A little getaway

Hazy sunshine on the last morning

Last week, Mr. T and I were blessed to take a couple of days away at our favorite lake up north.  This time of year, one can expect any sort of weather way up there.   Here, it had rained hard on Wednesday night and Thursday morning, but was brightly sunny by the time we left around noon on Thursday.  On our trip north, we saw not one but three rainbows!  Talk about encouragement for our trip!

As we neared the Great North Woods, however, things were looking more ominous, and before we had finished unpacking the car the wind was whipping and the rain was lashing.  We really didn't mind, as we knew this was the time we had available and also the time our favorite cabin was available.  When you pray long and hard about the time frame for something, you can get it settled in your thinking that it's God's timing -- and leave details like the weather to Him.  We were there for rest and quiet and -- although warm sunny weather would have been nice -- the weather really was not our top concern.

It did clear off a bit in the late afternoon but was still cold and windy.  We sat by the lake for just a little while and read, but it was too chilly to sit out there for long.  As you can see from the photo at top, most of the pretty fall foliage is gone up there.  There are tamaracks, though, which are deciduous evergreens that turn a pretty golden yellow color in the fall.  Those were striking against all of the dark green pines, hemlocks, firs, etc.

In spite of dark clouds, we were blessed to see an absolutely glorious sunset!

As darkness came on,  the wind intensified.  We were snug in our little cabin on the lakeshore, however, and enjoyed a relaxing supper and evening by the fireplace.

In the morning, the power did go off -- no surprise with all that wind -- but we were not inconvenienced at all since the cabins have a wonderful generator that comes on when the power goes off.

We did find that we had to seek out a different breakfast spot than the restaurant where we had planned to visit, since they were closed with the power outage.  We traveled to a nearby town (if anything up there could be said to be "nearby") and were thankful to find a wonderful place that was open and served a fantastic homemade breakfast.  The homemade cinnamon-raisin toast was sliced at least an inch thick and was so amazing, as was the rest of the meal.  As is usual in places which serve good homemade food, this restaurant was filled with locals -- and you know you are near the Canadian border when half of the locals in a place are speaking French.

Friday was dreary and cold and spitting snow but we had a nice day regardless, mostly staying inside by the fire other than taking some time to visit with a friend who has a seasonal home nearby.  We sat by her fire for awhile!  And Friday night there was another fabulous sunset!

After another relaxing evening and good night's rest, Saturday morning came all too quickly.  We ate  breakfast at the cabin and packed up the car to head back.  We did see two loons on Saturday morning which was a real treat.  We really thought they would be gone to their winter home (the open Atlantic Ocean!) by now.  We were so happy to see they were still around.

This shows one of the loons.  They have nearly completed the transition to their winter plumage.

We had a leisurely trip home, stopping to have lunch out and do a bit of off-price shopping, and arrived home midafternoon.  Our getaway seemed a bit too short to us, but we knew this was the time frame God had given us and that He would use that time to give the refreshment we needed.

This week, Denise from RefreshHer shared a wonderful post concerning getaways and how they are simply to refresh us for the ordinary days which make up our real life and are to be lived to the glory of God.  Get-Aways and Ordinary Days is well worth the read. We have definitely felt energized and refreshed by this little break and are so thankful for it!