Little Bit of This; Little Bit of That

What a difference a few days, prayers and medicine make! No more laryngitis, much less coughing, face swelling greatly diminished...just waiting for this eye infection to resolve so I can feel totally 'normal' again (well at least I'll be able to wear both contacts so I can SEE normally again).

In the garden spring continues with little (and some bigger) changes daily. The foliage of some columbine and a bleeding heart plant have made their appearance now; the stems of spring bulbs continue to get taller and closer to revealing their blossoms! And more-

The most recently planted pieris--the ones on a berm in the Japanese-style garden--are now catching up with the much older one by the lower pond.

Near the upper pond, the magnolia's furry, grayish buds (that remind me of a pussy willow's catkins) are now starting to open and I suspect that soon we will be blessed by beautiful white blooms! ( Hum, the pic is kind of blurry--just like my vision right now)

Also, in the pond area, the crabapple has come to life--I am really eager to see its incredibly beautiful blossoms too--but i think we are a ways off from that 'reveal'!

And last, but not least, the daphne buds have started to open and I found these little garden treasures hiding out by one side of the herb barrel!

Of course, all this spring like weather -- blooms and way too long grass has me thinking. In fact, it has me thinking a lot and ---

it has me thankful!!

Not for the flowers and blue skies -- well actually I am quite grateful for them.

But that way too long grass has me a bit nervous and ...

I am EXTREMELY thankful that I have boots to wear right now in that field AKA as our lawn.

And why would that be you say? Well I am a thinking that with all of this warm weather, all of those additional rocks we put it this last year...and the two ponds...and did I say that way-too-deep grass???

Well I am thinking I might just 'luck out' again and repeat one of my 'close' encounters from last year--hence the thankfulness for the boots.

So, as I go about my daily picture hunt with only partially clear vision...and as that grass gets even longer (but still is too wet to mow) I am thinking that the FIRST official 2010 snake encounter is not too far away for me. So along with the garden tools I will have to put together my very own, personal anti-snake kit. It will help me avoid encounters like these from 2009:)

• The brooch (AKA snake under the rock) episode--I am thinking gloves, THICK ones -- and giving up any rock moving I might be tempted to do.
• Snakes in the path and on the river rock; snakes in the garden and by the pond episodes--a pole, a LONG pole to beat on the ground with (and if that doesn't work play keep away from Aimee with)

But to avoid any snakes in the shadow episodes---the one where I stepped right on an unseen, totally immobile snake in the DEEP shadow of a big shrub as I bent down to turn on the hose connection on the ground. Yea to prepare for times like that, I am thinking of digging out those knee high boots I used to wear to work AND investing in elbow length gloves (or maybe an automatic watering system)

Blessings, Aimee

Valentine's Day

Like Christmas this year, Valentine's Day 2010 will be quite different then I would have liked. My cold is still bad; I've also developed an eye infection and skin infection which has caused the entire eye area (down to the cheekbone) swell and look --- well -- really, really nasty. I am now on medication for the infections though and, God willing, they expect improvement in a day or two. Until then I am HAPPY to stay out of public places and in the comfort of my warm home under a fleecy comforter!

Anyway, I am saying all this to point out the fact that sometimes life cannot be planned and there are always times when you will find yourself disappointed at the way things turned out. Such is life and I am reminded that even when disappointments come our way, we are still surrounded by many blessings if we only look for them.

Some of my blessings this Valentine's Day eve---

• A hubby willing to accompany me to the doctor of MY choice--even though our insurance won't cover the visit
• Antibiotics and well trained, compassionate health care professionals!
• Family and friends
• Knowing that this week will bring more color in the garden, possibly more blue skies above me and beautiful music to surround me!

Have a blessed Valentine's Day!

Aimee

Wordless Wednesday (but not quite in the way you'd expect)

Today I am celebrating what I see on a lot of blogs...wordless Wednesday; but in my case I am celebrating it literally. You see about 2 days ago I lost my voice and it's been replaced by a squeaky, half whispered thingee quite unlike my real one.

Our dogs alternate between obedience and disobedience as I attempt to issue orders for them to 'come', 'go slow' or 'move'. Of course, they sometimes don't obey me when I have a normal voice either...

My hubby keeps asking 'what'? -- he can't hear me either; he finally just told me to stop trying to talk.

When others do 'hear' me they mostly have 1 of 2 reactions; shock and concern or laughter. They all know that being wordless is REALLY not a normal state for me.

I am SO glad that I rarely catch colds and that I've had laryngitis even less frequently. All and all I will be glad to return to 'normal' --- at least my normal.

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Wishing you health and many blessings, Aimee

Photos: field daisies, pussy willows, the leaves of one of the miniature roses (they never really seemed to lose their leaves this winter), praecox rhodendron (imagine a big bush covered in these beauties), first dandelion (well at least the first one I found), leftover storm 'damage' (or an opportunity for a photo-what is hard to see is that this cone is tightly wedged in there)

Love: quotes to reflect on

"The most beautiful sight this earth affords is a man or woman so filled with love that duty is only a name, and its performance the natural outflow and expression of the love which has become the central principle of their life."

Josiah Gilbert Holland, reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), pg 394

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"Love feels no burden, regards not labors, strives toward more than it attains, argues not of impossibility, since it believes that it may and can do all things."

Thomas A Kempis, German monk & mystic, The Imitation of Christ, pt 3, ch 6 (1471)

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"When one has once fully entered the realm of Love, the world--no matter how imperfect--becomes rich and beautiful, it consists solely of opportunities for Love."

Soren Kierkegaard, Works of Love (1847)

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"They do not love that do not show their love."

William Shakespeare, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act I, Scene 1

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"Love comforted like sunshine after rain."

William Shakespeare, Venus and Adonis

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"An ounce of love is worth a pound of knowledge."

John Wesley, The Works of Rev John Wesley (1830)

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----and last, but certainly not least, these verses found in the Holy Bible

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“Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

Matthew 22:36-40 KJV

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"Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. Love does not demand its own way. Love is not irritable, and it keeps no record of when it has been wronged. It is never glad about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. Love will last forever”

I Corinthians 13: 4-8a KJV

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Blessings, Aimee

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Note: Excerpted from the following webpage, http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Love. Text, on this post only, available under CC-BY-SA. If you wish to use the text please see the following links for legal terms of use: http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Terms_of_Use
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

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Photo: pieris -- reminds me of a bridal bouquet

Sunshine on my Shoulders (or it has to be spring)

My canine baby working on his tan in our springlike weather;

he thinks it is spring.

Our fish think it's spring too;

when I walk by they gather quickly thinking springtime=food.

Sunny skies and sunny yellow forsythia;

a few of the buds have opened fully now brightening up our garden.

And this pretty shrub?

Not part of our garden but proof that springtime is near in the NW.

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Blessings,

Aimee

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Note: "Sunshine on my Shoulders", 1973 by John Denver

A perfect song for this day.

January Journeys

Now that you've seen some views of our January garden, I thought it would be nice to share some scenes from His larger (and sometimes much higher gardens...)

so here are some pictures from our January journeys.

Up high on a road I had never been on before---loved the views (at least from the passenger side of the car I was in).

In a very shaded woodland area--both of us thought these ferns growing in this large tree quite beautiful. It seems like ferns grow in almost any shady area in the PNW (western) -- we have found some under decks, in the shade of buildings and even in a hanging basket! I love the green of our native ferns and mosses.

Another view. I loved this area--the light, the shadows, the ferns,the everything!

And I loved this old barn (got a thing about old barns as many do--especially love the red barns of the Wallowa Valley (no this isn't there) but really anywhere I am). I always look for old barns and sheds; and farm animals and Bambi types (always). None of the latter, unfortunately, on this trip--maybe in February??

Besides mountains and forests, the PNW has a lot of wetlands--in addition to Bambi types I have a weakness for ducks, geese, bald eagles and about every other wild bird that graces the NW. I can hardly wait to get a better camera to share them with family and friends but until then ---here is one I took during a January journey.

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Blessings

&

Happy February Field trips to you!

Aimee

Adieu, Aloha, Adios and Farewell

January was good, in many ways, with some spring like weather (TY God!), more remodeling done, some time on the road - and yet I happily bid it goodbye as we move on to February--the month of love, slightly longer daylight hours (good for all fellow SAD sufferers!) and hopefully more sunshine and flowers! But before we leave this month--the dread of some and (maybe) the joy of others--a few more photos taken in my January journeys in the garden..

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And a few more...

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Yes, it was a good January and yes, despite the challenges this winter has brought, this has been a good year thus far and I am thankful for each day of life:)

So goodbye January and thanks for the memories! They were treasures for my anxious heart.

Blessings,

Aimee

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Photos:

Winter fruit (not edible as far as I know)

Mushroom faces

Part of the flagstone path

Ripples and reflections in the upper pond--a common and welcome sight

(and I think I heard a frog the other day)

Pussy willows up HIGH!

Magnolia branches getting some light (Aimee was too)

The underside of one of those BIG mushrooms (pretty but poisonous with all likelihood)

Fern in light--this winter all of them, except one type stayed green and beautiful!

A Walk in His Garden: winter to spring

Necessity is the mother of invention, right? Well since I am still in a holding pattern on getting a new laptop (by my own choice since I still don't feel a 'go ahead' in my heart), I started to play with my hubby's PC and lo and behold if it doesn't have a photo editing program I can use in the meantime...I do miss the matted photo frame look though and I will definitely need to play with all the editing features it offers some more but it will work and I am grateful for it:)

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So here goes a winter to spring 'Walk in His gardens' stroll for your Sunday viewing pleasure.

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Well that was the winter part of the 'walk' and I have a lot more wintry pictures...but since it seems like God has decided that spring should come to the PNW early this year we will move on to the spring pictures :)

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Being outside lately has been pure delight what with the warmer then usual temperatures, some incredibly beautiful clear days, lots of birds singing (and possibly a frog recently too) and - of course - earlier then normal blooming plants! Every time I go outside I feel like singing hymns like 'How Great Thou Art' and 'Fairest Lord Jesus'! I CAN'T help but give thanks for every flower that I see, the pussy willows and the many not-quite-open-yet buds that hold SO much promise for a spectacular spring!

Wishing you all an early spring too!

Blessings,

Aimee

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Photos:

Barberry with pagoda

Moss in water 'globe' (reminded me of the snow globes of my childhood)

Pieris

Spring bulbs emerging --- Yippee!!

A Quick Note (& question re: laptops)

Just wanted to let you know that if there are no blog posts for awhile it is because my laptop is seriously contemplating being put out to pasture...

but Aimee will, God willing, return soon with more walks in His gardens :)

In the meanwhile, blessings and peace to family, friends and visitors!

Aimee

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Update (1/21/2010):

My wonderful, very computer literate son and I spent some time recently looking for a new laptop for me. Being the Mac loving guy he is, he deftly steered me into Apple 'heaven' where I was happily entertained by their computers and software which appealed to the artistic side of me which loves photography and wants badly to relearn the piano I played as a child. In addition I am captivated by their power cord since I have a history of tripping over and otherwise wrecking the regular ones:(

But before I take the plunge from the PC world into the world of 'fruit'...anyone have any comments pro or con the Mac vs PC? I've always been a PC person -- and have never even used a Mac; well at least till recently.

Thanks & blessings this Friday evening,

Aimee

Images of a New Year

The days are a bit longer now; the sunrise comes earlier then it did in December.

Soon, not too long now, it will be February and then - maybe - just maybe more blossoms will appear in the garden.

But even now in this season of quiet simplicity the garden has it's beauty.

The lush green of moss on a Japanese maple branch.

Raindrops gathered on the upright leaves of the Nandina sparkle in the winter's light like diamonds.

The beauty of the upper pond as raindrops cause perfect patterns on its surface.

And the fragile unusual beauty of this daphne odora.

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Blessings from the winter's garden,

Aimee

Treasures of the Garden

Newly fallen snow - frost and ice covers over all the little imperfections of the landscape;

but it also highlights the small delights of the garden one does not usually see:

a spider's web lost in the twigs of a tree or bush.

and leaves caught in the frozen waters of a waterfall.

Blessings,

Aimee

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Some more wintry garden photos from last year.

Looking to the Future

I keep working toward that day when I will finally be all that Christ Jesus saved me for and wants me to be. No, dear brothers and sisters, I am still not all I should be,* but I am focusing all my energies on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us up to heaven.

Philippians 3:12b-14 NLT (© 2003, Ilumina Software, Tyndale House Publishers)

Lately I've done way too much ruminating on things past.

Things I should have done differently

but chose not to for one reason or another.

Words said

that shouldn't have been said.

Deeds left undone

and those that should never have been done.

Some reflection is good--

for God calls His children to lead holy lives-

lives of mercy, grace and kindness to others;

lives that are Christ-like,

and lives that witness to the fact that we love Him.

But I don't always act very Christ-like

and sometimes,

after I've asked God to forgive me

and tried--if possible--to make amends to the ones I've wronged,

well sometimes ...

I just don't seem to be able to let go of that FORGIVEN sin;

or should I say my feelings of guilt and remorse over that FORGIVEN sin?

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I read this verse recently --

it makes SO much sense and was written by one (under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit) who needed to let go of his past--

in order to have the energy to do the things God was asking of him.

Because holding onto the guilt over past sins.

which God has totally forgiven us of,

robs us of the energy we need to do His will today.

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I can't change the past...

but I know the ONE who controls my future and can give me the grace I need to live a more Christ-like life each day.

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Blessings,

Aimee

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“Come now, let us argue this out,” says the Lord. “No matter how deep the stain of your sins, I can remove it. I can make you as clean as freshly fallen snow. Even if you are stained as red as crimson, I can make you as white as wool."

Isaiah 1:18 NLT (© 2003, Ilumina Software, Tyndale House Publishers)

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Photos

winter garden views

Blessings from above

Last year, I had a prayer request;

something very important...

and so I prayed.

And God answered my prayer totally and completely...

but He also gave me a desire of my heart before He did that.

A small desire---not earthshattering or anything monumental--but still something He knew would make His daughter's heart sing with happiness for a moment...or two.

And as I watched the blessing He gave me that day unfold, for a moment my problems seemed to melt away...

as I took delight in His gift--a most beautiful gift.

A special present only He could send.

And my heart was filled with joy

and my problems did seem lessened

at this perfect present from God;

not just because of the gift itself,

but because I knew God loves me-

and that is the greatest gift of all!

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"Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think...unto Him be glory" Ephesians 3:20a, 21b KJV

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Blessings,

Aimee

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Photos:

rhododendron-cream crest

apple-liberty

barberry

pieris

viburnum-spinrg bouquet?

Happy New Year's Day!!

Happy 2010

May this new year be filled with the beauty of God's creation,

found blessings when you need them the most

and lots of time spent with good friends and family.

Blessings always, Aimee

Photos: Scenes from about a year ago.

Christmas Greetings

"And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) to be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them." Luke 2:1-20 KJV

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Christmas is filled with so many things that enrich our lives -- delicious meals, candles, beautiful decorations, evergreen wreaths, gifts, special music and more. But if you took all of these things away you would still have Christmas; for it was (and still very much is) about the love of God for the world and NOTHING will ever change that.

Christmas Blessings,

Aimee

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Photo: Central Oregon Cascades