Category: Cross-country Skiing

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

 

If it must be cold, let there be snow.

Posted on by lindaskelton

I’m really not a cold-weather girl, but if there must be winter, let it be lovely and let it be opportunity to move in ways you cannot do in summer… And so we have.  Saturday afternoons often find us on one trail or another working up a sweat as we have a look around cross-country ski territory here.

Here’s a jumle of the views we have enjoyed over the last month or so…

And of course, iconic Lake Louise, in winter:

 

Look closely and you can see an ice climber just below the frozen waterfalls below.  This is a popular spot for this brave sport!

These days we are having to drive to snow-country, an hour in either direction.  Our out-back is dry and bare.

But oh the ice is lovely!

Like icy jellyfish!

  

Will it be a snowy Christmas yet?  We shall see.

Here’s hoping you are finding beauty in the hard and cold seasons of your life. The Creator and Sustainer of all we see and know has been born to us a Saviour as well.

–LS

What shall I render to the LORD for all his benefits to me?
I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD.

Ps.116:12-13 ESV