Life is like a jigsaw puzzle. You take scattered pieces, then organize these, and slowly assemble an enchanting image. Look closely and there are tiny cracks in the image. Stand back and the picture becomes clear. You made it through the struggle. You sometimes threw your hands in the air with frustration. You persevered and the ultimate creation proved to be...a thing of beauty, a joy to behold.
Life is a never-ending adventure. The masthead image above is the foyer of our Family Puzzle Gallery. As Sharon and I approached the age of 80, we marveled at our life's journey. After our household shrank and our children ventured forth, we contemplated that thing called "retirement." Retirement turned into renewal. First we traveled across the Intermountain West in our compact motorhome. We undertook several community service projects. Then we built a simple family recreational retreat called the "Owl's Nest" in the forest foothills of Sanpete County, Utah. Now we have transformed our previously drab basement into a Family Puzzle Gallery full of delightful and meaningful images to visually share our memories, dreams, and values with our posterity. Puzzling is a fascinating, low-cost, togetherness hobby. We love it. If you have any puzzling questions, contact us. Note: At the very bottom of this page, there is a PDF Viewer with "Puzzling Tips."
About Family & Forest: Our family finds perfect solace among a forest family of trees. The complexity of a magnificent forest is as a profound puzzle. A myriad of life forces miraculously combine to unite the elements of earth, water, and sunlight to support a vast network of living things that comprise the wondrous ecology of a forest.
After Darby's corporate career, we operated a consulting business for 27 years. We were blessed with a houseful of dynamic and dependable children. These are the joy of our lives. Eventually, Darby authored several business books for his clients. These include Customer Astonishment and Positive Conflict. As our children left the family nest, we took to the highway across the natural wonderland that is Utah. We wrote The Utah Cure (2017) to help readers discover the curative, rejuvenating, and inspirational effects of being in the great outdoors. It is about 40 magical destinations among the forests and canyons of Utah where we love to go with family and friends. Discover Darby's NEW book: Forest Is The Tree Word for Family. And there is a children's book: Jubilant June: The Juniper Tree. Most of Darby's 19 books are available in one format or another at Amazon.com...or please contact us.
LOVE: We love many things: God, Family, Friends, and Country. Next in line would be "trees." In an age of threatening climate change, there are no more essential partners than trees in sustaining life on our planet gem. Trees are the beloved royalty of the Plant Kingdom. We live part time with 90+ Juniper trees, Gambel Oak trees, and various species of Pine trees in the Manti-La Sal Forest of Sanpete County, Utah. To sustain the outdoor connection with our children, we created our family's "Owl's Nest." This story really began with our Mother Tree as you can read in Darby's new book, Forest Is the Tree Word for Family,
PLEASE SCROLL DOWN. The succinct photo gallery below tells of the most interesting and fun features of our family recreational campsite.
THESIS: Ours is a wondrous existence of humans living on a planet gem--delicately balanced among the stars--within a forest family of trees. - Darby Checketts
That is me (DC) with my youngest grandson sitting in a most accommodating tree. Next is me having a conversation with a majestic Cottonwood tree at Fruita, Utah. I talk to the trees and they listen to me. They may not have a voice. I give them one. I get impressions about what the existence of trees is all about. Here are questions worth pondering upon...
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