I can’t get enough of leaves! These, from my favorite maple tree. This year I have my own sapling from one of its seeds, so maybe one year these multi-colored wonders will fall in my own yard!
And always, the Big-leaf Maples are a wonder…esp. in a dark fir and cedar wood where they fall with such a splash of color…
Our trails this week took us to this very cool bridge…
…in the middle of a very green wood with its lush moss carpeting…
…and a HOST of mushrooms (and toadstools?) These tiny blue ones were the bluest I’ve ever seen (sorry for the blur; it was a dark woods)
… and they come in purple too!
Now here’s one happy host!
But these are the prize ones that keep people foraging and later feasting!
Chanterelles. Very tasty.
And this little fellow came along for the ride home with the chanterelles…
But now we’ve left the wet and wonderful mushroom coast, leaving behind the rainy gray for sunny blue skies and mountains dappled in gold with the first frosting of snow on their heights. Awesome. 
—LS
Tag: Nature
My Father’s World
It’s one of my happiest pastimes to go out walking, looking to find the gifts of beauty God has for me today… here are this week’s finds:
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This is my Father’s world, and to my listening ear all nature sings…
and round me rings the music of the spheres.
This is my Father’s world: I rest me in the thought of rocks and trees, 
.
of skies and seas—
His hand the wonders wrought.
This is my Father’s world: He shines in all that’s fair;
In the rustling grass I hear Him pass,
He speaks to me everywhere.
–Maltbie D. Babcock (1858-1901)
“The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything….He is actually not far from each one of us, for ‘in Him we live and move and have our being.’ “(Acts 17:24-27)
May you find Him as near as your next breath as you look for His fingerprints in all that surrounds you.
–LS
Green on Blue
Well, the climbing muscles just aren’t what they used to be. Our little Scout has become more of a breathless hurdle than it should be, so I’m thinking that getting up there once a week would be good for both body and soul. I took the opportunity Monday to do it in the company of sunshine.
Nothing particularly new here but the snatches of snow in shady spots. The sun was glorious though and this time I had an unexpected visit at the top with another solo woman hiker. We chatted of trails and bears and cougars and our common choice to hike despite the potential danger, just for the love of it. She said she would just as soon be killed by a cougar as a car. Hmm…not sure I’m into either option.
There’s something artistic about these little manzanita bushes with their peeling bark and cinnamon colored skin…
and green on blue is always lovely. Thankfully, the arbutus has kept her leaves all winter.
“Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD. He is like a tree planted by water,…[which] does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green…” (Jer.17:7,8)
Blessings on your climbs and reposes in the SON this week. May your leaves remain green and your roots be well-watered .
Till next time,
–LS