A trail to hike
A quiet lake…
lost in its own reflections.
A walk around
A sit above
Upside-down trees below.
A waiting canoe…
A skim-coat of ice beckoning…
A feathery ice-scape…
And our man-powered icebreaker …
All made for a great sunny afternoon adventure, together.
--LS
For the life of me, I could find nothing photo worthy today, or yesterday or the day before... It’s just January in our sleepy backwater. The evergreens are still green, the rest of the trees still quite bare and the water still wet… What more can I say? (or see?)
Reflections are deeper and more somber at this time of year, both in the swamp out back and in my head—but nothing very picturesque!
I did see a robin today, which is a hopeful sign! And there might have been a picture of a chubby little gray bird with his creamy bib had he stayed still for a few seconds…but he flitted off.
So, I leave you instead a tip for getting off to a good start on very ordinary days that hold no particular promise of great things to come.
Pick up some steel-cut oats (Costco carries them now!). Soak a cupful overnight in a couple cups of water…and in the morning after just a few minutes of cooking…voila, comfort food!
Add a sprinkle of Turbinado Sugar for just the right sparkle and crunch. For the record, I don’t use it because it’s less refined than white, it’s just prettier, tastier, and well, crunchier!
Oh, how a proper bowl of oatmeal warms and brightens an otherwise very ordinary day! Try it and see.
Here’s wishing you many winter mornings warmed with steaming bowls full of steel-cut oats ( :
--LS
Broom and bramble compete to obscure the way, but twin firs mark it still…
The Lake gleams far below where sun has shot through clouds’ billowing defenses…
Young trees rise to conquer the once-cleared slope…
Boats and their houses lie safely snugged in quiet harbor lolling below…
While a gut-wrenchingly forlorn bray rends the air as if speaking for the whole of creation: “How long, Lord, how long?”
“For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now…Even so, come Lord Jesus.” (Rom.8:22; Rev.22:20)
--LS
“At twenty, you want to save the world. At forty, you want to be saved from it.”—Robert Bruce
"The world is charged with the grandeur of God.
It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?*
Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;
And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;
And wears man's smudge and shares man's smell: the soil
Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.
And for all this, nature is never spent;
There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;
And though the last lights off the black West went
Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs--
Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings."
--by Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889)
I’m grateful for the Spirit of God who makes those He inhabits to be lights in dark places despite themselves! Shine on!
--LS
Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." Jn.8:12 ESV
"You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Mt.5:14 ESV
------------------------
*"reck His rod" = heed His divine authority
Edited from the Archives--Dec.3,2010
The pages of another calendar have become obsolete.
The seasons have cycled ‘round once again through a familiar succession of blooms…
to the less familiar territory of settling into being just the two of us again…
With our last child leaving home, my homeschooling career ended.
My own travels took me to the two largest states in the Union this year—Alaska and Texas…
…in pursuit of family, the best reason to travel!
Boating was minimal for us this year.
“Chase Me” has changed hands and been fitted with new sails for racing that proudly bear the name of our first grandson, Chase, born four years ago when we purchased and christened this Cal28.
Her new owners love her and eagerly relate their latest exploits every time we bump into them around town!
Ironically, No sooner had we sold our sailboat, then we joined our progeny for a house boating vacation-- hopefully just the first of many happy reunions, now that we’re all so grown up!
And the year concluded with my Grandmom quiver expanding to include one more little guy--Cedrick!
whom we have yet to meet… 
A New Year’s priority is to travel to see him and his happy siblings!
What else will the year hold?
Hopefully more rides…
more moments for reflecting…
more noticing the small things that brighten a day…
And always, the glorious hope of better things yet to come!
May your New Year be crowned with blessings
such as only the Giver of all good things can give!
--LS
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world…”Ephesians 1:3-4 KJV
“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ” Titus 2:13 KJV
