| Clouds Over Sand Creek
4 feet x 5 feet
PLEIN AIR PAINTING |
This most magnificent creek, coursing it's way south into the Pend Oreille Lake, and perhaps one of the most beautiful natural assets to the Idaho town of Sandpoint, is fighting for it's life!
You see, over a hundred years ago, perhaps a game trail carved a path through this neck of the woods, which later became the major highway connecting Canada to the Panhandle of North Idaho, and points south. However, due to dozens of logging trucks, and 18 wheelers, this beautiful creek is scheduled to be demolished...so that travelers will no longer be inconvenienced, having to slow down a tad bit, passing thru the artistic town of Sandpoint, but zoom on by on a large bypass, that will replace this natural waterway, with massive concrete walls (that look more like an outdated "Corny Island"), a displacing over half the width of this small, quaint creek...which has supported a quiet, serene environment for water fowl, small boat enthusiasts, canoe and rafters alike.
This concrete monstrosity, taking with it the mile or so of magnificent cottonwoods (which most loggers believe to be weeds), will also hide the magnificent views of the surrounding mountains, and lake..."stealing" from those of us who cannot afford water front property, perhaps the only quiet place to come and reflect!
One other almost unimportant event, that the world is probably too large to even consider being of any importance...is the rope swing that hangs from one of the highest limbs of the trees to the right, in this painting....This rope swing is shared by many kids of the town...from the smallest 5 and 6 year olds, to high school champs! The life lessons that this rope brings into play, is the kindness that the bigger kids show, toward the youngest and perhaps the weakest of the group...teaching lessons about life, and how we should treat one another...lessons, that cannot be found in any school text book, and with the greatest supervision, could not create a better caring environment!
This is the greatest loss...this, and the beauty that feeds the soul! There is no price that can be put on this quiet meandering creek! It will truly be a sad day, when Sand Creek looses it's gentle, shores, when it looses it's views of the mountains, and the sky that make one feel, they are still in an untouched natural beauty!
Local youngster finds a treasure in Sand Creek
John Breckenridge Jr. (young teenager)
This is a true Sand Creek Story
I`d like you to know,
It all really happened
just six days ago.
Two curious boys
down at the rope swing,
Wondering what the last days of
summer vacation would bring.
One boy saw what looked like a tooth,
the other boy said: "Let`s pry it loose."
A girl in the water yelled,
"I found a shovel."
The boys both hollered,
"Pass it up on the double."
They scratched and they dug
using much vigor,
as the group of onlookers
grew, the object got bigger.
They pulled and they pushed
without any luck,
'Til one of the boys
got a rope from Dad`s truck.
They hooked up to the rope
and gave it a tug,
But as hard as they pulled
the thing wouldn`t budge.
So some of the onlookers
came to their air,
They all heaved and hoed
then, out came the blade.
They gazed at their find
with really wide eyes,
Amazed by its age
and its enormous size.
This story is true
and it just goes to prove
That Sand Creek is something
we don`t want to loose.
It`s a wonderful place
to come down to play,
And it`s still unveiling
its treasures today.
POST SCRIPT: Sand Creek lost it's "life" to the construction of a by pass. Once again,
beauty is lost at the demands of man's impatience and lack of Nature's Beauty. This scene is
totally gone, left only barren raw ground...
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Betty Jean Billups: bbillups@coldreams.com - (208) 263-1117
All Rights Reserved.
Betty Billups+artist, B.J. Billups, Billups Art, Plein Air Painters of America