Sailing – Page 3 – Skelton Sketches

Blooming Beauties

Posted on May 11, 2012April 29, 2017 by lindaskelton

We took a jaunt up to ‘our’ best loved islands one sunny afternoon this week…

The slopes are abloom with ‘lemon chiffon’ flowers…

But we weren’t the only pair enjoying a get-away….

Meet the Mergansers, diving fresh-water fish ducks trying out the salt-water chuck, just back from wintering in Mexico…

Mr. Merganser… and the Missus taking a look back at us…

What a hair-do she sports eh?!

And in our ramblings we were secretively surveilled by this SKINK until Jim noticed him and called me back to see what I had walked right past….

Then it was our turn to do the staring. He refused to give us the time of day, just stood (yes, he has feet) motionless hoping we really didn’t see him as we got closer and closer with the camera lens… till we were only a couple inches from his face—then he relinquished his spot in the sun and slinked off…

I did a little reading up on this fellow later. Glad not to have tried picking him up. Apparently young skinks do bite and then they drop their BLUE tails to squiggle and squirm while they run for cover! The tails grow back but usually not blue…thus this stoic camouflaged fellow—older and wiser.

But back to the blooming beauties of the place…

…a trailing blackberry(?) gets its start on a rocky ledge…

…and tiny wild things bloom underfoot, miniature bouquets for the passersby…

…tokens of God’s glory,

…and His Love.

–LS

“We love Him because He first loved us.” (I Jn.4:19)

Opportunity…

Posted on March 30, 2012April 27, 2017 by lindaskelton

“I’m heading out to the boat.”

It was Friday afternoon. School was finished for another week. Friday’s blog was posted. Jim came in the door announcing that there was a bit of wind and he was going for a sail… My moment of opportunity. This happens every so often. I generally bid him farewell and ‘please don’t drown’ and stay home quite content—warm and dry in my little ‘pumpkin shell’… But today I took a gamble on staying warm, piled on as many layers as I could creatively and comfortably handle and sallied out the door with my favorite person in the whole wide world…

Beneath sunny skies we sailed out of harbor over the glinting seas—relishing a precious opportunity to just be together. Talking or quiet–(I often read)—it doesn’t much matter, chill breeze brushing our faces but toasty warm inside…together.

The Ragged Islands are our favorite all-time destination. They are close at hand and always a delight.

We anchored and climbed up the bluffs to survey our peaceful kingdom…

The manzanita bushes are festooned with their delicate pink bells, calling all the bees to wake and feast. The buzzing of spring has come.

We rambled and clambered exploring a while. We shed layers and napped in the sun’s sleepy warmth on a bluff face… till the sun began slipping into the treetops, casting shadows on our warmth and it was time to bundle up for the bracing voyage home…

The boat tucked safely in its berth, lines secured, we trudged up the hill to where we’d parked—but not without turning around a moment to watch the sun set across the water…

A fitting close to a beautiful day.

Hallelujahs by Chris Rice is a fitting benediction.

All thy works shall praise thee, O LORD; and thy saints shall bless thee. Ps.145:10

–LS

Wind-whipped days

Posted on March 2, 2012 by lindaskelton

Emerging from the shadow of cedar and fir to the seaside road, faces flushed with the vigor of the walk and the briskness of the wind…we paused to take in the glory of the wind-swept ocean reaching away to the snow-frosted mountains…

…the gulls wheeling and playing in the invigorating rush of wind…

…our placid strait, transformed into a sea of bedazzling diamonds…

…the white caps surging in to lend their froth to the wind-driven sand and reckless abandon of a wind-whipped day!

It was glorious!

The following day, when wind and wave had subsided substantially…we took “Chase Me” for a sail to our best-loved island with kids and friends in tow…

It was my first sail since the balmy days of summer…and what a sail it was! Heeling in the wind, tacking back and forth into a lively Northwester, we did at last arrive at our quiet haven…had a jolly wiener roast, a ramble about, and a quite nap nestled close to rock and moss…

And somewhere along the way my camera battery died… I leave you to imagine the rest ( ;

–LS

“The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.” Ps.16:6