January 4--In the land of the Hivites and the Jebusites

It's raining this morning, so no stars, no moon. Oh, they're there--I just can't see them.

We took a drive up Hwy 88 yesterday to see the snow. It's something we do every year at this time, often on the first day of the year. This year Malida worked on the 1st.

It's one of my favorite drives at any time of year, and has something in all seasons. We wandered around the frozen Silver Lake for a while and had our lunch. We brought thermoses of soup and some bread. It was perfect. We also had a thermos of mint tea, which also hit the spot.



My left foot at Silver Lake.

We drove over the Carson Pass into Hope Valley. It was in the 30s. but the sun was out and it felt warm as we walked. Eventually the clouds started coming in and it got cold again. We turned around and headed back down toward home.

In spite of the lovely day, I ended up in a kind of unsettled mood, and didn't really know what to do with myself after we got home. Reading didn't help, TV didn't help. Sitting doing nothing didn't help either, so I ended up going to bed. That seemed to help.

As I was waiting for morning prayer to begin, I got messaged by one of my former students, who is now an ICU nurse. I think he graduated about 8 years ago. He wanted to tell me how much he loves nursing, and how he approaches it.

As a teacher, I really just plant seeds and hope they sprout. Every once in a while I get to see what they have grown into.



An aspen grove in Hope Valley.