It was Daddy's idea...

The deep summer night had frosted the grass with jewels this morning, and I was slogging through the bed of diamonds back to the house instead of venturing from it.  Last night, Daddy proposed an impromptu campout in the back-field.  Short adventures of that kind get infectious responses on most occasions in our family.  Who can resist a good fire, fresh air, and a front row view of the sunset?  The boys and Daddy pitched and batted arcs over the field, (and sometimes over our heads and sometimes into the pig's paddock), with a baseball while we ladies cheered and commented from the fireside.  We made firebrands out of our marshmallow sticks and then roasted prodigious numbers of the fluffy sugar bombs into various stages of charcoal.  It was proposed we try the same method with a few leftover brats; so we added grease sparks to the night-light of our camp and burnt our fingers and tongues on the most delicious portions of meat I have ever tasted.  Crackling and charred on the outside, juicy-sweet on the inside.  Every topic of conversation around our campfire is broached with the happy assurance that we have all the time in the world to pursue it, unhurried by the demands of a schedule. Family jokes are laughed at without reserve, nobody worries about the state of their hair, we all wear the same scent (wood smoke and bug-spray), and no-one has to say anything to be a necessary presence in the assembly.  I didn't bother taking large numbers of pictures.  Once in a while these times are too sacred and precious for the excessive recording of things best painted on the memory alone.   Tucked into those loud swishy sleeping bags where every move is a waterfall or an express train, we admonish each-other about the coming hours and say good-night a thousand times in funny sleepy voices until someone forgets to reply in the twilight of wakefulness and we drop off to the roar of bullfrogs and the flickering of our dying fire.  God quiets my heart most often when I rest for these short moments of time in His countless blessings of the present common-place.  Contentment, I think, is not having things you want, but truly wanting those things which you have with a passion that makes the smallest gifts cause you to worship the Giver.  He calls it gratitude.

~Isaiah 55:9-12~

“ For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts.

For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there,
But water the earth, And make it bring forth and bud,

That it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void,

But it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.
For you shall go out with joy, and be led out with peace;
The mountains and the hills shall break forth into singing before you,
And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.”

The Mysterious Islands

More than 2500 Attend Tampa Premiere of The Mysterious Islands on Seven Screens!

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Frontenac...

We took another drive Sunday...to Frontenac State Park. It was lovely! Lake Pepin shimmered like a glass, since there was very little wind. The frowning bluffs rose up, rugged and beautiful, from the shore like grim and ancient sentries.
We hiked from the heights of one of these great edifices down to the lake shore. Unfortunately, it was getting too dark to take many good pictures, but I did manage a few.

Family hikes are always fun. This one did not look at all difficult or strenuous at first.And of course the views were breathtaking. When we took this picture, there was a train snaking across the valley and sending out its whistle to echo in the hills. The sound of a train whistle always fills me with a strange and wonderful excitement. :) Up there, combined with the landscape spread out like a map, it sent shivers down my spine. Unfortunately, it was only a whisper when Aubrey tried to record it on camera and you couldn't hear it. We were continually amazed at the steep and precipitous nature of the path. At this point, we had no idea we were heading for the lake, or we probably wouldn't have kept walking. :)Along the trail on the face of the bluff were remains of an old stone quarry. Reportedly, the iron ring Aubrey is pulling at was used to hoist and anchor heavy equipment, but I liked to imagine the rock in which it was embedded was the colossal stone door to a forgotten treasure chamber. :)We were amazed when we realized that we had marched all the way down that hill and were on a level with the lake.The water was so inviting that Aubrey and I had to put our feet in.The boys preferred throwing things in the water to going in themselves. They are very good at skipping stones! I took pictures of the skips, and I think this was one of the better shots I got, but you can't see that this stone skipped nearly seven times!The climb back up the bluff was of course daunting, and by the time we reached the top, the sun had nearly set. The last few steps to the top looked like the gateway to heaven in more ways than one. :)Sam spotted this empty June bug skin on our way back to the car. :)

All that walking gave us quite an appetite, so this time Daddy finished off the night by taking us to Lake City for Pizza!