Snapshots of Summer

waiting for summer in Southern Alberta

sweet days, sweet little people

 

Bicycling down the Beartooth highway, 14 miles and 4,000+ feet.

 

At the Bear Creek hog races.

 

Green no. 3 won. Cody's pig, incidentally.

Good times with good friends in Weiser, Idaho

at the Nat'l Fiddle Contest. Whoo!

This little red hen of mine went off and hatched two babies in June.

I turned 23. What!?

 

 

Rocky Mountain Regional fiddle contest in Casper Wyoming, August. 

Hannah placed 2nd in Open and FIRST in Female Vocal,

 as her first time entering too.

Third place young adult.

Took a cake icing class. Let's just say the brothers were at least 

happy with all the available cakes for a few weeks. :)

 

The occasional delicious rain over the prairie.

Spring Again

`

Spring always does something to me. When the warm wind blows from the south like a "wave of unreasonable happiness" and a green blush is resurrected on earth's face in a creaturely imitation of its risen Creator, I feel the irresistible magnetism of an entire hemisphere engaged in a vivacious act of wild revelry: the JOY of LIFE. It comes like a thief in the night, not to kill but to resuscitate and say, "It's good to be home!"

The rain leaves puddles of sky in the roads, like celestial confetti, so that the dark silhouette of terra firma seems but a crust sandwiched between the fire-lit skies of two different worlds above and below my feet, and the flaming sky-filled potholes become portals betwixt the two. I walk home balanced on the crust, the purple shadows emitting a backdrop of peace, and the sun's last rays setting the windows of home ablaze in a passion. As the sunset changes hues, the curlews whirl overhead with their woodwind song, the ground releases its deep earthy notes, and the spring peepers strike up a chorus, all to remind the world that it's really alive, to feel the blood and breath inside and BE JOYOUSLY ALIVE.

Texas Hill Country

Meeting the Texan springtime, near Fredericksburg.

The first brave faces of spring.

Vivacious.

Exploration.

A semi heart-shaped cactus in the pure morning light.

The wolf exterminator.

Curiosity.

-ak

Once upon a road trip to Oregon...

Multnomah Falls

The Oregon Coast

A dog named Saphirre in a saphirre ocean

Secret coves at low tide reveal treasure

Fresh crab for lunch? Yes please! We caught it ourselves.

Cody in the Dodger dugout at the Regional Championship in Roseburg

Cody pitched one game, but he is really a shortstop

And we were blessed to visit our friends, the Voetbergs, on the way home.
If you ever get to Chehalis and need really good coffee, visit their shop Cuppa Joe off exit 81 on I-5.
And if you are in serious luck, their fantastic family band might be playing nearby.

Safari and Psalm 36:5-6

In Yellowstone National Park again recently...

Your mercy, O LORD, is in the heavens;
Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.
Your righteousness is like the great mountains;
Your judgments are a great deep;
O LORD, You preserve man and beast.
-Psalm 36:5-6

ak

Fiddling Photos

At a recent fiddle contest, my sister Hannah acquiesced to my photographic spontaneity; a card table light lent itself nicely to my purposes...

ak

Reformation Celebration Pics

Our church fellowship has an annual Reformation Celebration in remembrance of Martin Luther's nailing of his 95 Theses to a church door on October 31st, 1517, sparking a fire for truth and changing the world.

We celebrated with a theme: the Reformation in Holland. So some people showed up in wooden shoes. Well, not really. But we had a great time with pumpkin tossing, "sword" fighting, feasting, music, singing, fellowship, and the Five Solas of the Reformation:

Sola Scriptura, Scripture alone.

Sola Fide, Faith Alone.

Sola Gratia, Grace Alone.

Soli Christus, Christ Alone.

Soli Deo Gloria, to the Glory of God Alone!

My sis Hannah and I playing with some friends. Taken by Grace Bailey.

-a