Category: TRAILS

Rewards…for the working and the waiting

Posted on by lindaskelton

The reward for a long trudge UP is a splendid view of Banff and surrounds from Sulphur Mountain’s summit… AND a free Gondola ride down!

  

The reward for getting out after work to put in some skiing miles is…

Fresh air, scenery, and endorphins!

And the reward for getting out of bed before the sun, is getting to watch the valley wake up:

With all this loveliness, why does my soul begin to hanker for spring to show in earnest?  Why do I tire of black and white beauty and want splendor of another sort? I don’t know.  I suspect it’s because we were made for more.  And one day it’s coming, but for now I walk nearby determined to find the picturesque in the now…

 and determined to be grateful.

I return with a budding branch from a burn pile, in hopes that it will yet show color.  We shall see. 

And I’ve bought a primrose this week to cheer us on in the great wait…

In the  meantime, welcome COLOR and beauty catch my eye in unexpected places…

 

 

[Mimi Robinson’s LOCAL COLOR watercolor book]

And I am thankful ( :

The wait will be worth it!

–LS

Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy—And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory—For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.

Jude 1:24 ESV; I Pet.5:4 ESV; Rom 8:18 KJV; Rom 8:19 ESV

It beats going to the Gym!

Posted on by lindaskelton

To look at the pictures, you would wonder why I balk at the thought of getting out and getting some exercise…

 

But I do, often. A wall of inertia must be overcome to drag this comfort loving home-body out into the elements. There are so many factors to consider:

The COLD. The bundling up just right but not too much. The fear that this will be the time I fall and hurt something, or suffer some cataclysmic life-changing event. Then there is the sheer work of it.  (X-country skiing may be about g-l-i-d-i-n-g but first there is the push, and it is most definitely WORK. Ditto that for snowshoeing, only there is no glide!)  All these factors rise up in protest at the prospect of getting out in the wild white outdoors.  Oh how grateful I am for Jim’s sanctifying leadership!  He sees to it that my objections do not win out and I am almost 100% of the time grateful to have gotten out and gotten some scenery-laden exercise!

The Highline Trail, Canmore:

 

Sundance Canyon, Banff

 (*I have loved a wonky picture since my first roll of film with my Brownie camera)

Upper Bankhead, Banff:   

Lake Minnewanka…

Home–the place I love best.  The fire-pit out front vanished (almost!) this week:

–LS

Return, O my soul, to your rest; for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you.
For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling;
I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living. Ps.116:7-9 ESV

 

Johnston Canyon in January

Posted on by lindaskelton

Every season has its beauty.  A canyon in summer is quite another thing than those same rock walls and water in a deep freeze. 

 

Now we come well-bundled and walk gingerly wearing ice grippers, very glad of the fresh snow to give traction to the icy pavement underneath. (pictured: Jim and his sister)

 

 

Frozen waterfalls inspire different responses in different folks; I am content with snapping pictures.

 

Others must climb them!

 

 

 

 But though a weekend outing is lovely, my best days are home-body days.

With winter’s progress the sun’s ascent has shifted so that the light slants in through one little window for just a bit in the morning. I time taking out the garbage to catch its rays while it crosses the dip in the mountains that otherwise block its radiance…  

And I find that there is nothing quite so exquisite in winter as sunshine on the eyelids–it is balm to the soul!

–LS

Light is sweet, and it is pleasant for the eyes to see the sun. Eccl.11:7 ESV