A Hike and a No-Show

 On Saturday, Glen and I did our favorite hike along the towpath from Carderock to Great Falls and back.    It's about 7-miles and it was an exceptionally lovely day for hiking.   It was about 70º, cloudy, and completely not humid, which was quite unlike the drippy hot hike we took last week.    

The leaves are mostly still green....

 and  just barely, barely beginning to turn colors. 

I thought this great blue heron on the island was posing so perfectly, I couldn't help but take a picture.  I really wished I had my telephoto lens though.  

 These bright yellow wildflowers were everywhere and made me smile.   I sort of wished I'd thought to bring some home to AnnaLisa, so I could sing her "There is Sunshine in My Soul".    

Speaking of smiling, this gorgeous butterfly was right at the end of our hike and it made me smile almost as much as being done with our hike did.  :)  

The only bummer was that we came across a whole bunch of rescue vehicles along the trail.    We thought that it was a river rescue at first, since they had all the rafts and river equipment with them, but we actually ran into the rescuers and rescuee along the trail.   It was an older lady who was wet (but wasn't close to the river), her leg all wrapped up, but still walking with help.    Those rescuers sure take their job seriously!  

After our hike, we went to Adam's soccer game (which he lost) and then cleaned, cleaned, cleaned for a youth family history night at our house.   Our house now looks awesome and we have some great refreshments sitting around the house.      

Lemon drop cookies, watermelon, and chips

Alas...not a single person came.      

That's okay though.   I really was happy for a good excuse to get some heavy duty cleaning done and Adam, Ellie, and I together found 46 names to take to the temple, so it was definitely a productive day! 

Enjoying the High Water at Great Falls

With Glen at home a lot of the time lately while he looks for a new job,  we're trying to take advantage of some of the off-times between interviews/workshops/etc by going on outings together that we normally would not have the time to do.    Since we're trying to do things on the cheap, the outings almost always involve either running errands together or  spending time in the outdoors.  We've walked around lakes, gone to Costco together ( a new experience for him), explored new parks, and most recently visited Great Falls solely for the purpose of me taking pictures of it after Hurricane Sandy. 

Far from historically high levels, Great Falls was still a sight to behold on November 1, 2012 ( a few days after  our area was grazed by Hurricane Sandy).    It was supposed to have crested sometime that morning, so I think these pictures were taken at near its highest stage. 

The water was a roiling mass of debris and mud and it was awe-inspiring (and slightly disconcerting) to see how close we were to the water compared to normal water levels. 

Between the deafening sound of the river and the nearness of the water to the pedestrian overlooks,  it was somehow easier to imagine how the river ever hits those high water marks that look so unattainable up listed on the signs near the visitor center. 

After admiring the power of the falls for a while, we hiked along the river trail hoping to take in some beautiful fall foliage.  We did see some colors, but mostly they had already fallen to the ground. 

It seemed that the winds of the hurricane had hastened the leaves falling and with the gray clouds that filled the sky that day, the whole landscape seemed rather muted and earth-toned. 

A little off the trail we discovered this beautiful little inlet of water from the Potomac River, where the water was also surprisingly high.  I loved the natural stone walls here and it made me wonder if that's what the fjords of Scandinavia look like. 


We are praying fervently for Glen to find a job soon, but in the meantime I'm soaking up this bonus time with my husband and know that it will be  a serious adjustment for us both when life gets back to the REAL normal.  The normal where I drive the kids everywhere they need to go during the day,  where I go grocery shopping by myself again, and where my day-time conversations are either on the phone or with myself.  

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Hurricane Sandy through my Camera Lens

Here in the DC area, Hurricane Sandy didn't amount to much. We had a few branches down in our yard, but mostly it was just a really wet and windy 24-hours and  two days off of school for the kids.  Surprisingly, given the history of our neighborhood, we never even lost power other  than for a random flicker here or there.  The 20-minute derecho in June was far more damaging (to us and to the whole area) than the 20+ hour hurricane ended up being. 

In the height of the storm I stepped out and tried to capture a little glimpse of the wind and the rain with my camera. 

It was hard. 

Not only were the trees not swaying enough to capture any motion in a photograph, but the rain wasn't quite heavy enough (at the times when I was out) to even get the cool raindrop effect in the picture.  Here are a few of my photos of the storm:  

Our little flag "whipping" in the wind and a little tagalong in the bottom right corner. 

Every time I opened the front door to get a closer look at the storm, the kids would beg for me to let them take a jaunt through the rain.  It was a cold rain, so they never stayed outside for long, but they did make several trips out there, all with the excited notion that afterward they would be able to brag about being outside in a hurricane. 

This ended up being my favorite picture of the storm....the wet autumn leaves covering our deck.  It was rather illustrative of what the storm was for us-- a few branches down, but mostly just the leaves getting blown off the trees a week or two earlier than they otherwise would have. 

Then on Thursday, Glen and I drove to Great Falls to see what the Potomac River looked like after all that rain.  Although far from hitting  previous high water marks, it was insane to see how different the river looked compared to normal.  The water was a mass of roiling mud and debris and gave us a small glimpse of how powerful water can be.   If the river was this high and this powerful here in the DC area where the storm barely grazed us, I can't even imagine the impact of that much more water (and more severe wind) that those people a few hundred miles north of us are dealing with.

The incalculable damage they are facing is beyond my comprehension and we pray for those that were so severely affected by this horrible storm, especially as I read articles like this that predict further suffering as the weather turns colder and many shortages remain.   

Although not in a position to donate money right now, we were hoping for a way that our family could help somehow.  I was happy (and not at all surprised) to learn that the church in our area is doing an "emergency gifts of the heart" to gather coats, warm clothing, and gift cards to send to the victims who are facing a very cold week in front of them.  If you have anything to donate, the collection is on Monday from 4-9 at our church (2719 Hunter Mill Road) or you can drop items by our house.  We'll even come pick them up from you if that's more convenient.

Warm clothing for those suffering so much may seem like a small thing, but I truly believe that it is by small and simple things that great things happen. 

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“At the end of life we will not be judged by how many diplomas we have received, how much money we have made, how many great things we have done.
We will be judged by "I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat, I was naked and you clothed me. I was homeless, and you took me in.”        ―Mother Teresa

Blah, blah, blah...

Lately it just doesn't seem to matter what I blog about...boring, funny, newsy, bragging...it's all the same result.... 

So instead of expending my very limited brainpower this fine evening trying to transform some random (but cute) pictures of my kids into something semi-interesting for anyone else to read, I'm switching my brain into automaton mode for the rest of the night. 


blah, blah, blah, Cami, Emma, blah, blah, blah...

blah, blah, Glen and his brother, Alex, blah, blah, Spencer smile, blah, blah, Ellie....

blah, Adam, blah, fake smile, blah, Ellie, blah, blah, blah, Emma...

blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, Great Falls, blah, bluh, blah, I wish I had something really shocking to throw in right here, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah...

blah, blah, blah, blah, beautiful day, blah, blah, love autumn time, blah, blah, Alex, just one day, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah....

Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, done babbling. 

Good blah. 




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