The Gift of Others

Posted on by Fred D

Christmas blessings from our home to yours. In whatever circumstances and wherever this may reach you, may it find you and yours resting assured in knowing His Best is Yet to Come!

This momentary adventure called Life is more often experienced in its valleys than on the mountaintops. Suffice it to say my 2022’s sojourn was one mingled with both the depths of failure and the heights of victory. The former of was regretfully of my own doings, the latter was gratefully attributable to:

  • God’s unmerited mercy, grace, and forgiveness
  • Others unmerited acceptance, encouragement, and prayers

Bottom line, this Christmas season thankfully finds Ellen and I still here happily fogging a mirror together, albeit with perhaps a tad less vigor and a few more wrinkles than in days of yore😊

You are one of the many special individuals who astonishingly follow my blog 😊. . . special not because you follow my blog for sure 😊, but special because one or more of your blog posts and/or comments have encouraged and blessed me, and made a difference. Thank you!

A retired pastor friend in Alaska recently sparked a thought of a way this Christmas to reciprocate the Gift of Others you, and countless others, have so graciously blessed me with throughout life. He suggested, “Ask them if there’s something on their heart you can pray for them about.”

Not just another quick, shallow, from the lips “I’ll pray for you” prayer, but a thoughtful, deep prayer from the heart to the One whose heart hears and answers each and every prayer in His time and way, both in Life’s valleys and on its mountaintops.

One of the glorious luxuries of retirement is time, and I’m blessed to be able luxuriate in it. So, if there’s something on your heart you feel you can trust me to pray for from my heart, in absolute total Thee – Me – He confidentiality, I’d be privileged and blessed to do so.

I’m forever grateful for the crucial piece you represent in my Life’s bewildering mosaic God chose to place there . . . it fits! Thank you for making a difference.

Keep Looking Up . . . His Best is Yet to Come!

Merry Christmas!!!

Fred, Ellen and Bullwinkle

Final Greatland Wander

Posted on by Fred D

Looks like we’ll be on a jet headed south for the winter next week. Rather than spend the day going through another box of Kleenex today, I hiked up Castle Mountain to dry my tears 😊. I built a rock cairn on top with a Good Book pocket edition for other solitude seekers.

Here’s a few pics snapped along the trail, and one of my foraging feral friends who showed up to bid me adieu. Like Arnold, I assured him, “I’ll be back!” 😊

Big Calf
Fall’s Farewell

Keep Looking Up . . . His Best is Yet to Come!

Chugach Range Vista
Survivor
Last Blueberries

Rocky Portal

Good Book Cairn

Fun Is Ageless

Posted on by Fred D

To enjoy life to the fullest you ‘moose’ have fun. A couple of old duffers did just that at the 2022 Alaska State Fair in Palmer, Alaska.

9 or 90, goofing around is healthy . . . don’t forget to take your medicine 😊

“A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dies up the bones.”

Proverbs 17:22

Yard Art

Posted on by Fred D

I’ve always found the endless variety of yard art folks display in their yards ‘interesting’. It portrays the milieu of the property owner. Here’s our Alaskan yard art. What does it suggest to you about the culture of the owner?  😊

Keep Looking Up . . . His Best is Yet to Come!

Alaskan Yard Art

Hik-‘ing’ Day

Posted on by Fred D

Leaves fall-‘ing’ – Moose rambl-‘ing’ – River freez-‘ing’ – Snow melt-‘ing’ – Sun blaz-‘ing’ . . . a day made for an Alaskan wilderness wander Hik-‘ing’ through Creation 😊

Chugach Range Fall
Freeze-Up
Bull Moose Calf
Climbing Up
Summit Sun

I M Blessed . . . May U B 2
“Love to Live, Live to Love” – Amy Carmichael    

Keep Looking Up . . . His best is yet to come!

“All Creatures Great and Small”

Posted on by Fred D

With two weeks before hunting season begins, this big dude has decided to take up residence in the safety of our our backyard bullwinkle refuge. 😊

“All things bright and beautiful,

All creatures great and small,

All things wise and wonderful,

The Lord God made them all.”

Cecil Francis Alexander

Nap Time
Wake Up!
Lunch Time
                          
                                                              Keep Looking Up . . . His best is yet to come!

Single Moms

Posted on by Fred D

A couple of single moms with their kids have taken up residence here along with their kids in exchange for shrub pruning and weed control . . . a Win-Win situation 😊

Mama and twins
Single Mom and Jr.
Wake up Mom – It’s Lunchtime
Lunchtime!
Family Walk-By
Junior

Wilderness Chronicles

Posted on by Fred D

A spruce hen and her chick perched safely above me . . . fresh imprints revealing a predator/prey pursuit . . . last fall’s bull moose antler scrapes . . . each a page in Mother Nature’s cycle of life that graced today’s wilderness wanderings.

“For every creature of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills“. – Psalm 50:10

Keep Looking Up . . . His best is yet to come!

Spruce Grouse hen and chick
Moose tracks
Wolf track
Bull Moose antler scrapes
Grouse Silhouette
Wilderness Wonder

All Creatures Great and Small

Posted on by Fred D

Last Frontier’s wildlife portrays Mother Nature’s calm and chaos . . . strength and stamina . . . beauty and barbarity. The cow moose scars are mostly likely from a foiled grizzly attack.

“All creatures great and small. The Lord God made them all”. – James Herriot

Keep Looking Up . . . His best is yet to come!

Grizzly Survivor
Mallard Family
Young Bull Moose 2 AM Grazing
Trumpeter Swan