Parents and Kids and Cousins and all the related get-togethers
We said our Au Revoirs and headed north yesterday for a visit with Son #2 and his Fiancee… 
Leaving the prairies for the formidable passes… 
with their freshly fallen (and falling!) snow…
And awesome roadside fortresses…
We were glad when the day brightened…
…making for Spectacular Views…
But the end in view was this…
–LS
“House and wealth are inherited from fathers, but a prudent wife is from the Lord.” Pr.19:14
“A wise son makes a glad father…” Pr.10:1
The pages of another calendar have become obsolete.
The seasons have cycled ‘round once again through a familiar succession of blooms…
to the less familiar territory of settling into being just the two of us again…
…after 30 years.
With our last child leaving home, my homeschooling career ended.
My own travels took me to the two largest states in the Union this year—Alaska and Texas…
…in pursuit of family, the best reason to travel!
Boating was minimal for us this year.
“Chase Me” has changed hands and been fitted with new sails for racing that proudly bear the name of our first grandson, Chase, born four years ago when we purchased and christened this Cal28.
Her new owners love her and eagerly relate their latest exploits every time we bump into them around town!
Ironically, No sooner had we sold our sailboat, then we joined our progeny for a house boating vacation– hopefully just the first of many happy reunions, now that we’re all so grown up!
And the year concluded with my Grandmom quiver expanding to include one more little guy–Cedrick!
whom we have yet to meet… 
A New Year’s priority is to travel to see him and his happy siblings!
What else will the year hold?
Can’t quite see from this vantage point…
Hopefully more rides…
more moments for reflecting…
more noticing the small things that brighten a day…
And always, the glorious hope of better things yet to come!
May your New Year be crowned with blessings
such as only the Giver of all good things can give!
–LS
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world…”Ephesians 1:3-4 KJV
“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ” Titus 2:13 KJV
Well, it really did come—September 11, the inauspicious day for our last nestling to fly.
And the ferry came and took us all away to the big city for the scheduled flight…
We spent a last day together—shopping for nothing, eating for ‘special’ and sleeping, but not too soundly or too long.
Then in the dark early morning hours we boarded the hotel shuttle and in a flash we were at Airport Security, having a last huddle, and a last prayer together, but not last tears…
And she was gone.
We two parentlings did the only reasonable thing after that (though admittedly not the intuitive notion for a mother bird so recently deprived of the fledgling in her care). We went back to the hotel and back to sleep till a more sensible hour to face such a day.
And when we had woken and eaten we rallied our resources and went pedaling along one of the flattest pieces of this earth—the dike of the local estuary over which the airplanes take off to far-flung places…
And we found we could still breath and pedal and enjoy this brilliant bit of Indian Summer so graciously provided for our pleasure on a bittersweet day. Not a hint of melancholy in this sort of weather!
But knowing there will be others, I made a priority of shopping for a raincoat that will remove any excuse for getting out when the rains return and I most need a walk to rouse me from my reverie!
Having done that we headed for the ferry and a happy peaceful reflective wait in the nearby village… 
And it was good to be just us two again, after all these years. The arriving late to a hauntingly empty house was harder, but there was grace… The day came, and passed and we have survived, so far. God has been gracious to us!
–LS
How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings. Ps.36:7