TRAILS – Page 18 – Skelton Sketches

Up and Over the Mountain…

Posted on February 17, 2012April 27, 2017 by lindaskelton

There’s nothing quite so refreshing and reorienting as a brisk clamber on a bright day–so up and over our little ‘mountain’ I went, all by my lonesome, yet not.

Glad for the sunshine and all the things it brings to light…

“For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods. In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is his also.The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land. O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker.” Ps.95:3-6

“The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship.” Ps.19:1 NLT

…no time to dawdle at the top; the sun was sinking fast…

…so I scampered on down with the setting sun, all tuckered out, and yet refreshed.

Considering God’s glory has a way of doing that.

–LS

For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea. Hab.2:14

It’s been too long

Posted on November 12, 2011April 28, 2017 by lindaskelton

I haven’t done much hiking this last while since the demise of my hiking companion. And I stopped rambling the trails over across the highway even before that. They seemed to be overrun with bears and I decided to leave them to it. But now that winter’s coming, the bears are slowing down and disappearing and I decided to take the risk. You can be the judge of whether it was worth it…

This area was clear-cut a few years back and has become host to Trailing Blackberry—a cousin to the great thorny variety I suppose, but smaller and more fragrant and more exquisite in essence. I didn’t realize how richly colored their leaves could turn.

But here we are at the long-missed destination—‘The Bench’

And all I could think besides Thank-you God; it’s BEAUTIFUL! …
was, “It’s been too long!” Sooo good to get back here and sit a bit and gaze…
It wasn’t as dark as my camera portrays. It was as though there was a stage and the stage light was shining down through the curtain of cloud…

The shimmer of light on water was glorious. And I thought, how fitting that both light and water are symbolic of the Lord—the light of the world by His Spirit flowing from us in streams of living water water…

Now for a look around to see the little glories…

Refreshed, I headed home pausing along the path as colors caught my eye.

We’ve had a particularly colorful and extended Fall season this year. A delight to the eye. And somehow food for the soul…

This was the most peculiar little wonder of all, a sort of Huckleberry Hoodie. Have never seen anything like it, don’t quite know what ‘happened’ but here these berries are way beyond their season, all huddled together under a vagrant leaf…curious.

One never knows what one will find when traipsing about in God’s creation….No sign of bears, only God’s fingerprints were everywhere!
–LS
For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea. Habakkuk 2:14

Fall’s Glory

Posted on October 29, 2011April 28, 2017 by lindaskelton

I can’t get enough of leaves! These, from my favorite maple tree. This year I have my own sapling from one of its seeds, so maybe one year these multi-colored wonders will fall in my own yard!

And always, the Big-leaf Maples are a wonder…esp. in a dark fir and cedar wood where they fall with such a splash of color…

Our trails this week took us to this very cool bridge…

…in the middle of a very green wood with its lush moss carpeting……and a HOST of mushrooms (and toadstools?) These tiny blue ones were the bluest I’ve ever seen (sorry for the blur; it was a dark woods)
… and they come in purple too!

Now here’s one happy host!

But these are the prize ones that keep people foraging and later feasting!
Chanterelles. Very tasty.

And this little fellow came along for the ride home with the chanterelles…

But now we’ve left the wet and wonderful mushroom coast, leaving behind the rainy gray for sunny blue skies and mountains dappled in gold with the first frosting of snow on their heights. Awesome.

—LS