November 11, 2011

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

November 3, 2011

Nature in the city…

P1040033What is a country girl to do in a city on the wide open prairies?    Cityscapes are picturesque, it’s true, and the sky is big here…skyline
But it’s the trees that I miss.  A home without a tree would be forlorn indeed!  Fortunately, just out the window is this bright angel, changing with the seasons...
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walk
…and just a little walk away I found these other bright bits of nature, even in the city.
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You have to stop and look to see it sometimes, but clambering up a chain link fence was this floofy wonder—a weed, no doubt, now gone to seed!—luminous in its old age.
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   Speaking of seeds… found these hanging on for a more propitious time to fall.
                 And lo and behold, what an optimistic tree, flaunting buds with winter ready to set in!
seeds                                     buds
And how about this striking beauty?!
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and the radiant gold at her feet…
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Maybe the city isn’t so bad with views like this…
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Even the fire hydrants are kinda cute in their chic neon green with black caps and bellies…
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Nature is alive and well, even in the city.
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Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the LORD hath dealt bountifully with thee. Ps.116:7
--LS