Doin' Good, 10 March 2013

Today before church, at three separate moments, people asked how I was doing and I answered cheerfully, "Good!"  They looked visibly surprised, tilting their heads slightly and raising their eyebrows.  Ha.  It seems people have gotten used to me answering "Okay," or "Today's a hard day," or "That's a complicated question."  And for good reason!

But today I really am doin' good (or "doing well," for those of you who appreciate non-colloquially-correct grammar).  The sun is shining, my wedding-to-funeral ratio for this calendar year is 2-1, and I've spent some wonderful time this week out in nature.

The first nature trek was another snow day, but this time my dad joined us.  When I was young, my family would do at least one snow day every winter, and my dad's the one who taught us how to dress and play to avoid cold, wet, and misery.  This past Friday was the first time I'd been to the snow with my dad for about a decade, and it was my kids' very first time going with him!

We had a blast playing, and my heart filled up with happyjuice seeing the snow-laden foliage, hearing the patter of falling snow off trees, and feeling the soft scrunch of drifts under my boots.

Plus, my kids are adorable in snow hats.  (So is my dad, in his own manly way.)

Hey, how come I don't get to ride?

Will G fly off the edge of the cliff?  No, Grandpa will catch him.  And hit him with a giant snowball at the same time.

The drive itself to and from the mountains was absolutely gorgeous, now that the grasses are green and orchards are beginning to bloom.  We got home at around 4 in the afternoon, long enough for me to throw dinner together, throw snow clothes in the laundry, and let Grandpa and the kids recover from the exertion of throwing snowballs.  My dad drove back to his house after dinner, and I'm pretty sure he slept loooong and hard that night.

The next day, Saturday, Jay and the kids and I had a leisurely morning capped off by Jay taking the boys out to do lunch and some errands, leaving me--drum roll please--all alone!!!

I considered pulling weeds, shoe shopping, writing letters, and sleeping, but in the end decided on taking a drive into the hills by myself and having a prayer/nature walk.  I checked on a map some side-roads I'd noticed on our way to the snow, and discovered there was an intriguing little road in the hills leading to a reservoir.

A sack lunch went into my backpack, an uplifting playlist came out of my iPod, and I was off.  

Just beginning the rise up from the valley, a line of cows graze along creek bluffs.

The stream and the glowing grass both sparkle.

After a glorious hour of driving (the last 5 miles of which were on a barely-paved one-lane road), I pulled off the road and walked the rest of the way to the reservoir, snapping pictures and praying as I went.  Perhaps beauty in nature doesn't affect everyone this way, but my heart feels so much closer to God, so much more receptive to the reality of His love and care, when I am surrounded by beautiful things He's created.

A barely-paved road of adventure...

...shared only by this group of cyclists and the rare SUV.  The valley floor is visible at the horizon.

This outcropping of rocks near my parking spot made a perfect high point for finding cell signal.

They were fun to climb!

View of the road from the top of the outcropping.

Birds must love having a roof like this!

When I pulled off the road, I actually didn't know how far it was to the reservoir; I hadn't looked that closely at the map.  But I quit driving because my eye was on the gas tank indicator, and I didn't feel like adding the "adventure" of running out of gas to my day.  So I decided to walk for as long as I wanted to, enjoying the views around me without being preoccupied by any particular destination.

A trickle of a stream runs through the bottom of this little gorge.

The micro-landscapes are amazing too!  These lichens and mosses are growing on a huge granite boulder.

Wild blackberries swallow everything in their path.

A gate: To keep cows inside or cyclists out?

After about 30 minutes of walking and taking pictures, a pickup hauling a dripping boat drove passed me, suggesting to me that I was not far from the reservoir.  Sure enough, ten more minutes of walking brought me suddenly into wide-open, windy spaces, with the lake's little white-capped waves lapping at the shore.

I'm guessing the brownish color is due to a stirring-up by recent storms.

A great view for cleaning fish, if you're into that kind of thing!

Even though the walk back was a return by the same road, the scenery looked a little different going the other direction.  And it took my breath away to find gaps in the trees that revealed valley views I'd had my back to before.

Can you make out that very faint, thin blue line at the top of the valley's green horizon? Those are the hills all the way on the other side of the valley.  Thrilling!

It's been fun to share these photographs from my adventure with you!  I'm sure those of you who are still locked in snowscapes will appreciate the greens; and maybe this can be a reminder for the rest of us to get outside and enjoy them.  :-)