Opportunity…

“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.

P1050985

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

P1050999
We anchored and climbed up the bluffs to survey our peaceful kingdom…

 

P1050998

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

manzanita
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…

P1060002

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…

LundA fitting close to a beautiful day.

P1060016

Hallelujahs by Chris Rice  is a fitting benediction.

P1060012

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

–LS

Wind-whipped days

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…

P1050650

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

P1050652

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

P1050659

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

P1050656
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…
chase me

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…

straigtened

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

Travels…

P1050304Took leave of my birthday flowers for the weekend…
P1050313
No, we didn’t stay at the Empress, but it was fun to stroll through the lobby.
P1050343
glass
… and to wander through the halls and stairwells of the Legislative Assembly Bldg. in downtown Victoria…
P1050333                                                     P1050335

Too picturesque to miss—a fine scene of a lowly seagull…
P1050365
P1050369 Just for fun!

P1050390 And off to the mainland to Missions Fest weekend on a ferry we’d never tried—the Coastal Renaissance… with a capacity of 1,650 passengers and 370 vehicles.  We felt a little lost.
P1050373
And now we’re ‘home again, home again’ to our quiet little world.
–LS