On the Fifth Day of Summer…

June 25, 2018June 27, 2018 ~ Beth ~ 3 Comments

My camera brought to me,

Five pink petals.

I was looking for five things for this project, but the only compelling things I could find were roses. They were exceptionally pretty and summery, but all as solitary as could be. This presented a quandary, until it dawned on me that there can be five things within one thing. I had been so intent upon counting flowers that I had forgotten to count petals! I was a little sheepish at the discovery that I’d been frowning in puzzlement at exactly five identical things the whole time, but was too blind to see them!

While we’re on the topic of roses, I have five rosy things for you, one for each of those pretty pink wild petals. I hope one or two of them brightens your day:

If you’re feeling adventurous in the kitchen, a lovely recipe for chocolate pots de creme that includes a splash of actual rose water. You’ll be surprised at how delicious it is!

A waltz, by Strauss, about roses.

A quote from a favorite childhood book that pretty much sums up this time of the year: “It was June, and the world smelled of roses. The sunshine was like powdered gold over the grassy hillside.”—Maud Hart Lovelace, Betsy-Tacy and Tib

The song about roses that always reminds me of my Grandma, right down to the Southern Gospel style she loved.

A verse, speaking of the glory of Zion: “The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.“ (Isaiah 35:1)

In case you missed the other posts in this series, this way to the first day, second day, third day and fourth day.

On the Fourth Day of Summer…

June 25, 2018June 25, 2018 ~ Beth ~ 2 Comments

…my camera gave to me,

Four tall white trees.

As all poplars know, white never goes out of style, particularly in the summer.

White bark,

white flowers,

white shirts,

white linens,

white dinnerware,

and, for the one victorious in Christ, gloriously, someday,

white robes.

“But you do have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments, and because they are worthy, they will walk with Me in white. Like them, the one who is victorious will be clothed in white garments. And I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but I will confess his name before My Father and His angels.” (Revelation 3:4-5)

In case you missed them, here’s the first day, second day and third day!

On the Third Day of Summer…

June 24, 2018June 25, 2018 ~ Beth ~ 4 Comments

…my true love gave to me,

Three turtles crossing.

That first mama snapper? She was big and black and dinosaur-like, but kind of boring. She lumbered up into the yard one morning, checked out our puddles, bulldozed through my freshly-planted bed of onions, then lumbered back off to the lake, without so much as doing us the courtesy of letting us watch her lay eggs.

The second painted turtle was mostly rather cross about being herded out of the way for departing Wednesday night Bible study traffic.

I’d like you to notice, however, that I switched to the traditional line “true love” for today, because the little snapper in the third photo was, literally, given to me by my true love. She was handed to me by my husband after being saved from certain doom on a busy highway, because I was in the passenger seat and he was not, and driving a vehicle while holding a snapping turtle is not necessarily recommended in the books. In hindsight, I’m really not sure why we didn’t just switch places so I could drive while he held the turtle, but he says he thought it would be good for me to brush up on my turtle handling skills, and I suppose he was right.

This was after a failed experiment of containing the creature in the only container we could find in the car, a (breathable) shopping bag, from which she escaped and was temporarily lost under the driver’s seat. If you’ve never had a snapping turtle loose in your vehicle, you are really missing out, by the way. It’s very exciting, and you will discover what you always wanted to know, which is how nimble people actually are at tucking their feet up. It will also leave all occupants vowing to always keep A Proper Turtle Container in the trunk for future such emergencies.

So there was nothing to do but hold her, and I took lots of one-handed photos while she intermittently fought my grip on her shell with her powerful webbed feet, and hung submissively, eyeing me closely.

“She either likes you or she doesn’t,” Zach observed helpfully. Then, as if to settle the question, she stretched out her neck very long and arched it menacingly back toward my hand, and I raised my eyebrows and said firmly, “DOESN’T,” followed with some urgency by, “Are we there [at a safe turtle launching point] yet?!?!”

“Hold on,” he said encouragingly, “We’re almost there.” This was true, and I must say that I was relieved to hand her over to his much more capable hands when we arrived.

But seriously? Encounters with wildlife, even when they’re just a tiny bit too close for comfort, are one big reason why I love these summer months, right along with the rest of my family. Each creature, in all the glory of their splendid masterful design, armored shells, powerful beaks, elastic wrinkles, inquisitive intelligent eyes, brings praise to their Creator as they move and breathe and go on that annual search for the perfect place to lay some eggs.

If we can help them out a bit, and get close up looks in the process, we consider it an honor.

“My mouth will declare the praise of the LORD; let every creature bless His holy name forever and ever.” (Psalm 145:21)

Did you miss the others in this series? This way to the first day and second day.

On the Second Day of Summer…

June 23, 2018June 23, 2018 ~ Beth ~ 4 Comments

…my camera gave to me,

Two girls a-swimming…

…and also throwing rocks to watch the ripples spread in perfect circles and poking sticks at feisty crayfish.

There was a third girl there, too, not too far to the right, laughing while she spun around and around in a pink doughnut, sending diamond sparkle drops high into the blazing blue sky.

There was also an eagle catching fish, and a speedboat making white wake, and dancing watery reflections on the bark of all the leaning trees as the lake laughed at the sun arching high.

The whole afternoon was a summer poem, properly balanced out with nasty horseflies and accidentally dropped crackers turning to mush in the water and a little more sand in the car on the way home than I would have liked.

“So I commend the enjoyment of life, because there is nothing better for a person under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany them in their toil all the days of the life God has given them under the sun.“ (Ecclesiastes 8:15)

And right this way to The First Day of Summer, just in case you missed it!

On the First Day of Summer…

June 22, 2018 ~ Beth ~ 5 Comments

…my searching brought to me,

A droplet on a lady slipper.

An alternate caption might read: “You know it’s really summer when…”Go take pictures of ladyslippers” makes the Top 3 on your to-do list for the day.”

As we all know, summer in Minnesota is furiously fast and fleeting. Every year I vow to slow down and savor it better; every year, I promise you, it’s shorter. But the faster it seems to go, the more determined I am to enjoy it, and so in that spirit, I’d like to announce the first in a series of a summery, illustrated version of “The 12 Days of Christmas”! Stay tuned!

“So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.” (Psalm 90:12)

Cattail Glory

April 6, 2018April 6, 2018 ~ Beth ~ 2 Comments

In this season between seasons, when it’s not really winter but doesn’t really seem like spring either, the changes occurring in the natural world are sometimes very subtle. Yet, I have learned, they are there. Nothing is really sitting still. Everything is silently, gradually, almost imperceptibly, readying itself for when it’s time to burst forth into newness of life. It does require my camera and I to look harder on these days when a walk still requires me to wear the old winter hat and mittens, but the discoveries we do make of coming spring are only that much more triumphant.

Today I take note: The last of the cattails that have been neat little brown cylindrical sausages on sticks all winter are finally, after months of wear by wind and snow, disintegrating into downy halos of seed. They are dying, giving up of the very last of themselves. Soon the bare stalks will turn soft as well, bowing to the swamp below them nevermore to rise again.

But we all know that somewhere, in other bare nooks in the swamp, baby cattails will spring forth from the downy fluff these tired old stalks are releasing to the wind. There would be no continuance of life if they held onto the gift they possessed; it is only in the letting go that life will go on. They release the old, looking forward unto the new and better things to come—and in the late afternoon sunshine, it’s as though they’re crowned with glory.

“But this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth to those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. .” (Philippians 3:13-14, KJV)

Porcupine

January 17, 2018January 17, 2018 ~ Beth ~ Leave a comment

Oh, to be a porcupine up in a tree,

a conspicuous ball of black against the blue,

placidly nibbling tree buds,

oblivious to the -25 wind chill,

whose only response to a curious passerby ankle deep in snow

(after that twinkling in his eye—or was I imagining that?)

is to curl up into a slightly tighter ball,

just to be sure I didn’t forget that he had nothing to be afraid of underneath all that spiky armor.

But I suppose that since I can’t be a porcupine

I can be a city on a hill instead, or maybe a lamp on a stand—or maybe both at once, since they have so much in common.

Especially the way a city glows after dark,

conspicuous for miles around in it’s reflections up to the heavens,

placidly humming with all the activity that makes it a city,

stoplights constantly switching colors,

brake lights flashing and turn signals blinking,

people closing the blinds at night so they can sleep in spite of the constant glow of lampposts.

Cities, like porcupines, don’t really know who might be wearily traveling

down long highways way off in the darkness,

gazing at the lights,

moving towards them and their promise of things to eat and places to lay their heads—

but they shine on steady through the night anyway.

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:14-16)

Winter Fun

November 20, 2017November 20, 2017 ~ Beth ~ 2 Comments

Run, slide, repeat.

That’s what I and the otters did last week, I on my skis, they out on the ice, each in our own way celebrating the return of glorious winter to the northwoods. That early November snow was some of the finest I’ve ever been privileged to make a trail through, and judging from their antics across the lake, perhaps the ice was, too? Anyway, we certainly seemed to be agreed on the idea that all this cold stuff was meant to be enjoyed!

Then, as the sun lowered on the horizon, they’d run off in a companionable row, as you see them above, straight into their cozy den, and I’d swish my way back to my warm little house to wrap my cold fingers around a hot mug and sip steaming sweetness. Ah, winter with all your juxtapositions of icy beauty and cozy routines—how glad I and my sleek fun-loving neighbors are to welcome you back!

And speaking of fun, thank you to each one of you who played along in my little guessing game a couple posts back! In case you forgot or missed the post, I asked people to guess the book of the Bible where the “psalm” I used in the post was found, as well as which photo was taken in the city rather than the country.

The correct answers were: 1) the book of Daniel (2:19-23, if you want to look it up!) and 2) the first photo of bright red snake root vines. Unfortunately, nobody quite managed to guess both correctly, so I shall have to reserve my promised prizes for a later date! (So if you’re terribly disappointed about that, I’m sorry, but stay tuned for another chance!)

If nothing else, it was just fun for me to see who actually reads my blog. And, by the way, that goes for every time someone takes the time to comment, whether here or on Facebook. It’s a tiny bit of thoughtful encouragement that always makes my day, and I’m grateful!

“A man has joy in an apt answer, And how delightful is a timely word!” (Proverbs 15:23)

Whitetail Buck

November 6, 2017 ~ Beth ~ Leave a comment

It should be noted that, since there is no hunting season on shooting photographs, I generally secure my photographic venison on whatever random day of the year and in whatever random location (such as my flower garden) it presents itself.

I actually took this one’s portrait back in July, when his antlers were still velvety knobs—but since it’s Hunting Season, which is as good as a national holiday in this neighborhood, it seemed like an appropriate time to join the fun and talk about the deer I “shot” this year, too. I suppose that the fellow above would hardly be considered a trophy, but like most hunters, I also find that the bucks are elusive and capturing one, however short his antlers may be, is something worth celebrating.

He was foolish enough to pause before bounding off with a woof, so he is literally my first buck, at least so far as I can tell for sure. See? There he went, after that long curious look, finally deciding to flee the lady with the giant black eye. He will, however, have to call upon more wariness than that if he doesn’t wish to be caught by his foolish hesitation and end up in small packages in someone’s deep freeze within the next couple weeks!

“The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it.” (Proverbs 27:12)

Wind Concert in the Pines

May 17, 2017 ~ Beth ~ Leave a comment

It wasn’t a strong or stormy wind. It was a soft, pleasant spring breeze, just stiff enough to ruffle the tops of the big pines we were walking through and cause them to whisper mysteriously together. It rose and fell with drama up above us, compelling enough to get our attention, but not enough to so much as sway the massive trunks rising around us. Sometimes, in the moments between the squeals of little girls discovering spring blossoms along the forest floor and the chattering of squirrels indignant at our intrusion on their private retreat, we’d stop to just listen to it.

There was a kind of music to it, the kind that made me want to lay right down on that thick, soft carpet of pine needles and soak it in while I stared up the towering pillars of tree trunks to the bits of blue sky like a mosaic of stained glass above. Then, as we neared a swamp hollow, the fluted tones of spring peepers harmonized as only nature can, and I had flashbacks to a beautiful wind concert I attended once, performed by talented musicians under the soaring ceilings of a grand lobby. But, I thought to myself, could a wind concert be performed in any grander a place than this remote and silent cathedral of a forest, by the actual wind itself?At that moment, it was hard to believe not. And if you listened closely enough, you could almost hear the words…

“Sing, O heavens, for the LORD has done it; shout, O depths of the earth; break forth into singing, O mountains, O forest, and every tree in it! For the LORD has redeemed Jacob, and will be glorified in Israel.” (Isaiah 44:23)