Of California Poppies

First there were the lemon colored daffodils that got me dreaming about spring days to come.

Then the many colored tulips which made my heart happy.

Next the white and light purple lilacs which smelled as wonderful as they looked,

the apple and cherry blossoms that were totally dreamy,

the rhodendrons with their large, gorgeous blooms

and now the orange California poppies!

I am ONE happy woman this spring

(well except for my son leaving).

For fellow California poppy loving people take a look at this photo...

 oh great and wonderful orange poppies please come and invade my garden:)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:California_Poppies1.jpg

Now, THAT would be heavenly...

speaking of heavenly, our irises are showing color now 

and

the buds on our roses are just about ready to open.

Spring stay forever...

please.

Blessings,

Aimee

Note: the photo above is mine;

the link will take you to an amazing photo of the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve.

Springtime

Recently I found myself missing spring.

Not rainy, cloudy, gray, cold spring--no.

We have enough of that here in the PNW.

But the spring we are having now--sunny, blue skies, warm, but not too warm spring.

And, then, I found myself not wanting summer to come and change all this new life, the beautiful blossoms, the wonderful freshness and color of our gardens...

and His gardens.

Yes, I know summer has color too and blue skies and sunshine,

but it just seems that spring is SO alive,

SO new, SO colorful, SO fresh, SO exciting...

it just seems, like (as Alicia of Posy Gets Cozy says)

the lighting of spring is softer and more nuturing to the heart.

What do you think?

Do you prefer spring to summer or not and why?

 But maybe this feeling isn't because of spring at all;

perhaps it has more to do with my son leaving soon and missing my kids and grandkids...

of trading one season for another.

Maybe.

Blessings,

Aimee

Photos: Quimper Peninsula, Washington state.

Sunday Journey

Some journeys take you to the sea

and some to the desert.

But some take you to the mountains and these are the ones I really love!

 This past Sunday my DH and I headed out to spend some time on a mountain.

Actually, our destination was the very top of a mountain located not too far from Portland;

one that has a park there.

It was a beautiful day for a trip and we saw many pretty things.

~

We saw lots of great views of the valley below

 (don't worry we'll get to a photo of that).

We saw and safely passed a couple of bicyclists and one hiker

(yes I have photos but then I thought--would I want someone posting me on my bike?).

~

And, once we got to the park, we saw some motorcyclists...

one of my first dates with my hubby was spent on a motorcycle

(we were supposed to go to the coast by motorcyle, but he says I chickened out)

Funny man...with a good memory:)

 Besides the great valley views on the way up,
the bicyclists,
a hiker,
motorcyclists...
we saw

beautiful wildflowers of several different kinds.

I know which one here was my favorite,
but which one(s) do you like best?
~
I LOVE wildflowers and am always looking for them.
Not pictured here, but favorites of mine are bachelor buttons (cornflowers),
columbine and California buttons.

 Oh, I should also say, we saw a lot of trees too
and some picnic tables with pretty great views!

 And those views were the primary reason we came...
we wanted to see the mountains this place is known for.
And we did see them,
or at least we did see three of the five you supposedly can see from up there.

 ~

And yes, I took photos of them...after all that was the reason we had come.

I took a few with my regular lens

and then with some more with my zoom lens

(did you know I can change lenses now...it wasn't a foolproof process though and I was just thankful that my hubby wasn't there when I changed them back at our house later that day; embarrassing!)

But I'm not posting any of them--

at least today--

because, well, there just a bit disappointing I think.

Or maybe I am being too much a perfectionist; I need to think about it more.

Maybe later...
~

Meanwhile,

I will show you a photo of the valley we saw on the drive up to the park.

 Yes, that IS my hubby's arm--

as you can tell,

I was NOT focusing on his arm.

And yes, we were quite a ways up,
but now I am not reacting to heights like I was for a time
(thank you God).

 Here is a photo of one of the picnic tables with a view..

and yes, if you walk past that table a little bit you will KNOW how far up you are.

After all, this is the highest part of the mountain we were on.
~
OK. I have done some thinking--about the mountain photos, that is.
They are not as nice as I would have liked, but without them this
Sunday Journey post would not be complete ...so here are two of them.

 Mt Hood

Mt St Helens
(it looks quite a bit different than before the eruption).
Ok, time to continue our journey...

this sign should tell you that there is a bit of a steep slope on the way back down,
but just like the way up, it is quite pretty!

And at the bottom the Aimee who loves history so very, very much

found herself a bit of another kind of treasure in a little community there.

Yea!

Blessings,

Aimee

The WORD on Wednesday

I have been throughly enjoying the sunshine we've had lately. It is so satisfying and uplifting to walk in the garden and see new blossoms appearing on what seems to be a daily basis and feel the warmth of the sun! It is also uplifting to look up and see the wonderful blue in the sky!

Lately, with all the beautiful weather, I have felt the desire to hang our laundry outside to dry and so, today, I hung out my first full load of laundry for this year...it's actually an experiment to see how long things take to dry at various temperatures and wind conditions:) Today's load is, mostly, hung on a new folding rack I found; I am still looking for the 'perfect' retractable clothesline having decided that the one thing we didn't plan for in our garden plans was space for a clothesline:(



~

Speaking of the beautiful sunshine and spring weather, this past Sunday was gorgeous so my hubby and I went on a drive up to a mountain state park located a bit southwest of Portland. It was a gorgeous day up there and although we had to drive a bit faster than I would have liked on the road because of local (?) traffic, it was not too bad. Along the way there were some spectacular views of the valley and when we got to the top (where the park is located) we were treated to a view of three snow capped mountains; I did find out later we should have been able to see five so we will have to make another visit there to find the two missing mountains:)
Up there on the mountain, I also found some pretty wildflowers which was very nice! One thing not so nice---our DDD (darling daughter dog) got it into her head to jump out of our car while we were parked there and when I picked her up to put her back in it, my camera swung around and bopped her...I felt HORRIBLE but she seems fine. Still I felt horrible.

On the horrible, not horrible, happy, not so happy things of life...tonight I will say good bye to my final child to leave the Pacific NW. And even though he has not lived with us for a couple years, I am really feeling the Empty Nest Syndrome now. Can I say this? It doesn't feel so good:( It is not that I am unhappy for him; I am and I am thrilled with his plans which I will share with you later. It's just that I MISS our 2 kids and 5 grandkids that moved years ago and now the he will be thousands of miles away too. BIG SIGH...OK--enough sadness for today:(

I will end on a more positive, happy note. I am back to reading the Bible, almost daily, and praying the Scriptures still. I am much happier with my prayer life now, although there is still room for improvement in terms of consistency and time dedicated to it. And this brings me to my chosen WORD for today...

Be ye therefore followers of God,

as dear children;

and walk in love,

as Christ also hath loved us,

 and hath given Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmeeling savour.

Ephesians 5:1, 2 KJV

Have a great Wednesday!

Blessings,

Aimee

Photo: flowering tree on the Quimper Peninsula, Washington state.

Sorry for the rambling; busy day and a lot on my mind...
will be back soon with more regular posts and photos unless the sun tempts me TOO much:)