TRAILS – Page 7 – Skelton Sketches

No want of places to hike…

Posted on April 17, 2016April 29, 2017 by lindaskelton

Well, I am a few hikes behind in posting pictures here. There are a world of hikes to be had here and scenery everywhere!

I have joined up with a little group of regular hikers for a couple weeks in a row now. They are older than I but still hitting the trails every week. They’ve been doing it for 11 years faithfully so I have lots of places to discover.

We strolled to Middle Lake in Bow Valley Park one Thursday…

And I learned all about Scotland on the way thanks to this gal’s great story telling…

(She’s also quite a photographer!)

There are hot springs active here…

And less active one-legged geese (lol)

And migrating swans…

And the first wildflowers are just making their appearance… The “Prairie Crocus”, also known as the Pasque flower, is the first harbinger of spring, though it’s not a crocus at all, but an Anemone. We are now officially acquainted ( ;

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The next of “Ruthie’s Hikes” took us into Banff on a cool day with weather brewing! We walked the circuits surrounding Johnson Lake…

This was once mining country…all traces of the town that lay below this overlook are now gone.

We stopped by an old hermit’s cabin along the way—seems he lived here for 27 years avoiding society.
I’m sure there have been many more visitors to his cabin since his passing than in his lifetime!

A few of us oldies tried out a trailside swing over the bluff. Eeks!

Despite the day’s chill spring is making headway here…

I for one will be glad to see it warm up a bit. I have not yet learned to dress just right for the fickle weather. I ended up borrowing a coat!

–LS

The earth is the LORD’S, and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. Ps.24:1

Ready for spring?

Posted on March 9, 2016April 28, 2017 by lindaskelton

The quiet of snow…

of gliding across landscapes chockfull of it…

is coming to an end.

The mountains are full up with an eight foot base of snow,

but spring is coming…

Snowy stillness is giving way to the sound of water rushing, gurgling, dripping as it dissolves winter’s icy grip.

Birds sing again. First robins. Chickadees too. The ravens are no longer alone.

The quiet glory of snow has given way to the silent wonder of swelling buds

with their reminder that winter’s stark glory will soon be surpassed.

I am watching and waiting…

And I am quite lichen the green of it! ( :

How about you?

–LS

And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” Rev.21:5

“We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye…and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed…” I Cor.15:51,52

Leaving Tracks…

Posted on February 6, 2016April 28, 2017 by lindaskelton

Skiing and doodling are two new things I’m applying myself to in this season of my life, just because they are at hand and I have the time. And because I need to overcome the associated fears. Of falling. Of breaking. Of embarrassing myself. Of failing…

At face value they may not look like much. And if you’ve been looking at pictures here this winter you’ve already seen enough snow!

But in the practicing there have been lessons. Valuable ones, that go beyond the actual skill that grows with each effort.

How to fall. How to get up. How to bid shaking knees be strong and stride on…

I’ve learned that a drawing starts with one tentative line. Mistakes can be redeemed, lines re-routed, or bad starts entirely scrapped with no earth-shattering consequence.

Ability is relative. Doubting whether I can succeed is no reason not to try.
Committing to try, today, and tomorrow and the next day… is the first step to succeeding, or failing. Which will it be? Who’s to say? At least I can show up and see what happens. There will be surprises either way!

I have learned I can laugh at myself. I can go “poof” into a snow drift at a sharp curve in a slick downhill trail and roll over and get up and try it again. You will never see those pictures. I need not keep a record of the times I fail…

I can tackle a drawing that looks so beyond me I wonder why I’m trying, and well, it may be, the first time. But there’s a glimmer of something good and practice may yet render a pleasing effect. I’ll never know if I don’t try.

Fear dies hard. Balance takes time to achieve. Training muscles and fingers and reflexes and undoing lifelong thought patterns takes time… and continuance…