Sailing – Page 4 – Skelton Sketches

Parade of Lights

Posted on December 9, 2011 by lindaskelton

We have this lovely tradition here called the Parade of Lights, in which any boat owner that wills decorates his boat and joins the procession on the given night. My favorite yachtsman invested time and energy to create this bright spot on the water…

Now, don’t laugh. It’s not so easy to take pictures in the pitch dark of night—challenge enough to find the wee spot of light in the inky dark of the camera’s field of view…

Being a fair-weather sailor I opted to be the spectator for the parade (how else would we have these fabulous pictures anyway? ha,ha! ) And as our “Chase Me” sailed by and the strains of Celtic Christmas music and the laughter of hardier-friends-than-I carried across the water, I snapped some pics…

Here, behold the winner in the “Best Religious Theme” category. Fun. A category was found for each of the six entrants and all were winners! Now we shall have a free night in a local hotel to celebrate our upcoming 28th anniversary—thanks to the work of my brilliant skipper!

–LS

…and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us. Mt.1:23

Safely Home

Posted on August 6, 2011 by lindaskelton

“They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters;
These see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the deep.” (Ps.107:23,24)

[What makes this picture so cool is that it’s entirely a reflection in the water, not the actual boat at all!]

And no, that’s not our boat—but we have been out sailing this week and are now safely home (as of this afternoon!) and itching, not just from sunburn, to share some highlights here…

Having gotten away late, due to technical difficulties (and needing to get some yard work done first!)—we sailed into our anchorage the sun having fully set, leaving just one bright clearing in a dark cloudy sky. But in the morning—ahhh, time to sit and survey our surroundings.

Jim brought me this egg, poor little inhabitant didn’t make it out in time…

We set the remains adrift and I did think it a curious picture:

Tides are fascinating. A 16-ft tide can make quite a difference in a few hours time. We walked by this ‘island’ in a lagoon on our way to go swimming in a nearby lake

And on our way back we walked on the bottom of the sea past this once picturesque island now a mound in the mud…

In the meantime we explored a nifty little museum representing some Cortes Island settler history–

And of course I found some ‘heritage’ flowers to capture in pictures…The frizzle-headed shasta daisies were fun and don’t know what these orange ‘ballerinas’ are! But the clematis was the best treat of all:

As we meandered around another island community (Heriot Bay on Quadra Island) one hot afternoon, we plucked up thimbleberries along the wayside, glad to find refreshment, even from these funny little messy berries that aren’t ripe unless they fall apart when you try to get ahold of them—a little like a mushy raspberry, not so tart perhaps, best made into a sauce to top vanilla ice cream—but just fine ‘as is’ too!

I love to sit on beaches of driftwood all nestled among the logs, listening to the water, feeling the ocean breeze and the soothing sunshine…

And it’s a very fine thing to watch the day settle down into evening and row back to the boat to be lulled to sleep by the silence

But always the morning comes that you must get back to life as usual. This familiar and very crucial bell-buoy clangs by day and flashes by night out in the middle of the strait to warn of a hidden reef. We passed it at nightfall on our way out and again today heading home, a sort of traffic sign of the ocean, ensuring that we make it safely home.

“He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.
Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.
Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!” (Ps.107:29-31)

–LS

[P.S. Viewers should be aware that sailing is not always serene. Not pictured here is:
–the rain and cold of afternoon #1
–the resultant choppy seas, nausea and lost lunch
–the fall of night before we could reach safe harbor (anxiety rising on my part)…
–the motor tinkering mid-day in blazing sun,for hours, to no avail (My cap’t had to row the dinghy, 1 1/2 miles worth of blisters)

Yes, sailing is idyllic, sometimes. And in a perfect world, an endless delight. It may be significant that there are no seas in Heaven! (Rev.21:1)]

Surprises of all shapes and sizes…

Posted on June 24, 2011 by lindaskelton

The sweetest wonders in life are the ones that pop up when we least expect them. Like our first time out in our sailboat as a family (a few years back). We’d barely gotten out of harbor when a pair of dolphins swam up to play in the water breaking at our bow and leap and sport at our side. It was breath-taking and utterly took us by surprise! In all the times sailing since, such an event has never happened again. Only on that maiden voyage.

So you can imagine our delight and surprise when we took our land-lubbing visitors out this past weekend for a quick run to our favorite islands… and moments out of port, Jim points ahead to starboard at fins approaching. And soon we are ring-side audience to a trio of Orca whales sporting their dashing black and white suits as they swim toward us rising and submerging rhythmically, to pass at our side, migrating down the inlet. Never before have we seen them. Why this moment when we have never-before visitors to our little paradise?! Could it be that just as we love to surprise our kids with good things, our Father so delights to surprise His children?

A purple starfish can be just as wonder-filled if you have never seen one…

—————-

I had a quiet little ‘sit’ surveying my ‘kingdom’ one deflated day after the excitement of company had come and gone…

It was therapeutic to look around me and notice with wonder all the tiny beautiful things with which my world is studded…

As Robert Louis Stevenson said:

“The world is so full of a number of things,
I ’m sure we should all be as happy as kings.”

And though the seasons are ever changing, there is a comfort in the return of familiar flowers, and the reminder of summers past when I have walked on these slopes and heard a still small voice whisper—just at the time of the tiger lilies blooming…

Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? Is.43:19

And when God says a sparrow does not fall to the ground without His notice, does that not mean that He notices the moments when I need a reminder of His watchful love? And the heady perfume of wild roses slows my steps…

… and I see each rose to be an assembly of delicately shaped hearts.

And mine is lifted.

I smile to see this curious little fuzzball—there are surprises everywhere when I slow to notice!

I am grateful.

“Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe” (Heb.12:28)

–LS