Ballad of the The Lone Fir

When it was young,
it was surrounded
By many tall firs;
sap pulsed unbounded.
Then they were felled,
it only was left.
Alone on a hillside,
of shelter bereft.
Standing in storm,
though wind did pound,
It stood up for the memory
of the forest cut down.
Because the memory was strong,
so was the tree.
And the old forest's strength
you can still see.
For it lives to this day,
in the old Lone Fir tree.

-Adele Clark

Creation Day

Another beautiful day here at the place we affectionately call Godsend.
Thanks for yet another day to worship and praise you King Jesus!

Sunset

Good on ya Adele!

She found our long lost blog and started posting today so figured I better have another go.... Awesome sunset today as we enjoyed our first storm of the fall. Tomatoes still on the vine, corn still to be picked and warm outside but when it's starts raining sideways and blowing 35mph fall has arrived.

Pretty mellow here. Dad is relaxed. Loads of football today topped off with a nice filet of Samish River King Salmon and some lactose free ice cream.

We didn't need it but have built a fire and will camp out in the living room tonight. Looking forward to seeing Daniel tomorrow as we here rumors that he is on Johns Island and headed our way tomorrow, can't say enough about him and how happy/grateful we are that he's out and free. Know you got a road ahead of you Daniel, we're here!

We have been raising some turkeys for thanksgiving.They are pretty mellow but when they
see the duck then.......!This is one with the duck just outside their cage.

Got back from class just before Sunset keeping an eye out for the full moon.
It rose just to the South of Baker from our vantage point.

Beautiful!

I rolled dad's bed over so he was aimed right at it. We watched it for some time then lit the BBQ for some marinated Salmon while watching a John Wayne movie.

That's the news from Godsend.

Wow sometimes it gets pretty emotional around here!

We just kind of cruise along for the most part. Keeping an eye on dad. Taking time to sit with him, talk about things, remark on the birds. It's just kind of slow and easy. Then all the sudden he'll kind of do his little roll over so he's looking at me while leaning into the bed handrail and say, 'boy I miss Betty' and my heart just shatters and I try and hold it together and get him talking. Ouch!

It hit me the other day that all our plans were for dad to leave us first. We had spent time talking about his wished for a funeral, his fears, his thoughts about the life after this. We never even thought about mom's.

I'm taking a Master Gardener class with WSU for 6 weeks. I guess a little prompted by a comment Mirk made about people in the South West having evolved beyond the hunter, gatherer existence after I sent him a pic of the gargantuan salmon and I pulled out of the Samish. Something about extreme gardening and he included a pic of a 25 foot pepper tree and later sent a small jar of pepper powder that we still haven't been able to open due to hazmat restrictions in the area.

As I take these classes and imagine all the flowers etc guess where my mind goes? I know the rest of you do the same thing. We bough two Witchhazel last weekend to plant. One is called Diane and it is the color of Garnet and is in bloom now and garnet is Sally's birthstone and her birthday was this Tuesday I think. Here's a little note I got from Julie -

Hi Steve and family,

I just got back from an evening at the Pacific Inn, the Wallingford neighborhood pub where Sally used to hang out. Lil and Hanna decided that would be the best place to go to remember their Mom's birthday. A bunch of their friends were there, including Emily and Mollie Aylward, and several of Sally's old buddies. One of them brought red roses. We kept the jukebox going, ate some fish and chips, and had a good time. I thought you'd like to know in what spirit we remembered her on this day.

I had a very vivid dream about Sally and your Mom this morning just before I woke up. They came together to see my witch hazel 'Diane' which is in full bloom right now. They looked great! Your Mom gave me a big hug. I pass it on to you...

Love, Julie

A thought from learning about soils today.

Human

Humus
Humble
Do all these words come from the same root?

You remember man comes from the dust
which can with good reason be more correctly read topsoil
one of the most important ingredients for soil is what
our bodies become part of the humus
working with nature does make us humble
which comes from being face down in the ?

You guessed it, topsoil.
Not a bad place to be whether in a garden or before God
Face down

Thank you God for this beautiful place.
Thank you for the beautiful time we've had up here.
We pray that our children would enjoy this place as much as we have.
And we thank you, again and again and again.

We were hanging out with dad last night. We got fish and chips which is something we haven't done since mom left. Remember Friday nights at the condo?

Well dad prayed and as he did I knew I wanted to send it out here. This is my overwhelming picture of dad. He is content, thankful, oh so very thankful. This is what comes out every time he prays. He doesn't like my cold hands or the exhaust fan I turn on when his room needs a quick blast of fresh clean air, wheeeeeeeeeeeew! But overall he is a very thankful man and he wants to pass that on.

It's been quite awhile since Christmas but here are a few pictures from that day.
Godsend was full with 21 here to sit down for dinner!





Yeah, there was a sense of loss with two such hugely important people as Sally and Grandma Betty not here to be involved in all the preparations or the actual sit down to dinner but with so many still to gather, well that sense of loss is definitely tempered. There are so many of us!

It is odd how this sense of loss is just there all the time now but just not quite as painful as it was a month ago. I am reminded of that passage in Ecclesiasties that says there is a time for everything. Here it is:

There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven-- 2 A time to give birth and a time to die; A time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted. 3 A time to kill and a time to heal; A time to tear down and a time to build up. 4 A time to weep and a time to laugh; A time to mourn and a time to dance. 5 A time to throw stones and a time to gather stones; A time to embrace and a time to shun embracing. 6 A time to search and a time to give up as lost; A time to keep and a time to throw away. 7 A time to tear apart and a time to sew together; A time to be silent and a time to speak. 8 A time to love and a time to hate; A time for war and a time for peace

Hiram and Mary Clark

All these pictures are from around 1918.
The picture in the canoe is on the Samamish Slough.

Clark Family reunited

It was Friday after our big snow and temperatures were around 25 when the sisters decided they would make an attempt to drive up to Bow.

What a reunion! Here is the entire Clark family, offspring of Mary and Hiram together again here at Godsend. That's Lee on the left then Virginia from Michigan, Dad (Ray) and Ilene.

We had a sweet time with them all. Enjoying just listening to them and especially watching the girls all be so sweet on dad. They really feel blessed to get to spend time with him and it shows when they are here.

Thanks again God!