What do I love about the wind.... I love
     - the smell of freshly blown dried sheets and T-shirts fresh off the line,
     - the feel of wind on my face and hair when riding my bike,
     - the wind on a crisp summer day in the arctic when hiking because it means no mosquitos,
     - the tingly afterglow of a sun and wind burn after a good x-c ski,
     - the swaying of the Lombardi poplars in my front yard,
     - the gentle falling of dried leaves across my path when walking in the fall and crunching on the path,
     - closing my eyes to hear the rustling on a spring morning,
     - the line of windmills powering electricity in southern Alberta near Pincher Creek
     - the push it offers when behind in a bike ride, run or ski,
     - when government offices are closed due to a blizzard day,

I hate it when...
     - I have to bundle up more walking to work in the north and one spot escapes like my nose or space on my wrist not fully covered and      frost bite patch develops,
     - vehicles don't start due to cold and high winds, or 
     - trees are broken, oceans rise, and there is tragic loss of life and property damage with hurricanes and tsunamis

One of my favorite passages in the Bible John 3:8 compares God's Spirit
to the wind, in the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus, " the
wind blows where ever it wishes: you hear the sound it makes but you do
not know where it comes from or where it is going, it is like that with
everyone who is born of the Spirit..."

I thought about this passage as I went about some of my activities this past weekend.

A  A windstorm in Rocky last August caused much damage to several cabins including 30-year-old cabins in senior boys camp, fortunately all of whom were gone on outtrips. Over 50 trees had to be felled in the cleanup including this sample of one of the stumps cut down in aftermath.

Sunday morning shown here about 8 AM....  it was raining but calm on the lake, so I decided to take a two hour paddle around the perimeter.  Wet, cold and silent, I could hear that gentle breeze moving through the reeds near the shore, watch muskrats dart in and out near the shore or curiously peer out from underneath a pier of these cottages across the lake from the camp. Fall  mirror like reflections included spruce and yellow turning larch trees and a fallen weathering worn spruce or pine tree.
Coming back into the dock just before the lunch bell and later yet another of those famous sunsets on Crimson Lake, I thought again about the power of the wind and the value of silence...." Be still and know that I am God."

Pumpkin decorations for Thanksgiving weekend before and...after carving.

Decided at the last minute on Friday, as weather was reasonable to take the dogs and drive down to the camp at Rocky Mt. House.

It was a reunion weekend for a number of the high school aged summer campers. Here with Morgan who was a great walker of my dogs.

 Wondered if  I could help out as had last done in May and indeed there were two flower beds that needed to "be put to bed!" Here are some of my shots.
The rocky flower bed before fall digging included Baby's breath and day lilies all now downed by frost. Roundabout in early morning frost...same bed I dug in May work weekend and separated irises. I cut back tops of plants first because the ground was quite frozen until early afternoon when the sun had been out a few hours. Dysis tied in fall leaves and a watcher but hitched to a wagon wheel decoration, Nanuq was not quite as content

An inquisitive whiskey jack spied my lunch as went for a walk with dogs and sat in this stump turned into a lovely chair and one of the brush clearing projects

While I ate the dogs did a mad run in circles which included in and out of the water and

making mad leaps of surprise attacks on the other one!

Meanwhile, "back at the ranch" upon my return, another crew had arrived with a rototiller, Kate and family while I had gone for the walk with the dogs. They not only did the iris bed but a good start on the other one, amazing what four bodies and a machine can do! However was told that they expected to do 2 days of work and my prep work reduced this to just one! and on Sunday did some more pruning, trimming and edging.