As many people who know me know; I am a master of procrastination when it comes to anything school related. I am the person who starts a ten page research essay the day before it's due and studies for finals two days before the exam. Don't get me wrong I'm not a lazy student and I do well in university. However, there is so much more I would rather be doing. Things like seeing my friends, riding my horse, watching videos on YouTube, playing with my nephew, watching hockey, and doing pretty much an outdoor activity possible.
Now in the fall months, when it is incredibly rainy and wet, all day, everyday outside it's not quite as difficult to focus on my school work. But on the days where the sun is shining and the sky is clear the last thing I want to do is sit in my room beside a wall sized window being taunted by the incredible scenery I am blessed to call home. Monday was my last official day of classes so come Tuesday I wanted to take a break and go outside because the weather was absolutely beautiful. Cold but beautiful. But of course my dedicated and hard working friends shot me down to study, so I stayed home and studied. By the time Wednesday came around I had had enough.
I felt wrong to not take advantage of God's glorious creation so I dragged a good friend along with me and we headed for a little hike. Best decision I made all semester, if you ask me. Just a simple hike up the backside of Sumas Mountain leads to a rock cliff that over looks all of Sumas and across to Mount Baker. It's truly an incredible landscape to take it. The hike itself winds through forest, now bare from the winter chill. The ground was frozen and at points dusted with snow. The stream that trickles down was highlighted by melting icicles and the birds and squirrels made their ways through the trees. The sun was shining in all it's glory sending its rays through the branches. I believe it was -3 or -4 degrees. Just cold enough to nip your cheeks and chill your lungs. And yet it was utterly blissful.
It was the best study break I could have hoped for. As I have alluded to before, I think that it's important to take moments away from life to just breathe and think about the many blessings we have. And on this particular hike, I was once again reminded how blessed I am to live in one of the most beautiful places on earth. I always want to challenge myself to explore and enjoy the outdoors where ever I am, and what better place to do that than my own backyard?
My wish for everyone, is that they do the same because the world is a beautiful place.
-m.o
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| You know it's cold when this is what the ground looks like. Goodbye mud, Hello ice. |
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| I actually went into the creek to try to get a picture of this large frozen droplet hanging out the waterfall. Note to self: take right boot to cobbler to repair hole in seem.. Brrr... |
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| I think it's time to start accepting the fact that I need a full frame camera that's a little better quality than my current SLR, can't seem to do this view justice. |
