A Snowball This Way Comes

A photograpy assignment to profile a mountain town led Ben to the Cascades this weekend. Three of us tagged along. Here he is capturing Westfir's covered bridge with his camera.

At first I hesitated to go due to a stodgy mood, then I remembered this quote: “The secret of radiant health and well-being is to practice willingness. Train yourself to say ‘Yes,’ where others may say ‘No,’ or only ‘Maybe.’"




I rode along and discovered serendipity.






After two weeks of heavy rain -and mountain snow! - the colorful mountains sparkled clean on a blue-sky autumn day.









Salt Creek Falls, which descend a dark, sheer cliff, was one of Ben’s assigned locations, a gauzy, wispy waterfall hidden among verdant canyons.












A side trip to our favorite lake took our breath away for we discovered not only glassy, clear water enchanted with light mists, but fresh, powdery snow.

Hushed in reverent awe, our steps squeaky on the snow, we hiked through mossy green woods and along the snowy, boulder-covered shore. Ben and I snapped photos. Tom and Caroline explored the lake’s shallow edges.

Then, well, how could we not? The first snow ball was thrown - by me! At Tom. Slid down his neck, sorry about that. With the first snowball heard around the lake a war began which I could not win; here Ben sends a white missile my way, while my brave protector Tom jumps out of the line of fire. Can you spot the snowball in the lower center part of this photo as it hurls toward me?






The lake bade us play, and we did. Relaxed, lungs full of fresh air, spirits lifted, bodies invigorated, warm pink cheeks, snowball-dampened hair, smiles.











Welcome Serendipity.