Colors of My Life: Early March

My heart opens wide to embrace the colors of the season.

The blue of the sky,

the deep green of the grass and Irish moss,

the pink of the primroses and this cyclamen.

I smile as I pass by the forsythia with its sunny flowers;

I feel content as I catch a glimpse of our brightly colored koi in the

water of the lower pond.

Inside our home a bit of spring colors have taken residence too~

the forsythia branches I forced quite awhile ago

(thanks Momzoo!)

and the yummy, sweetness of the first red strawberries from California

being incorporated into fresh strawberry muffin batter:)

In this season of new life and increased light,

I find my heart overflowing with gratitude to God for the many wonders

and countless blessings of His created world.

Do you?

Lenten Blessings, Aimee

Notes:

fresh strawberry muffin recipe found here

http://nancysrecipes.wordpress.com/2008/08/25/fresh-strawberry-muffins/

Momzoo's post on forcing forsythia branches here

http://www.momzoolife.com/2012/03/09/i-love-flowers/

It Felt Like Spring

Today the smell of freshly mowed grass was in the air and

sunlight shone through the windows of our home.

Today I saw baby chicks and turkeys (itty bitty fluffy cuteness) at a farm store we stopped by,

but they didn't have my favorite breed

(and I didn't have my camera with me to take a photo of their fluffy cuteness).

Today a friend and I planted Italian parsley, Bright Lights Swiss chard and Merlot lettuce

outside in one of our wine barrels.

I hope it doesn't get too cold tonight.

Today I bought new garden gloves--

not pink, but a purple with flowers.

Today I noticed summer bulbs are now for sale...

I am particularly fond of Stargazer and Casablanca lilies;

oh--and lily of the valley bulbs.

Today felt like spring...

I hope tomorrow will too.

Lenten Blessings,

Aimee

Note:

we are currently using container gardening for many of our edibles. Some things growing in wine barrel halves are: culinary lavender (several kinds), strawberries, a raspberry, various herbs and some veggies. I really, really like this method; it has worked well up to now for us.

Here is how we prepped the barrels:
http://aimeeonthemountainside.blogspot.com/2009/05/container-barrel-gardening.html

Photos:

sorry I am feeling rather lazy tonight, so all these photos are from previous years:)

Escapees From the Refuge??? Maybe...

Actually we let our wonderful winter visitors go anywhere they want to

during their time here...I saw these in Independence, Oregon--

a great little historical town set along the western bank of the Willamette River.

I LOVE this photo...it makes me smile whenever I look at it.

Is he (or she) showing off...

doing a little quick-step; trying to catch that special someone's eye?

Maybe...

Walking (the goose);

watching and waiting (me)...

Could it be love or just two buddies meeting by the river?

Can't tell the boy geese from the girl geese by just looking at them...

More watching and waiting...(me)

Not love it seems..

Lenten Blessings,
Aimee

Early March Garden

Our garden, despite the surprise of morning snow this month,

is beginning to really take on the appearance of spring!

The primroses I brought home in late February are now happily set in planters on the deck and by some daffodils.

As I have said, the pieries is blooming, as is one of our rhododendrons.

And, shock! I found some blooms on one of our evergreen huckleberries this weekend

(could not get a good photo of them though).

The plum trees have buds, although no color yet.

Our smaller (tete-a-tete) daffodils are all in bloom,

with the Mt Hood's (a white, later blooming one) to follow in time.

All the changes in the garden

plus the fact that we are expecting temps in the 60's later this week,

have me thinking it might be good to plant some cold weather crops...

time to pull out those seeds:)

Anything blooming at your home?

Lenten Blessings,

Aimee

It's For the Birds (But Not At All Worthless)

Every winter a magical thing happens in the Willamette Valley region of Oregon...

the valley gets visitors.

To be completely honest, it gets a LOT of visitors;

~

Now, during the winter, you can see these feathered visitors in quite a few places--

by rivers, in wetland areas, by a casino we drove by...

but one of the best places to see them is at a National Wildlife Refuge.

The Valley has three of them: William L Finley (south of Corvallis), Ankeny (south of Salem) and Baskett-Slough (near Dallas).

~

Sunday we went to Baskett-Slough, hoping to see some of the swans I had seen there before.

No such luck this time, but we saw hundreds of geese--maybe even thousands.

This was my DH's first time here--

we stopped at the kiosk along the highway (22),

but then we drove through the refuge like we had done at Finley NWR.

Driving through a refuge is an awesome way to see any wildlife

as your car serves as a 'blind' ...

oh, by the way, during the wintertime access is somewhat limited for us humans to let the Geese get some much needed rest before they head back to their northern homes.

Suggestions? Bring a camera with a zoom lens and a pair of binoculars. Drive slowly and bring my eagle-eyed DH (OK, not that last suggestion...but it does help to have someone who can see things from miles away). Sometimes you will see the waterfowl in the grasses which are near the ponds; sometimes you will see them in the fields.

I LOVE it...

Oh--I should say that geese are not the only visitors in the refuge...

you probably already guessed that--

but they are the star attraction:)

For more information, see the link below.

Thank you God for the PNW's winter visitors!

Lenten Blessings,

Aimee

Links:

http://www.fws.gov/WillametteValley/Complex/dusky.html

(information on Dusky Canadian Geese and links to all 3 of the Willamette Valley NWR's. The Dusky Canadian Geese are there from October/November to early April)