A Change Of Space (part one)
Roy Salmond, a blogger from “Between The Notes” makes some good points about the need for rest….
Rest starts when I stop.
It's a fallow time, but not a wasted time.
A time that relinquishes the will that drives me to achievement, leading me to, as the Beatles say… Let It Be.
Rest is a gentle handshake between my inside and my outside, an agreement to let go of worry and the deep tendency to try to fix what's wrong in life and make it better.
The other day I felt that I really really needed a change of ‘space’ as much as a ‘change of pace’.
We had been in the house for weeks and weeks except for just a couple of outings including singing at Christmas Eve masses.
Funnily enough, the weather in the minus forties helped with our decision to stay in and after finding out that we eventually had Covid-19 I’m glad we did. But staying in one place for that long ….even a nice, cozy place like our home….can make me crave a chance to see a different view. So, the other day, when we were feeling a little stronger, we got in our car and headed out for a long drive into the outskirts of the city. We were still isolated but it felt SO good to get out and about!
Before we even left our neighbourhood we decided to stop at Tim Horton’s to grab hot drinks and have lunch in our car. Can eating in a car be fun? YES! As I said, the change of space felt great and we enjoyed looking at the deep snow all around us as we enjoyed our sandwiches. (Check out the crazy ‘snow fence’ in the fourth photo to the right above…..)
After lunch we decided to head east …depending on the safety of the highways. The city roads were extremely icy so we didn’t want to go for a long drive if the main roads weren’t clear.
Luckily, the Anthony Henday highway was very clear so we drove out with no real destination in mind. I knew I’d like to get some photos of the deep snow if I could but the main goal was to have a change of venue.
I also thought it would be a good chance to listen the our new audio book that our daughter, Lana, gave us as part of her generous Christmas presents to us. So we started up on “Sabriel” , a fantasy novel that Goodreads describes as:
“Sent to a boarding school in Ancelstierre as a young child, Sabriel has had little experience with the random power of Free Magic or the Dead who refuse to stay dead in the Old Kingdom. But during her final semester, her father, the Abhorsen, goes missing, and Sabriel knows she must enter the Old Kingdom to find him.
With Sabriel, the first installment in the Abhorsen series, Garth Nix exploded onto the fantasy scene as a rising star, in a novel that takes readers to a world where the line between the living and the dead isn't always clear—and sometimes disappears altogether.”
We did see bison during our drive but they were too far away for a photo. But we ended up at Elk Island and since our Provincial Park Pass was still good for another month we entered and did a bit of exploring.
We drove down roads that we had never been down before …which is saying something since we have been to Elk Island many times since moving to Edmonton over twenty years ago!
To be continued……