Sure signs of fall’s approach…

The first snowfall is visible on top of the Grotto range this morning–when I can get a glimpse of it through the blankets of cloud cover!  And… the elk have mustered the courage to graze on my doorstep by night, eliminating all my violas and pansies, leaving me with my bedraggled snapdragons and hardy marigolds.  T-shirt temperatures have plunged to necessitate extra layers for the send-off of summer.  And I am plucking from this month’s archives some of its finer moments…

 

We live in old Coal Mining Territory and every once in a while you run across a reminder…

 

The skies have one glory, the flowers another…

Grotto Canyon…

I’ve been taking a closer look at all manner of flowers (and weeds!) this month…

   

This little love-ly is the sweet smelling, evening-bloomer, white cockle. Bane to farmers, and banned from our yards, but not from my sketchbook ( :

Another banned blessing to bumblebees…

The old goat has lost his beard…

Late summer’s bounty–wild raspberries!

And some strange insipid white ones…

And in the city, wildly brilliant crabapples!

We’ve endured a LOT of smoke this month which lends a certain mystique to the mountains but other than that has been an unwelcome result of lightning-lit fires throughout BC.

This too shall pass with the approach of fall and its close kin, winter.

I am happy to have preserved some flowers from summer’s bounty!

–LS

For the beauty of the earth, 
for the glory of the skies, 
for the love which from our birth 
over and around us lies. 

For the wonder of each hour 
of the day and of the night, 
hill and vale and tree and flower, 
sun and moon and stars of light… 

Refrain: 
Christ, our Lord, to you we raise 
this, our hymn of grateful praise. 

–Folliott Sandford Pierpoint (1864)

 

 

 

 

2016 in Review

I am ready for a New Year.  The old one sputtered to a finish with colds and flu that made this the quietest holiday ever—just the two of us commiserating, napping, and idling about hoping to feel better in the morning, for days and weeks…P1220903

So, I am glad to be able to look back to sweeter memories of the old year and thankful for the energetic times we’ve had and the good things God has done for us in it!

We were still living with Jim’s dad in the BC Kootenays last year at this time and loving all the snow and learning to X-country ski in a pristine wooded wilderness.  It was amazing!

IMG_20160220_122640123 All through January and February we skiied and I discovered doodling…IMG_20160104_221802890P1190843

Then came an opportunity to live and work nearer the Calgary kids and the end of March found us exploring Canmore, Alberta.

IMG_20160330_151243778_HDRwhere Jim became a bicycle mechanic!

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April 1 we moved into a sweet little suite…

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with the help of this great moving crew!

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It’s been a dream come true to live just an hour away from them all ( :

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The spring found me hiking with new found acquaintances…

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Finding my first Prairie Crocuses…

Crocus chorus

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…scaling a couple peaks nearest our home with Jim…

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And taking it easy on the neighboring golf course as I recovered from Shingles!

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There has been so much to discover…

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And always the stately Three Sisters providing the backdrop from our doorstep…

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A niece’s summer wedding was the perfect opportunity to return to my childhood home in New Jersey…

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and see family…

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Siblings

and all the wonderful cousins I grew up with!

Weaver Cousins

 

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This is my sis (could you guess?)

Then back in Alberta there was more hiking—and our first hike in a hail storm!

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And there were visitors, both people and animals…

deer with fuzzy new headgear

And flowers blooming on my doorstep…

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In August our middle daughter married, luring us back to Powell River for the occasion!

Sarah and Jim down the aisleour family2

And we got to meet our newest grandbaby girl for the first time!the latest addition to our family

 

new grandbaby, Alexis

Then back home to the mountains…

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And hikes with the kids…

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And endless views…IMG_20160901_114248794_HDR

And then it was fall rutting season and the stately elk were back in our yard, plundering my flowers and providing awesome scenery!

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The meadow mellowed…

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And the aspens began to turn…

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And the mountains got their winter powder…

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Leaves turning gave inspiration for art all through September…

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And with October’s coming we had our first dusting of snow in the yard…

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The elk came calling often…

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And the trees out the window made beautiful silhouettes…

Evening falling silhouette

And finally, in October we got to take a trip north to see that new grandbaby in her home  ( :

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October had its inspiring moments…

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And November its practice alphabets…

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And the cross-country season opened at the local Nordic Center!

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And holiday time came round again…the most low-key holiday ever and one we gladly leave behind to get on with a new year and a new season in our lives…

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…a cold one!  But not without a beauty all its own…

Skiing the meadow

Thanks for joining me for the reminisce! ( :

–LS

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. Ps.90:1-2

In the Neighborhood…

 

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The elk seem quite at home in our neighborhood these days.  I was sitting on the couch minding my own business the other morning when up popped a head at the window—it was a young one, just curious I suppose.

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He was out grazing on our lawn with his mom and aunties…P1220669

Papa was keeping an eye on things.

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Another day I watched as this gentleman waited to cross the road safely…

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The herd likes to hang out in the meadow just across the street behind our house.  So I hung out watching them one crisp and quiet morning…

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Peaceful and uneventful.

There are no more flowers about,  but this one has a special beauty even after the bloom—isn’t this true of some people you know too?

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Gray hair is a crown of glory; it is gained in a righteous life. Prov.16:31ESV

Well, evening has fallen and I best be getting supper on the table. That’s it for this week!

Evening falling silhouette

–LS

For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 
For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
Rom 1:19-20 ESV