Today is Earth Day. I hope it’s a beautiful day wherever you are.
Because life is so different right now, and our usual springtime activities curtailed, I thought I’d try to bring you some llama joy to celebrate Earth Day.
My husband and I got to visit these llamas in early January on a clear, crisp day. We hiked with them, fed them snacks, and delighted in seeing the young llamas run with schoolyard abandon. Continue reading
In late December, when the steelhead trout were making their run upriver, a morning visitor surprised me. I heard a great splashing. At first, I thought someone was letting a very large dog swim in the river. Then I realized it was a creature much more at home in water.
A sea lion, far from the ocean
If Google—and my eyes and ears—can be trusted, the surprise visitor was a sea lion (not a seal). It and a companion stayed in the area for several weeks, and on some of my morning runs, I could hear barking from a long way off.
Stretching out in the water
I haven’t seen the sea lion for the last couple of weeks, but the times I spotted it swimming in the river filled me with joy and delight.
Have you encountered any unexpected visitors lately? I hope they brought you joy.
Happy New Year! I hope this week is bringing you joy so far. Joy is my word for the year, and I’m hoping to find ways to experience more joy. Not necessarily epic ways, but more day-to-day moments that bring joy.
Because of a crazier than usual first few months of this year, I need to make some changes here at the blog. Posts will be shorter (most weeks) and will contain maybe just a photograph or two that I love and want to share with you. This week’s photo brings me joy, and I hope it does the same for you.
An otter plays–and poses–in the water.
By the way, the brain teaser in last week’s post about Christmas gold relates to today’s post. The card says, “I am joyful.” The “I am” is spelled out in the stem and leaves, and the “joy/ful” is spelled in the tulips.
What brings you joy?
I’ve been thinking about gravity a lot lately. I’m finished with physical therapy for the injury that kept me from running for many months, but during many of my sessions, I got to run on an AlterG Anti-Gravity treadmill.
This high-tech treadmill lets you choose to run with as little as 20 percent of your body weight, all the way back up to 100 percent. When you run on this machine, until you set it back up to 100 percent, you are defying gravity.
During one of my last sessions, after I’d already graduated back to a regular treadmill, my physical therapist showed me a video of a blind runner using the AlterG. It was the first time he had been able to run on a treadmill without holding on with his hands. As he swung his arms back and forth, he exclaimed, “Oh, wow. Oh, wow. This is amazing.”
There are parts of the Advent story that defy gravity, too, just a different sort of gravity. Mary ignored the gravity of her situation and agreed to become a mother out of wedlock. Joseph ignored the gravity of staying betrothed to a pregnant woman and instead believed an angel telling him to stay with her. Together, they and Jesus (and one might argue everyone else in Bethlehem, too) defied the gravity of His birth, and a simple stable became the birthplace of the King of kings.
One of my readers responded this way to last week’s poll about favorite nativity figures: “The whole thing! A stable as the birthplace of the Son of God! How absurdly wonderful!”
The season of Advent challenges our ideas of where kings should be born, and Jesus’ entire life and ministry was meant to challenge our assumptions about God and faith. My reader is right: it’s absurd and wonderful. Continue reading
Late last year, hopped up on post-race endorphins, my husband and I registered for a half marathon at the end of August, a race that would be at the perfect point in my training for a December marathon. “It’ll be great!” we told each other.
My body wasn’t on board with the training schedule, though. Thanks to a nagging injury, I spent the last six weeks in a boot and am just now getting back on the road to recovery. I’ve lost a lot of strength and a lot of flexibility. And I’ve lost both the August half marathon and the December marathon.
My husband and I had been anticipating the weekend getaway, though, and cheering him on would be fun, if bittersweet. Our hotel was near the start/finish area of the race, and I decided to walk part of the course, scream like crazy when he ran by, and take photos along the way. It was a beautiful, chilly morning, and I enjoyed the slow walk.
Along the course
A few tears threatened to fall, though, when I saw the pace group near where I should/would have been at that point in the race.
The Flourishing Tree 