Author: Fred D

Sharp Mt. on the scenic Blue Ridge Parkway is a 4,000 ft. peak overlooking the Peaks of Otter resort.  As the pics attest, the trail to the top is a fairly steep, 1.5 mile rocky climb, worthy of every grunt and groan to reach the summit and view the 360 degree spectacular panorama of creation.…

“To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die” – Ecc.3:1-2 Keep Looking Up is an encouraging refrain, but a recent hike had me gazing downward. Soon to be extinguished by forest giants’ leafy canopy, dappled patches of sunshine bathe…

What are the first two words that come to mind when you see this koi?  In Japanese, koi is a homophone for another word that means “affection” or “love”; koi are therefore symbols of love and friendship in Japan. I must admit these weren’t the two descriptors that popped into mind as I stood at the…

March 21st, the first day of Spring, made its appearance in snowflakes . . . not exactly what most had hoped for.   On the mountaintop the silent, pristine white beauty  sketched across the Smokies put my soul at peace, knowing that in all of creation, “Among the gods there is none like unto thee, O…

The many venues of God’s creation speak different dialects.  Atop mountains, the majesty of His grandeur envelops me . . . amidst forests, I sense a harmonious peace . . . and standing on an ocean beach, my infinitesimal smallness. Here’s but a glimpse of the humbling and comforting dialect wind, surf and sunrise spoke to…

Watching the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea has been invigorating. Fantasizing soaring off a ski jump five stories high; performing Shawn White half-pipe, snowboard acrobatics; and skiing downhill at 80+ mph with Lindsey Vonn provide a vicarious adrenaline rush for this ‘ole’ duffer. Then reality sets back in . . . for me…

Another New Year . . . my 76th . . . how many have you checked off? I’ve been blessed with far more years weighted towards the positive ‘10’ end than those trending lower.  However, it was in those years laced with trials, grief, failure and shame that God’s unwavering love, mercy and forgiveness became…

My soul’s at rest watching season’s first snowflakes silently drape their pristine white blanket over the home He has given us here down in the ‘holler’ by the ‘crick’ in this awesome corner of His creation called The Great Smoky Mountains. We are so blessed! I find myself asking the humbling, grateful “Why me?” once…

Man paints in watercolor, oils, acrylic and tempera.  God’s palette far surpasses all, brushing the skies with with radiant sunrises, blazing sunsets,  billowing clouds . . . the heavens with twinkling stars,  flashing meteors,  glowing galaxies . . . and the earth with verdant forests, towering mountains,  thundering oceans . . . and in the…

Hiking the Great Smoky Mountain National Park’s trails is to journey back in time, with the soothing rhythm of cascading waters and songs of unseen birds the only sounds punctuating the forest’s tranquil silence.   Century old dwellings beg of myriad of questions about their long past inhabitants, and, standing by a cascading waterfall, my mind envisions native Cherokees who once paused  here as…