Early Morning Blessings

I feel blessed

~

Although I have less marionberries this morning, I feel VERY blessed :)

Blessings to you, Aimee

Photos include: early morning view, one of two visitors, echinacea, cosmos, shiro plums

Another Summer Journey

It all started because of a craving for these

and these!

Yep, a HUGE longing for these wonderful berries of summer led us to a farm

we had visited a couple times before...

A farm where they have 5 varieties of strawberries, 3 varieties of raspberries

and, if we are lucky enough to get there again this summer,

they will have marionberries and boysenberries

(actually. come to think of it, they should be ripe just about now--yum)!

AND, of course, since we were already going that way,

I just HAD to check out some of the historical places in the area near the farm.

A shady path in the historical, waterfront town of Butteville led us down to a river
where we found the remains of what used to be a riverboat landing

in days gone by...

and then, because we were hungry,

we stopped at the nearby historic Butteville store and had a

FANTASTIC lunch there!

We also had a nice talk with the staff there and

learned there was a pioneer cemetery close by!

BTW--the store is considered part of another nearby historical area--

Champoeg State Park and the two are connected by a nice trail which I have walked before!

Since we had berries to keep COOL and HAPPY,

we chose to drive:)

A photo of the covered porch--
doesn't this just say 'peace'

and 'old times' to you?

I SO wish I had listened to my DH years ago and put a roof on our deck

It is something I really regret!

Anyway back to the trip...

we passed this pretty view somewhere in the countryside near the farm

(but please don't ask for directions; a friend who knew the area was driving

and if I tried to describe our route I would only get you lost)!

St Paul's Roman Catholic church in a nearby historic town.

Once, a very, very long time ago I got to go inside of this church

and another historical one in Mt Angel! The interiors of both were incredibly beautiful!

BTW, I LOVE to go inside old churches-

I find that whether they are large or small, fancy or plain,

urban or rural they're all filled with an atmosphere of peace!

I LIKE THAT!

Speaking of which--it won't be long now till I get to go see some of my fav churches

in one of my favorite areas--I AM SO excited:)

Can you tell??

Flowers of the field--I LOVE the yellow and white combination, don't you?

We painted our youngest son's old bedroom yellow and I LOVE it

(of course I will better be able to appreciate it when it stops being used as a storage unit)!

Last, but certainly not least, an amazing rose garden we passed

in the area.

It was a wonderful trip and the berries were beyond scrumptious too!

Now back to work I go...have a great day!

Blessings, Aimee

~

Notes:

A BIG thank you to Koch Family Farm and the Butteville Historic Store for permission to photograph on their property and to post these photos here! TY:)

The rose photo was taken from the road alongside Heirloom Roses--we saw many, many gorgeous roses there! I will try to post more photos from there later (need to check with owners first to get their OK).

Koch Family Farm: 4745 Raybell Road NE, St Paul, OR (503)538-6834

Butteville Historic Store: http://buttevillestore.com/

The Land of Sea + Shore

For over 100 years she has kept sentry here on the spit,

forever longingly looking northwards.

Caught forever in the sand,

she will never sail the cool Pacific again.

So close to making her goal of finding shelter within the calmer waters of the river.

only a few miles beyond this place of wind and warm sand.

Above her fly seabirds who call this place home

I wonder what they think about as they glide above the sand and waves.
on this warm but windy summer's day.

Blessings this early morn,

Aimee

~

Notes: photos taken at Ft Stevens State Park. See wikipedia's article on the Peter Iredale if you would like to learn more about this ship and see a historic photo of her.

A Photographer's Dream

It was a perfect day and THE perfect hour for photography!

~

The PNW sky was THE perfect combination of clouds and blue.

The lighting was perfection-

the mixture of shadow and light outstanding!

The colors, the tones...

~

The subject matter was interesting also-

livestock, historical places, blue rivers, green trees, small towns, a white snow capped mountain--golden hillsides, green corn fields--

truly it WAS

a photographer's dream

(even for a very amateur photographer like me)!

~

I took off the camera cap,

pressed the shutter...

expectantly

and dreamed of the beautiful image that would soon be mine to share with others,

with the world really.

~

And then...

NOTHING happened.

Nothing--

absolutely nada!

No reassuring shutter click, no image--

nothing,

nothing but utter blackness that is.

~

Was my barely 1 year old camera broken?

What could possibly be wrong?

And

then it dawned on me...

I had recharged my camera battery

and

forgot to put it back in the camera.

~

SIGH :(

~

Do you have a camera 'blues' story to tell?

Blessings, Aimee

The WORD on Wednesday

The LORD is close to the brokenhearted;

He rescues those whose spirits are crushed.
Psalms 34:18 NLT

God grant us peace.

Note: Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Photo: taken at Ft Vancouver, WA

A Summer's Day Journey

Earlier this summer we made a journey to a place of many hills

and at least one rooster-

this one!

Our journey started out on paved roads,

but then transitioned (making me very, very happy) to gravel ones.

We traveled past fields and many trees-both evergreen and deciduous.

It was a place of many hillside vineyards--this area is famous for them! We passed by one where I was surprised to see something you would not normally find on a fence! One wonders who put it there and why:)

In addition to the vineyards on hillsides,

we also found beautiful flowers of many colors

beside the (very steep in some places) road--

it was a fun trip!

There were many gorgeous views of the countryside below the hills.

This one I didn't see till I happened to glance in the side mirror and yelled at my DH to STOP--being the kind, patient, loving hubby that he is, he obliged me:)He also pointed out rabbits, the rooster, quail and other wild creatures--unfortunately I couldn't see most of them before they scampered away-I am not gifted with the 'eagle eyes' of my DH--

One vineyard we passed had planted beautiful roses at the start of each row of grapes

(I hope my 'drive by' photos give you at least an idea of how beautiful they really were)!

It was a great way to spend a summer day, even though DDD (darling daughter dog) was a BIT upset when we got home that eve!

Hope you enjoyed the journey!

Blessings, Aimee

Note: I am having a problem with the html formatting again--sigh--the challenges of blogging!Sorry if my grammar is off too--my DH and I are discussing directions right now and watching TV at the same time--sometimes multi-tasking should NOT be done:)

Summer Garden Blessings

Life is hard sometimes.

Some news makes you cry and wonder 'why'.

When life is like that it helps when I walk outside

and see all the blessings God brings me

and

others.

Here are a few of the blessings brought my way lately-

I hope they will bless you too.

Ahhh! Juicy blueberries--

smallest harvest I remember but enough to enjoy

and still share some with my blueberry loving dogs:)

Beautiful, heavenly lavender.

Fragrant

and edible too

because this is one of many culinary lavenders we planted a few years ago.
And a bee! When I was a child I used to get stung at least once a year.

One would think I'd be afraid of bees after that-

but I have learned to know good bees

from those with an attitude!

This is a good bee:)

When I see this beautiful yucca plant

I am thankful.

Thankful that my DH planted it,

thankful that God created it.

I LOVE yucca plants,

do you?

Another garden blessing.

This is a lingonberry--one of 6 or 7.

I was very, very sad that there seemed to be no hope of a crop this year;

our spring and early summer were that bad.

But look!

It's doing just fine

as are the evergreen huckleberries!

I HAVE plans for their berries,

yummy plans:)

Another beautiful garden blessing--

the beginning of what is one of my favorite summer blossoms!

Ahhh!

I LOVE crocosmia-

they always make me smile!

What makes you smile?

Another thing that makes me smile?

All the blooms (you) in my cyber garden

and in the cyber gardens I visit.

May you be blessed as you bless me.

Blessings,

Aimee

Dear Daughter Doggie Takes A Trip

Hi, everyone!

Mom is very busy now getting ready for tomorrow

so I thought I would make a blog post for her-

I think she will be very excited to know that I have GREAT computer tech skills,

don't you?

Now I have many things I could blog about--

food,

cookies,

naps,

my onery siblings...

but I finally decided to blog about the recent trip my human parents took me on.

I think you'll like that best.

Besides it includes two of my fav subjects-

the beautiful PNW

and

ME!!!

I was very bored that day

and was doing my very best 'poor' doggie impression...

sure enough it worked and mom said I could go!

YIPPEE,

those acting classes are paying off:)

It was a beautiful day

(it wasn't raining for once)

and miles of road passed under our car's tires

and then

we were there!

We passed by beautiful pastures and hillsides,

old barns on hills,

wildflowers,

more wildflowers

and

even more wildflowers!

Yep,

everything looked beautiful

AND

I can tell you,

smelled even better than it looked!

A lot of the best time was spent on gravel roads that went up and down the hillsides,

into forests and by woodlands

over rivers where mom insisted on getting out of our vehicle to take photos..

but I could understand why,

because I really wanted to get out too...

and then it was over

and I was a very, very tired puppy

who was happy mom had brought a fuzzy, soft blanket that day.

Which reminds me it is past midnight here and I need to get to sleep.

After all,

mom and dad just might take me bye-bye tomorrow

or at least a dog can always hope:)

Blessings,

DDD for Mommie Aimee