A reflection on an autumn day...

One day last fall, Krista came to visit. The sun was bright that morning and I took some pictures from my balcony. I like to pretend my balcony overlooks a sprawling mountain vista.

...in reality, we look out over the next apartment building at the bottom of the hill, but we still get a nice view of all the trees. It's pretty darn good for an apartment view.


We went hiking around Loch Raven Reservoir. I wish I had some pictures, but, alas, Krista has them all. The sky was blue, the trees were flaming, the lake was glittering, leaves fluttered down as we walked through the woods...a perfect fall day.

We came home and made apple pie...
We drank cider...

...and carved pumpkins.


I'm pretty sure we did everything fallish that you could do in a day. Well, except for going through a corn maze, but hey, we'd done that a few weekends ago.

Reflections of an Intermittent Lindy Hopper

Though my partner

is good,

a descriptor of death

would be called for,

could

you speak of his breath.

Moving Blues...

Karen moved out today...Sad day!

It was too much for some

But had its moments of levity

Chloe demonstrates the emptiness of K-ran's room

Our living room ...

Have a seat, or four.

A LOT of cleaning was involved, but overall, it was a pretty smooth move.

Dog Days

Summer. Quintessentially speaking.

The Mediator

"Everlasting Creator-Father,

I have destroyed myself,

my nature is defiled,

the powers of my soul are degraded;

I am vile, miserable, strengthless,

but my hope is in thee.

If ever I am saved it will be by goodness

undeserved and astonishing,

not by mercy alone but by abundant mercy,

not by grace but by exceeding riches of grace;

And such thou hast revealed, promised, exemplified

in thoughts of peace, not of evil."

~ The Valley of Vision

How is this possible? Who am I that you should be so thoughtful of me?

wwWAAAAAAATtterfall!

Muddy Creek Falls! - Deep Creek 2011

More pie please

Sometimes life seems like one long string of things to be anxious about. Just when I think life is going as it should, something else reveals itself. Many of these things don't matter in the long run, but some of them do and I often wish I could have just one week, one day when I would know that there wasn't something really important I forgot to do; that everything was in place on my end.

I don't wish that I would never have problems (well, I do wish that, but who doesn't?), I'd just like to approach situations knowing that, as far as it depended on me, I'd done what I was supposed to do. I'd like to be a victim for once instead of a delinquent. ...But most of the time, problems are my own fault and that's what really gets me down. The ones that aren't my fault...well, they might be tough, but they don't sting.

The difficulty is that there always seems to be something I could have done differently that would have made the situation better...or kept it from snowballing. Sigh. Lately, it seems I have to be constantly admitting some short-coming or other to someone else - my head hung low, plate ready to receive an ample, well-deserved helping of humble pie. I think my pie plate is starting to chip from overuse.

Well, "For what do we live but to make sport for our neighbors and laugh at them in our turn"...except I'm not finding that life is very funny after all. Maybe that's why we're not supposed to waste it on trying to be happy here - there's too much at stake. I may as well give up and surrender to being poured out for God's purpose. My sin might harass and haunt me to my grave, but maybe, by giving up my rights to any self-dignity I ever had, I'll get to hear "well done" when I reach it.

So...bring on the pie, I guess.