The Trees of Disneyland

Feted Trees, resplendant with lights and gobs of panache. D'land...I envy your sparkle and shine, but not your electric bill. Good thing you charge nearly eight bucks a head.

When the moon witnesses the sun

Whenever the moon, wispy and white, peeks out like a jilted polka dot spy from the blue, bluest -water color sky, I feel fooled, fumbled into farce. The next step I take lands on it surface, nose to the ground I examine it closely, aching for detail. Not as an entymologyst spears it's prey, but voyeur instead to keyhole-framed plays. No harsh terrain, counfounding expectation it is as though a cloud turned inside on itself and formed fluffy orb, cycling to my step, 'round and 'round I'd go. 'Til dizzied, I lose my hounddog grip and faint against the sky, I slip - Into my destined earthly plod, homeward bound and physics flawed.

Forgiveness of Quality

Please forgive the image quality; I took it with my iphone from a moving car. Even when I don't bring my camera with me out in to the world, I end up taking photos with my phone for posterity's sake. The argument made by Numbers Man is that I could easily find photos of what I am taking pictures of online with someone who has used a real camera and was likely doing the picture taking in a professional capacity. My rebuttal, "But I wasn't there when it was taken!"

I know a lot of people tend to take pictures with freinds and family populating theri photographs, but for me it is just as nostalgic and memborable without (not that I don't love all my peeps).




*Entrance to a field in the University District in Downtown Seattle

Rooted & Built Up

"She fluttered the leaves for something--she could not just tell
what--and her eye caught some of the verses that her father had marked
for her before she left home for college, in the days when he was
troubled for her going forth into the world of unbelief.

As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in
him: Rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, as
ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Beware
lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after
the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not
after Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead
bodily.... "

~

A Voice in the Wilderness by Grace Livingston Hill

Shooting and Praying

"The color came into the man's face. Somehow this girl put him in a verybad light. He couldn't shoot; and, if he couldn't pray, what would she think of him?"
~
The Girl from Montana by Grace Livingston Hill

What is Neccessary

Isaiah 18: 4-5

For thus the Lord said to me: “I will quietly look from my dwelling like clear heat in sunshine, like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.” For before the harvest, when the blossom is over, and the flower becomes a ripening grape, he cuts off the shoots with pruning hooks, and the spreading branches he lops off and clears away.

Erosion Against Our Very Nature

Isaiah 42:16

I will lead the blind by ways they have not known,

along unfamiliar paths I will guide them;

I will turn the darkness into light before them

and make the rough places smooth.

These are the things I will do;

I will not forsake them.

You Spin Me Right Round

Numbers Man said this picture made him dizzy...

I'm partial to mystique, which even as I type this, seems like a fading relic of the pre-digital age and I am mindful of the q-u-e; a QUEst for the impossible, intangible, and hanging participle in every encounter. Arms that, brushed by dirt, looked no different and somehow one can't understand just what upon what makes us humans so much like a rubix cube of variables. While these and those can gaze down the nine by nine and feverishly crumble the puzzle into 1-2-3 list of motions. Others struggle and strive, frustration mounting, anticipation perhaps driving deft digits into orchestration of inevitable failure/success...solution.

This Place Called Home

Psalm 61:2-4
From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy. I will abide in thy tabernacle for ever: I will trust in the covert of thy wings. Selah.
~*~
A lot of folks in the blogosphere seem to be posting about their houses, their place of shelter; respite from the world outside which comes a'knocking no matter how feverishly we guard the castle walls of our lives. The only real shelter we know comes by the hand of the Almighty, and by his grace we live today, thriving in this place we call home.

A Dark and Windy Night

Psalm 18: 7 - 18

Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken, because he was wroth. There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it. He bowed the heavens also, and came down: and darkness was under his feet. And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly: yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind. He made darkness his secret place; his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies. At the brightness that was before him his thick clouds passed, hail stones and coals of fire. The LORD also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice; hail stones and coals of fire. Yea, he sent out his arrows, and scattered them; and he shot out lightnings, and discomfited them. Then the channels of waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were discovered at thy rebuke, O LORD, at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils. He sent from above, he took me, he drew me out of many waters.
He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them which hated me: for they were too strong for me. They prevented me in the day of my calamity: but the LORD was my stay.

~*~

Our God is so magestic!!!

Snoqualmie Falls...

We went to Snoqualmie Falls today and the glory of God's creation was screaming at me, "TAKE MY PICTURE!" There were just so many wonders, things I've never seen before. Honestly, I hadn't even seen a waterfall in "real life" before today...I want to go back and see it all over again!

New Things: Shoots and Dreams

Today the sun was out, brighter than it has been in a week. In fact, it was difficult to find a cool and shady place to rest. Of course...the plants love it so! The greenery below was just a bundle of shoots springing from a bulb two weeks ago, can you believe it? It's been remarkable to watch the transformation of the life around me changing and forging a new path through the moist, Washington soil, 'til touching the visibly blue gray, yet tactilely imperceptible sky that embraces us all. Seasonal dramas do not play out with such force in Southern California; I see I am lucky God transported me to another home in His creation to teach me to cherish the beauty of context and 'ground' me in His schemed cycles, contented and propelled to praise.

Like Christmas

It is like Christmas year-round here in the Northwestern part of the United States. You see, we even have pine cones in the springtime. I don't know that I'll ever get used to the abundance of evergreens and how, quite unexpectedly, you may need to light a log a'blaze at noon in the middle of May. It is my favorite holiday and these visual reminders only stir up the desire within me to deck the halls and sing at the top of my lungs, "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas." I realize that most people think my Christmas infatuation is a form of lunacy, but think about for a minute and you'll soon realize it's not so much of a problem as a very positive and uplifting distraction that that brings back our focus to hearth & home and the most important thing of all...

Luke 2: 10-11

"And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. "

Bringing Truth into Focus

Luke 8:14-16

14 And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection.
15 But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.
16 No man, when he hath lighted a candle, covereth it with a vessel, or putteth it under a bed; but setteth it on a candlestick, that they which enter in may see the light.

Observations on a Glorious Day

Since the weather turned warm, even bare branches suddenly extend flowers, not wanting to be left out. Where are your leaves?


I found a place to sit and my seat was warm and dry - such a difference from two days ago when I could have floated along in this same place. The wonders of absorption. Drink it up, little blades of grass. Mama needs a resting place.



The water makes the funniest moss grow up out of the earth. This sort looks prickly, but is actually very soft and delicate.

I spotted a beast of a branch ready to take on any little birdies or pests that might have designs on its shoots and sproutlings. Armor equipped? CHECK!

Eww, what is that ugly flower/seed sack? Ghastly! But the lady bug seems to like it. I took a jillion photos of that little guy and he just sat pretty for me and did not zoom away.

I'm looking over a [three] leafed clover, that I over looked before! They were everywhere, these little clovers, but this one stood alone.

Psalm 66: 8-10

Oh, bless our God, you peoples!

And make the voice of His praise to be heard,

Who keeps our soul among the living,

And does not allow our feet to be moved.

For You, O God, have tested us;

You have refined us as silver is refined.

When I go walking in solitude, or rather semi-solitude because I've got my dog tugging leash to leading the way, I feel a sense of home and contentment. It's strange - there is a certain smell that travels into my nose and triggers something familiar in my brain. I feel warm and fuzzy even if my fingers are chilly as snowflakes. As I lift my eyes up toward canopy of branches above me, I am sheltered from the torrent of rain drops that miraculously collide onto the needles and dissapear and I feel I could stay just as I am in that gaurded spot for the rest of my life. My usual preoccupations become fuzzy and soft around the edges until they tumble backwards piling one on top of another in the anterior of my mind, stuffed so dense they are indiscernable from the damp air sucked into my nose and breathed back out again. There isn't silence and there isn't noise, there is just the flow of life eternal which only He gives.

~*~*~

Matthew 25 - 27

“Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?"

What of the Seed?

Luke 8: 11-18
Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.

Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away. And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection. But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience. No man, when he hath lighted a candle, covereth it with a vessel, or putteth it under a bed; but setteth it on a candlestick, that they which enter in may see the light. For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid, that shall not be known and come abroad. Take heed therefore how ye hear: for whosoever hath, to him shall be given; and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have.

A Spring Decree

Blushing petal'd faces 'pon branch 'pon branch:

Paper thin and pressed 'gainst wind, brings

Fluttered wave - conveys how brave

Your wint'ry will makes blooms behave.

Just yesterday you hid, light snow forbid

A ball for coming out. Lessons in doubt,

And cycled fortitude, bless'd all with pinky brood-

These reliant families in trees: A spring decree!

2 Corinthians 5:17

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

When Spring is Afraid to be Sprung

Further, our heavenly Father, we come before Thee now washed in the blood, wearing the snow-white robe of Christ's righteousness, and we ask Thee to remember Thy people. Some are sore burdened; lighten the burden or strengthen the shoulder. Some are bowed down with fear; peradventure they mistrust; forgive the mistrust and give a great increase of faith that they may trust Thee where they cannot trace Thee. The Lord remember any who bear the burden of others. Some cry to Thee day and night about the sins of the times, about the wanderings of Thy Church. Lord hear our prayers! We would bear this yoke for Thee, but help us to bear it without fearing so as to distrust Thee. May we know that Thou wilt take care of Thine own cause and preserve Thine own truth, and may we therefore be restful about it all.

~Under the Blood
A prayer of C. H. Spurgeon

Winter Hallelujah

When I'm feeling down,
Drooping - slightly rumpled
By a season of trouble,
And the wind delights
In testing my will to hold fast,
It is "by strength of hand the LORD"
Delivers me along unto His purpose
Until I quietly fall and rest
Upon the verdant fields
He grew for me because
I looked to him
Through clouds of grey
And uttered happy Hallelujahs.

- Inspired by Exodus 13:16