The days go quickly...
And I want to live them well...
I pray for wisdom.
Valerie
Words can deceive folks, but the actions that we take reveal our true selves. Sheri Eichhorn
We left North Carolina early Thursday morning to start our journey back to Minnesota. We planned a new route home, because we wanted to see a part of Mississippi.
We wanted to stop there because there are only two states I do not recall having been in…Idaho and Mississippi. Since Mississippi seemed a reasonable distance to include on our trip home (Idaho, of course, was not!) we decided it would be fun to stay overnight in Tupelo, Mississippi.
Therefore, on Thursday we drove from North Carolina, through South Carolina, through Georgia and through Alabama to Mississippi. We stopped at the birthplace of Elvis, a must-see attraction in Tupelo, before checking into our hotel…then we went out for dinner. It was a pleasant day.
The next morning we drove on the Natchez Trace Parkway, a 444 mile national scenic byway, that goes through three states.
The road roughly follows the “Old Natchez Trace” a historic travel corridor used by American Indians, European settlers, slave traders, soldiers and a few presidents. It has a lot of history to tell, dating back to the late 1700’s.
We drove on the parkway for thirty miles before getting off to head towards Kentucky. There was another attraction we wanted to see on our way back to Minnesota…the National Quilt Museum in Paducah, Kentucky.
The quilt museum was interesting. I have more thoughts and photos to share in an upcoming post.
Our third morning was a bit different than the others. We spent the night near St. Louis, Missouri, and woke up to a snowstorm (unusual amounts expected for this part of the country). We got an early start, but it was slow going the first few hours, until we drove out of the storm and the roads cleared up.
As we checked out that morning in St. Louis, the clerk at our hotel gave us a blessing for our safety while traveling through the snow…she was a kind-hearted woman and a delight. It felt right, and special, to start our journey that day with her blessing.
We were thankful we made it back to Minnesota safely.
Walking through the prairie, on a cool November morning, was glorious.
The sky was interesting… blue patches in one direction, dark clouds in the other direction, with the sun trying to peek beyond the clouds.
We walked through the quaint cemetery at Valley Grove that leads to the prairie trails. We hiked the mown trails through tall grasses, stunningly gold in color, and as tall as us, in most areas.
We took the trail that leads down to the border of Big Woods State Park. As we walked along the edge of the park, it started to drizzle and I could hear the droplets landing on the dried leaves of the forest floor. It was a lovely sound.
Then the raindrops became heavier and we found ourselves walking in the rain…but only for a little while (and it was quite pleasant walking in the rain). The rain quickly stopped and soon the sun was breaking through in full force, and by afternoon the sky was cloudless.
We were in awe of the beauty of the golden grass on the prairie, with a slight wave in the wind, against different backdrops: two historic churches, the cospe of white birch trees, the state park and surrounding horizon.
We found our way to Hidden Falls 2 (for lack of a better name). The creek bed was dry and the water over the falls had frozen in place, into an immobile cascade. It seemed like time was standing still – until next spring, I guess. But, it too, had it’s own beauty.
We had the area to ourselves…no evidence of people or animals…and we continued to hike this on this splendid property maintained by The Valley Grove Preservation Society. I’m grateful for their work on behalf of this magnificent section of a Minnesota prairie.
We were happy to get some fresh air and exercise before heading to downtown Northfield to support “Small Business Saturday”, where we did finish our Christmas shopping that afternoon…in the sunshine.
This amazing scene greeted me this morning on my walk.
I love how the clouds are outlined by the sunshine.
The heavens declare the glory of the Lord…
What a way to start the day.
My husband says it a jet vapor trail, I say it’s a cloud, but whatever it is, it made for beautiful sky art this morning over Lake Superior.
We have always enjoyed buckling ourselves into our car seats and taking scenic drives, heading out of town on country roads. It’s fun to see the varied landscapes in our great state.
When the pandemic took hold we started to take more frequent rides to get us out of the house.
Last week we drove a short 20 miles loop around Northfield and were mesmerized by the sky. These dramatic photos were snapped when we quickly pulled over to the side of the road a couple of times.
This particular evening we were on a road where you could see a whole lot of sky. The sky is always fun to watch. It has so many displays: blue with soft, white, fluffy clouds or clear blue with no clouds, and sometimes stormy skies with dark, angry clouds.
On our way back to town we saw this gorgeous sunset.
I’m compelled to include the photo below, taken in July 2018 (pre-pandemic) on a drive west of Northfield. It was eerie. Soon after I took the photo it began to rain. Fortunately it was not a tornado.
Nature’s art is everywhere…unique and beautiful!
This particular “tree stump art” took me by surprise. While riding my bike I rode past a friend’s house and she was out in her driveway so I stopped and we chatted for a few minutes (6’ apart). She told me to take a look at her tree stump in her backyard so I did. I asked her who created the design and she said “bugs”!
I thought a pattern was burned into the stump to create art…but bugs created the artwork all by themselves. It was striking.
That week we took a hike at Cannon Valley Wilderness Park near Faribault and saw the creative work of eagles. There in the treetops were two giant nests and an eagle was sitting in one of them.
Of course spring flowers are nature’s art…Wilderness Park was full of Spring Beauty, a tiny pink spring flower carpeting the ground in many places throughout the park. Unfortunately my photo didn’t turn out.
Nature’s art is in clouds…
and tulips…
and tree bark…
and birds. It’s all around us. God’s handiwork.
Look and see that the Lord is good…the beauty of the Lord is all around us.
For the beauty of the earth,
For the beauty of the skies,
For the love which from our birth
Over and around us lies,
Lord of all, to thee we raise
This our grateful hymn of praise.
For the beauty of each hour
Of the day and of the night,
Hill and vale, and tree and flower,
Sun and moon and stars of light,
Lord of all, to thee we raise
This our grateful hymn of praise.
For the joy of human love,
Brother, sister, parent, child,
Friends on earth, and friends above,
Pleasures pure and undefiled,
Lord of all, to thee we raise
This our grateful hymn of praise.
I’m used to celebrating spring on March 20 so I was surprised to learn that today, March 19, 2020, is the first day of spring this year. The spring equinox begins tonight at 10:49 pm.
The COVID-19 pandemic is on all of our minds these days…the uncertainty of it and the bigger picture of the fallout…is scary. I will not be posting much about it…it’s too overwhelming…but I am grateful for my faith to see me through.
The clouds have been particularly beautiful and unusual in the past two weeks and I’ve captured a few photos.
Psalm 147: 7 & 8
Sing to the Lord with grateful praise;
make music to our God on the harp.
He covers the sky with clouds;
he supplies the earth with rain
and makes grass grow on the hills.
Here’s to spring! May it lift our spirits a bit during these difficult days.