My Sacred Place

I love it up here at the lake, Up North.

I especially love an early morning with the fog coming off the lake, cool enough to need a sweatshirt with your coffee on the deck. This place is my church. Here is where I feel the presence of God and nature so strongly I can believe I am a part of it. In fact, Up North is really more like Due North, a purposeful direction, pulling me in the way I am meant to go. Up here I become more of myself. I feel more creative, more of an environmentalist, more active, more holistic. I believe more in myself when I am here.

This place is reliable. The sun always comes up with stunning beauty. The sleeping is always good. And the majesty of nature's sculpture is everywhere: the lakes, the dunes, the vast forests, the wildlife. Syncing up to that - it restores me in a way nothing else can.

I wonder if it will be the same when we live up here. Will it still hold that same pull, the same mystery? Will the everydayness lessen that feeling? I hope not. Because I love who I am here, and who my family is here too. I hope that never fades away.

Motherhood

I've had the unique opportunity to watch a mother and her fawn over the last two days. They must be living on the government property adjacent to ours. Last night, we saw them grazing along the two-track that leads to the lakehouse. It was magical to be so close to them. And the fawn was so curious about our vehicle that it kept inching nearer. The mother must have given her baby a cue of some sort (although completely invisible to me) because he suddenly bolted into the brush. She lingered a bit a then bolted too. (I did manage to get this photo of mom through the windsheild - not the best, but still.)

Then this morning, as I was eating my breakfast, I watched the same curious little fawn emerge from the brush at the side of our house and pick its way though our back yard and over to the little pond in back. I was surprised to see it alone, and then very quietly the mother emerged. She was watching and protecting, but still her fawn was learning how to survive in this strange environment of national park preserve and vacation-land mecca. She was showing him how to negotiate the humans, the traffic, the land and the water. She was allowing him to explore and learn and go a little too far before pulling him back with her silent signals. It reminded me what good mothering looks like. And how quickly our little ones grow and change and learn. Nature is a wonderful teacher.

Ready

I am so ready for another trip to the lake. I can't wait to see family and friends and participate in all the silliness that is July 4th in our neck of the woods. Just a week left to go....

Randomness

1. My sister is officially in town. Ahh! I can't believe it's actually happened. :) They've rented the cutest house on the block and I love that they will be so close!

2. I got the syllabus for one of my classes this summer and I can't believe how busy I am going to be. Who's idea was it to take two classes??? (but I'm so excited about typography!)

3. Headed to the lake this early Saturday morning. It's going to be a blast. And classes start while there. Thank god my Aunt and her son will be joining us so Hayes won't be too neglected.

4. The garden has taken a back seat already to the travel schedule (and school). I am trying not to guilt myself about it. At least there isn't much to harvest these days but peas and radishes. LOVE THOSE PEAS!

5. Did I mention my sister is in town?

Scenes From Heaven

Incase you were wondering what Heaven is like; here are a few glimpses: