souldare

The LORD will keep
    your going out and your coming in
    from this time forth and forevermore. (Psalm 121:8 ESV)

“The position of the artist is humble. He is essentially a channel.” (Piet Mondrian)

After one week in this place, I am humbled. Humbled by the immensity and variety of our environment. Humbled to be able to explore freely, with a great sense of serenity and security. Humbled to have a husband who works hard, and yet knows when to rest.

In between conference call meetings and responding to emails, Les mapped out a weekend excursion for us to travel part of the Intercoastal Waterway (ICW), which just happens to be in our backyard right now. We left the Marineland Marina and headed north towards St. Augustine. Right away, we saw more evidence of Hurricane Matthew. We’ve heard from locals that the water surged to about 10 feet about the ground level. Homes were flooded, restaurants ruined, docks bent out of shape, and boats pushed out of their moorings and left stranded on land.

Cruising along the waterway, we witnessed a lot of the damage intermingled with the natural surroundings.

Just before we passed historic St. Augustine, we passed this tow, carrying and towing a total of five sailboats.

Besides our anniversary dinner, we haven’t really been to explore historic St. Augustine. From the water perspective we watched the drawbridge open, and cruised past the Castillo de San Marcos, originally used as a Spanish outpost, which they finished building in 1695.

After passing St. Augustine, we continued on our way to one of the only marinas in the area that had operational gas pumps and a pump out for the toilet. After that stop, we were hoping to go to a dockside restaurant for dinner, but the dock didn’t look like it was open for boaters. Thankfully, we had leftovers that we ate once we got to our anchorage.

Pine Island, thirty miles north of Marineland, was the perfect spot for an evening of watching egrets fish and the sun set. The island sets east of the mainland surrounded by salt marshes that line the coastal area. We could hear the ocean surf to the east of us, and caught strains of a local concert on the mainland. They were playing “American Pie.” That song has a way of getting to my soul, and I imagine my sisters and I singing it at the top of our lungs in our backyard many summers ago.

The temperatures had dropped, so it was great sleeping weather. Early Sunday morning, Les had a 4:30am work call to cover. So I made coffee, bundled up, and then went out on the back of the boat to watch the Orionid meteor shower, and once again was humbled by the dome of stars overhead. I saw two shooting stars, and recognized Orion. The Big Dipper looked like it was dipping into the treeline. The sky was so clear and the half moon was smiling down on me.

How are your comings and goings these days?