to releasing this book.  It's different, for one thing, and I like different.  It explores a life-long obsession of mine: the Yellowstone caldera.  And, now that 'Seeds' is almost done, it paves the way to book two in the series--a nitty-gritty story of love and survival starring MG2000e and Z0993e--protagonists you'll meet in Seeds and come to love in their sequel as MG and Z.

Sunday Snack

our Sunday snack

Cran-raisin pecan scones

3/4 cup heavy cream
1 large egg
2 cups flour
1/8 cup white sugar
2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
6 T cold butter
2/3 cup cran-raisins
1/4 cup chopped pecans
turbinado cane sugar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  In a small bowl, whisk cream and egg together.  In a large bowl, whisk flour, white sugar, baking powder and salt together.  Cut butter into flour mixture until it resembles coarse meal.
Stir in cran-raisins and chopped pecans until just combined.  With a fork, stir in cream-egg mixture.  (The dough will be crumbly.)  Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface and shape into a 6 inch circle.  Cut into 6 wedges and transfer onto a parchment-lined baking dish.  Brush with heavy cream and sprinkle with turbinado sugar, if preferred.
Bake for 8-10 minutes, rotate the baking dish, and bake for about 8 minutes more (until the top is golden brown).

Yumma!