Photography: A Pleasant Surprise

First, let me note that the laptop fund has received $100 already. We give thanks.

Today’s ride was seeking an appropriate place to pray about that laptop. This first shot was the view from my prayer chapel of the day. I was standing right next to the mouth of Crutcho Creek were it empties into the North Canadian River. It seems obvious that whatever justifies needing a new machine must be something more than just business as usual. I’m still puzzled and still seeking the Lord on this.

I was also praying for my friend Danny; he’s going in for a heart stent Monday, but there’s some risk it could turn out to be more. I’m praying for my Mom and Stepdad; they both are facing some medical trials. For my wife, she’s engaged in a new position at work and it’s full of challenges and surprised. But I also gave thanks because my bad knee is being pretty good right now, and my shoulder injury seems already on the mend. It’s less painful today. I feel like I’m standing on a rock as solid as this one on the bank of the river.

As I rode back toward the road, I decided to cross under the bridge. I noticed the road leading down to the new flood bank was very well used. So I rolled on down and up the other side. That old muddy trail along the river had been closed for at least a year, but now it’s open again. Yipee! I promptly took off down this trail and it’s very well used, easy to follow. Instead of mud, it’s now sand, quite loose in some places. Still, I got this shot looking upriver near where some agency did a lot of work on the bank two years ago to prevent washout.

The rest of these are just random shots I’ve been holding in my camera over the past month or so. This next one is the fruit of our mystery tree after a light frost. About half of those berries are soft and gooshy, while the rest are more like fully ripe apples. I never could get hold of any local arborist or other botany expert. I’ve decided that Linda’s instincts are correct: It’s some kind of hybridized crab apple tree. Those are popular here in Central Oklahoma.

This last one was just an experimental shot following the dam bank on Draper Lake. There were two lines of water marks showing previous lake levels this past summer, but they didn’t turn out quite so obvious in this picture. If I understand correctly, those boulders are all granite from the southwest corner of the state. While it’s somewhat dry, what water courses running out there are the cleanest in the state because they run across that kind of granite for miles.