TRAILS – Page 22 – Skelton Sketches

En Route to the Knuckleheads…

Posted on October 22, 2010April 28, 2017 by lindaskelton

Before the snows come our fearless leader was determined to show us a picturesque cabin for wayfarers nestled in the bush up towards the Knuckleheads… So our motley crew set out to see, and to pray along the way. That’s what keeps us going–our commitment to pray together. This idea of ‘prayer walks’ is for me the perfect combination of two passions. And who says you have to close your eyes when you pray? Wonderful new thing for me ( : So off we go, most Saturdays to hike, to see, to pray.

This week we headed toward the Knuckleheads….
Here, they are pictured from afar…

I’ll save you the steps and the false start. What does it matter when the sun is shining and the air is crisp and clear. After gaining some altitude we found the cabin sitting pretty, just waiting for our company…

And adjoining it, the cutest little biffy you’d ever hope to find…

with a view of it’s own!

So we let ourselves in (to the cabin!) for a look around–fully outfitted kitchen, wood stove, sleeping loft with mattresses, pillows, extra sleeping bags… Great place to spend a cozy overnight, or a sunny afternoon visit, to munch our lunch and share our prayers… before getting chilled and scampering back outside to soak up the sun…

This week’s motley crew…

Fireweed gone to seed…

“…the firmament showeth His handiwork…”

…and wend our way back home.

“We [too] are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Eph.2:10)

–LS

Blessings on you as you walk His trails this week! Thanks for sharing mine!

Gone with the Wind…

Posted on October 9, 2010 by lindaskelton

Knowing what a fair-weather sailor I am, Jim grabbed the opportunity yesterday for one last (?) sunny sail before the rains set in….We took our bikes along and rode the length of Savary Island (5 miles) down dirt roads strewn with October’s scented finery of golden maple leaves… Glorious!

But before we could even get to the dock with our bikes the sun hid behind the one lone cloud in a vault of blue. Rainbow iridescence shone at the edges. We couldn’t entirely regret the sun’s hiding–it gave an awesome photo moment.

[Curiously, this cloud never left and by the time we did, the sky was strewn with cotton… and once back in the van headed home, tiny spits of rain began… But we had our glorious afternoon first!] Let me show you some pics…

First there was the pedaling down quiet dirt roads… I’ve always loved tromping through autumn leaves smelling their sweet dying scent. Today our tires had the same effect…

Then the arrival at the windy Indian Point:

The only Indian there was Jim!

Cycling back we gazed out at the wind-whipped seas on the other side of the island…

–a Beach whose name we do not know–

Then time to row back to "Chase Me" and let the wind chase us home…

And chase us it did! The thrill of windpower never fades for a true sailor… A fairweather landlubber can only glimpse the joy…midst reflections on wind and Spirit…

"The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes…" (Jn.3:8)

–LS

In Honor of Autumn

Posted on September 22, 2010April 27, 2017 by lindaskelton

The sun visited today, perhaps in honor of the first day of autumn…

I struck out for a little hike with some reluctance in my bones. (I’ve gotten ‘creaky’ ever since the return of the rains—Jim says I may make a great barometer yet! Am I that old?!) Today, I drove over to the trailhead to save both Louie and I a few paces. (He’s getting old too.)

For old times’ sake we took the trail to Little Sliammon Lake. I was thinking as I trudged—it’s been 7 years since I discovered this trail. Back then it was a dark and eerie walk through old forest that blotted out the sun, inciting jumpiness—“What was that?!”.

Since the latest clear-cutting the trail seems brighter and shorter. It’s been re-routed to skirt the clear-cut so you walk along just inside the edge of the forest overlooking a hillside of giant matchsticks in jumbled piles strewn over a stark wasteland.

Not too picturesque, but brighter! The bears will love it come spring when the sun spawns new growth of bush and berry. In the meantime this lull between summer’s blooms and autumn’s blazing displays is pretty drab. Even a thistle is welcome color…

Ahhhh…today we have the lake all to ourselves

—rippled water dappled with cloud reflections and long silences broken only by raven call, the tremulous cry of a loon, and the whoosh of strong wings passing overhead. A dragonfly zips by on silent surveillance.

Restless with the stillness, Louie scrambles off to chase a squirrel. Its shrill alarm pierces the quiet. And so I sit on this rustic little dock a spell with no agenda (the camera battery has died with the lily pad shot)—listening to the silence and so commemorating the first day of fall.

——————-

Others have waxed poetic about this interim season. I’ll leave you to enjoy one of my favorites. Enjoy! –LS

“Storing September”

You ask me what I did today.
I could pretend and say,
“I don’t remember.”
But, no, I’ll tell you what I did today—
I stored September.
Sat in the sun and let the sun sink in,
Let all the warmth of it caress my skin.
When winter comes, my skin will still remember
The day I stored September.
And then my eyes—
I filled them with the deepest, bluest skies
And all the traceries of wasps and butterflies.
When winter comes, my eyes will still remember
The day they stored September.
And there was cricket song to fill my ears!
And the taste of grapes
And the deep purple of them!
And asters, like small clumps of sky…
You know how much I love them.
That’s what I did today
And I know why.
Just simply for the love of it,
I stored September.

–Elizabeth B. Rooney
Sample others by this author at:
http://www.brighamfarm.com/september.html