Category: Intuition Diaries

Leisure

Paris Landing State Park Marina, Kentucky Lake, Tennessee

…and they had not even leisure enough to eat. (Mark 6:31 AMP)

Below is a conversation I overheard in the pages of Ray Bradbury’s book called, Fahrenheit 451. I’m half quoting snippets, so as to whet your appetite to read the book. (For this same reason, I often share partial quotes from the Scriptures.) Enough explaining, here you go!

Faber: Well– suppose you tell me why you came here?

Montag: I don’t know. We have everything we need to be happy, but we aren’t happy.

Faber goes on to tell him there are three things people need. He reiterates the first, and then reveals the second, as their conversation continues:

Faber: Well, there we have the first thing I said we need. Quality, texture of information.

Montag: And the second?

Faber: Leisure.

 

When I think of leisure, my step-father wearing a powder blue, polyester blend leisure suit strolls across my mind. He wore it the day he married my mom. Of course, that’s how I remember it, and he might have been wearing a white cowboy hat, however my mom or my sisters might recall the details differently. And it is common that people from the same family can and do have variations on a memory.

I have the leisure to entertain such memories, and even wonder why that particular one crossed my mind today. But since I have the time, I’m going to put that memory aside for now, and tell you that this particular trip has been marked by leisure.

I have been surprised by the ease that we changed our expectations for this trip, and literally our direction. It’s very quiet and peaceful here on Kentucky Lake, but there’s a spirit of relaxation that pervades our very being. We are meandering south towards Pickwick Lake, where we will decide whether or not it’s feasible to still spend a month near a beach in Florida.

Usually by now I have some great story to tell about how we overcame this or that obstacle. I can’t describe how I’m feeling or what this trip is like without using the word leisure. We are at leisure to cruise across the lake and stay anchored out in a bay, to swim in the unseasonably warm water with our dog, and get up the next morning to go further south.

After a couple hours of choppy passage, and feeling a bit worn down by the waves crashing into our vessel, we turned off into a marina around 10 o’clock in the morning. And to my delight, my husband suggested that we just stay here for the day. Why fight the wind? (Normally, we have a tight agenda and ports to get to by nightfall.) But not this time. We have leisure.

I love to cook efficiently and creatively on the boat. I stock our pantry with items that I can throw together, like mac and cheese and tuna. And we grill enough chicken for two or three meals. I take pictures of the food, because I can. I enjoy the colors and textures of each meal, as well as the aromas and appetizing flavors. And afterwards I don’t even mind doing the dishes.

Living in this small space has it’s challenges, like the four totes stacked in a space behind my seat, which I’ve fondly been calling the four levels of hell, because I have to move them every time I need a jacket or a can of green beans or the hose that’s stored in the storage area built into the floor. The physicality of moving stuff around and finding what we need adds to the enjoyment of these leisurely days.

We often think leisure means doing nothing, but to me leisure means having a choice about what I do. Living here on the boat affords me time to explore my creativity, and try different creative outlets, like cooking, painting a watercolor scene or making palette charts in my art journal. And of course, photo documenting as I go.

Whenever we go on a trip like this, I think why don’t I bring some of this efficiency and leisure home? And then when I reflect over the past few years, the leisure of boating has seeped into my daily life, and for this I am ever thankful.

I don’t want a life of leisure to only happen, when I am away. I want leisure and adventure to accompany me in the midst of all the comings and goings of each day.

How are you going to incorporate leisure and adventure into your daily life?





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Quests and ADVENT{ures}

He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. (Micah 6:8 NIV)

quest009

Each year as Advent approaches, I’ve come to expect some adventure with GOD. Will this be the year that Jesus comes again? Will my heart be in tune? Will I be attentive to His voice? Where will I spend Advent?

For ages, people have been asking all kinds of questions. And those seeking spiritual fulfillment, may be asking does God really care about me? Why all this fuss about a baby born in a manger? What does this mean for me?

If we search our hearts long enough, we realize we’re not always good. We make poor choices. We harbor resentment. We want to lash out at those who have hurt us and excuse our own hurtful ways.

And if we are honest, we want things to be made right. We might start asking:

What does God require of me?

As we enter the season of reflecting on why the baby was born, may the answer of the prophet Micah lead us to the one who acted justly, loved mercy and walked humbly with God.

Who was that you may ask?

That would be the grown-up Son of God: Jesus, Emmanuel, the one Sent to save us from our un-goodness.

I believe with all my heart that God loves ADVENT{ure}! And I hope you will join me, as I journey this December with questions and the retelling of the first advent of Jesus into our world.

(The posts this month will be regular, but not necessarily daily. My husband and are enjoying the great opportunity to be traveling by boat to Florida with our dog, Kokomo,  while we expirement with living on Intuition.)

What questions do you have about Jesus?

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Recount: To Relate in Detail; Narrate

Many, O LORD my God,
are the wonders you have done.
The things you planned for us
no one can recount to you;
were I to speak and tell of them,
they would be too many to declare. 
(Psalm 40:5 NIV)


As I put together a page recounting our recent adventures on the Erie Canal, I thought about how wonderful it is to relate in detail God’s faithfulness. To write down God’s blessings, to speak grace to one another, to retell the story of Calvary, these are just a few ways to recount God’s wonderful deeds in our life. To read the narratives of Moses, David and Daniel or to immerse ourselves in the account of the gospels, these, too are ways to reflect upon the goodness of God. 

If you didn’t get a chance to read about our adventures or want to find them all in one place, now you can by clicking on the header or here.
Where do you see God at work, 
 accomplishing wonderful 
things these days?
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Count: To Rely or Depend on Someone or Something {Intuition Diaries}

Teach us to number our days aright,
that we may gain a heart of wisdom. 
(Psalm 90:12 NIV)

Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here.”
(Exodus 33:15 NIV)




10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 . . . 1! We made it! We finished the Erie Canal today. We officially locked through forty-one locks, 34 on the canal itself and 3 twice on the Cayuga-Seneca canal and the first one out of Buffalo, the Black Rock Lock.

What an adventure we’ve had together. Truly we sensed God’s presence each day through His marvelous creation, the ingenuity of the locks and His tender care of providing food, docks, laundry, showers, companions along the way and even some interesting challenges.

Over the past two days we planned to go through Locks 10 through 2 and spend a couple days in Waterford. But the Tugboat Roundup is scheduled this weekend, so we weren’t able to stay on the wall both Wednesday and Thursday night. We regrouped and found a marina near Albany, which really ends up being very convenient to catch the train back to Buffalo, get the truck and trailer and then on Friday morning take the boat out of the water. Then we head to visit my sister in New Jersey and then home.

The last days of a journey are bittersweet. The last couple of days I felt like saying good-bye to each lock, enjoying the majesty of the doors opening and closing, the soothing fountain effect while the “tub” filled with water and the scenic waterways always opening up before us. 

Our last night on the canal (really the Mohawk River) was behind the south wall of Lock 7. The lock master at Lock 8 questioned our choice, because “there’s really nothing to do there, but you will have peace and quiet.” We tied off to the wall arriving around dinner time. We went over and met the friendliest lock master yet. A young man following in his father’s footsteps. His father had been a lock master for thirty years. We talked with him, while a sailboat locked up. They were going to stay on the wall, too. So much for a remote place. 

We shared our boating stories. They had been cruising and and sailing since the end of May, having left from Toronto, their hometown and were circling around down from Canada, Maine and now the across the Erie Canal up to Oswego and back across Lake Ontario to Toronto. They were traveling with their 13 yr old daughter, their dog and their cat. 

In the morning, I went for a run. I had wanted to do a 5K run one of the weekends we were out, if we happened to be in a town hosting one. Never did find one, so I made my own today along the Erie Canalway Bike Trail. (The trail follows fairly close along the route we took; it’s another fun way to see the canal.) We headed out to go through Lock 7 and then to the “Flight of Five” in Waterford, where five locks are within a half mile of the next one. It was a great way to end this trip. At the beginning of the day, we thought we wouldn’t get to see the Hudson River or do the last lock, but as I said, we decided Albany was the better place to take out, so this is where we say “bye” to this journey.

Until the next time. 

Photos of the last several locks and highlights along the way:

Lock 10

Dam next to Lock 9

Lock 8


Sunset at Lock 7
Moored with our new neighbors from Toronto behind Lock 7 wall
Good-bye, Lock 7!

Lock 6, first in the Flight of Five

Lock 5

Lock 4

Lock 3

Leaving Lock 3

Leaving Lock 2, looking out into Waterford

Lock 1

Good-bye Erie Canal!

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Tend: To Stand By (As a Rope) in Readiness to Prevent Mischance {Intuition Diaries}

I myself will tend my sheep and cause them to lie down in peace, says the Sovereign LORD.
(Ezekiel 34:15 NLT)

Ropes secure our boat to the dock. We hold onto ropes to keep our boat from banging into the lock walls. Ropes tend to keep us out of mischance, except for that time when someone untied our ropes earlier in the trip. (Since that incident, Les bought some cable and a lock to deter any more mischief.)

Tied up securely in Little Falls

Yesterday, we made our way though seven locks, including Lock 17, which is the tallest lock on the canal, a forty foot drop. (Most of the other locks range between 8-20 feet deep.) Quite a massive piece of engineering, the downstream “gate” comes down like a guillotine rather than opening like doors.

Waiting at the top of Lock 17
Going down

Downstream gate opens

Leaving Lock 17
A catamaran entering to lock up


We left Lock 17, with six more locks to pass through to get to Amsterdam. After Lock 16, we took my bike off the boat at a tall wall below the lock. It was quite the feat since Les had to stand on the side of the boat, lift both bikes off and not get knocked into the wall or on the head with a bike. (Which unfortunately, I was not able to prevent, but at least it was a tire and not the frame of the bike.) We parted ways and met seven miles down the canal at Lock 15. It was an beautiful bike path, wooded with yellow wildflowers and cattails and wild sumac and rain puddles and the cidery scents of autumn in the air.


Les leaving the Lock 16 wall, after heaving my bike ashore,
and putting his bike back on the rack.

We haven’t mentioned much about the lock masters; they are the shepherds of the locks. I noticed yesterday one young man washing down the guard hut, another cleaning the windows and yet another staining a split rail fence. Also a couple of the locks had damage from flooding, so we noted the reconstruction of the grounds and other revamping. Each lock master has his own personality; we’ve only met one female lock master so far. They comment on our boat or let us know that they will tell the next lock we are on our way. Their attention gives us a sense of peace and human kindness along the way.

This section of the canal merges with the Mohawk River and meanders through the Mohawk Valley. The scenes along the river were serene and spectacular.

The pastoral setting reinforced how God speaks quiet delight over us each day, whether on vacation or attending to our daily routines.

I leave you with some more pictures of the day.

Caught this tender moment while waiting for Lock 17,
 a lock master saying good-bye to his girl
Moss growing on the cliff

Lock 15

A house down by the river, looked abandoned. 
The remains of another aqueduct that used to
carry the canal across the Mohawk River

The dam next to Lock 12
In Lock 12 above the Mohawk River
An eagle soaring over the river

We finished our day locking through Lock 11 just above the town of Amsterdam, where we docked at the riverside park, just us and our Intuition. A cold front was moving in, but we had time to grill some hot dogs and beans for dinner, wash down the boat, and start some laundry. We weathered the storm inside the laundry/bathhouse, each of us sitting in folding chairs reading a book. Once the rain slowed down, we ran our dry laundry back to the boat, settled in for the night to the sound of the trains blaring their horn and rumbling down the tracks every hour or so. We both put in our earplugs and slept pretty well.







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