FAMILY – Page 8 – Skelton Sketches

A cup of Tea?

Posted on August 27, 2016April 29, 2017 by lindaskelton

Summer will not long be with us. Already a dusting of snow has appeared on the mountain ranges around us. So we’ve squeezed in a few hikes this month…I’ll let you guess which was my favorite!

Up, Up and UP we went to find the fabled ‘Teahouse’ on Lady MacDonald, which rises just across the highway from town…

The ascent was a doozer, steep and relentless, and we never did find the teahouse, only a helicopter pad…

Had we read more closely we would have realized that the elusive teahouse was never completed. This failed enterprise of some tycoon visionary was demolished a few years back. All that remains is the helicopter pad that would have saved the diners an arduous hike!

But had we come just a few years sooner we might have seen this:

[from Internet archives…]

Climbing three thousand feet in under 2 1/2 miles is difficult but the descent was at least as bad!

My quads complained for days! They are accustomed to pedaling, not climbing and descending.

At least now I can point to this mountainand tell you just where the helicopter pad sits and how once-upon-a-time we climbed up to it…

Well, that was last week. Hoping to ‘lock in’ these climbing muscles we went for another summit in Banff a couple days ago—Sulphur Mountain.

We once took the gondola but not this time.

A seemingly endless series of switchbacks tamed the 2,283 feet of rise, spreading it nicely over 3 1/2 miles. And this time there was a real coffeehouse at the top from which to survey the expanse of Banff

and to wait out a passing squall.

Then we hustled down the mountain to dine at McD’s and hurry home to get ready for the kids coming for a birthday celebration!

With them we did another sweeter hike the following day.

This time, just 2.8 miles round trip and just 853 feet of rise, but with smaller feet and shorter legs it was a triumph for all!

The rock faces around Grassi Lakes are a rock climber’s destination, so some of us tried a hand at that too…

It was a splendid day!

Ho-ho cake anyone?

–LS

Go and walk through the land, and describe it, and come again to me… Joshua 18:8

Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O LORD, in the light of thy countenance. Ps.89:15

Our Princess has found her prince…

Posted on August 17, 2016April 29, 2017 by lindaskelton

And we gathered from far and near as a family to witness their wedding…

and to celebrate family, new and old!

We shared sunshine and a bit of rain, picnics, walks, water and wonder…

There was laughter, and there were tears…

And way too soon we parted ways again for our separate worlds…

We are grateful for all that God has done for us. Children are a heritage from Him.

–LS

“Let your work be shown to your servants, and your glorious power to their children.

Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us,

and establish the work of our hands upon us;

yes, establish the work of our hands!”

Ps.90:16,17

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