All the rest! – Page 2 – Skelton Sketches

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

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