Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Love on the Lake, Etc.



I don't know who from Sandpoint Online set up this photo, but they did a very nice job.  And, of course, I could glean an immediate connection with its message. 

For anyone who NEVER reads this blog, that's Lake Pend Oreille, and I'm guessing the photo was taken during this beautiful winter we're enjoying. 


We've had time this year to ENJOY winter rather than work our rear ends off dealing with the hardships.  


In fact, I'm missing an opportunity this morning to join others for some winter fun. 

One of my former students and neighbors has summoned a Sandpoint outdoor ladies group to meet this morning with snowshoes at Round Lake.  They'll take to the trails for at least an hour, maybe 90 minutes. 


Unfortunately today my morning responsibilities won't allow me to participate, but I told Christa to keep me on her list.


She and her family are great adventurers, probably among the most knowledgeable when it comes to all the pretty places we have in our area.  

They go to those places as family, on snowmobiles, via 4-wheelers, on foot and on snowshoes, to name a few.  

In fact, I've met up with them a couple of times in gorgeous settings while out on my own adventures with friends or family.

When Christa posted about their family snowshoeing into Grouse Falls the other day, I smiled, thinking about a trail already packed for a lazy snowshoer like me.

Then, reality set in.  I'm historically the world's biggest chicken and would continue to be for sure if I snowshoed alone or with my dogs in the Grouse Falls area.

One of the most fearful times of my life occurred in the meadow leading into the Grouse Falls trail.  And, I was in a car, with kids.

That was when the mama moose, across the meadow,  decided she'd had enough of my standing beside my car taking pictures of her and her baby.

She put her head down and began a canter, as only a moose could do, toward our van.  I could hardly jump into the van and slam my foot down on the gas fast enough to avoid the  mad mother moose.

The incident scared the living daylights out of me, and my kids can tell you so.   Once, safely away from Mama Moose, I drove up the road, took plenty of time, turned around and then raced that van through the meadow on the return trip.

The mother and her baby had left the area by then.

So, when reality set in yesterday, thinking about Christa and her family's snowshoe tracks, I just shrugged my shoulders and thought that some day things would work out.  

Someone would be with me to take advantage of those packed tracks, cuz I sure wasn't going into that beautiful spot all by myself. 

Hours later, came Christa's call on Facebook for outdoors ladies to join her this morning.  It may not work out today, but it will.  

Christa has come up with a wonderful idea for women who like the outdoors but like to enjoy their adventures with the security of others. 

Back to this winter---I'm amazed and thrilled to reflect on the first three months and to think that the gripe-meter has pretty much remained on zero.  I'm sure blog readers are happy about that, cuz I know how to moan and groan when gray days get me down.

In short, it's nice to have this long span of uneventful but wonderful winter weather to truly enjoy the fun and beauty of this season.

And, I'm glad someone left that "lovely" artistic reminder of our outdoor treasures in that lake scene. 

Happy Wednesday. 

P.S. If you're from afar and want to see and learn more about our beautiful area, visit www.sandpointonline.com and sign up for weekly news from God's Country. 



No comments: