Winter Wonderland

A Winter Eden 
by Robert Frost (1874-1963)
A winter garden in an alder swamp,
Where conies now come out to sun and romp,
As near a paradise as it can be
And not melt snow or start a dormant tree.
It lifts existence on a plane of snow
One level higher than the earth below,
One level nearer heaven overhead,
And last year's berries shining scarlet red.
It lifts a gaunt luxuriating beast
Where he can stretch and hold his highest feat
On some wild apple tree's young tender bark,
What well may prove the year's high girdle mark.
So near to paradise all pairing ends:
Here loveless birds now flock as winter friends,
Content with bud-inspecting. They presume
To say which buds are leaf and which are bloom.
A feather-hammer gives a double knock.
This Eden day is done at two o'clock.
An hour of winter day might seem too short
To make it worth life's while to wake and sport.

Spirit Tree

“When a man does a piece of work which is admired by all we say that it is wonderful; but when we see the changes of day and night, the sun, the moon, and the stars in the sky, and the changing seasons upon the earth, with their ripening fruits, anyone must realize that it is the work of someone more powerful than man.” 
Chased-by-Bears, Santee-Yanktonai Sioux (1843-1950)

Have Faith

“When they came to the crowd a man approached, knelt down before him, and said, “Lord, have pity on my son, for he is a lunatic and suffers severely; often he falls into fire, and often into water. I brought him to your disciples, but they could not cure him.” Jesus said in reply, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long will I be with you? How long will I endure you? Bring him here to me.” Jesus rebuked him and the demon came out of him, and from that hour the boy was cured. 
Then the disciples approached Jesus in private and said, “Why could we not drive it out?” He said to them, “Because of your little faith. Amen, I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” 
-Matthew 17:14-20

Red Dirt Road

"...I learned the path to heaven,
is full of sinners and believers.
Learned that happiness on earth 
ain't just for high achievers.
I've learned; I've come to know,
there's life at both ends, 
of that red dirt road...."
Red Dirt Road is the eighth studio album for country duo Brooks & Dunn, released in 2003 on Arista Nashville. Certified platinum for sales of one million copies in the U.S., the album produced three top ten singles: "Red Dirt Road" (#1 on the Hot Country Songs chart), "You Can't Take the Honky-Tonk out of the Girl" (#3) and "That's What She Gets for Lovin' Me" (#6).
"I knew we were going to call this album Red Dirt Road before the first song was even picked," said Ronnie Dunn. "I wanted that thread, that growing up in rural America and all the universal touchstones we all go through—that first beer, wrecking my first car two weeks after I got it, being taken to a revival by my cousins who lived a few miles farther down that road. That road ran through every major event in my young life… and who would think a kid growing up like that, going to Bible college, would end up here? But that's the power of life and roots and dreams—it can."

Autumn Reflections On The Portage

The Keweenaw Waterway is a partly natural, partly artificial waterway which cuts across the Keweenaw Peninsula of Michigan; it separates Copper Island from the mainland. Parts of the waterway are variously known as the Keweenaw Waterway, Portage Canal, Portage Lake Canal, Portage River, Lily Pond, Torch Lake, and Portage Lake. The waterway connects to Lake Superior at its north and south entries (upper and lower portage entry lighthouses), with sections known as Portage Lake and Torch Lake in between. The primary tributary to Portage Lake is the Sturgeon River.
The waterway was dredged in the 1860s, extending a small river previously used by natives for transportation and fishing. The effort was a joint venture between the United States government and several mining corporations. Legislation for construction of the canal was passed in 1861. This legislation created the Portage Lake & Lake Superior Canal Co. The company began construction of the canal in September 1868. The canal starts at the mouth of Boston Creek and continues on to Lake Superior.

Nothing Gold Can Stay

Nothing Gold Can Stay
By Robert Frost (1874-1963)
Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

My Soul Thirsts

"As the deer longs for streams of water, so my soul longs for you, O God."
Psalm 42:2

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