Stopping to See…

We were on our way home last week, driving through Kootenay National Park. I was ready to be home.  But Jim suggested we stop and see what this ‘Marble Canyon’ sign was pointing out.  I’m so glad we did!

There was more there than met the eye from the highway…At first it was just another stream, albeit a beautiful turquoise blue one…

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And more dead pine trees (amazing what a beetle is capable of!)…
These ones stood like teeth on a comb…P1170802P1170804

But there were flowers along the way…P1170845P1170846P1170818P1170810

And then we came to this impressive slot canyon with water rushing through…

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Just an everyday sight to this picnicking critter.

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But well worth stopping to see.

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..before we proceeded on down to the valley

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–LS

And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight…Ex.3:3

April NEWs…

All new by spring’s morning light…

P1140348I slipped into my gum boots for a tromp out back to check on the skunk cabbage–sure harbinger of bears to come.

 P1140350And on the way I got caught up on all the latest NEWs…

The willow’s coming out of mourning.

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Rhubarb is emerging, crinkly new, rousing hopes of mouth-watering desserts to come…

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The bushy willows further back are bearing pussies…

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And the huckleberries have put on their dainties.

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And yes, the skunk cabbage is up,

wafting it’s malodorous wake-up call to all the ursidae family far and near.

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We’re sure to have bears before long…

–LS

The flowers appear on the earth, the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove [It’s FROGS for us!] is heard in our land. Song of Solomon 2:12

The trudge

I was tired of walking—really, trudging is what it had become.

I guess I was just tired…Sunday afternoons are made for resting aren’t they?  The sun had lured me out the door but my energy was flagging…a cold coming on perhaps?

P1140303 So I turned off the beaten track and settled myself on a little rise amongst the barren poplars…overlooking the sea just beyond–

P1140310  And I pulled out my new book of Robert Frost’s poems (on my Kindle, of course)…and I just sat there warmed by sunshine, lulled by a trickle of water close by, and browsed among neatly laid lines of words for awhile, and read—of roses, and hayfields, of woods, and of butterflies, sorrow and love. I’ve always like Frost’s way of putting things.

And I sat silent for awhile, wordless and content to have found a spot to soak in sun.

P1140315 Eventually, treading my way home, I turned aside at the little abandoned quarry—a pocket of water and silence.  Louie used to stop here for a drink on our walks. It’s been a long while.

I was wishing I were home already.  Tired of walking.  Tired of old tired roads.

A little further along I saw a track uphill I had never noticed before.   Who can resist a new trail to an unknown destination?

P1140322Curiosity overcame tired legs and up we went…

P1140323 It was just a short climb to a tabletop of stone with a panoramic view. So that’s how you get here!  I’d always seen this lone fir on its rocky promontory from the highway and wondered…P1140324

Now I know!

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Sweet surprise for an afternoon’s trudge.

–LS

Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun.” Eccl 11:7 KJV

P.S.  If you enjoy Robert Frost’s poetry, don’t miss his first anthology, A Boy’s Will, available free online at BooksShouldBeFree.com