Every Good Gift

Recently, we took a trip up on the foothills of the coast range where we saw beautiful tree covered hills,

recently fallen white snow, green moss momentarily lit by a ray of light, beautiful pink and white blossom covered trees and two beautiful deer!

I think this verse is perfect to describe the wonderful gifts we were given that day!

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights,

with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

Thank you God for all the gifts You give us!

Blessings, Aimee

Photos + Note: Spring in the PNW coast range foothills. Bible verse: James 1:17 KJV

The WORD on Wednesday

I will extol thee, my God, O king; and I will bless Thy name for ever and ever. Every day will I bless thee; and I will praise Thy name for ever and ever.

Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and His greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall praise Thy works to another, and shall declare Thy mighty acts. I will speak of the glorious honour of Thy majesty, and of Thy wondrous works. And men shall speak of the might of Thy terrible acts: and I will declare Thy greatness. They shall abundantly utter the memory of Thy great goodness, and shall sing of Thy righteousness.

The LORD is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy. The LORD is good to all: and His tender mercies are over all His works. All Thy works shall praise Thee, O LORD; and Thy saints shall bless Thee. They shall speak of the glory of Thy kingdom, and talk of Thy power; To make known to the sons of men His mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of His kingdom. Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and Thy dominion endureth throughout all generations.

The LORD upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all those that be bowed down. The eyes of all wait upon Thee; and Thou givest them their meat in due season. Thou openest Thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing.

The LORD is righteous in all His ways, and holy in all His works. The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon Him, to all that call upon Him in truth. He will fulfill the desire of them that fear Him: He also will hear their cry, and will save them. The LORD preserveth all them that love Him: but all the wicked will He destroy.

My mouth shall speak the praise of the LORD: and let all flesh bless His holy name for ever and ever.

Psalm 145 KJV

Blessings, Aimee

Photo: Ft Vancouver, Vancouver, Washington (2010) In that general area today they had a lot of hail, so much so that the freeway looked like it had snowed! Snow, rain, snowy rain, hail, possible funnel cloud--and in my garden a bleeding heart has flowers on it! :)

Of PNW Olive Oil

Today was such an incredibly warm and sunny spring day in the PNW that it brought back good memories of all of the PNW farms I have visited in the last few years! Yes, as I sat on the back deck soaking in the sun and drinking a nice herbal ice tea, I couldn't help but think of how the NW is at its loveliest under blue skies and how fortunate we were to have a real spring after last's year wet, cold, gloom.

And then I woke up...

realized I was freezing; that it was a yucky gray outside, and pouring down rain, and that we were just experiencing a normal/abnormal spring day in the NW. However, and I am holding onto this little bit of hope, as I sit here with a blanket tucked around me, we have had and will have REAL spring days again...this year...maybe:(

Well at least we WILL have summer this year--

after July 4th, of course (it is a PNW joke)--

but actually our summers are really nice once they arrive:)

Alas summer has not arrived yet

and spring is playing games with us so what's a sun starved, cold PNW girl to do?

Make a summer post -- of course! And I just happen to have one:) I particularly dedicate it to all of my fellow winter in spring sufferers--have faith guys! ==

Nothing spells summer like farms...so this post will be at one of course...

do you recall me saying how very excited I was when I found out that one could grow kiwi in the PNW---and then years after we planted some I got to visit a REAL kiwi farm???

Well can you imagine my surprise when I learned that one can also grow OLIVES in the PNW? And that there was actually a nursery that was doing it AND pressing their own olive oil? It's true and I have some of their oil in my pantry to prove it:)

All the photos you've seen in this post were taken at that nursery and it really is a most amazing place! It is located in the hills SW of Portland, overlooking the Willamette Valley in one direction and the rolling hills and vineyards of that area in the other. It is beautiful in the summer and the colors in the autumn are gorgeous (I was fortunate to be able to visit there several times)! They sell and their gardens are filled with herbs, flowers, lavender (yes, I know that is an herb--but I LOVE that herb so think it is worthy of a seperate mention) and olives! Their gardener is awesome and has a flair for great design BTW and you can picnic there overlooking those beautiful hills and gardens (they have some cheese and other food for sale there). They also have a gift shop selling dried lavender and a lot more--oh and they sell plants of course:)

The website for Red Ridge Nursery is here;

I hope to get back there at least one or two times myself this year!

Blessings, Aimee

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Usual disclaimer: I am in no way associated with this business nor are they with this blog or me, but as usual I love to post places where I have had a memorable time and think that others would too! I sincerely thank the wonderful owner of Red Ridge who happened to be there when we visited the nursery and kindly gave me permission to share some photos with you all!