Random Tuesday Reset

 

"Because of the LORD's great love

we are not consumed,

for His compassions never fail.

They are new every morning;

great is Your faithfulness.

Lamentations 3:22-23

I honestly could not ask for a cozier way to begin what, for me, is a fresh start on the fall season.  I know.  School started on September 8th, and the first day of fall was officially on September 22nd.  I'm a little late to the autumn gate.

But having closed the cottage over Thanksgiving Weekend, and returning now to the city 'for the duration,' it feels like I am only now experiencing that lovely, uplifting inspiration that comes with the first day of what comes next for the rest of this calendar year.  Until January 1st, and that's it's own kind of reset.

There is SO MUCH to look forward to!

So here I go, riding on this morning's new mercies.  

I've got quite the list mapped out, so I'd better get started.

Hope you enjoy your leftover turkey and pumpkin pie, friends!!!

With a special thanks to our daughter and her family for hosting our meal yesterday!!!

Everything was amazing!!!

We don't take it for granted, just being together!!!

So Much More Than

 

"Thankfully, 

what God does 

is always bigger 

than our ability to contain it."

Craig D, Lounsbrough

Now until Him who is able to do immeasurably more

than all we ask or imagine,

according to His power that is at work within us,

to Him be glory in the church

and in Christ Jesus 

throughout all generations

for ever and ever.

Amen!

Ephesians 3:20-21

May your Thanksgiving celebrations 

be but a small representation

of all the 'more than' of your life!

Happy Thanksgiving!

So Much Bigger Than Me

 

On mornings like this I pretend my face is a solar panel for my soul.

The shorter days are coming.  Less light, less sky, less of being outside.

So right now I am here drinking it in, letting all of it in that I can -- for later.

Don't forget the way it makes you catch your breath, I instruct myself.  Remember the astonishment, the awe, the way it's all so much bigger than yourself.  Store up the wonder, the silence, the stillness.  

Be right-sized.  

Be empowered.  

Be hope-filled.

Tomorrow is closing day.

Appropriately, this is also Thanksgiving Weekend.

So.  Impossibly.  Grateful.

Not Today and That's Okay

 

A beauteous but blowy morning.  Sad (and safe) to say I won't be venturing out in the kayak until it settles down some.  That's the voice of experience talking.  Especially when I can see the water level is down a bit, which would change my route slightly, requiring a longer stint across the more open waters.

What's today, Thursday?  That's putting more pressure on my hope to complete 30 times around this season by the time we leave on Sunday.  Just two more times.  But prudence prevails and I will wait.  And I will leave it a 28 if that's what it ends up being.

I don't know, but I think there are some fairly decent advantages to having been around a while.  In our youth-obsessed culture we can overlook the benefits of later stages of life, and one of them is the ability to embrace a challenge without being driven by something to prove.

I say this as a person who has contended with a driven personality for most of my adult life up until....well, truth is I'm not really sure when I finally let it go.  I think it was a more gradual process.  And perhaps its still shows up from time to time.

But by now I like myself so much more.  I appreciate my modest accomplishments, and enjoy engaging in life's current opportunities, free of the angst that drove so much that was unnecessary and even foolish in my younger, less secure years.

Does it sound like I'm just giving myself an excuse?  Maybe.  But I have stories about going out when it wasn't smart to do so.  And you know what they say about trying to attempt to do the same thing expecting different results.  Or to coin a phrase, "Know your limit.  Paddle within it."

We'll get to some of the more specific tasks of closing over on the other property today, so there's plenty to do, and plenty to keep me moving.

Yup.  It's happening.

Stay wise, friends.  And happy Thursday.

Peanut Things

 

By the time we arrived and settled in yesterday, it was way past the usual 'tea time' on our deck when the chipmunks and blue jays stop by for peanuts.  No one was asking for anything.  Couldn't even see rustling out there at all.

But because I still had a large unopened bag of peanuts from our last time up here when the weather wasn't good and I didn't sit out on the deck much at all, and because this next week is the last we'll be up here this season, I decided to put out a few on the deck rail just to see who might be around.

Before I could finish spreading out the goods, before I was even half way down, my first customer came swooping from the trees, close enough and casually enough to suggest he was one of my 'regulars.'

Is it just me, or are their colours even more vibrant this time of year?  Perhaps there's more blue/brown contrast to make them stand out.  But whatever the reason, come on, isn't he striking?

I couldn't help but make a comparison here.  Small things matter.  In fact, we use the term 'peanuts' to mean something insignificant as in 'works for peanuts.'  And I wonder who might just we waiting for us to offer some small encouragement, a smile, a simple holding of the door for someone, letting the person with fewer grocery items go ahead of you in line, leaving the space for the car trying to merge into traffic, anything small and simple.  And what if that just made their day?  What if it was that small gesture of humanity that they've just been waiting for?

And what if we let doing those 'peanut' things bring us vibrant joy?  What if the joy we may be lacking in our lives is actually right there in front of us?  And all it costs us is 'peanuts?'

I'm not working from the deck this morning; a little too breezy and cool to stay concentrated on the tasks at hand.  But I'll still put out some peanuts for the joy of vibrant company that will still cheer me from the window.  

Hoping for less breezy and sunnier skies later today to see if I can get out in the kayak!

Joyful Wednesday everyone!

One More Time!

 

Heading back to the cottage today for a final hurrah of the season.  Time to close up and return to the city 'full time.'  

But just before that....

Really looking forward to the colours.  This picture is from 2024 when Ken and I were between homes and 'forced' to stay up until the end of October....and it was spectacular.

And while Zoom and other internet wonders allow for meetings and emails and work to continue, I'm hoping to sneak in at least two more paddles around the island (to make 30), and at least one day 'off' to make up for the last 14 days running full tilt.  

It could be chilly!!  Stay tuned for pictures of a cozy fire.  

So grateful for the legacy gift that this space is to our family.  We do not take it for granted.

Truth and Reconciliation

 

"The truth is like the light;

it can be hidden for a time,

but it can never be extinguished."

Indigenous Traditional Proverb (adapted)

"If it is possible,

as far as it depends on you,

live at peace with everyone."

Romans 12:18

"Ring the bells that still can ring,

forget your perfect offering,

there is a crack in everything,

that's how the light gets in."

Leonard Cohen

Prayers today for all those seeking truth and reconciliation, 

and for all those who hold the power to make things right.