Thursday, June 29, 2006

Evacuate!

Dustin and Judy had to Tuesday night. It's all over the news. Big flooding in PA.

We're so happy to have them safe and sound with us.

Some people are finding out this week that lives can change as fast as that water is flowing.

Hopefully, it's cause for us all to remember that stuff is just stuff - it can be replaced. (I can say this - I've had a bad fire that burned up stuff.)

God blesses us with so much. But we tend to get overly attached to the things that don't matter. And I mean things.



We need to spend our time on earth cherishing each other more and not so much the replaceable and you-can't-take-it-with-you stuff of life.

Because we're all gonna have to evacuate sooner or later - ya know? Posted by Picasa

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

The first day of summer... and what a quintessentially summery day we had!

This is a shot of Pine Creek as it meanders through what is known as the PA Grand Canyon.

Here's what we did on the first day of summer:

~ It started out quite chilly - so even though we bundled up in order to enjoy our usual morning coffee on the porch, we had to eat breakfast inside. We hung out reading for a while and when the morning mist lifted, there was a gorgeous day under there!

~ We got on our bikes and rode up the "Rails-to-Trails" bike path through the canyon for - oh, about 3 miles. (That's where the photo is shot from.) We were looking for rattlesnakes because we'd heard they were quite plentiful and, indeed, we spotted four just off the bike path. Three of them were black rattlers, which I'd never heard of nor seen before. Quite pretty, really. I even was able to take a short digital camera video of one where you can hear it rattling. Don't worry - I used the zoom!

~ We headed for the Cedar Run General store to get an ice cream fix. We'd been indulging ourselves in their waffle cones filled (quite filled) with whatever yummy flavor tickled our respective fancies. This day, it was orange sherbet heavily swirled with vanilla ice cream - reminiscent of a "dreamsicle". I was too enthralled with mine to notice what Chris got. Sorry.

~ Remember the sun you saw shining brightly in that photo above? It did that all day and really warmed up, so we dragged out our lawn chairs, reading material, cold drinks, sun hats and sun lotion and laid ourselves out like contented seals in preparation for jumping into the "refreshingly" cold (i.e. startlingly cold) creek water - just inches in front of our feet.

~ We slapped on our snorkle, mask and fin gear and cruised up and down Babb's Creek. We became one with the fish, as it were.

~ I showered while Chris enjoyed a beverage and a cigar. Then, feeling totally lazy and indulgent, we chucked our plans to cook and headed up the road to a little restaurant for dinner. I had ribs and Chris got one of their fabulous cheese steaks.

~ We took our places back on the porch, feet propped on the railing, binoculars in hand and watched and listened as the day faded away into evening, accompanied by the goodnight songs of the resident birds, crickets and frogs...

...We couldn't have asked for a better first day of summer.

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Thursday, June 15, 2006

Chris found this little baby Chickadee in the yard yesterday. Isn't it adorable? It was even making little Chickadee sounds. It didn't seem too scared at all. Chris, Dustin and I all held it. It probably was learning how to fly (which it did eventually do), but wasn't too speedy yet.

Summer is going too fast! But then, it always does. We have some other exciting news. Dustin and Judy, who had cancelled their engagement, are now back on! We're thrilled (and kind of knew this would probably be the case sooner or later). We're happy it's sooner, though there isn't a date yet.

Tomorrow, Chris and I head up to our beloved PA Grand Canyon area - fondly referred to now as "up north". We're renting a little cabin on Bab's Creek, just as we did last year, but this year it'll be for a week. It's the one from which I'm viewing the creek in my slideshow on the page below. We'll be filling our time with swimming (it's supposed to get HOT! Yay!!), biking, hiking and lots of relaxing. It's paradise.

My favorite time up there is getting up in the morning and taking my morning coffee out on the porch (still in jammies), sitting in the rocker, putting my feet up on the railing (as in that photo below) and listening to the birds sing, watching the creek go by, reading my Bible, chatting with Chris. What a beautiful way to welcome in the day.

It seems so hard to get time to really relax here at home, there's always so much - even in my so-called "time off" during the summer - that is continuously calling me and pulling at me. I've really had very few totally free days. But I have managed to squeeze in some scrapping time and time on our own lovely front porch to relax. Chris is trying to start a new summer tradition of enjoying an afternoon cup of tea on the porch - just to connect with the moment and not let it all get away - so I'm joining him in that as much as I can.

Going up to Blackwell, though, with all my responsibilities far, far away, is truly a time where I can soak in the restfulness of summer and get re-charged for all that remains at home. I promise to savor each moment...
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Tuesday, June 06, 2006


This is Chris under the crystal-clear water at World's End State Park on Memorial Day Monday.

I love that we live so close to such beautiful places. This one is only a half hour from our house. Yes, this is an enticement to my family so that they'll come visit us! And there's plenty more where this comes from!

We had a great day here. It was nice and hot and despite the chilly water, there was barely a soul that didn't get at least some body part wet! We had a yummy picnic with all the usual picnic fare and we played games, walked around and just generally relaxed and enjoyed the great day.