Sandra Heska King

daring to open doors

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For When the Way Grows Weary (Tease and Photo Essay)

August 7, 2012 By Sandra Heska King

It’s only a one-mile loop, this Dry Marsh Trail. I can handle that, even in this heat. It’s an easy hike, though, and it’s good to be away and outside, just the two of us.

I lag behind, stopping to take pictures of this and that. He waits for me to catch up, reads out loud from the brochure.

This marsh was once a small lake that supported many aquatic plants and animals. Through the years, rain-washed soil gradually filled it in, and now it holds water only in wet years.

There’s little water today.

As the marsh continues to fill in, plants growing around the drier edges will spread inward. If you were to stand on this spot 100 years from now you might be in the middle of an oak woods.

I pause to ponder how changes and erosion and drought can still stimulate growth.

Enjoy the photos of our day below.

But the rest of this story is over at BibleDude.net.

Meet me over there?

 

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Filed Under: stories and reflections

Comments

  1. Patricia (Pollywog Creek) says

    August 7, 2012 at 8:22 am

    So lovely, Sandy. Whenever I see butterflies like that one – with nicks in the edges of the wings, I wonder what they escaped from. Was it a bird that bit off a piece of her wing….or did she get snagged by a tree limb? The life of a fragile-winged butterfly must be pretty rough. Have a great day, dear friend.

    • Sandra says

      August 7, 2012 at 8:27 am

      I think that, too, Pat. There was one of those tiger swallowtails here a while ago with a ripped tail. Yet they can still fly…

  2. Megan Willome says

    August 7, 2012 at 8:36 am

    I want to come!

    • Sandra says

      August 7, 2012 at 9:34 am

      I want you to! We’ll walk beside the river next month, yes?

  3. Karen Lange says

    August 7, 2012 at 9:22 am

    Lovely! Heading out soon to our park. You’ve inspired me. 🙂 Hope you are doing well.

    • Sandra says

      August 7, 2012 at 9:35 am

      Oh, friend! I’ve missed you. And I think of you every time I look at the garden that’s not.

  4. Jillie says

    August 7, 2012 at 12:04 pm

    Groovy Tuesday to you! Love this post! Think my husband, The Millwright, and I, need to go for a stroll through some nearby stand of trees. I was drawn into your trail walk. So lovely. Proverbs Scripture touched my heart. Blessings! For you have blessed me today.

    • Sandra says

      August 7, 2012 at 1:19 pm

      Do it, Jillie! If not today, then soon. Groovy Tuesday to you, too.

  5. Martha Orlando says

    August 8, 2012 at 7:44 am

    Awesome photos! Brought a smile to my face this morning. Thanks for sharing here and on BibleDude, Sandy!
    Blessings!

  6. Laura says

    August 8, 2012 at 12:46 pm

    Oh, sandy, you always go to the best places :). These photos are gorgeous. You can tease me any time:)

  7. Michele-Lyn says

    August 8, 2012 at 9:13 pm

    Oh, these pictures are just lovely and your contemplative thoughts, beautiful. I am going to head over to the other place you are, but I wanted to let you know that your link from Seedlings did not work. I new your web address, so I was able to find you 🙂

    • Sandra says

      August 10, 2012 at 12:13 pm

      Thanks so much for the heads up. It’s fixed now. 🙂

  8. Megan Willome says

    August 9, 2012 at 8:55 am

    Love is a long walk you didn’t plan for–
    36 miles to Silver Lake.
    You forgot water
    You’re wearing the wrong shoes
    You didn’t bring a jacket for when it finally cools off
    But you made it to the end anyway
    And you don’t know whether to celebrate
    Or just take a long nap.
    I’m tired, honey.

    • Sandra says

      August 10, 2012 at 12:08 pm

      What a gift! Thank you. Love it!

  9. Carol J. Garvin says

    August 9, 2012 at 12:18 pm

    Such walks open our eyes to so much we would otherwise miss in the God-createdness of our everydays! Thank you for sharing those sights and sounds, Sandy. I’d like to have been with you to discover some of the nooks first hand… although recently I’ve been on a few wondrous explorations myself. I hope you uncover many more such joys as summer progresses.

    • Sandra says

      August 10, 2012 at 12:13 pm

      I love that we can share our sights and sounds through words and photos. Maybe someday in the real…

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“Truly, we live with mysteries too marvelous to “Truly, we live with mysteries too marvelous to be understood. . . Let me keep company always with those who say “Look!” and laugh in astonishment and bow their heads.” ~ Mary Oliver in “Mysteries, Yes”
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@tamiheim @tonibirdsong 
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My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the str My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion.” Psalm 73:26 (ESV)
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So yesterday I saw my cardiologist. It was the fir So yesterday I saw my cardiologist. It was the first time he wanted to see me in 6 months instead of a year. He said my aortic stenosis had gotten worse. Like on the cusp of moderate to severe. 😬

So the first thing he asks me is, "How's you daughter?" Wait. Isn't this supposed to be about ME?

Then he asks if I've had any symptoms. "Well, I don't know. Maybe. I felt a little dizzy out of the blue a couple times. And felt like I couldn't catch my breath. I wouldn't have paid any attention if I didn't know I was supposed to be watching for symptoms. I DID walk all over Israel and up a bunch of steep hills, even all the way up to the Golan Heights--against the wind--without anything but normal fatigue.

He laughs. "I created a monster." Ummm, yeah.

"Have you been exercising?" 

"Well, yeah. We walk a couple miles a day. I'm back on my Nordictrack Strider." I didn't tell him I'd been lifting some light weights and some very heavy boxes and other items during this renovation, though I was told in December not to.

So he listens to the beating of my heart. Then he says, "Well, I don't think the valve is ripe yet. I don't expect you to have symptoms for three or four years. You don't need to come back for a year."

Wait! So you ask if I have symptoms. But you don't expect symptoms--yet. And when I do have symptoms, someone is gonna do something. And then I'll be older and maybe weaker. Or what if I have some sudden and silent symptom and boom! And now I have to worry about that. 

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My great-nephew, not quite 12, had just gotten home from school when the EF-3 came down the street and left its mark on every home. My niece frantically tried to find her way from work through debris and blocked roads. My sister was 30 miles away visiting my dad in rehab. I don't want to know how fast my brother-in-law drove. 

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We plan to fly up Thursday--already planned to celebrate my dad's 95th birthday. 

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From a post I wrote for @tspoetry after a visit to the @holocaustcenter.

https://www.tweetspeakpoetry.com/2016/07/27/regional-tour-holocaust-memorial-center-farmington-hills-michigan/
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Speaking of birds... bluejay in my backyard this a Speaking of birds... bluejay in my backyard this afternoon. I thought he was hurt, but I think he was just trying to cool off. (Maybe it's a young one.... unless it's the light?)
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"Watch, now, how I start the day
in happiness, in kindness." ~ Mary Oliver in "Why I Wake Early"
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