I had an opportunity this past weekend to fully be involved in my element - nature. I went up to Idyllwild to participate in a men's retreat. Idyllwild is at a little over 5000 feet elevation, so it's pretty high in the local mountains.
When I got there Friday evening, there were patches of snow here and there and it was crisp, clear and smelled wonderful. I instantly found myself relaxing.
The next morning, I awoke to the sound of rain. We were expecting "weather" on Saturday so that wasn't totally unexpected. Te predictions for the weekend were for rain/snow. So far, we had the rain. Soon enough, that rain turned to sleet. It wasn't that windy so it fell softly. I did notice that it was getting colder. Eventually, it did begin to snow. And get colder. And I relaxed more (since I didn't have to be driving in it, I was able to watch and enjoy).
Because of the retreat, we were indoors most of the time, but I was able to get out during breaks and stand in the snow fall. A beautiful coyote passed by outside at one point. Squirrels were scrambling up and down pine trees, and it was quiet. Night came, events were finished and it was late. I walked back to the cabin alone, stopped at the truck to take some pictures. A good 4 inches of snow had fallen throught the day. I couldn't go into the cabin just yet. It wasn't snowing any more, the sky was clearing, it was in the low 30's and it was beautiful. The snow crunched under my boots as I walked. The sound of a creek came from down the hill. There was an occasional crack of a branch, but other than that, not a sound. I walked, I stood, I breathed, I relaxed. Did I mention how beautiful it was?
The next morning dawned clear. I couldn't stay in the cabin any longer than I had to. I had to get out and walk, so I did. The sun was just coming up. Some mountains were in sun, others still in shade.
Animal tracks criss-crossed the fresh snow. Leaves on trees were covered in white, yet showed the green that they promised would come. There was peace everywhere and the knowledge that all of this beauty; all of this peace; all of this relaxation; came from God.
The dogs thought it was great, since we were able to spend just about all weekend outside with them. Ryan ran them to exhaustion. We just enjoyed having them lay at our feet in the evening.
The other thing we did was to enjoy our flowers. No, not the flowers growing in the ground, but the ones on the trees. The peach blossoms are pretty as are the birds of paradise but my favorite flower in the yard, is the orange blossom. The smell of orange blossoms reaches you from just about any place in the back yard. Of course, since the ranch, it's one of those smells associated with happiness. I love taking a break from whatever backyard activity I'm doing to go sniff deeply from the orange tree.
