Welcome to Our "Family & Forest" Website with reflections on "artigenuity."
Family & forest, Jigsaw Puzzles...plus "artigenuitY"
Darby Checketts on Life's Adventure
Since I entered the Internet age, websites have been among the “tools of my trade” as a business consultant. For many years, our family business website was about helping our 300+ organizational clients become “Customer Champions.” In October 2023, I created a website about something called “Artigenuity.” You’ll read about this on the fourth menu tab as I share my current perspectives on our modern society. For years, our family website has been this one. Why Tree Roost as a domain name? It is a metaphor to illustrate the far-reaching perspective birds have while perched high in the treetops, and to acknowledge the place where the wise old owl sits turning its head 270 degrees from side to side to demonstrate vigilance and wisdom.
This updated version of our website now includes three things:
- Our family's fundamental “forest/nature” connection.
- Sharon’s and my love of jigsaw puzzles as a metaphor for life in our later years. See photo of our puzzle gallery above.
- A message of concern and hopefulness for the future of our society. Discover the concept of Artigenuity.
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. Our Puzzle Gallery is full of delightful and meaningful images to visually share our memories, dreams, and values with our posterity.
Our Story / Our Love of trees
Darby & Sharon Checketts
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. We spent eight years supporting financially disadvantaged college students in the Salt Lake City area. 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 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 as a family. 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 at Amazon.com...or please contact us.
our Purpose
Trees: Our Most Essential Partners
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 shows the fun features of our family "Owl's Nest" recreational campsite.
OUR Thesis
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...
- Does a tree have memory?
- Is a tree aware of its own presence and environment?
- Does a tree have feelings? Does it sense human presence?
- Does a tree communicate with other trees and plants?
- Can a tree communicate with a human outwardly? Perhaps or probably not.
- If not outwardly, what might a tree want us to know?
- Have you reached out to a tree to say, "thank you," or just give it a hug?
- What was the result? Did your outreach help you make friends with the tree?
- What are the gifts that trees make to us humans and their forest friends?
- What have you learned from a tree?
Owl's Nest Photo Gallery
