It’s been too long

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I haven’t done much hiking this last while since the demise of my hiking companion. And I stopped rambling the trails over across the highway even before that.  They seemed to be overrun with bears and I decided to leave them to it.  But now that winter’s coming, the bears are slowing down and disappearing and I decided to take the risk. You can be the judge of whether it was worth it…

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This area was clear-cut a few years back and has become host to Trailing Blackberry—a cousin to the great thorny variety I suppose, but smaller and more fragrant and more exquisite in essence.  I didn’t realize how richly colored their leaves could turn.
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But here we are at the long-missed destination—‘The Bench’
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And all I could think besides Thank-you God; it’s BEAUTIFUL! …
was, “It’s been too long!”  Sooo good to get back here and sit a bit and gaze…
P1040228It wasn’t as dark as my camera portrays. It was as though there was a stage and the stage light was shining down through the curtain of cloud…

The shimmer of light on water was glorious.  And I thought, how fitting that both light and water are symbolic of the Lord—the light of the world  by His Spirit flowing from us in streams of living water water…
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Now for a look around to see the little glories…
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Refreshed, I headed home pausing along the path as colors caught my eye.

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We’ve had a particularly colorful and extended Fall season this year.  A delight to the eye.  And somehow food for the soul…

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This was the most peculiar little wonder of all, a sort of Huckleberry Hoodie.  Have never seen anything like it, don’t quite know what ‘happened’ but here these berries are way beyond their season, all huddled together under a vagrant leaf…curious.
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One never knows what one will find when traipsing about in God’s creation….No sign of bears, only God’s fingerprints were everywhere!
–LS
For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea. Habakkuk 2:14

The Finest Moments

Some of the finest moments of summer are the ones…

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…spent lying like a beached whale soaking up sunshine.  The water’s frigid this year;  only kids and well-insulated adults stay in for more than a few minutes. But the sun is hot and it’s nice to know the water’s there.  So we try to get away as many afternoons as we can to some beach or other to store up Vitamin D for winter…

But sometimes we wonder why we bother to leave the house when we have our own park right out back.  And it is quite fine to have a picnic and tea right there…

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The bees and moths are busy doing the same thing, (well, not the tea) quite unmindful of the messiness of my happy  tangle of a garden.  They love the flowers best, as do I.

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For the first time this year I grew tomatillos  and hot little peppers.  Made a wee batch of our own garden-grown Salsa Verde last night.  With fresh cilantro and a touch of lime it brought back memories of Mexico and was so yummy there was no chance to get a picture!

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“I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God’s gift to man.”
–Eccl.3:12,13

God’s gallery…

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Well, I made my way up Scout solo for the first time, (handicapped hound left at home),
distracted from my aloneness by the beauty along the way…

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burgundy

Cinderella

purple

(Here is finery fit for a bride!)

wedding finery

And discovering in the process that there is no aloneness when  the Artist Himself guides the tour…

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“One thing have I asked 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 gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to meditate in his temple.” (Ps.27:4)


–LS