Creatures – Page 4 – Skelton Sketches

A Morning Stroll…

Posted on May 12, 2016April 29, 2017 by lindaskelton

I’m not up to much these days but it seemed a perfect morning for a stroll…

We started up a mountain biking trail just beside our neighborhood (on foot!).

It was all ‘rooty’ and rough… But through the trees we caught a glimpse of green and turned aside…

AHHH… now that’s more like it!

And so we had a peaceful stroll along this immaculately groomed course, just the two of us, soaking up morning sun and savoring spring’s tokens along the way…

Tomorrow, we were told, the golf course will open and there will be no more walking here for us, but for today, it was perfect!

Except for one thing…we had to come back to our place to find the truest token of spring: We’re keeping it natural here and we’ve got a bumper crop of these ( :

Coyote feels right at home and takes his strolls here each morning…

–LS

“The LORD is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made. All your works shall give thanks to you, O LORD, and all your saints shall bless you!” Ps.145:9,10

UPs and DOWNs…

Posted on May 6, 2016April 29, 2017 by lindaskelton

{Subtitle: New Boots do not a Mountain Climber Make}

We took two hikes this week: one tough, one easy.

First, Ha Ling Peak…It’s the big bump to the right. (In the foreground, our drinking water!)
The specs are:
Scramble: Class 1 – Steep Hiking
Altitude: 2,408m (7,898 ft)
Elevation Gain: 700m (2,296 ft)
Ascent Time: 2 Hours
http://www.trailpeak.com/trail-Ha-Ling-Peak-near-Canmore-AB-3400

Lots of people do it; couldn’t be too tough, right?…But I was hiking with my husband and fitness coach who sets a brisk pace and… unbeknownst to either of us I was incubating a case of the shingles…(At least that is now my excuse for getting left far behind in no time!)

Fortunately he conceded to let me find my own pace as his pace got him to the top in under an hour!!

Mine was more about catching my breath and looking around with short bursts of breathlessness in between!

The trail zigged and zagged rising steeply up through the forest floor…

The advantage of a slower pace is that you get to see the wildlife exhibits along the way!

But eventually the scramble begins and my eyes are on my feet. I don’t like this part. My boots are brand new, untried. And my respect of heights is not new! I’m on my own to make my way along, wishing I’d planned ahead and brought poles…

I make the mistake once I reach the ridge of popping my head over the top, hoping there’ll be some sort of level place to walk along toward the peak. No such! Instead, just a rocky razor edge and a dizzying descent to the valley below.

I am stuck to my seat for a while figuring out how I got into this predicament and how I shall ever have courage to make my way back down.

Meanwhile Jim is at the top of the actual peak, taking pictures….

I text him: “I’ve gone far enough.”

“(I’m) On the ridge.”

“Sickening.”

He responds: “OK, coming down.”

“Sickening x2 up here.”

And we make our way down as fast as we dare, quads trembling and threatening never to let us forget this climb. Mine still haven’t; they are sore!

We did not grow up in the Rockies. This hike is considered child’s play for some locals…So we go home, have a quick nap in the sunshine and get on our preferred mode of transportation to work out all that tension—and pedal to Banff and back just for fun. Ahhhh, now that’s more like it!

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The following day’s hike is made for non-mountain climbers. Johnston Canyon. Paved trail all the way. Scenic. Safe. Short. We will come back with the grandkids sometime ( : No hiking poles needed. (Though I’ve brought one along this time, just in case…)

And that has been my week in hikes. For now I’m recuperating…Till next time.

–LS

God is our refuge and strength,
A very present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear,
Even though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
Though its waters roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with its swelling. Selah

There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God,
The holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High.
God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved;
God shall help her, just at the break of dawn. Ps.46:1-5 NKJV

2015 in Retrospect

Posted on January 30, 2016April 29, 2017 by lindaskelton

It was a year ago this week that we made our initial move away from the coast to limboland. It was the day after my 53rd birthday. We left house and home with just a little trailer full of home-making essentials…

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…to set up housekeeping with Jim’s Dad in the Kootenays for a bit and see where God might lead us all.

It’s been a year of discovering seasons and nature’s bounty in a new place,

of connecting more often with our grandkids,

of making a few new friends and

of learning a few new skills. It’s been a good year.

Discovering Seasons and Nature’s Bounty…

The snow receded early in the Kootenays…

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and we began to discover the world at our new doorstep.

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By early April we were out on our tandem–

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This is quite the place to cycle—lots of hills, and mountains!

With the coming of spring, I realized that flowers I thought I’d left behind, bloom here too…

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And there were new ones coming up in profusion among the pine needles…

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Out my window a young oak replaced my beloved willow… P5060558

With the coming of spring a buyer was found for our left-behind- house. So April found us back in Powell River boxing up 12 years of family life.

We had moved in as a family…

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We left as a two-some…

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The day we moved, our last fledgling flew, off to Alaska to join her Grandma. P1170307

Good-bye Powell River… [IMG_20150418_200559630_HDR%255B4%255D.jpg]

Our nest here has been lined with boxes every since, as we wait to see what will be our next home…

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Summer here was hotter and drier, which we didn’t mind a bit!

Familiar faces bloomed in my wee bit of garden

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And we went to our second Tandem Rally—back to the coast, Bellingham, Washington.

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In all, we pedalled 2,000 miles together in 2015!

One perk of pedalling down the highway was catching sight of all the wayside fruit! Free for the picking—Cherries, Saskatooon berries and delicious apples! [IMG_20150625_1113018584.jpg]

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And then summer had passed…

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But fall was so beautiful we coudn’t begrudge its coming P1180820

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The glory of yellowing larches was new to us…They extended the fall color.

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It has been good to be nearer extended family too. Thanksgiving was a great feast shared with siblings, nieces and a host of progeny…

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The visitors to the yard have been different here. The black bears have brown noses and are very clever…

And the turkeys come gobbling just in time for Thanksgiving…

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and Elk come looking for winter grub…

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Enjoying the Grandkids

We now live ever so much closer to our favorite little people—a mere 8- hour drive away through some of the most beautiful Parks in the world…

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We have been back and forth to Calgary more than half a dozen times this year trying to keep up with birthdays and such.

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six

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We even got in our first camping trip all together! And our first family bike ride too!

Spray Lake panorama

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Discovering New places with New friends…

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Despite the want of ocean views, the Kootenays have some pretty spectacular scenery and we’ve made a start at discovering trails and the people that walk them…

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A new friend introduced me to a new hobby– birdwatching!

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Learning New Skills

Pine trees rise all around us here, and some of them have foot-long needles!

[P1180721%255B3%255D.jpg] [IMG_20150824_173245682_HDR%255B3%255D.jpg] So… I tackled something I never imagined I could learn…

IMG_20150916_204904808 And now I suppose just about everyone in the family owns a hand-made pine needle creation! If you don’t and you’d like to… you know who to ask ( :

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Living in snow country, we figured it would be better to enjoy winter than to languish indoors wishing it away, so within a week of arriving last winter, we had purchased cross-country skiis and commenced to learn how to use them!

IMG_20150204_112235753_HDR The season ended early last year but this year we’ve put in many miles (135 miles for me at last count!). It’s been terrific for morale to get outside and glide along through pristine wilderness. And for me it has been a personal triumph over unwarranted fears.

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That pretty much brings us to the present. I expect we’ll be out skiing again tomorrow…This re-cap of the year has been too long but there is just one note to add…

FERRIES.

When we left the coast we thought we were done with ferries—but no, there are three of them in our vicinity. They have short runs, crossing rivers rather than ocean straits. But the best part is, they’re free!

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And that concludes my year of being 53 without a home to call my own. I expect we’ll look back on it fondly, though now it seems like a perplexing bit of limbo for us. We are in Good Hands.

–LS

“Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever!” Ps.23:6