Photo of the week: Little Blue Flower

 

Cynoglossum amabile

Bonus butterfly

In Memoriam: Rachel Joy Scott

 From aColumbineSite:

Born August 5, 1981

17 years old

Rachel Scott was a vibrant and straight-forward individual. A junior at Columbine, she wasn't afraid to stand up for what she believed in, no matter what. She played the lead in a student-written school play, The Smoke in the Room (co-starring friends Nick Baumgart, Lauren Beachem, and others), and was writing a play for her senior year. She also liked photography and was active in the Celebration Christian Fellowship church. She was "made for the camera," according to her father, Darrell, and was an aspiring writer and actress. "There's nothing I can add or take away from what she gave us," her mom, Beth Nimmo, said. "In those short 17 years, it was complete."

She quit smoking at the request of friend Nick Baumgart who later took her to the prom. If she hadn't quit, it's quite possible she would've been at "Smoker's Pit" during lunch instead of in the line of fire. As it was, she was eating lunch on the grass with friend Richard Castaldo when the shooters opened fire on the west entrance near where she was seated on the grass. According to witnesses, she was hit and fell to the ground where, moments later, one of the shooters (Eric Harris) came down the hill and shot her at point-blank range when she tried to get up. She died from gunshot wounds to the head, chest, arm and leg, and was one of the first victims of what would soon become one of the nation's most deadly mass shootings.

One of the shooters, Dylan Klebold, had known Rachel since kindergarten and had even been the sound tech for a talent show she performed in, in 1998. Ironically, when the sound broke down, it was Dylan who saved the performance by hooking up a reserve tape deck. Rachel had been performing a mime dance Watch the Lamb which portrayed Simon of Cyrene who carried Jesus' cross along part of the Via Dolorosa. That same mime dance was later performed behind her coffin during her funeral.

Rachel's family didn't know for certain that she was dead until Thursday when her name was on the list of confirmed deceased, but they all knew in their hearts that the worst was coming. Their prayers for her to turn up safely went unanswered during those long hours between the shootings and news of her death. Rachel had always been close with her brother Craig (who had been in the library during the shootings and miraculously survived uninjured despite being next to Isaiah Shoels and Matt Kechter were shot and killed) but had experienced difficulty connecting with her father. That last week before her death, Rachel and her dad had a long and bonding discussion, something that left both of them feeling incredibly happy. For Darrell that moment would later give him comfort when dealing with Rachel's death.

Throughout her life Rachel was an incredibly spiritual person who often wrote to God in her diaries about wanting to "reach the unreached". She begged Him for the chance to show others the way, to let her life have some purpose in spreading His word. In 1998 she drew a collage of images that included a rose growing up out of a columbine, with several dark drops spiralling it (you can see this picture on the video Untold Stories Of Columbine). On the morning of the shootings, she doodled a reprise of the picture: a pair of eyes crying thirteen teardrops onto that same rose -- the same number of victims the shooters would kill during the massacre just hours later.

After her death, Rachel's car was turned into a makeshift memorial by her friends where it sat in the parking lot. "In my eyes, she was just one of those kinds of people you know you won't ever meet again," Rachel's friend Lauren Beachem said of her. "She was the kind of person only born once."

Rachel was buried at Chapel Hill Memorial Gardens in the Columbine Memorial Garden in Littleton, Colorado.

In Memoriam: Isaiah Eamon Shoels

From aColumbineSite:

Born August 4, 1980

18 years old

Isaiah Shoels was a senior at Columbine. He wanted to be a comedian, dreamed of becoming a music executive. After graduating he wanted to attend an arts college. Friends nicknamed him "Bushwick". Born with a heart defect, his parents said he was a fighter who overcame his disability and went on to play football and wrestle. He had played cornerback the previous year on the football team but his father claimed he quit "possibly because of racial intimidation".

Isaiah also played keyboards and wanted to become a record producer, like his father Michael who was the president of Notorious Records and Ft. Knox Entertainment - a firm Michael started to promote black musicians in the Denver area. After graduation Isaiah had planned to attend the Denver Institute of the Arts.

Isaiah was a popular boy; Columbine principal Frank DeAngelis said his classmates would compete to work on school projects with him. "Isaiah Shoels, thank you for having such a positive impact on our school and on our family. You will be greatly missed, and I love you, my dear child," he said at Isaiah's funeral.

"He's smiling down on us," classmate and friend Nick Foss said. "I know he is."

Isaiah was in the library with his friends Matt Kechter and Craig Scott when the shooters entered the room. The three boys hid under the same table, listening to the sounds of the gunmen destroying the library and shooting other people. Isaiah was a well-known athlete and someone whom the shooters had problems with before. When Dylan Klebold saw him hiding beneath the table, he called Eric Harris over. They flanked the table on either side then Klebold made a racist comment toward Isaiah, and tried to pull him out from under the table. When that failed, Harris opened fire, killing Isaiah. Klebold then shot and killed Matt. Craig was amazingly left uninjured though he played dead, covered in the blood of his dying friends.

Isaiah died from a gunshot wound to the chest. Witness reports of the shooters' racist remarks led Isaiah's parents to later claim that the whole massacre was race-motivated, however Isaiah was the only black person killed during the shootings. In fact, no other black people were even injured during the assault.

His brother Anthony was a freshman at Columbine and was outside with a friend when the shooting started. He was able to get to safety by running through the school and out the other side.

The last of the Columbine victims to be buried, Isaiah was laid to rest in Fairmount Cemetery in Denver, Colorado. Martin Luther King III, son of Martin Luther King, Jr., spoke at Isaiah's funeral at the Heritage Christian Center.

Photo of the Week: Zinnia & Plains Coreopsis

 

Zinnia

Plains Coreopsis

Photo of the Week: Mammatus & Cirrus Clouds, 7-15-2024

 

Photo of the Week: Perfect Sunflower

 

Right click, open in new tab to zoom in

Photo of the Week: Yellow and Purple

 

Photo of the Week: Distant thunderstorm

 

July 2, 2024

July 2, 2024

Photo of the Week: Radish seed pods

Radish seed pods are, in my opinion, better than the root. They produce dozens, if not hundreds, per plant whereas there is only one root per plant. They produce for the full season and they are just as spicy as the root. So consider radish seedd pods as an underutilized snack food.

In Memoriam: Daniel Connor Mauser

From aColumbineSite:

Born June 25, 1983

15 years old

Daniel Mauser was a sophomore who excelled in math and science, and got straight 'A's on his last report card. His dad, Tom Mauser, remembered his son as a smart young man who wasn't afraid of challenges and who wasn't ashamed to hug his parents. He attended Ken Caryl Middle School, the same school the shooters went to, but there's no record of them knowing each other.

Daniel was shy but he didn't let that stop him from joining the debate team and though he wasn't a natural athlete, he still joined the cross-country team. He liked to ski, camp and recently returned from a two-week trip to Paris with the French club. He had received straight 'A's in his classes for the last two grading periods and won the "Stretch for Excellence" award for being named the top biology student of the Sophomore class at Columbine High School. Sadly, he died before he could learn that he'd been selected for that honor. Daniel was also posthumously accepted for membership into the National Honor Society in September of 1999. He had applied for membership weeks before the shootings.

Daniel is described by his family as a shy, gentle soul; lovable and loving. He was close friends with his sister Christine. Daniel liked pepperoni pizza, playing video and computer games, and watching shows like the Simpsons and the X-Files. Daniel was fond of trivia and knowledge games, as well as swimming and hiking. His father had hoped that in the summer of 1999 to take Daniel on his first 14,000 mountain hike.

Daniel volunteered at the Swedish Hospital and he was preparing for Confirmation in the Catholic Church. He would have been Confirmed at St. Frances Cabrini Church two weeks after the date of his death. His class put a plaque in the teen program room in Daniel's honor. Daniel was hoping to get his driver's license in 2000. He was concerned with gun safety in America -- just two weeks before he was killed Daniel had asked his father if he knew that there were loopholes in the Brady Bill. Tom Mauser was motivated by what he interpreted as a sign for action: Daniel was shot with a gun that was purchased through one of the very loopholes he had pointed out. Tom is now an active protester of the NRA and continues to campaign for stricter gun laws in the wake of his son's tragic death.

Daniel was in the library when he was shot in the face by Eric Harris while hiding under one of the tables. Daniel died under the table where he had hidden. His funeral was held jointly with Kelly Fleming's at St. Frances Cabrini Catholic Church. He was buried in Mount Olivet Cemeteryin Wheat Ridge, Colorado.

Not long after the shootings, Daniel's family along with several other families of the shooting victims learned that the school district was planning to reopen the library where Daniel and the others had died. The plan was to make cosmetic changes such as removing the carpet, repainting, replacing bullet-riddled shelves. Upset by the notion, the Mausers along with several other parents and volunteers founded HOPE (Healing of People Everywhere) and together they convinced the district to tear out the old library and replace it.

Photos from:

http://www.acolumbinesite.com/victim/danm.html

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/7036133/daniel-conner-mauser