Janet's Blog

Winter has never been my favorite season of the year. I love to be outdoors, but not when the air temperature is cold enough to kill me. And not when the frigid northwest wind blows the flags straight out from their poles, and threatens to blow me off my feet. But the temperature isn't the worst of it; I really hate the depressing brown landscape that dominates our winters in the Nebraska panhandle. For me, a skiff of snow is a blessing that covers up the brown and adds some contrast to an otherwise dull vista. Frosty trees are magical. Blazing sunsets, though short lived, revive my sagging spirits. In the dead of winter, I have to look hard to find beauty in the brown. Frosty pine trees line the highway south of town. Footprints on the uncleared path lead to the Monument. He spreads the snow like wool and scatters the frost like ashes. Psalm 147:16 A dusting of snow covers the ground just to the east of Chimney Rock, as the setting sun illuminates the sky. Freezing rain can be tre...

Almost every fall, just as the leaves are showing off their vibrant colors, my daughter, Meagan, decides to take family pictures of her children and, of course, she wants at least one good picture that includes Andy and her, too. So, most years, I go along to Northfield Park (or wherever she decides to go) to help with crowd control and snap a few pictures of the whole family with her camera, after she sets it on the tripod and makes all of the necessary adjustments. I usually have to make a fool of myself in an attempt to get everyone to look at the camera, and maybe even smile, but the final results are certainly worth any momentary indignity.  Getting ready for the perfect family photo I love going along because, along with schlepping equipment from one promising spot to another, helping kids with wardrobe issues, and entertaining the little ones who are waiting their turn, I get to snap a few photos with my phone. Unfortunately, sometimes I get to do a little unintentional phot...

I used to do it for Mom. I would post pictures on Facebook regularly because I knew she would want to see them. There was a time, not so long ago, when Mom would turn on her computer, play a game or two of Solitaire, and check Facebook to see what her 28 Facebook friends were up to. Mom was on Facebook for one reason only: to keep tabs on her family and a few very close friends. Mom with her greats, just a year ago.   Grandchildren are the crowning glory of the aged; parents are the pride of their children.   Proverbs 17:6 So, I posted pictures I knew she would appreciate: photos of wildflowers and western Nebraska landscapes, and especially, pictures of her grandkids and their kids, her greats. Then Mom would dutifully print the photos, often full-sized on a single sheet of plain old computer paper so she could make out the details. She showed the photos to Dad, who never learned how to use a computer because he thought it would consume too much of his time and, besides, he c...

I was hiking along the old Oregon Trail the other day, on the path that leads to the west from the Scotts Bluff National Monument Visitors' Center. As the sun was just disappearing behind the nearby bluffs, half an hour or so before the official sunset, I started to think about the pioneers who had traveled that same route so many years ago.  My trek was easy: I just drove my car the short distance from home, then got out to walk on the path for a while before heading back home again, an hour later.  Those long-ago travelers didn't have such an easy time of it, though. They had to plan carefully, leaving Missouri in early April so they could make it to Oregon before winter. They didn't have any convenient bridges or paved roads, and no motorized vehicles. They had to depend on simple, canvas-covered wagons with wooden wheels, pulled by a team of mules or oxen. So much could go wrong. The trail was littered with belongings cast aside to make the load lighter, and graves of s...