I Need, I Need

I need blue skies and sunshine

 

I crave them like I crave:

dark chocolate with orange or other fruit filling
gjetost cheese with kavli
smoked salmon
Danish havarti
and sorbet!
-white snow in winter
yellow narcissus blooms in spring
scarlet maple and gold aspen leaves in autumn
cool, green forests and the blue, blue ocean in summer
and mountains (any kind, anywhere, any season)
-Yes,
I NEED blue skies and sunshine.
NOW!
-
But when you are a pale, sunstarved lass of the PNW
OK, OK a water-laden, middle-aged grandmother of 5 who has been hanging on every possibly sunny weather forecast for what seems to be forever now...
and
when you can't just excape to a Rocky Mt paradise
or an eastern PNW one this summer either.
-- -
Well, you learn to be content with traveling eastward through the magic of photos--
lots and lots of photos
of sunnier places
and really blue skies
in, near and on the mountains.



Ah--the lovely Cabbage Hill (AKA Emigrant Hill) of NE Oregon!
Can you imagine what the Oregon Trail pioneers must have thought when they first saw it? (BTW--the haze in the sky is not normal;
it was a result of wildfires in California that year...)



This lovely road has a well deserved reputation for it's steep grqdes and the views all the way UP are awesome; the views all the way DOWN too:)
But the trip up to the top (well the pass and beyond) is all worth it,
because then you are in the Blue Mts of the PNW and they are incredible!
(a photo of the Blue Mts above, just below post title)



And this is northeastern Utah--headed towards Wyoming really, really early in the morning
(I have no problem getting up early on vacations...usually)
 I really love the area near Morgan!



More NE Utah...I love, love, love the canyons of Utah
and I LOVE, love, love when the evening sun makes the Wasatch Mts glow!



And then Colorado
LOVE this state!
Been there by plane, train, car and never get tired of it!
These photos are in the Colorado Springs area--
but you really must go to the Rocky Mt National Park,
the Boulder area (Mork & Mindy's 'home', Celestial Seasoning Tea Factory, the Flatirons and Chautauqua Park, Leanin' Tree museum and more)
But back to the beautiful Colorado Springs area and
the Garden of the Gods shortly after sunrise
(they DO know how to do a spectacular sunrise in the Rocky Mts)!
Also beautiful, and very close by is Manitou Springs and the Navigator's Glenn Eyrie castle and grounds! Really beautiful just before a thunderstorm as we found out
(not that I suggest being anywhere outside during or just before ANY thunderstorm,
especially a Rocky Mt thunderstorm).



South of the Colorado Springs area.
Love the red rock that you see in parts of the Rocky Mts--it glows in the morning sun:)



Blue skies, wind vanes, snow capped mountain view.
SW Wyoming, of course, with a view of the Uinta Mt range in NE Utah.



BTW--did you know the small ponds of southern Wyoming have the most intense bluish-purple color and that the Red Desert is green in spring? Well at least for awhile. And that the winds sometimes blow SO hard that they have to shut the parts of the freeway down?
(you should see what it does to long hair; I have a picture of it)
-
So when I feel like I cannot live one day more with gray skies and spring rain--I travel to other destinations via cyberspace and...I browse my photo albums and eagerly await the return of gardening season:)
-
What or where do you dream of when the weather gets you down?

Blessings, Aimee
-
If you'd like to see more photos of Colorado and Utah check out the label for Rocky Mts (some of Nevada and Idaho there too). For more NE Oregon check out east of the Cascade Mts.
OK, back to dreaming of sunnier skies for me:)

The Word on Wednesday

“O God, thou art my God; early will I seek Thee: my soul thirsteth for Thee, my flesh longeth for Thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is...because Thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of Thy wings will I rejoice.“
Psalms 63:1,7 KJV

Well the PNW is far from a dry and thirsty land, especially lately, but one's soul can be and there is only One who can satisfy that thirst.

Blessings,

Aimee

-

Photo: upper pond during recent shower

An Act of Mercy

I saved a slithery one the other day...

you know the kind I have had many bad experiences with-

under rocks I innocently pick up.

The type who like to hide out in the shadows so I don't see them, until to my dread and probably theirs, I step on them--in soft soled shoes.

-

The kind who like to slither around in the deep grass

and then wiggle just so I will jump backwards

and scream.

The ones I used to have nightmares about as a child--

dreams which involved snakes in the garage and terror.

Yea those slithery creatures.

-

But on with the story...

-

This unheard of act of compassion took place in our yard

on a day when the grass wasn't too wet

and it wasn't raining, having a thunderstorm or hailing

(so it must have been several weeks ago

when we were having spring--for a day or two).

-

I had mowed most of the yard and

had emptied out the grass on the compost pile,

where God had answered prayers for mercy and one didn't crawl out,

when I was most vulnerable.

-

Then, as I was nearing the BIG snake zone--

I saw a wierd 'line' in the grass,

and I knew what it was.

-

I had a choice.

I could have easily run him over;

logic would dictate one less snake, one less fright.

-

But I couldn't do it.

Mercy was BIG here that day.

-

Blessings,

Aimee

-

Photo:

Bleeding heart 'Alba'

A Beautiful Post by a Friend

Recently I felt an urge to visit Claire's blog (Claire is a Christian friend I met through a forum I've belonged to for several years now). All I can say is it must have been an urging from God as she posted a perfect post for the struggle I have had about priorities in life.

With her kind permission I am posting a link to her site and that post called "A New Mercy For Me This Morning". I hope this will bless and help you as well :)

Blessings to Claire, her family & to you,

Aimee

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Photo:

New 'cinnamon' fern frond