Sky Scenery

Since January we've only had seven tenths of an inch of rain.
Everything green is in shock. No lawn mowers. No harvest.

Black cattle graze parched, yellow fields.

This morning the air was still and heavy--humid, gray and promising, but it wasn't until afternoon that rain came, a splashing and pouring, straight-down drench. Not much moisture, just a tiny taste, but rain, nonetheless.

I attended a function thirty miles out of town, and as I drove back in around seven o'clock, I pulled over to take some pictures of an unusual sky.

To the East there was a fan-shaped light in the clouds. That seemed odd because the sun was in the West.

Above and to the South large puff-ball cloud shapes hung lazily and shone as if full of light.

Toward the Southwest, a calm sunset quietly took place as if there weren't large hail and tornado spins an hour away from here.

Orville and Wilbur and Mimsy

I had to add a picture at the end of this one to make it long enough for movie maker to edit. Here's another one that's amusing. I guess I could call it cooperation. They aren't really playing the melody here, but I think they are getting the rhythm.

Take Somebody With You

It's always easier to do a hike if you take someone with you. That way, if you are balanced on a shaky bit of rock and they have already negotiated that particular route and are on solid ground, they can extend a hand to steady you and prevent a nasty skid into a patch of cactus, which grows wherever there's a bit of damp algae and may boast fragile flowers but isn't really friendly to human limbs.




It's difficult to comprehend the size of the Eagles' aerie from the valley. Those rocks which look like a little mound of pebbles are really huge boulders jutting out into the sky. There's only one way to appreciate it. Climb up there.

I took Turtle along and we helped each other find the trail, which had a habit of disappearing into pockets of scrub and thinning out over vales of rock face.

We didn't get too close to the aerie; Turtle didn't want to incense the eagles and give my blog the exciting ending it really needed for this post. Oh well. I did get a lot of great pictures as they flew overhead.

Look Behind You Every Now and Then

Since the trail was a winding one, with areas of almost flat meadow, there came a time when I was unsure of the path. You may be too. And you may ask yourself:

"Am I still climbing? Is this trail going up or down?"
The best way to judge this is to look at the path behind you.
Turn around and see where you came from.
Are you higher today than you were yesterday?
Do the things you left in the valley seem smaller?
If so, you are climbing. Keep going.

Seek the Old Paths

I thought of our graduating seniors as I began my hike to the top of Quartz Mountain...all those days they had sat and listened to my advice, and so many things I didn't find time to discuss with them.
They are beginning a journey, a climb, if you will, and an adventure of the best sort, so every bit of instruction I was telling myself seemed amplified and meaningful for their journey also.

There was a trail head, of course, where every aspiring climber began. The path was well worn at first by the feet of those who only wanted to climb a few feet higher so they could get a better picture of the lake. After a few steep sections, however, it was little more than a line of flattened grass that sometimes faded away entirely. Still, if I looked for it, to the left, the right, or ahead, I found it, and was rewarded with an easier way to scale a rugged ravine or a way around a shower of crumbly rock. Someone who had climbed before me had found the best way up; and lots of climbers since then had concurred.

Life will be like that too. Sometimes you need to look around and see where the old paths run. Think about those people you respect--those who haven't made a wreck of their lives or an avalanche for others. What trail did they take? Can you see it? Did their footprints bend any grass? That trail may save you time and trouble. Seek the old paths.

Jeremiah 6:16
Thus says the LORD: “ Stand in the ways and see, And ask for the old paths, where the good way is, And walk in it; Then you will find rest for your souls.

Soaring with the Eagles

On our end-of-the-year picnic yesterday, I abandoned all my supervisory duties and took a hike up Quartz Mountain. It's only a mile to the top and back, but parts are steep enough to crawl instead of walk--about halfway between an amble and a crawl, a clamber, I'd say--and it suited me. Up on the top, the wind was fierce, so I sat in the shelter of a boulder and watched three eagles as they swooped and slid on currents in the sky . They had an aerie not far from where I was, so I hiked closer and rambled around on top of the mountain for a while, marveling at the beauty of the lake below and the hazy, distant horizons. If you click on my picture and enlarge it, you can see the eagle in the distance. It didn't seem to disturb him at all that I was so close to the nest.

Isa 40: 31  They that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength;
      They shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary,
      They shall walk and not faint.

Munchkins in May

Just give them a magnifying glass
Send them outside to water the grass...

May

Through February's whites and crystal skies
It seemed both years and miles too far away
The winds of March whipped round in vicious swirls
Drought in April, scorched wheat, sallow hay
Yet, finally, some green promise. Dare I enter?
Could it mean that now at last we'll see a May?

Grandparents and Grandchildren

Geese Go Waterskiing!

Toward the end of my hike yesterday I heard the strident honking of nearby geese and pulled out my camera to see if I could catch their flight. I snapped frantically, then stopped, sad that I had missed not only the flight but their whimsical landing. Three of them left beautifully synchronized sprays and looked as if they had planned a celebratory waterskiing finish. Later, when I developed the film, I found this picture and cropped it to share with you. Look. I got it after all, or at least the beginning of it. If I remember right the spray trails were much larger and more impressive, but see how they are actually skidding over the pond surface?

Let Them Eat Cake....

 Last night was the Student Council Yearly Banquet...a school-wide affair. Even the junior high students participated, albeit as servers in black and white formality. It was supposed to be a "masquerade" so most of us had masques of some kind--either the simple ones that came with our invitations or more elaborate ones of our own concoction. The piano player wore a "Phantom of the Opera" masque, and a couple of the guys wore full-fledged gas masks. Our students are not intimidated by much.

 For entertainment we were split into groups and given a list of things to find and do around town, taking picture evidence that would be presented when we met, once again, at the arts center in town. My group, of course, was the best...well as far as behavior goes any way. I really appreciate not having to be worried about any lack of courtesy or kindness on their part. Here they are "walking through" a drive through.

 We had to sing Happy Birthday to a random stranger, so we stopped at the skateboard park and asked this dude. He agreed to listen and even joined in for a few notes.

When we finished the scavenger hunt and arrived back at our seats, the cake had been served. This was a stunning work of culinary art, prepared by the talented mom of one of our students.
As you might recall, since I gripe about it every now and then, I'm still on a diet. Although this delicacy was bound to sky rocket the calorie count for the day, I had to taste it, at least.
That was a dire mistake. After two bitty bites I felt like I was a deprived soul in a world based on sugar and moist, delectable crumbs with a hints of strawberry paradise. But--you will be proud of me--I resisted. No, not with it sitting there in front of me; I fled the rest of the festivities and came home to my quiet house. Some temptations you just have to flee.

Why So Spoiled?

What kind of puny faith rests on the flimsy legs of health, wealth, and happiness?
It's the faith of a Job's wife, who curses God as an answer to pain,
for whom every new trial brings on a good wallow in the muddle of self-pity.
"Curse God, and die," she sobs in anger, for my faith has blown itself to shreds.

I've seen too much of it.

Oh where is that man or woman who bases faith on something deeper than personal comfort, something impervious to suffering, who even in calamity, can bless the Creator, knowing a love that is deeper than this mortal life, a strength that is an eternal sustenance, a hope that carries us far beyond the circle of this earth?

What petty petulances, spats, tiffs, and temporary tragedies should be enough to make us leap into the dank abyss of damnation? What horrors in this life should be enough to drive us into the arms of fearful demons in the next? What secretly nourished bitterness is worth our soul?

Satan is a utilitarian attacker--whatever works to drive a man or woman from God's arms, that he will use again and again. So if you would conquer, grab the assaulting stones and build a tower. Then, perhaps they will not fall so frequently into your life.

But even if they do...even if the dying world itself should crumble under you, and ravenous snakes send shivers into your very spirit, why kick against the only way out. No. Crushing the light will never alleviate darkness and slamming the door still leaves you stuck in the cell.

Oh Lord, whenever I suffer tragedy--and I've no illusions about its inevitability--spare me the comfort of self-coddling! Be with me in my deepest agonies for I cannot abide them alone. Let the tears that wash my face only serve to cleanse the tainted glass that would keep me from seeing you clearly. Keep me brave, but if I should run...I'm running toward you.

Spring Fever

It affects students in different ways.
Some study harder, totally determined to focus on the finish.



Others endow the most solemn and stoic of sports with undue fervor.

and a few just sit and stare with wistful longing out the window.

Shine

In a sere land, drained by drought--wilted, withered, parched and faint with morning after morning of dazzling sun...

...nothing shines quite so beautifully 

as a dark, dreary, drippy, drizzly day.

Finally. It's raining!