A Drive Through Heaven
This morning I woke with a jolt. I had set the coffee maker to come on before 7.00 for Paul, who planned to leave early to drive to Kitchener this morning.
I could smell the coffee, rich and comforting somehow, but the brightness of the morning light scared me. I was right to be scared--it was much later than I'd intended to be up.
Paul was long gone...I would not have known, having slept on the couch downstairs. I had not wanted to disturb him by going to bed as late as I had, when he had such an early start.
At 5.00 I'd woken to a chorus of birds outside--and closed the window. My feathered friends did their best, but alas I foiled them--and myself in the process.
In record quick time, leaving behind dishes in sink, unmade bed and other traces of a hasty exit, I was on my way to my first stop of the day--Collingwood.
I have an artist's eye for light and I wondered this morning how light can be so different from one country to the next--one day to the next. I grew up in the soft light of England and now know the bright mostly dazzling light of Ontario. This morning the light was soft and beautiful and the landscape was bathed in a wash of it.
The road between highway 89 and Stayner--the Mansfield Road--a continuation of Airport Road.--runs through some heart stoppingly beautiful countryside. Vast swathes of Simcoe forest run along the road that passes through Mansfield, Avening and Cashtown, small communities with general stores and antique stores and quiet country churches.
The road goes up steep hills and down again and through ski country dotted with alpine style chalets. Golden fields of grain, stood thick and lush. Other fields were dotted with rolls of hay. It hardly seems five minutes since winter and here already crops have been harvested and baled.
I drove past ramshackle barns and houses and wondered at how descriptive that word, "ramshackle" is. On every hand, for miles around, acres of farmland lay under the sky, in shades of yellow and green.
My meeting? I got there only a minute or two late. That was amazing--but oh, how I loved getting there!
Prayer: Dear Lord, I am in such awe at your creation. You who make leaf and blade and feather--you make all things well. I'm so grateful for sleep when I really, really need it--and I'm grateful for the aroma of coffee to wake me up. Such lavish beauty on every hand astounds me. I worship you, the creator of land and sea and sky!
I could smell the coffee, rich and comforting somehow, but the brightness of the morning light scared me. I was right to be scared--it was much later than I'd intended to be up.
Paul was long gone...I would not have known, having slept on the couch downstairs. I had not wanted to disturb him by going to bed as late as I had, when he had such an early start.
At 5.00 I'd woken to a chorus of birds outside--and closed the window. My feathered friends did their best, but alas I foiled them--and myself in the process.
In record quick time, leaving behind dishes in sink, unmade bed and other traces of a hasty exit, I was on my way to my first stop of the day--Collingwood.
I have an artist's eye for light and I wondered this morning how light can be so different from one country to the next--one day to the next. I grew up in the soft light of England and now know the bright mostly dazzling light of Ontario. This morning the light was soft and beautiful and the landscape was bathed in a wash of it.
The road between highway 89 and Stayner--the Mansfield Road--a continuation of Airport Road.--runs through some heart stoppingly beautiful countryside. Vast swathes of Simcoe forest run along the road that passes through Mansfield, Avening and Cashtown, small communities with general stores and antique stores and quiet country churches.
The road goes up steep hills and down again and through ski country dotted with alpine style chalets. Golden fields of grain, stood thick and lush. Other fields were dotted with rolls of hay. It hardly seems five minutes since winter and here already crops have been harvested and baled.
I drove past ramshackle barns and houses and wondered at how descriptive that word, "ramshackle" is. On every hand, for miles around, acres of farmland lay under the sky, in shades of yellow and green.
My meeting? I got there only a minute or two late. That was amazing--but oh, how I loved getting there!
Prayer: Dear Lord, I am in such awe at your creation. You who make leaf and blade and feather--you make all things well. I'm so grateful for sleep when I really, really need it--and I'm grateful for the aroma of coffee to wake me up. Such lavish beauty on every hand astounds me. I worship you, the creator of land and sea and sky!
Comments
Dave
How lyrically and lovingly put!
Alan