This good land…

Had to head into the city to do business this past weekend…

I love this bridge and its many happy associations from bygone days when our family was just coming into being.  We lived (temporarily, with Jim’s folks) on one side. The doctor and  hospital on the other.  And right beside the bridge was our favorite park for stopping after the doctor visit  to feed the ducks.  If you were lucky you could entice a wild black squirrel to scamper up your pant leg for a peanut too… Those were sweet days…
P1050118

And then there was the Quay in walking distance from the house…
P1050170

… and always the tugs…P1050165

There was another special park not far away with the lovely name of Ambleside.  It conjures pictures in my mind to this day of being great with child, our firstborn, and stopping there in the chill fall air, in my great wool Indian sweater and forever baggy sweats to amble a bit…

P1050123

P1050122

We took a stroll there, just the two of us again, this weekend…crisp biting breeze, gorgeous view of the Inlet, with the sun sinking in the west silhouetting the handsome freighters bound for distant lands…

P1050133
P1050126

We headed home the following day…

P1050175A hungry gull spied us on deck munching our cold roast beef.  Almost looked like he’d eat out of my hand…but that bill just doesn’t look too friendly!  I tossed his tidbit to the wind…
P1050177

Home again, we’ve had some brilliant sunny days of chill below-zero weather.  Perfect for walks that make your cheeks glow  (and your nose run!)

P1050218little bird

…while little birds twitter in the foliage and every ordinary thing seems more beautiful against the white of snow…
P1050219P1050231
May your days too hold such beauty and such peace.
–LS
“…though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land.” Is.1:18,19

Homestyle days…

I’ve been home just a week tonight.  I find it a wonder to be able to traverse in hours distances that would have been unthinkable to all the generations before us… Anyway, left Alaska with winter seeming imminent…
P1030769
…and came home to take my weekly Saturday prayer hike in our lushly carpeted woodlands.  It’s mushroom picking season and we gleaned some chanterelles in the process, and had a little lunch break on these rustic little ‘toadstools’ in the middle of nowhere…
P1030779local shag
P1030783
Canadians jump the gun on Thanksgiving celebration so Monday we marked our pumpkin harvest with homemade pie and the classic accompaniments…Our garden also contributed the potatoes,tomatoes, sage and table decorations, oh! and the apples for the apple pie!… The best part was having all the kids (minus Micah of course)  around the table for another year.
P1030798
Cycling days are another commodity not to be taken for granted at this time of year.  We had one of those glorious bright fall afternoons today and got to accompany our very own MP (Member of Parliament) on a promotional ride to catch the ferry—He’s “riding his riding” and was glad for the company.  A local bike shop saved the day when John needed an emergency pedal replacement enroute!
P1030809
And tonight just when I thought the possibility for picture-taking gone, God tinted the sunset to catch my eye and give me just one more…
P1030813
“Praise the LORD! Praise God in His sanctuary; Praise Him in His mighty firmament!”  Ps.150:1
–LS
“One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple.” Ps. 27:4

Of Trackless Slopes…

There’s something tantalizing about the squeaky s-c-runch of dry new fallen snow.  I set out with extra bundling –two pairs of socks, two pairs of pants, two wool sweaters, gloves and wool mittens–for a quick walk this afternoon.  The weather has snapped cold on us with a bracing rosy-cheek sort of  tang we’re not used to here.  It would have been an ordinary walk up through a wooded trail and around the loop and home except for…

IMG_7143

Winter’s glory!  Entering the woods with the branches topped deliciously with dollops of snow I had to slow my pace and stop for this picture and that one, and then another…

IMG_7133

IMG_7136 IMG_7137

Glorious day!  The sky had turned blue and the winterscape brilliant.  My walk became a series of steps and stops to look again and click the shutter.  This was wonderful enough. But then the trail turned to skirt the foot of Scout Mountain.

IMG_7144

And I saw the trackless slope upward…. meaning I could be the first up the mountain in the snow.  You have to understand how this hike is transformed in the snow.  There are no longer jutting rocks, or mossy ledges,  only snow-capped trees and underbrush and  gently mounding snow obliterating the trail and inviting my footprints.   I love snow days on Scout.  How could I resist this alluring detour?  I thought, maybe I’ll just go up part way and then circle back down…There’ll be time for that… And without further thought we set our sights on the climb.  Good old Louie took the lead.  Dogs are so amazing.  They don’t need to see the trail, they seem to have it memorized. Or perhaps they smell it? and off they go.  Huffing and puffing behind I had occasion to think what a sweet thing it is to have a Shepherd through life…when storms come and cover familiar trails, the Shepherd knows the way still and leads us forward… He goes ahead, alert for danger, forever with us and looking out for us.

IMG_7148

The hike did not disappoint.  Sub-freezing temp’s couldn’t begin to touch the heat generated in the climb.  The brilliant blue of sky, the sparkling white of snow, the silhouettes of branches trimmed in white…kept luring the camera from my pocket and slowing my steps… IMG_7146IMG_7157IMG_7154IMG_7150

…Until at some point I realized the sky’s blue had faded and the sun was glowing peach and gold.

IMG_7163    IMG_7162 IMG_7170

And what goes up must come down.  Picture-taking took a back pocket to just getting to the top!  And mental calculations, judging from the spot at which the sun hung above the horizon, suggested the direct descent down the face of Scout would be the most timely option for getting home,

IMG_7172

scary or not… here we come.  No pictures of this part.  The slipping, scooting, sliding, hollering at Louie to ‘wait up!’, slithering, shuffling, sitting! (oops) and finally the destination—the great green field, now a great white sheet.  And the shepherd, having led the way, now had abandoned his charge in his own urgency to make haste home to his dinner and bed!  Well, he hadn’t quite abandoned.  His retreating figure caught my eye in time to hail him down and insist he accompany me home on his tether… By now the fiery glow of sun was spent, leaving just a haze of pink backlighting the wintry world.

IMG_7179

My cheeks felt the glow instead in the bite of wintry wind.  And I was as eager as my dog to hurry home over the squeaking crunch of cast-off snow.

–LS