Lake Tahoe Memories II
Lake Tahoe Memories II
Joe and Francis Gardner were the owners of Tahoma’s Cedar Shadows resort. I’m not sure of the exact tie to our family, but I believe Joe and dad had gone to high school together.
I remember five cabins that made up the grandly named “resort”; the office cabin for Joe and Francis, a 2 bedroom cabin, a two story cabin with 4 bedrooms, and two others with 2 bedrooms as well. It should be noted that these resort cabins were built for summer occupancy only and even during a summer night, a fire was sometimes needed in the stone fireplaces. They were all furnished with, shall we say…comfortable furniture? The cabins were all situated about 50 feet away from each other and there were chairs and lounges outside to use when enjoying a quiet time in the shade of the forest.
Joe and Francis were great hosts, and I remember one summer when Francis stopped by our cabin and told me that she was going to cure me of my asthma attacks. Right that afternoon! I’d had asthma since I was 3 or 4 years old and although I was pretty much reconciled to the fact, the thought of being free from asthma seemed like a pretty neat idea! Until she told me how she was going to do it. She was going to stand me up against one of the tall cedars near the cabin, and with my back to the tree, she was going to stretch out lock of my hair and then use her axe to cut the hair off my head and embed it in the trunk of the tree. She explained that this would remove my asthma and give it to the tree. I stood still, very still and very nervous as she held the axe in one hand and my hair in the other. She muttered some magic words, then she swung the axe and I closed my eyes. I felt a sudden ripping pain and heard the axe hit the tree, just above my head. The pain was caused by a dull axe simply pulling the hair out, not cutting it cleanly as advertised.
No, the “cure” didn’t work and the next year, Francis wanted to try it again, but I came up with some excuse not to. I wonder if my hair still resides in the trunk of that tree? About 30’ up now?
Joe and Francis Gardner were the owners of Tahoma’s Cedar Shadows resort. I’m not sure of the exact tie to our family, but I believe Joe and dad had gone to high school together.
I remember five cabins that made up the grandly named “resort”; the office cabin for Joe and Francis, a 2 bedroom cabin, a two story cabin with 4 bedrooms, and two others with 2 bedrooms as well. It should be noted that these resort cabins were built for summer occupancy only and even during a summer night, a fire was sometimes needed in the stone fireplaces. They were all furnished with, shall we say…comfortable furniture? The cabins were all situated about 50 feet away from each other and there were chairs and lounges outside to use when enjoying a quiet time in the shade of the forest.
Joe and Francis were great hosts, and I remember one summer when Francis stopped by our cabin and told me that she was going to cure me of my asthma attacks. Right that afternoon! I’d had asthma since I was 3 or 4 years old and although I was pretty much reconciled to the fact, the thought of being free from asthma seemed like a pretty neat idea! Until she told me how she was going to do it. She was going to stand me up against one of the tall cedars near the cabin, and with my back to the tree, she was going to stretch out lock of my hair and then use her axe to cut the hair off my head and embed it in the trunk of the tree. She explained that this would remove my asthma and give it to the tree. I stood still, very still and very nervous as she held the axe in one hand and my hair in the other. She muttered some magic words, then she swung the axe and I closed my eyes. I felt a sudden ripping pain and heard the axe hit the tree, just above my head. The pain was caused by a dull axe simply pulling the hair out, not cutting it cleanly as advertised.
No, the “cure” didn’t work and the next year, Francis wanted to try it again, but I came up with some excuse not to. I wonder if my hair still resides in the trunk of that tree? About 30’ up now?
posted by Steven | 1:30 PM
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