If At First You Don't Succeed....Sharing Today (Part 2)

Spring break in Oregon brought sunshine and blue skies to the coast.

April brought...well it brought normal spring weather to the PNW:)

But we don't let little things like wind, cold and a few showers stop us...

so it was off to Tillamook and Garibaldi for a day trip.

At Bar View County Park we are always met by busy seagulls doing their seagull thing.

And there is often nice wave action on the jetty...

my husband has spent many hours fishing off these rocks when he was younger.

He is part mountain goat...

he can jump from rock to rock.

I, being of sound mind and horrible balance, leave such things to him.

Aren't they great?

I absolutely LOVE these guys!

And now to break the 'gray' theme I have going here...

a little pretty pink by the bay!

I truly, truly LOVE spring blossoms...

at home so many of our fruit trees are filled with blossoms of white and pink.

Inland, at the Tillamook Forest Center, the Wilson River was running high...

and it looked completely different from this summer when we visited here and walked along it.

The turbulent water was everwhere it seemed and along highway 6 I spotted around a dozen waterfalls and cataracts...so amazingly beautiful!

 I SO wanted to stop and take photos of everyone of them...

but once you are in well moving traffic on that road,

you just don't want to stop because you are sure to get stuck behind

someone moving well below the speed limit as we did on the way back

 

Maybe next time...

 LOVE these mountains!

 

Blessings this Monday evening,

Aimee

 

Notes:

NO! The driver of the Tillamook Transit Bus

was not one of the slow moving vehicles...

they were driving quite appropriately for the road and weather. 

Sharing Today

I would love to share with you my today.

Unfortunately blogger doesn't seem to want to play.

"Upload failed"

"Server returned invalid response."

it continues to say... 

I'm so tired and frustrated of it acting this way:(

 

Perhaps later it will let me post photos of forest, mountains, seagulls and bay.

Maybe it will let me do that before the first of May?

Oh well I FINALLY got these 2 photos uploaded this rainy Saturday.

All I can say is okay...blogger YOU won this round today:)

 

Have a great weekend!

Blessings,

Aimee

 

Photos:

Tillamook Forestry Center

http://aimeeonthemountainside.blogspot.com/2012/09/in-heart-of-tillamook-burn-pt-1.html

http://aimeeonthemountainside.blogspot.com/2012/09/in-heart-of-tillamook-burn-pt-2.html

 

 Are you celebrating Oregon's Arbor Week?

Holy Week Blessings II

Sometimes blessings show up when we need them the most...

when our hearts ache with the loss of long held dreams.

Sometimes blessings come unexpectedly

 in the form of sunny days in early spring...

Sometimes they come in golden moments at the seashore.

Sometimes blessings take the form of simple play

 and bring back memories of times spent with our children at the same beach.

And all these blessings--

they combine to fill our hearts until they overflow with the sweetness and wonder of it all!

Yes, blessings sometimes show up unexpectedly.

 And we feel reborn when they do.

Have you been the recipient of an unexpected blessing recently?

 

Blessings,

Aimee

 

Notes:

with our unexpected Holy Week blessings on the central Oregon coast.

Holy Week Blessings I

Holy Week brought many blessings...

one of those was a journey along a river that I have grown to love

and just can't get enough of!

Our journey again brought me here to this 'secret' place...

where I beheld for the second time the wonders of God's creation.

Such beauty...it literally takes my breath away everytime!

It also humbles me and causes me to look to my Creator and my God.

Such love He has for His children to create such wonders as these!

Our journey also brought us here,

to this area...

in a tranquil setting of tall evergreens, a creek and more.

Gorgeous, awesome, beautiful, powerful, gentle, lovely, scenic, wild, tranquil...

are there enough adjectives to truly describe the beauty of this area?

I don't think so;

you really have to be there...

to smell the fragrance of nature,

to hear for yourself the sounds of running water,

to feel the emotions I feel everytime I am there...

It is indeed a place where the glory of God is unmistakable...

~

All Thy works shall praise Thee, O LORD;

and Thy saints shall bless Thee.

Psalm 145:10 KJV

 

But Holy Week brought other blessings and other memories.

Did it bring you any?

 

Blessings,

Aimee

 

Notes:

In beautiful Linn county (of course).

LOVE those Class IV-V rapids:)

Maundy Thursday + Good Friday Reflections

Now before the feast of the passover,

when Jesus knew that His hour was come that He should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved His own which were in the world,

He loved them unto the end.

John 13:1 KJV

Jesus didn't just talk about love,

He put love 

into action.

 

Imagine this...

in the next few hours Jesus will see three of His disciples fall asleep instead of keeping vigil

with Him in the Garden of Gethsemane.

~.

Jesus will then be betrayed by the kiss of one who had

walked with Him for 3 1/2 years,

heard Him teach,

 shared His food,

seen Him heal the sick and even raise the dead.

~

Christ will before that night is over see

all His closest friends

desert Him,

and later

He'll hear one of them--

the one who confessed that He knew Jesus was the long awaited Messiah--

deny Him not once but several times.

~

Finally,

Jesus Christ 

 will be put through an illegal trial,

 scourged,

beaten,

publicly humiliated

and then executed between two criminals.

~  

And so what did Jesus do in those last few hours before He walked the Via Dolorosa...

the Way of Suffering?

Well the only begotten Son of God,

was about His Father's business.

 

We find Him eating with those who will soon desert Him;

we see Him humbly washing their feet--

(even the one He knew would betray Him). 

 

We hear Him praying for them

(and for those coming after who would also believe)

and we see Him continuing teaching;

 comforting and preparing them for the hard times ahead--

 

 Now that, is love...

true, agape, pure, perfect, sacrificial,

I Corinthians 13 love,

and that is the type of love we are to have one for another if we are His followers...

that is the type of love I am supposed to have.

 

A new commandment I give unto you,

That ye love one another; as I have loved you...

John 13:34 KJV

 

Blessings from me to you on this Maundy Thursday evening,

Aimee

 

Links/Notes:

The story of Christ's last passover on earth--

the Last Supper is told in the following chapters:

Matthew 26, Mark 14, Luke 22, John 13-17 and also in I Corinthians 11:23-25.

 

Maundy Thursday:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maundy_Thursday

 

 

The WORD on Wednesday: Looking Ahead to Good Friday

And He (Jesus) said,

Abba, Father, all things are possible unto Thee;

take away this cup from Me:

nevertheless not what I will, but what Thou wilt.

Mark 14:36 KJV

How often I've prayed prayers similar to this one but

--of course--

leaving out the last, most important part...

"nevertheless not what I will, but what Thou wilt".

I hate pain; I'm not fond of suffering either. 

Times of trials are no fun and can drain me emotionally and physically.

Oh, and did I say, submission is a "bit" difficult for me too?

Seemingly unanswered prayer

(prayers not answered my way and not in a timely fashion)

can leave me doubting God's love for me.

 

Of course that speaks more to my pride than God's love, doesn't it?

Jesus didn't doubt God's love.

He truly believed, He knew, all things would work together for good...

 He trusted His Father completely.

Yes, He knew that submission to His Father's plan

would mean horrific pain, suffering and humiliation for a time--

after all, by the time of His crucifixion, He had had ample opportunity to see many crucifixions

(the Romans practiced very public executions of those they condemned to death).

His humanity cried out for God to deliver Him from this,

and yet He was willing to do God's will--

despite the heavy cost

and because of His obedience, His submission even to death,

we can be reconciled to God--forgiven.

~

Abba Father help me to trust You in the good,

and also, in the bad times of my life.

In Jesus' Name,

Amen.

Have a blessed Holy Week

and a truly good,

Good Friday.

Blessings, Aimee

The WORD on Wednesday--but on Saturday this week:)

The LORD is my shepherd;

I shall not want.

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: 

He leadeth me beside the still waters.

He restoreth my soul:

He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His Name's sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil:

for Thou art with me;

Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me.

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies:

Thou annointest my head with oil;

my cup runneth over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life:

and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

~

Lord, be my Shepherd for all the days of my life.  

Help me to recognize your provision and always be grateful for it.

Help me to surrender to Your will,

 as Your only begotten Son,

Jesus

did

 so that Your purposes may be accomplished

and Your Name be glorified.

Keep me from wandering off the path you have set before me

and

help me to rest in You alone.

In Jesus' Name,

Amen.

~

I will be taking off some time during the upcoming Holy Week for
 reflection, prayer, and family.

Wishing you all a blessed week.

Blessings, peace + love,

Aimee

 

 

Note:

Psalm 23 KJV

 

Almost Spring Garden Walk--continued...

Part 2...

It is at this time of the year that things change on a daily basis...

and I mean daily:)

Pieris--love these!

Forsythia--isn't this yellow glorious?

I am craving yellow by springtime...

sunny, cheerful yellow!

Our spring camellia...and yes, our autumn/winter blooming camellia is STILL blooming:)

It is going to need a long rest and TLC after blooming for all these months!

One of our many daffodils...

yellow, beautiful, yellow:)

 

So what is going on in your garden?

Blessings,

Aimee

 

Lots to do in the garden this year...

got any plans for yours?

Of Ducks, Geese, an Old Church + Spring Daffodils

Yesterday my path led a friend and I into Polk and Yamhill counties,

part of Oregon's so-called 'wine country'.

But we were not in search of wine...

we were in search of pretty rural views like this...country!

And we were in search of these guys and/or gals...

By the way, I've been thinking.

If I were a Canadian Goose,

would I be the one in front...

leading the way,

taking the full force of the wind

or one of the geese in the middle...

protected somewhat from the perils of the journey,

a follower.

Or would I be the one in the back...

trying to catch up with the others,

maybe one who was weaker...

or perhaps a loner,

or maybe just someone who has their own way of doing things.

Hum...I think I've been a little bit of all three at some point in my life.

What about you?

What kind of goose would you be?

I prayed I would see a goose close up...

as this has been a somewhat disappointing winter for viewing Canadian geese.

This was really, really close up.

I wonder if he/she was injured?

We did our best not to scare them...

staying in the car and pulling slowly away when we left.

On one side of the road in the flooded marsh area there were ducks;

the other side had the Canadian geese.

Here is a closer view of some of the ducks.

I know one is a Mallard,

does anyone know what kind the brown one is?

Both had beautiful markings,

but I LOVED the brown one!

Our journey also brought us past many farms,

vineyards,

some little towns,

up and down rolling hills,

and to this historical church built a long, long time ago.

It is set on a bit of a hillside and as is often the case,

has a small cemetery by it.

Did I say we passed a lot of camellias in bloom?

Oh, and a lot of flowering trees...

The church's bell tower.

LOOK at that beautiful blue sky:)

And, our journey brought us here...

to the little town of Amity,

where they will hold a special festival this very weekend

in honor of a very special flower...

Daffodils...

amazing, beautiful, sunshiny daffodils.

Definitely one of the things I love about springtime.

Have you had any recent journeys?

 

Blessings,

Aimee

 

Notes:

Amity Daffofil Festival

(including a volkswalk in the beautiful countryside, art and daffodil shows, food)

https://sites.google.com/a/amity.k12.or.us/amity-daffodil-festival/

http://www.ava.org/gen3/data/event_details.asp?eventid=95584

I've never been but it sounds interesting.

Another place I've never been, but want to go someday is the Monastery there...

I do know they have heavenly fudge because I bought some at Oktoberfest one year.

Mmmm, chocolate...

 

Wildlife photos near and at Baskett Slough NWR, Polk county.

If you visit here, you might also consider seeing the arboretum in nearby Dallas.

LOVE that place!

Dallas also has many historical homes if you enjoy Victorian houses;

I LOVE old houses too~

And as long as you're there, you could take the King's Valley Highway,

one of my favorite roads, and see

the Ritner Covered Bridge, near the little town of Pedee,

  Falls City (with a beautiful waterfall and more)--located off the main road

(above link has a photo, part way down the post, of the river above the falls.

I can't find my main falls post right now nor my photos of the arboretum in Dallas for that matter.)

 Harris Covered Bridge near Wren.

 

Historical church in rural Polk county

(my photo collection keeps growing--yippee!)

 

Daffodil field in rural Yamhill county.

St. Patrick's Day 2013

A quick look back at this year's celebration...

On the menu for St. Patrick's Day:

Corned Beef

(I also bought lamb shanks for Irish Lamb Stew later this week.
I love lamb; hubby prefers corned beef--this way both of us are happy!)

Sauteed cabbage

(made like colcannon but without the mashed potatoes)

Champ--wonderful, delicious champ...

an Irish version of mashed potatoes, but better I think.

My northern Irish ancestors most likely ate this...
I could eat it at least once a week.
LOVED it!
 

 Sauteed carrots, onions and scallions...

Irish soda bread (purchased)also made an appearance...
but I forgot to buy yummy Irish butter this year to spread on the bread.
Boo! I missed it:(
 

Sparkling apple cider and a layered dessert

(by that time we were too full to eat any dessert so we ate it the other day).
 

Of course I had to celebrate the occasion,

 with a little reminder of my blessed childhood,

so breakfast for me that day was...

besides I needed that sugar energy for all the cooking I did:)

Blessings,

Aimee

Note:

Found this interesting blog yesterday

Irish American Mom

(lots of recipes here on this blog created by a mom born in Ireland now living in the States.)

 

Here are some other links to Irish dishes:

Colcannon

http://www.wiveswithknives.net/2012/03/13/st-patricks-day-dinner-colcannon/

 

Champ

http://oneperfectbite.blogspot.com/2012/03/champ-scallion-mashed-potatoes-for-st.htm

I served it in individual bowls making a 'well' in the center of the bowl for the lovely yellow butter...

the photo above was taken Monday when I was devouring the leftover champ:)

 

Irish Boxty

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Irish-Boxty/

Next time I make champ, I will try this with the leftovers.

 

Corned Beef

I made mine in the crock pot this year--SO much easier and very, very tender!

 

Dessert

Simple...layered chocolate mousse or pudding, whipped cream, pistachio pudding...

with a bit of chocolate of course:)

 

Sorry--most of the photos of St Patrick's Day are still on my phone so I can't show you the cute leprechaun hats I found for $1...

 

Never Again...Today's Experiment:)

My Farmer Boy loves his hard boiled eggs...

he loves them just as they are,

and he loves them made into sandwiches,

and he loves them made into angel eggs.

So I,

on occasion,

make hard boiled eggs the old fashioned way...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boiled_egg

(or using a variation of this method)

UNTIL

TODAY that is!

Now, I can't and won't take credit for this new modern method..

but right now, I am definitely singing a very happy song because Easter eggs

will be a whole lot easier this year:)

Raw eggs awaiting their time in a preheated 325 degree oven

**(my eggs were large in size)

Eggs baking happily in oven while Aimee does other things...

or perhaps it is Aimee doing other things happily while the eggs bake?

30 minutes later I transfered the baked, very hot eggs carefully to a pan

to take a cold shower/bath under the faucet

Aimee didn't have ice to make an ice bath for these lovely babies;

the cold shower/bath worked fine.

 (I occasionally dumped the water in the pan and refilled it with cold water).

**The eggs 'chilled out'...LOL...for about 10 minutes.

Chilled eggs awaiting peeling...

will it work???

Verdict: success!

One dozen creamy, yummy eggs awaiting hungry hubby's tummy.

LOVE, love, love this method!

Sometimes change is good:)

 

Has anyone tried this?

I was really impressed --

no cracked eggs,

no hot steamy water,

lovely, lovely, lovely texture with no green...

NO more boiling eggs for me.

**Some people that have tried this have reported tiny brown spots on the egg. 

I did find one or so on the white...

but it was not a big deal at all and didn't affect the taste:)

 

Now on to my next experiment.

Wonder if I get my love for experimenting from my dad?

 

Blessings,

Aimee

 

Notes:

**updated notes

Repeat, repeat--I DID NOT come up with method.

Here are 2 links to others who have posted about baking 'hard-boiled' eggs...

http://www.theburlapbag.com/2012/03/make-hard-boiled-eggs-in-the-oven/

I love using a muffin tin like the above blogger does.

http://lifehacker.com/5345372/use-your-oven-to-bulk-cook-hard+boiled-eggs

Another way to bake them...from 2009.

**Another link of interest

http://www.familyfreshmeals.com/2012/11/how-to-make-perfect-hard-boiled-eggs-in-the-oven.html

In addition to these links there were others describing this method.

 

And here, on wikipedia,

some gorgous photos of Easter eggs for your viewing pleasure...

love these!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_egg

Almost Spring Garden Walk

St. Patrick's Day was great and I will post some quick photos later.

I prepared a new recipe,

one native to Ireland,

and fell in love with it!

~

Are you counting the hours till spring?

I am SO excited...

since our first day of spring is calling for rainy weather,

I decided to do a walk in our gardens today to celebrate the coming change in seasons

and take some photos--

just in case the weather forecasters are right:)

You're invited to join me...as my honored guests

Blueberry--Earliblue.

The first of our blueberries to ripen each year,

and one of my favorites for eating fresh from the garden!

One of our evergreen huckleberries...beautiful year round.

Wild plum--the first of our fruit trees to bloom each year.

Blossoms on this tree always make me happy because I know good things will follow soon.

Dapne Odora.

Yes, that yummy, delightful fragrance you are smelling is from this beauty!

 Wallflower-bowles mauve.

First of the wildflower/perennial garden blooms.

~

Sometimes our home problems get very discouraging...

but a walk in our gardens,

especially on a sunny, warm day,

is enough to remind me again of the blessings God has given me.

It is hard to not be grateful when one is enjoying a walk in ANY garden on a nice spring day:)

 

More later....

Blessings,

Aimee

 

Note:

sorry some photos are a bit blurry,,,