2015 in Retrospect

It was a year ago this week that we made our initial move away from the coast to limboland.  It was the day after my 53rd birthday.  We left house and home with just a little trailer full of home-making essentials…

…to set up housekeeping with Jim’s Dad in the Kootenays for a bit and see where God might lead us all.

It’s been a year of discovering seasons and nature’s bounty in a new place,

of connecting more often with our grandkids,

of making a few new friends and

of learning a few new skills.  It’s been a good year.

Discovering Seasons and Nature’s Bounty…

The snow receded early in the Kootenays…

and we began to discover the world at our new doorstep.

By early April we were out on our tandem–

This is quite the place to cycle—lots of hills, and mountains!

With the coming of spring, I realized that flowers I thought I’d left behind, bloom here too…

And there were new ones coming up in profusion among the pine needles…

Out my window a young oak  replaced my beloved willow…

With the coming of spring a buyer was found for our left-behind- house.  So April found us back in Powell River  boxing up 12 years of family life.

We had moved in as a family…

We left as a two-some…

The day we moved, our last fledgling flew, off to Alaska to join her Grandma.

Good-bye  Powell River…

Our nest here has been lined with boxes every since, as we wait to see what will be our next home…

Summer here was hotter and drier, which we didn’t mind a bit!

Familiar faces bloomed in my wee bit of garden

And we went to our second Tandem Rally—back to the coast, Bellingham, Washington.

In all, we pedalled 2,000 miles together in 2015!

One perk of pedalling down the highway was catching sight of all the wayside fruit!  Free for the picking—Cherries, Saskatooon berries and delicious apples!

And then summer had passed…

 

 

But fall was so beautiful we coudn’t begrudge its coming

The glory of yellowing larches was new to us…They extended the fall color.

It has been good to be nearer extended family too. Thanksgiving was a great feast shared with siblings, nieces and a  host of  progeny…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The visitors to the yard have been different here. The black bears have brown noses and are very clever…

And the turkeys come gobbling just in time for Thanksgiving…

and Elk come looking for winter grub…

 

Enjoying the Grandkids

We now live ever so much closer to our favorite little people—a mere 8- hour drive away through some of the most beautiful Parks in the world…

We have been back and forth to Calgary more than half a dozen times this year trying to keep up with birthdays and such.

We even got in our first camping trip all together! And our first family bike ride too!

Discovering New places with New friends…

Despite the want of ocean views, the Kootenays have some pretty spectacular scenery and we’ve made a start at discovering trails and the people that walk them…

 

 

 

 

A new friend introduced me to a new hobby– birdwatching!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Learning New Skills

Pine trees rise all around us  here, and some of them have foot-long needles!

So… I tackled something I never imagined I could learn…

And now I suppose just about everyone in the family owns a hand-made pine needle creation!  If you don’t and you’d like to… you know who to ask  ( :

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Living in snow country, we figured it would be better to enjoy winter than to languish indoors wishing it away, so within a week of arriving last winter, we had purchased cross-country skiis and commenced to learn how to  use them!

The season ended early last year but this year we’ve put in many miles (135 miles for me at last count!). It’s been terrific for morale to get outside and glide along through pristine wilderness.  And for me it has been a personal triumph over unwarranted fears.

 

That pretty much brings us to the present.  I expect we’ll be out skiing again tomorrow…This re-cap of the year has been too long but there is just one note to add…

FERRIES.

When we left the coast we thought we were done with ferries—but no, there are three of them in our vicinity. They have short runs, crossing rivers rather than ocean straits.  But the best part is, they’re free!

And that concludes my year of being 53 without a home to call my own.  I expect we’ll look back on it fondly, though now it seems like a perplexing bit of limbo for us.  We are in Good Hands.

–LS

“Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever!” Ps.23:6