Time to get busy! The sap is running in the maple trees, there is bare ground where the walking paths were shoveled, the first piles of maples seeds are raked up, and we smelled our first skunk. Early spring it is!
This has been an interesting winter, both weather-wise and life in general. Husband and I are enjoying a few weeks in our small, quiet Stehekin home after having been in the big city caring for a parent over the holidays. There is far less snow than usual here and even though it is early February, we can see patches of bare ground here and there. What bare ground means to us is that our winter rest is coming to a close, and too soon. We have been reflecting on our blessings, and planning the remainder of the winter and will be here another week, then head back into the big, wide world for a short time before again returning for another busy vacation rental season. It has been the most we have been away from home during the winter since we went downlake so our daughter could finish high school. She is now 43, so it has been a while!
Our blessings have been many, and daily. There are blessings in spending time caring for a parent. One blessing is that she is still mentally sharp, so our visit was full of conversation, reminiscing, watching movies, playing cards. There was joy in being able to serve her the way she served us as children. There were blessings in helping her purge some belongings in preparation for moving someday. And there is always a someday when you are 92. Ecclesiastes chapter 3 is always a reminder that these seasons are constant, ”To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven: A time to be born, And a time to die; . . . A time to gain, And a time to lose; A time to keep, And a time to throw away;“ Ecclesiastes 3:1-2, 6 NKJV.
Also with the early spring, we may have to come back home one more time before we actually settle in for the season. As the snow melts, we always rake up the tree debris . . . leaves, maple seeds, broken branches, dead grasses . . . And clean up the flower gardens, pulling unwanted and extra plants, moving other plants, preparing the ground for spring planting of flower and vegetable seeds. We have about an acre of ground that requires such attention. If we sneak back in mid-March, we can get ahead of the early weed growth and have everything raked and ready for the spring growth of daffodils, tulips, trillium, glacier lillies and forget me nots! It really is quite lovely. We don’t want to come back to weeds a foot high and still have to rake. 🤷♀️ It’s just a mess. As the Bible says in Ecclesiastes, ”To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven: . . . A time to plant, And a time to pluck what is planted;“ Ecclesiastes 3:1-2 NKJV
Uh, oh! Rabbit trail alert! . . .
Another thing that seems a bit early this year is Easter. March 31st. Which means it is the first Sunday after the first full moon following the vernal equinox, which the early church determined was March 21, but is also how the Jewish Passover date is determined. If this makes you at all curious, here is a good place to learn more. Easter dates.
We make family plans around Easter and birthdays. Granddaughter’s birthday this year falls on Easter weekend, so our spring travel plans will end at the Granddaughter’s house to celebrate both events. Looks like next year it will fall on the weekend of April 20, which is Daughter’s and Yours Truly’s birthday weekend. Love that!
These posts always take a few days to write. When I started, it was sunny and springlike. Today it is snowing, just to show us that winter is not over. But the groundhog predicted early spring and I am still going with that! The sap cooking down on the woodstove is proof!
It is also Super Bowl Sunday. At least that is what I heard. I have no idea who is playing. I never do . . . I have no interest. Sunday for us is a day of rest and worship. Can you imagine if the tens of thousands filling whatever stadium the game is being played were gathering for a time of praise and worship of Jesus, how glorious that would be? A foretaste of eternity in heaven, I think.
Here’s to early spring! A time of renewal and refreshing.
Oh that the 67,000 people going to the Super Bowl were to donate as much money to the church as they spend to go to the game. With seat prices ranging from $7,000 to $67,000 (per seat), that's a fortune. If one assumes an average price per seat at $15,000, that is more than a BILLION dollars just for the seats. Then the travel, motels, meals, alcohol. Sure, there are plenty of people who are employed for the show, but....