God:Gratitude:Blogging:Snow

Little Glade Mill Pond, milepost 230.1, Blue Ridge Parkway

God:Gratitude

November is the time to be thankful for our blessings.  I guide my 6th grade sunday school students to write a prayer each week to God.  In among the prayers for healing and forgiveness and help with a test, I tell them they MUST give thanks to God for their blessings.  It is easy to get wrapped up in ourselves and our worries and forget how blessed God has made us. I tell them that they and I have been incredibly blessed:  in our families, the church family, the ability to get an education, and even to have toothpaste, shampoo, deodorant etc without thinking how lucky we are to have such things readily available.  So Im going to try to spend the month in giving thanks to God for the many blessings he has given me.

The Lump, milepost 264.5, Blue Ridge Parkway

I'm also going to try to get back into the good habit of blogging and not just on instagram.  I need more good habits in my life to counteract the negativeness that sometimes surrounds me from others.  So I'd like to start with 'poor pitiful me'.  Whenever I get down on myself.  Why cant I have the family or life that I see others have, or that I thought I would have by now.  I stop.  Think of God.  Talk to God.  And I give thanks for the amazing life I do have.  

Random spot along the Blue Ridge Parkway

I had to answer that stupid government required health assessment the other day for my insurance.  Don't get me started on the intrusiveness of those questions.  But one was so fitting.  How satisfied are you with your life?  For a fleeting moment regret flashed in my mind before being replaced by God reminding me how lucky I am in my life.  So I answered very satisfied.  I am blessed with a life that is very satisfying.  Thanks God.

Blogging

I've been absent from my blog because I am so much on instagram, which I also post to flickr, facebook, and twitter.  I used to be able to post to the blog too but they have removed that function. I complained.  Nothing happened.  I have put my feed over to the right so you can follow along too.  It is a format that fits me.  But I miss writing more in depth so I will try to blog more than just for things that require it.  BTW Its amazing how much you can say with a picture. Or 140 characters when you edit yourself.

Gratitude:Snow

OMG!  I am such a snow person!  Of course I live where snow is fleeting and people panic with a dusting.  So it was no wonder that when I planned a trip the Jefferson, NC in the mountains, and I heard it may snow I was like a kid at Christmas.  I packed my snow boots, 

fleece, layers, gloves, hats, and scarves!  And I was rewarded with snow that started around 2am Saturday morning and and continued for most of the day.  5-6 inches fell covering everything-tree branches, roofs, cars-except the road.  So I could drive to West Jefferson and spend the day walking the streets and visiting the shops IN THE SNOW!  Of course being NC and only November 1 most had melted my 6pm except for shady protected areas.   More snow fell late in the evening, enough to dust my car.  This morning it was bright blue skies, but windy cold.  

Thanks God for the snow.  I am blessed.

keep dreaming...Colleen

Here is another picture of my precious new baby Sofia!  Named for my Babylock Sofia sewing machine.  Sofia has already found the fabric!  Another blessing from God! #cattherapy #overgram

Foto Finish-Patriotic

American flag, The Lump milepost 264.4 Blue Ridge Parkway, NC April 5, 2007

When I saw this I was sooo excited!  The fourth of July is a huge day in our family!  Lots of flags, family and friends, fireworks, food, and patriotic expressions everywhere.  But the first picture that came to mind was the one of the above flag.  I love to drive and hike the Blue Ridge Parkway in NC.  One of my favorite short hikes is called the Lump. 

 

Its is a round hill you hike straight up through a field and you get a 360 degree view of the mountains.  This was my first trip back to the parkway after having cancer.  About a year and a half later on April 5, a cold day-about 32F day .  I did a day trip driving from Fancy Gap entrance in Va to Boone in NC.  The air was crisp, cold, windy, and clear.  The water running down the rock faces was frozen.  When I got to the lump I bundled up, grabbed my day pack and camera and started up.  I felt rejuvenated after years of illness and recovery, I felt as if I had come home.  I walked between the high dead grass toward the low rocks I liked to sit on.  It was there I saw them. 

Two small flags stuck in the ground and blowing crisply in the wind.  It was so poignant a moment.  I took many pictures and even framed one.  Ive been back a few times since and every time I pack a small flag and leave it  stuck in the ground.  A tribute to our great country that makes such beautiful, natural places possible.

Keep Dreaming...Colleen



View from the top looking down on the parking.  See my jeep?