Good Friday 2011

Amazing love! How can it be, That Thou my God shouldst die for me?

He left His Father's throne above So free, so infinite His grace--

Emptied Himself of all but love, And bled for Adam's helpless race:

'Tis mercy all, immense and free, For O my God, it found out me!

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16 KJV

Blessings this Good Friday, Aimee

Lyric Notes: Lyric excerpts from 'And Can It Be?', John Wesley (Psalms + Hymns, 1738). You can read all the beautiful lyrics and hear the musical score that accompanies them here at nethymnal.org

Art Notes: Above clipart from the following website: http://thebiblerevival.com/clipart.htm and is being used according to the 'terms of use' permissions found there. This specific art is from their collection: Public Domain Clipart Collection #36 Bible cards 1904. Per the above website: "Clipart have all come from sources published in the United States before 1923. They are therefore in the public domain in the United States, but they may be copyrighted in countries outside the United States. " Please see the above website for further information, to view their collections of music, clipart, etc. and to comply with the terms of use for using the clipart collections they have there should you be interested.

Palm Sunday 2011

He knew the praises of the people would be short lived;

that within a few days He would be condemned to death.

He knew that even His closest friends would desert Him because of the fear of others-

the fear of man.

He knew how much He would have to suffer

the innocent Son of God,

the Passover Lamb,

the Good Shepherd,

and yet He still headed towards Jerusalem,

according to God's will as written in the Old Testament.

He knew but,

He headed there anyway because of obedience

and because of God's love for us-

rebellious, sinful us.

Today, as I was listening to the Stations of the Cross,

I thought of just how much God loves me

and

just how much He loves

you.

He didn't just say it;

He proved it.

Blessings, Aimee

Notes:

Above clipart from the following website: http://thebiblerevival.com/clipart.htm and is being used according to the 'terms of use' permissions found there. This specific art is from their collection: Public DomainClipart Collection #42 Bible Cards 1910. Per the above website: "Clipart have all come from sources published in the United States before 1923. They are therefore in the public domain in the United States, but they may be copyrighted in countries outside the United States. " Please see the above website for further information, to view their collections of music, clipart, etc. and to comply with the terms of use for using the clipart collections they have there should you be interested.

The Joys of Winter in Spring

Outside it feels more like winter than spring--

rainy, gray, cold!

But--thanks to heat and some flowers gathered from outside,

inside it is spring!

How's your weather?

Blessings,

Aimee

Ooops!

To err is human---

and we all know I am very, very human!

I was setting up posts to publish automatically next week

(Holy Week)

when I won't be doing posts

and I forgot one little, tiny, almost unimportant thing--

yep I forgot to change the date of publication before I pressed publish!

So if you are looking for the Palm Sunday post with the wonderful picture

OR

if you are thinking Aimee must not know when Palm Sunday is--

never fear,

I do

and that post will now publish at 12:01 AM this coming Sunday:)

Aimee

(of the blushed face now)

Scenes of Spring

Sometimes I leave the familiar

and travel to the not so familiar

and there I find beauty too

from halls of marble, wood and glass

to spring flowers under skies of blue

to steeples towering high above the trees.

-

When one's eyes are open to beauty,

one will find it no matter where they go.

Blessings,

Aimee

-

Photos: scenes of Salem

Birds of a Feather...

What do birds of a feather do?

I can tell you they flock together:)

Blessings, Aimee

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

-

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!

Spring Serenade

Did you hear it today?

Did you hear the sound of God's spring serenade?

It's the sound of children playing in fountains!

It's the joyful sound of water!

It's the sound of awakening spring blossoms!

It's the sound of couples strolling hand in hand.

It's the sound of light;

it's the sound of life!

And today on our trip, I heard it!

-

Did you?

~

Blessings, Aimee

-

Photos: taken spring 2011 on a trip in the Willamette Valley of Oregon.

The WORD on Wednesdays

Thou art my God, and I will praise Thee: Thou art my God, I will exalt Thee. O give thanks unto the LORD; for He is good: for His mercy endureth forever. Psalms 118:28-29 KJV

Blessings this Wednesday eve, Aimee

Photo: beautiful, sunny Utah

Sometimes You Just Need A Refuge

And if any wildlife or birds are reading this and looking for one...I would heartily recommend William L Finley National Wildlife Refuge in the Willamette Valley :) I heartily suggest it to any humans needing a place to get away and enjoy nature for several hours or more too! And it just so happened that since the refuge isn't too far from the Land of Linn, we continued our anniversary trip among the woodlands, wetlands, hills and historical buildings there.

I'm thinking this is what heaven must look like--or at least part of heaven:) If only the cloud cover was just a little bit thinner that day...sigh. And to think there were once people that did live here--it's nice that we all can enjoy it now!

A little visitor I found while checking out some of the historical places in the refuge. Can you see him? I think of Alice when I see rabbits...and wonderland...and carrots. The big house in the back and to the left of our little friend is the Cabell Lodge, built (approximately) 1912.

Love, love, love carriage houses---love, love, love windows like this with many panes. Ahhh:) This carriage house was built in 1933.

The front of the Fiechter house (1857). I could live here--well actually I can't because it is owned by the government...but I am happy with that because it means these buildings will be preserved!! BTW---the beautiful, big, red barn above---the one where the blog title is...that is across the road a bit from this house. LOVE that barn, love all old barns--this is the Fiechter Barn (early 20th century).

This refuge has so many types of habitat and topography. And did I say you can drive through it? SO nice! The refuge has trails too but during the winter months some areas are off limits because the dusky geese need to rest before they return home to Alaska!

My sibling would love this moss. I know I do!

Ahhh. Peaceful. Serene. Quiet. Beautiful.

A perfect ending to our anniversary trip; a perfect gift from Farmer Boy to his bride:)

Wonder where my path will lead me next? Wonder where your path will lead you?

Blessings, Aimee

Photos taken late winter 2011. Link to the refuge and also source for information on the historical buildings: http://www.fws.gov/willamettevalley/finley/index.html

In the Land of Linn

Ahhh-the magical Land of Linn, better known as Linn County, Oregon.

The first time I saw this place of our family ancestry, I was smitten, and ever since that day I have been completely in love with it. So what better place to celebrate our wedding anniversary? What other gift would be so sweet? You guessed it--a trip with my Farmer Boy to the Land of Linn.

I must explain that, though I've been to Linn County many times, it is generally to the area south of here and so I was very excited to see what treasures this area! Being the history buff I am I was really, really excited to see more of the covered bridges I've fallen in love with (this area has quite a few of them) AND, of course, new scenery is always a treat!

The first bridge that we found after getting lost, finding gas, having a desperate prayer answered in an unexpected way, finding the right road--was the Shimanek Covered Bridge.

Positives: red, neat windows, you can drive through it (at least most vehicles can--there is a weight limit) and after you do that, you can drive along the creek you've just driven over for a bit. And did I say it's RED??? Negative: No good place to pull over (at least that we saw).

Final verdict: It's a RED bridge--how can one not like it???

Ahhh! Hannah. Great name, beautiful location, SUNSHINE, blue skies and a place to pull over and park! So we did that and then we walked back through the bridge (the traffic early Sunday AM is almost non-existent and they were careful with tourist type people, meaning us!) I am so glad we did park and walk through the bridge because down from the bridge we saw lots of GREEN and a very nice creek too! For those that may not know: rain, rain and more rain=very green moss + lots of ferns here.

A view from inside the bridge--the wood planks here are part of the bridge (but you probably guessed that already)

The Land of Linn--hills, gaps between mountains + hills, mountains, farms, historic homes & buildings, rivers, creeks, lakes, forests, countryside and covered bridges!

On to the next covered bridge--our last today. This one is very, very special--you'll see...it just happens to have a great little park by it and it is on a creek with a river very close by. And at this very pretty little park something very special happens--a river (the Roaring River) flows INTO a creek. Impossible you say? Nope, it really does happen in the magical, beautiful Land of Linn! This was also a really great place to play with my camera--BTW, I need many more places to play with my camera (tell my DH, please).

And the roaring river; as you can tell it really does roar--in a watery sort of way--at least in winter/early spring when every river and creek seemed to be swollen in the Land of Linn.

A view of the Larwood Bridge there--you can drive through this one too! I should have worn my pioneer dress and bonnet...but then that wouldn't be a lot of fun without a wagon or buggy and horse.

Ahhhh--the Land of Linn--the more I see of you, the more I fall in love with you!

Your moss--your ferns--your covered bridges and your old historic mill with ferns --on top of the roof...

by a creek--with a covered bridge--and by a river...a river that roars:)

Hope you enjoyed our little trip to the enchanting Land of Linn...more of our anniversary trip later. Blessings to you, Aimee

Photos: taken in northern Linn county, March 2011. Sorry about the sloppy formatting. Am really having a struggle with the html tonight:( (sigh)