Category Archives: Photography

I went on a bear hunt
but I did not see a bear
I saw her poop and claw marks
so I know she had been there
and what I did see humbled me
and it made me stop and sigh
at my Father’s amazing creation
and I cannot fathom why
that such a God who has all power
in both sky and depth of sea
would care so much and love so deep
that He’d sacrifice His SON for me
so here upon His ridge top
with the sound of birds and wind
I lift my hand and praise Him
for His glory, once again
©gmk 9/6/2010

So today, I went into the mountain with the sole purpose of seeking out and photographing a bear.  I used my newfound bravery and took the Ranger all the way up to the cabin.  Dad told me to be careful as the road was rough due to the recent flash flood… well, dad was wrong…. the road wasn’t rough as there wasn’t a road… multiple ditches with huge rocks bursting through the ground… it was an arduous and dangerous trip, but I took it slow and tried to maneuver it the way I thought Dad would.  I was really surprised when I saw the cabin.  It has a covered porch which fronts the cabin on the east side.  Inside, there is a wood stove, couch, bunk-beds, two recliners, a table and chairs and a full-size gas stove that will run on propane.  It is quite a little getaway… So, after photographing the marks on the apple tree that were obviously claw marks and judging from the size, it’s a very safe bet that it’s a bear, I made my way around the outside of the cabin.  The place was quiet and very, very secluded.  Since there was no bear at or around the cabin, I went behind and started down the road at the northwest corner of the “yard”.  As I started down, i took note of the steepness of it and though it was quite steep, I side-stepped a lot and thought only fleetingly of walking back up (BIG mistake), and made it to a place that opened up to something you read about in story books… i expected, instead of a hundred years old apple orchard, to see a castle…  I can’t explain it but I felt like I was anywhere and everywhere… like I was going a thousand places just by standing in that perfect place… it was amazing, it was beautiful…  and I want very badly to go back…  but I want to hike to the orchard from the barn because that hill back to the cabin, the one I said was steep…?   Well, that hill is a killer.  I had to stop four times just to keep myself from falling from sheer muscle fatigue.  I knew, without a doubt, that if the bear decided at that moment that this hard-breathing, sweating humanesque creature looked tasty, I was toast… as I was just barely making it.  I remember saying, when the cabin came into view, “Praise Mary and all the Saints”.  It was the first time in a long time that I was so near exhaustion, I wanted to cry… gonna walk on that hill (in moderation, mind you) till I can do it in one sweep.  I thought of Dad while I was huffing and puffing my way up that incline…  I thought, Dad will say “what, that hill?  Why I’ve walked that hill dozens of times”.  Guess what he said when I got home..?  yep lol.  I love good surprises, but at the same time, i find comfort in predictability…

Ok… so have you ever harped and harped at someone for being easily influenced and gullible?  Well, then, have you ever done that exact same thing you’d been harping about…?  Hmmm.  I did.  Did it just today as a matter of fact.  Actually, I suppose the actual catalyst happened a few years ago, not long after Jim and I moved over here to the country.  We still had dial-up at that time, so the very slightest thing would excite us.  Since we were afraid we would shrivel and fade away before the dial-up would take us somewhere we could prove what we were reading, if it sounded reasonable or cool, we’d look into it.  Now, this particular thing, Jim didn’t think would happen… as a matter of fact, I remember him saying “Gina, that is simply not possible”.  Well, what did he know?  I had read it on the internet, hadn’t I.  So, irregardless of his nay-saying, I began to plan the moment of this great phenomenon that I would only see once in my lifetime.  I began to plan the menu and think about, even though I don’t care about it, a nice wine.  We were going to picnic in the hayfield and watch this amazing sight unfold.  I was, of course, going to have my camera.  So time passed and so did Jim…  i would love to hear him tell me he was right without being a jerk about it.  Tonight, I was at the home of two of my dear friends, Len and Randy.  I told them, very excitedly I might add, about this incredible thing that was going to happen tomorrow.  Randy, a skeptic in the best of times, was polite enough not to laugh in my face.  I wanted to prove to them that it was real, so I looked it up, where else, ON THE DROID lol…  And what I found immediately made me think of how many times I’ve complained to Dad that he is gullible and believes every email he gets… well, I can say that the crow was tough and hard to swallow, especially since I am currently a vegetarian.  People, MARS WILL NOT BE AS BIG AS THE MOON TOMORROW….  now desculpe (excuse me) while I carry on wallowing in disappointment at my own gullibility…  lo siento (I’m sorry) Dad…  0:-)

As I was looking through these photographs, I was struck by something Cassandra said in one of her fb posts about wondering where the time has gone.  I found myself wondering that last night, too, when Taylor, my little baby… y’all remember her, cute little thing with curly hair… wild as a buck.. that little baby, called to tell me she was going to come home for the night from college.  She said it was because she was bored… but I know it was because she was homesick…  Anyway, I digress… enjoy the photographs and let me know what you think of them.  I’m going to really try to stick with the blog this time because I believe it’s important in a big way… i don’t know… have no choice but to wait on God to reveal His plan and to serve and worship Him while I’m waiting… My family is something that, if you were to randomly ask people on the street, exists only in fairy tales…  I know that I could call any one of them, and there are MANY, and if I needed help, they would help me in any way they could.  I know that for a fact…  we laugh, we cry and yes, of course, we fight… how could we not… we have descended from the Scots, the Irish and the German… there would be something wrong with us if we didn’t fight… but we don’t hold it against each other.  That’s the key… nobody’s perfect and everybody is going to step on my toes from time to time.  Big deal… I do plenty of stepping of my own so I consider myself living in a glass house…  again, I digress… I’m sorry..   I’m starting to remind myself of people i know… lol… and you know who you are!!!     OK… here are the pictures…