Irony

Perhaps I should speak about clouds and rain more often during the church service. It just might lead to drier weather. Today was one of the nicest days we've had so far. The weather forecast for the next two days show similar weather patterns.

After getting out of my sleeping bag (hopefully this bedding situation will not last too much longer) this morning, I was going through my usual routine while also maveling at the sight of the distant mountain peaks, covered with perpetual snow/glaciers. This was our first sight of these peaks since our arrival. After pondering about it for an hour, I decided that I really should go out and capture some images while the peaks were visible. So I went off about half a mile down the road with a camera and couple of lenses.

I spent about an hour on the rocks below the whale observatory. This used to be the city dump many, many years ago. Now during low tide it's mainly rocks with barnacles, though there is still quite a bit of broken glass and old scrap metal lying about.

In addition to the many gulls about, there are also many flocks of scoters that bob about in the water and occasionally taking off into the air. Here is one of them starting to take off.






One of the landmarks visible from the island is Devil's Thumb, a rocky peak located on the mainland, on the border between the United States and Canada. In this photo it is the leftmost peak.

I really should start taking compass readings when I make these photographs so that I can later determine what most of these peaks are called. Today, I spent a great deal of time looking at some topo maps and then trying to recall in which direction I was facing when I snapped the shutter.





This is an ordinary sight around here -- that of a fishing vessel going out to sea. This one is heading off towards the Sukoi Islands in Frederick Sound.




I also went out cycling again, as one can never guess how the weather might change around here. I went 12.5 miles out and back for a total of 25 miles. My sit bones were sore afterwards. I thought about why that might be the case. Twenty-five miles is a regular distance that I do. I think it has to do with the absence of stop signs and stoplights here. I spent the entire 1-1/2 hours seated, going pretty much at a strong pace. My body isn't used to that. Even in the countryside of Oregon, I come across stop lights and stop signs that force me out of the saddle, but here in Petersburg, I can spend as long as I want seated on the saddle. Because the inclines on hills aren't that steep, I don't have to get out of the saddle for any of the climbs.

The family that is constructing the house next to the apartments stopped by to look at the progress this afternoon. Both Amy and Shelley have become acquainted with their kids -- 3 girls and 1 boy. They spent a bit of the early evenings running about the front yard of the apartments.

A few people have come together, two nights now, for the week of prayer reading/discussion and prayer time. I hope that our times together have been as beneficial and edifying to those that have made time to attend as it has been for me. Every night for a whole week may be too much for a group with so few members, so I don't expect that we will have a group every night. But even if not, Elise and I can hold the meeting between just the two of us.

With the clearer nights, the temperatures are dropping. It looks like we may reach down into the mid-30's tonight.