Yesterday evening, I ended my postcards on the morning of April 16, when I visited Grand Lake, also known as the headwaters of the Colorado River. But I wanted to get closer to the source, so I drove as far as possible into Rocky Mountains National Park, and at the point where the road was closed due to the snow, I started walking to the Colorado River.
“ These are wish ribbons. Most were placed there by Annie Zancanella who lives just down the slope. In her two battles with cancer, she found solace in tying ribbons to the tree on which she played as a child. “I spent my childhood playing on the mountain and walking with my father on his evening stroll up there,” she told me. “Now that my family has all passed I still like to walk that trail daily and think of them and my happy childhood.”
She started putting ribbons on the tree, using them to represent her own wishes, dreams, and prayers in her fight against cancer. After participating in a successful, non-traditional treatment program at Northwestern University in Chicago, she traveled to cancer centers in the USA to share her success story with university hospital students. Collecting ribbons from young patients at those hospitals she brought them home and tied them to the tree”
Apr 19, 2023·edited Apr 19, 2023Liked by Alexander Verbeek 🌍
Loving these postcards. Thank you for sharing. I'm looking through my pictures from a (non-digital) trip in 1999 and I then have too many digital pictures from 2006 & 2007 when I was last in that area. So beautiful. Signs, mailboxes, old cabins, outlaws, hikes, the Colorado river - what's not to like? I'm enjoying following your trip. I hope somebody knows about those ribbons.
I m admiring your detailed and generous descriptions . I also appreciate your pictures of this way along the Colorado river. Thank you for this journey and discovery.
What a fun trip! I have a brother-in-law living in Glenwood Springs :)
Usually ribbons tied to trees are for making wishes or dreams, typically in some sort of sacred site. I've seen them in monasteries), where they are called blessing ribbons. I hope you tied a ribbon and made a wish!
I love the mailboxes; so typically American. And the decorated tree! Wonder about the significance, too! Will you be out of the snow now should you choose to walk more? Hope you have a selection of proper footwear. Following along with enthusiasm!😊💦🌎
“ These are wish ribbons. Most were placed there by Annie Zancanella who lives just down the slope. In her two battles with cancer, she found solace in tying ribbons to the tree on which she played as a child. “I spent my childhood playing on the mountain and walking with my father on his evening stroll up there,” she told me. “Now that my family has all passed I still like to walk that trail daily and think of them and my happy childhood.”
She started putting ribbons on the tree, using them to represent her own wishes, dreams, and prayers in her fight against cancer. After participating in a successful, non-traditional treatment program at Northwestern University in Chicago, she traveled to cancer centers in the USA to share her success story with university hospital students. Collecting ribbons from young patients at those hospitals she brought them home and tied them to the tree”
I found this on Google.
Thank you Rita. What a sweet story.
Loving these postcards. Thank you for sharing. I'm looking through my pictures from a (non-digital) trip in 1999 and I then have too many digital pictures from 2006 & 2007 when I was last in that area. So beautiful. Signs, mailboxes, old cabins, outlaws, hikes, the Colorado river - what's not to like? I'm enjoying following your trip. I hope somebody knows about those ribbons.
I m admiring your detailed and generous descriptions . I also appreciate your pictures of this way along the Colorado river. Thank you for this journey and discovery.
Prayer ties perhaps?
I was thinking that too.
What a fun trip! I have a brother-in-law living in Glenwood Springs :)
Usually ribbons tied to trees are for making wishes or dreams, typically in some sort of sacred site. I've seen them in monasteries), where they are called blessing ribbons. I hope you tied a ribbon and made a wish!
I love the mailboxes; so typically American. And the decorated tree! Wonder about the significance, too! Will you be out of the snow now should you choose to walk more? Hope you have a selection of proper footwear. Following along with enthusiasm!😊💦🌎
Annie's Wishing Tree