It beats going to the Gym!

To look at the pictures, you would wonder why I balk at the thought of getting out and getting some exercise…

 

But I do, often. A wall of inertia must be overcome to drag this comfort loving home-body out into the elements. There are so many factors to consider:

The COLD. The bundling up just right but not too much. The fear that this will be the time I fall and hurt something, or suffer some cataclysmic life-changing event. Then there is the sheer work of it.  (X-country skiing may be about g-l-i-d-i-n-g but first there is the push, and it is most definitely WORK. Ditto that for snowshoeing, only there is no glide!)  All these factors rise up in protest at the prospect of getting out in the wild white outdoors.  Oh how grateful I am for Jim’s sanctifying leadership!  He sees to it that my objections do not win out and I am almost 100% of the time grateful to have gotten out and gotten some scenery-laden exercise!

The Highline Trail, Canmore:

 

Sundance Canyon, Banff

 (*I have loved a wonky picture since my first roll of film with my Brownie camera)

Upper Bankhead, Banff:   

Lake Minnewanka…

Home–the place I love best.  The fire-pit out front vanished (almost!) this week:

–LS

Return, O my soul, to your rest; for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you.
For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling;
I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living. Ps.116:7-9 ESV

 

Johnston Canyon in January

Every season has its beauty.  A canyon in summer is quite another thing than those same rock walls and water in a deep freeze. 

 

Now we come well-bundled and walk gingerly wearing ice grippers, very glad of the fresh snow to give traction to the icy pavement underneath. (pictured: Jim and his sister)

 

 

Frozen waterfalls inspire different responses in different folks; I am content with snapping pictures.

 

Others must climb them!

 

 

 

 But though a weekend outing is lovely, my best days are home-body days.

With winter’s progress the sun’s ascent has shifted so that the light slants in through one little window for just a bit in the morning. I time taking out the garbage to catch its rays while it crosses the dip in the mountains that otherwise block its radiance…  

And I find that there is nothing quite so exquisite in winter as sunshine on the eyelids–it is balm to the soul!

–LS

Light is sweet, and it is pleasant for the eyes to see the sun. Eccl.11:7 ESV

Snow-play!

The most I’ve every ‘sculpted’ with snow is a snowman, and mostly those happened by watching kids out the window while I prepared the cocoa and shortbread for the after-party!

 –a rare snow day in the Arizona desert, way back when…

–a snowbear for Rachel on a special snowy day in Powell River!

–other snow people I have met on walks back in Powell River days…

But in this land of eternal winters (not really…) they think up bigger things to do with snow and ice…This week is Banff’s Snow Days festival and they’ve lured in top world-wide competitors to show us their skill.  We had the grandkids for the weekend so after we were done sledding out front of our house we headed to Banff to have a look-see. It was incredible!

The textured detail of this wolf is remarkable enough but when you stroll around the backside…you get a peek inside the mind of a wolf!

Contestants from Alaska created this version of a Homesteader…

 

 

 

And always there must be a bear…

And our little dear…

–LS

“See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. And I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, to design artistic works, to work in gold, in silver, in bronze, in cutting jewels for setting, in carving wood, and to work in all manner of workmanship.” Ex.31:2-5 NKJV

God’s image in man is seen still, in the sculpting of SNOW!