Retreat to Lassen

Last weekend and a few days into this week was my annual celebration of "the last hurrah" before summer vacation is over. Two wonderful friends from church were able to go to Mt. Lassen with me. Along with the getaway being "the last hurrah", it was also a mini personal retreat.

(At the top of Mt. Lassen, 10, 457' up. Took 2 hours 20 minutes to get up and 1 hour and 10 minutes to get down. Hike was 5 miles round trip with 2,000' climb. Absolutely beautiful up there. In the top picture, we are standing in the middle of the volcano crater, wind blowing like crazy and a wee bit chilly.)

(I am going to kinda skip around here in this post with the pictures. And who knows if it will format correctly. There were pretty flowers on the ascent to the summit.)

The weekend prior to this trip, I was up at Mt. Lassen with my dad. I had some wonderful reading time and I read this little book called Shopping for Time: How to Do It All and NOT Be Overwhelmed by Carolyn Mahaney and her three daughters, Nicole Whitacre, Kristin Chesemore, and Janelle Bradshaw. Suzy too had read the book and said our weekend away could be our own personal retreat, which was one of five tips given in the book. The book lists 7 topics for you to list your priorities and prayerfully consider how you are doing with each one (thank you Suzy for typing them out for us). They are:

• Grow in godliness: How is my prayer life? Are my quiet times fruitful? What area is God calling me to grow in? What scriptures address this?
• Love my family: What relationship needs more attention? How can I show more love to this person?

(In this photo I am taking the photo in the middle of the crater of Mt. Lassen and can see off in the distance another volcano, Mt. Shasta)

• Serve in the church: Am I using my gifts effectively? Humbly? Am I too busy with good things? Am I too busy with worldly things to serve the body?
• Fellowship with Christians: Is there a relationship I should prioritize? Is there a relationship that is hindering me? What specific practical changes do I need to make so that I am investing in the right people for the right amount of time?

• Evangelize non-Christians: 'Each one reach one.' Who is one person I can develop a friendship with for the purpose of sharing the gospel?
• Attend to my work: Am I doing the right work? Is there a way to be more effective or efficient in the work God has called me to do?
• Care for my physical health: Am I giving too much or too little attention to this?

(I have never seen so much snow up in the park in August. Helen Lake was still snowed and iced over.)

In conclusion what one or two priorities do I want to focus on for the next three to six months? What steps will I take to grow in each area?

The time away was a good time for me to reflect on a few areas that I need to grow and improve in. The two areas that I want to focus on for the next 3-6 months are grow in godliness and evangelize non-Christians.

My quiet times have been stale and sometimes non existent. Part of making my quiet times with the Lord more fruitful and consistent includes
joining the 5am club and restructuring my time. I've been getting up at 5am pretty regularly (even during summer vacation) BUT I have been turning on the tv to watch the news. My first moments (turns into several minutes, even up to an hour) were not turning to the Lord. The routine now is to program the coffee the night before, get up feed the cats, shower, dress and then sit down with my Bible, journal, cup of coffee and ready to meet with God. What a nice and pleasant change this has been for my routine in the morning and for my time with Him.

Being a school teacher for the public school system, has frightened me away from sharing the gospel with students, co-workers and parents at work. I know all the red tape and all the possible consequences. I do talk of the Lord but I am not intentional with one or two people. I am specifically praying to develop a friendship with two gals that I hope will lead to gospel opportunities.

Looking forward to my next personal retreat.

Summer Yum

The last few years my garden lacked a good yield. Partly due to my lack of attention in the garden (sore back which leads to inability to weed, water, and tend the garden) and weird weather. I can't say the weather has changed much this year but my back is behaving better. For about a month I have been getting various types of squashes. They are yummy.

















Finally, the tomatoes are turning red. Both of these in the picture should be ready eating (I mean picking) within a day or two. Last week I started eating my little golden cherry sized tomatoes- yum, they never make it inside.






















The garden is very green and lush. My tomato plants are tall, maybe 4' tall. The one thing that is different this summer is I have been fertilizing the plants once a month. Ohhhh, they like getting fed. Now if the weather would turn a tiny bit warmer, the tomatoes will turn from green to yummy red.















My front yard is exploding with color. Anyone need some English lavender? I will harvest some soon. I love color in my yard.

The huge bummer in my garden this year was the NO fruit production from the apricot and plum trees. Both received a very good trimming in February. Maybe the trees needed a rest this year. I still have in my freezer fruit from last year. Time to jam and pie!














I so love daisy's. They remind me of God's unfailing and tender hearted love He has for me. Unlike what the world says about daisies, "he loves me, he loves me not. . . ." With God choosing me as His own, dying on the cross for me, it is, "He loves me, He will always love me. . . ."- and that will go on for eternity!

Pop of Color

Happy Spring! My yard is filled with incredible displays of God's painting pallet. Boy I needed a pop of color today. I am home ill today because my strep throat has either lingered or has decided to re-visit my throat.




You seriously can't go wrong with planting bulbs in the fall that are going to brighten your yard in the spring. Costco sells bulbs in bulk, 100 in a bag. I bought a tool a few years ago that I attach to my cordless drill and it bores my bulb holes just like that.

The sad thing, that in about 2 weeks the bulb color will be gone and the stems will be drying up for their appearance next year. But I will enjoy it now while I can.

Orange October

Orange October. Wow, so much orange in October. Orange has become my favorite color especially this October. Nothing better than an Orange October.

Every morning as I drive to work the east sky is a painter's canvas (God is the Painter!) with all the incredible hues and shades of orange. When I am running a little late, the sun has popped into the scene and is an enormous orange ball. Many of these mornings I am pleading with God to give me wisdom, insight, strength and love for my new job. Seeing the glory of the morning, the majesty and goodness of the LORD, my restless heart is reminded that He is with me, that He is faithful, He is working and that He is for me.

Every Friday I wear a orange shirt for two reasons. The first reason, it is spirit day at school and school colors are orange and black. The second reason, every Friday this baseball season is Orange Fridays, to cheer on the Giants.

There has been much more orange going on in October. Back in September, I had my toe nails painted orange to help push my Giants into the playoffs. The Giants won the National League West on October 3rd to go to the National League Division Playoffs (I will share about this game in another post- it was one of the most incredible games I have been to- EVER). The Giants won the NLDS and today start the National League Championship Series. GO GIANTS!!! There is a little baseball superstition in me, (isn't there a little in every true baseball fan?) not changing the toe nail color. I need a pedicure bad but have not been able to fit it in to get my nails done orange again. Every day the Giants win or the day after they have clinched, I am wearing orange. Last week, I had a whole load of orange laundry. Sure hope I can keep wearing orange until the end of the month (if need be, a few days into November!).

Broines Missing Links

The last two Briones hikes have been somewhat familiar. Parts of the trails we have hiked before and other parts were connector trails. There is something nice about familiarity, you remember certain landmarks, steep uphills, slopping downhills, and which way the trail bends. With new territory, you wonder how high a hill goes, if the downhill on the other side of the hill will cram your toes in your boots, or if there will be a post marker telling you where to go.



Today's hike was the second shortest in distance, but took the prize for the hottest temperature hiked in yet. The temperature was close to 100 today. Thankfully, most of the hike was under the canopy of the trees giving huge relief from the blistering heat. Last time we hiked the Pine Tree trail, it was foggy and cold and we slogged through deep thick mud. Today the ground was nothing but leaves and fine dust.







The poison oak is alive and well this year. Oaks and poison oak seem to go hand in hand. Poison oak and I don't have a good relationship with each other. I have done a pretty good job this year to stay clear even though there has been a ton of the poisonous plants on every trail we have hiked. I have had 3 or 4 tiny isolated spots of poison oak this season. I do not want a repeat outbreak like I had in high school a few times. The leaves are real pretty at this time of year, especially when the sun hits the leaves from a certain angle.




On the hikes, we have discovered lush, green, protected areas and we have been out with the grass (very dead and dry at this time of year) with not a tree in sight. From the hikes, I have discovered that I like the lush and cool areas better than the open hillsides.

The second to last hike we took was on the last day of July. There was a flock of turkey's looking for food. There were two "Tom's" in this bunch. One was on the fence and the other is the one with his head up checking us out. The Tom's are pretty protective of their hens. They make a bunch of noise too.

Summer's Last Hurah!

Once again, I am behind on my posts. What is even more sad than not posting is that I am procrastinating doing my lesson plans for next week to do a post!

Two weeks ago Dawn and I took a little day trip to Monterey. We brought our bicycles along and rode 25 miles up and down the coast. Honestly, it was nice to get out and do something different than the norm. The fresh air was good for my heart and mind with the new job and all that involved with starting up.

Check out my new bike, it is a nice upright hybrid by Trek. I love riding a bicycle but my back can not handle the strain of leaning over a racing or mountain bike. My bike is so cute, it is baby blue with dark blue Hawaiian flowers on it. My back loves it. I got a great deal on it too!

The old light house has been turned into a museum. On this day, the sun never really came out, it was buried deep in the summertime coastline fog.

Summer Yum!

The blackberry bushes are ripe and ready to be picked on part of the route where the gals and I walk each morning. After we walked our 5 miles, we grabbed our containers and bags and started picking. We picked about 4 quarts of yummy sweet juicy berries, got a few scratches, have purple fingers and the makings for some delicious food.

When I got home I made gluten free blackberry pancakes for breakfast. In fact, I was so excited about the blackberry pancakes, I forgot to brew my coffee. Quickly I discovered my loss and got some brewing.

For lunch, I had the rest of the berries with some milk. One of my favorite meals in summertime is fresh fruit with milk. I eat it like cereal and I can have it for breakfast, lunch, dinner, a snack, or for dessert.

God has been so creative in the foods He has created for us to enjoy in California.

YUMAHUH!

Briones- Getting Closer

Last Friday, Suzy and I, took on another chunk of our goal to finish all the trails in Broines Regional Park by 11/11/10. By far, this was our longest and most time consuming hike we have done. We parked the car at the last staging area that we had not started a trail at, the Lafayette Ridge Staging Area. By the mileage on the trail map we did 7.03 miles and took a few wrong turns adding about .50 miles. Our feet hiked the Lafayette Ridge Trail, Buckeye Ranch Trail, Springhill Trail and back to the Lafayette Ridge Trail.

The first major chunk of the trail seemed to not be scale according to the map. The map has it at 2.85 miles but it seriously took us over two hours. The ridge trail was the first ridge trail we have taken in the park, and I now understand better why it was a ridge trail. Most of the trail was up and down, up and down, steep downhills on either side. The trail was very deceiving, when you got to the top of one hill, you thought you were done with uphill for awhile, but you saw a down and then up again.

Both Suzanne and I were tired and did not think we could make it up another hill top. We must have done 20 hill tops and it was taking a very long time compared to other hikes we had taken. Finally, we saw a trail marker that gave us good news, we did not have to hike up the next hill top which was big and steep. "Oh we are blessed, blessed indeed", was all we could utter.

At one point, we decided to change the Law of Newton to, "what goes down must go up" and called it Newton's Reverse Law of Gravity. The trail looped at the end of our time on the ridge and we knew that we had to go back the way we came to get to the car. On the side of the hill we saw distinct deer trails that cut off the top of the hill and kinda leveled out the up and downs, so we decided to take the deer trails. NOTE TO SELF: Don't take the deer trail again, scratched legs and a tiny bit of poison oak is not worth it.

The last point of worth noting about this hike was confusing guideposts or missing all together guide posts. There were several trails we took, thinking we were going the right direction because the sign said so or we guessed when there was no real clear sign. The sign here to the left is one such example of the confusion, every side of the sign had different arrows point which way to go. So, we know for next time but it was trial by error this time.

Got a blister on my right heel bone again this time. Need to get some new socks I think.

Another great hike. Think we have about 6 left, maybe we will hike a small one to tie up loose ends in the morning.

I'm loving exploring God's amazing and beautiful creation.