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21 December~2007

I went out backpacking this week - one night and two days, which is how I prefer celebrating the holiness of the Christmas season.  I don't worship nature for it's own sake, but agree with what Robert Kennedy Junior said, that "nature is the way God communicates with us most forcefully."

This can be missed if you spend to much time inside, just because it is the offseason. 

 I brought plenty of extra gear to be prepared for the long cold night, and hiked a mile and a half into the woods.    I set up camp and settled in to pay attention and listen.  

I watched the clouds turn rose at dusk, heard the wind sound in the pines most of the night, saw eyeshine in the forest early in the morning, and was treated to a Coyote chorus just as red appeared in the sunrise clouds.

I read during part of the fourteen hour night, and listened to music.  A song I particularly enjoyed was "Angels We Have Heard On High" by Moya Brennan (enter userid of 'music' and password of 'music .'

It was a good trip.  Life is best when you live it "lean and hard and simple."(1)  

I came down feeling my heart is right for Christmas, after preparing for it up high in the pines, just me and my two mountain buddies.

(to see a 700 pixel wide image of the above collage, click here; to see a 1400 wide pixel image of the above picture, click here.)

(1). - .Ken Lamberton in Time of Grace."