"Hold This!"

We had been on a long walk through the Redwoods there in Gualala. Very quite, with the wind blowing in the trees and not much else to be heard except our own conversation. We were on a trail that very often we ride on with the four wheelers, and every now and then we stop at this location. Since we were on foot this time I think the stop here we took a little more time than usual. We talked a little bit about what we had been told about the prior owner who's ashes had been spread at this location. As you can see there is a headstone, and a little vase for flowers.

The owner of the ranch prior to the Bryson's was a Physician from San Francisco, and he loved to come up here on the weekends. He died relatively young, and we were told that his ashes were spread there in the middle of the trees. It was one of his favorite spots on the property. I was told that he loved the circle of tree that seem to go up forever. I love it too, and it really is beautiful to see and hear.

As we stood there and talked about it, we parents thought it was a very peaceful thing. The kids all thought it was creepy. If you look at the first photo there is a stump right behind the head stone. Sam was standing on the stump rocking back and forth while we were talking. The stump was rocking with him. Sam stopped rocking, and turned even whiter than he already is. He said "did you hear that?" I said "what?" "I heard a clanking." Yeah I heard it too. I said "Yeah, Sam maybe you should get off the stump." He got off, and all the kids got really tense. Instead of leaving the stump alone he bent over to lift up a edge to peek under it, and the edge did come up, and he did see an urn, and He SCREAMED " A POT! IT'S A POT!" And sprinted right by Suzi, and I! Two of our other three kids followed him sprinting back to the trail all three of them screaming like they'd seen a ghost. Except one 6 year old. As the others took off in the other direction, one immediately handed Mom her sweater and said "Hold This!" She went right back to where Sam had seen "THE POT!" to investigate. I half heartedly encouraged her to not mess with the stump. I hadn't seen anything either, so I wasn't really sure what was there either. She lifted up the stump, and there was the urn inside the hollowed out stump.

I loved Georgia's bold fearlessness. We all laughed, and laughed as we retold the story. "Hold this!" became the catch phrase of the trip.

Don't worry we had a little talk about being respectful, and they were all on board.