Flowers – Page 2 – Skelton Sketches

All this beauty right under our noses…

Posted on September 22, 2017September 21, 2017 by lindaskelton

Well it’s just a little crazy that summer 2017 is history! But it has been a fabulously warm one here for us with deliciously record-breaking heat just perfect for somebodies that find themselves a little too far north for real comfort.

This morning drizzle turned to snow for a bit, so I think we can safely suppose that any brave flowers still out there won’t last long. The elk have yet to come for the ones on my porch but this year I’m hoping they’ll come by and turn their fading remains into elk-fuel to spare me having to uproot them myself.

But before I lose the chance I wanted to post some pics from the Cascade Gardens in Banff. We pedal to and from Banff quite often but have not slowed enough to notice all this beauty right under our noses. These gorgeous gardens are tucked around the Parks Canada Administrative Building, which is itself an impressive sight! They made for a delightful end-of-day stroll.

And with these I bid summer 2017 farewell!

–LS

The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of our God stands forever. Is.40:8

Remembering Bygone Aprils….

Posted on May 1, 2017 by lindaskelton

I am flower-hungry. I’m craving the fresh greens and hopeful blossoms of springtime in other places. And since I’ve been organizing this new site for my pictures, I thought it a good time to assemble a collection of blooms from April’s past…

So for today my soul is assuaged with these sweet memories, and I share them in hopes yours will be too!

2009–Spring comes to the Arizona dessert…

We took a road trip to reconnect with our old home and friends there. Nothing quite like a spring morning in the dessert…

2011–Signs of spring on the Coast…

Rhubarb rising. First Salmonberry blooms. And if you’re lucky, a sparkling sunny day by the sea.

2012–more signs of spring in Powell River…

An Easter bouquet, huckleberry and salmonberry hatching, and sunny faces in the lawn!

2013–Just out back, Powell River

Skunk Cabbage is spring’s first bear food. Beware!

2014–Spring beauty and nostalgia

Spent Easter with my sister in Ohio. The Mayflowers springing up in the woods took me right back to my NJ childhood. I guess I’ve always loved spring for all its fresh wonder.

Back home in Powell River our apple tree was in full dress…and yes! the lone wild currant bush by the sea was still there, still beautiful!

2015–Leaving our home on the Sunshine Coast for temporary quarters inland…

2016–Making a home in the Canadian Rockies

We were welcomed to the Bow Valley by fuzzy pussies and a chorus of Prairie Crocuses!

2017–And one more…

Yesterday this bright beauty arrived at my door, the thoughtful gift of good neighbors who are moving away.
Did they know how I am craving color?!

Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.

Praise the LORD; for his mercy endureth for ever.

Psa 90:1-2; II Chron.20;21

Even Solomon in all his glory…

Posted on June 25, 2016April 29, 2017 by lindaskelton

The wedding was beautiful. My niece was lovely. Her bridesmaids were radiant…

Then everyone went home and I was left with time to browse through the rose garden at Colonial Park with my aunt…

……and the next day to wander alone down the historic Delaware/Raritan Canal tow path in the land of my childhood.

It was splendid!

Ginormous snapping turtles lounged on logs all along the way defying my efforts to capture their likeness…Lush growth of poison ivy kept me from getting too close….

All the while the heady sweet scent of honeysuckle accompanied me.

When I reached Bound Brook I found the grand building that was once my grade school,

and the old library where I sat in the Children’s Department one Saturday forty-some years ago and learned to crochet!

For lunch I found an old sub shop on Main Street, that’s been there forever, and got myself an authentic Italian Sub before having a quiet meander through the ancient cemetery beside the library……reading old gravestones with their stately fonts and quaint orthography…

”The Church We Say hath Suffurd
Dere Frind By your Deceace.
The Crown is Won theres no more …
For you But Endless Peace.
As you are now So once was I…
Helth and Strenth though here [I lie]…
and as I am now So you must Be.
Prepare for Death and Follow me.”

“Here lies what is mortal of James Harris who died Aug.1,1813 in the 59 year of his age.
Confined by death to shade of night,
He lies conceal’d from mortal sight.
Till Jesus from the lofty skies,
Shall bid his slumb’ring dust arise.”

“To the memory of John Runyon son of Peter and Phebe Runyon who died Sept.11th 1822 aged 6 years and 2 months. His fond parents has erected this humble monument.”

Earlier in the week I walked with my mom through the graveyard where my own kin and those of my friends are buried—all these saints who have gone before us to what is truly glory. It sits beside the old church building we called ‘The Assembly Hall’ where I prayed at the altar to ask Jesus to be my Saviour when I was just 10 or so…

Lindy Lake lies just beyond. Here I skated in winter and counted goslings in summer, had school picnics, picked strawberries and passed by endlessly walking home from school or just taking a lovely walk…But alas, not a decent picture have I. It’s best in the mind’s eye I suppose.

Well… it was a wonderful and nostalgic trip ‘home’ to Zarephath, NJ, the perfect occasion to see cousins I haven’t seen in a dozen years—seems to take a wedding (or a funeral) to gather us from hither and yon! I will spare you all the pictures of kith and kin, except for these three…

of siblings (and Mom!),

of COUSINS!

and of my favorite sister!!

I end on this curious note—I love this little vent sitting quietly and unnoticed over the decades looking like a mushroom. I wonder if anyone has thought to take a picture of it before now…

‘Tis all for now–

–LS