A Walk in His Gardens--New England

In the steps of my ancestors~

About 355 years ago a small group of Christians, known as Separatists and later as the Pilgrims, left aboard a small ship--the Mayflower--in hopes of making a new life in a new land for themselves and their children. It was a long crossing by today's standards, with very cramped conditions and not without inherent dangers...but they made it to America and gave thanks to God for helping them do so.

First some of them stepped ashore in the area of Provincetown. After scouting around the areas nearby they picked out the Plymouth locality to settle in. During the hard New England winter many of that small band died; out of the survivors there was just a handful of women.

Most likely the Pilgrims buried their early dead on Cole's Hill just above the area of "Plymouth Rock"- later burials took place on Burial Hill. There were no gravestone markers because the deaths were so many and the number of Pilgrim's were so greatly reduced during this terrible time.

The settlement knew more trials but it survived with the help of the Native Americans of the area, hard work and by the grace of God.

Today the earliest Pilgrim's houses are long gone but there are still some traces of their time there--aad the beautiful town of Plymouth lives on. as do the memories of these brave early American settlers.

Personal Note:

A lot of misinformation is out there about the Pilgrims, the first Thanksgiving and the Native Americans who helped them and you cannot believe some of it whether you hear it on TV or read it. If you want to learn more about them, and separate out some facts from the fiction, then I would recommend these sites (the first two links are primary records/narratives of THAT time that you can read for yourself).

While you read this material keep in mind that these people lived in a totally different world and time then we do today--but still managed to live fairly peacefully with their Native American neighbors till more then 1/2 century after their arrival on the eastern seaboard, many years after the death of a lot of the founding forefathers,

Links to more information:

• Online digitized version of Gov. William Bradford's History of Plymouth Plantation.
• Another link for the above book. *Link gave me problems--try this if you experience the same:
  http://www.mith2.umd.edu/eada/html/display.php?docs=bradford_history.xml
• A very thorough, well researched site on the Pilgrims' history.
• Short history of the Pilgrims.
• From Great Britain. A site on the Pilgrim's origins.
• A huge site on the Pilgrims with photos & links.
• More Pilgrim information.
• Link to the Mayflower Society for membership info if you believe or know you have a Pilgrim ancestor.

ALL PHOTOS on this Post:
© F & B Blessings; All Rights Reserved. Used with permission here.
A BIG thank you to them for allowing me to post these photos, taken several years ago, online here.
And a happy & blessed Thanksgiving to you my Pilgrim cousins!!! Aimee

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Despite the uncertainty of these times, we as Americans have much to be grateful for.

The Bible teaches that giving thanks to God is right and that it should be done often.

Giving thanks takes the focus off our current problems and reminds us of all we have been given while it helps to increase our faith in God and in His providence for us in the future.

On this day of thanksgiving what are you thankful for? Good health? Your family? A warm home? Thanksgiving dinner? This beautiful world? Your church? Life itself? The freedom to worship as you choose to? A job? I invite you to join me today and give thanks for something you are grateful for.

Blessings,
A Pilgrim's Child

My Thanksgiving list:

• My very talented husband who replaced our washer and cook-top, repaired our oven AND bought me a new microwave. WooHoo!! I can cook again!!
• My mom, dad, sister and best friend; Hubby's mom and family.
• All my children who have taught me so very much.
• The cross and what it represents.
  And so very much more!

Giving Thanks Early!

Life can be a good teacher if we let it be.

Like when you do without something vital to daily modern life for an hour or more (like the oven, washer, indoor plumbing, electricity, etc). It changes your whole outlook on life and you just don't take it for granted when you get that vital appliance or convenience back. Or at least you shouldn't.

The old me would have ranted and raved when, in successive order, I lost a washer (actually it was a soggy mess so I did mini-rant at first on that one) and then the oven went out in a blaze of glory (I was pretty good on the oven thing - just stressed. Badly)

I saw all my plans for baked desserts going up in smoke.

First we replaced the washer....and that was good, really good. Soggy, mildewing clothes in the tub is no fun.

But Thanksgiving was coming and we had only a lowly 'ancient' microwave and one burner left to cook on. Oh and a crock pot---but I don't think I've ever seen a Thanksgiving-in-a-crock pot recipe (even on the very wise Internet).

I began thinking about any and all restaurant alternatives for THAT day and craving even more the desserts I couldn't make now.

The weekend came....and then in just one day---my wonderful, totally talented prince of a husband replaced our oven heating element, our cooktop (with a brand new one--yippee!!) and even put in place a new microwave (his idea!) He was probably having cravings for baked food too.

It was like Christmas one month early or Thanksgiving before Thanksgiving Day or my birthday or???

My hubby is SUCH a good man:)

So tonight I had the pleasure of christening our new oven heating element by cooking some beautiful potato crusted cod and Mediterranean style salmon in there--delicioso! (Unfortunately the microwave was christened by my hubby heating some hot dogs in there--ew!)

Tomorrow I believe I shall take my cooktop on it's maiden voyage with----perhaps, no definitely, lamb stir fry! Oh yum!

And Thanksgiving--well plans have changed and others will be cooking--which I am thankful for! Which leads me back to the subject of this post: giving thanks.

My list so far for this week:

• I am thankful that I do not live in pioneer or in Pilgrim times (when it comes to washing, cooking and indoor--heated plumbing concerns at least) I know my Pioneer and Pilgrim forefathers (and foremothers to!) were stronger people then I and I'm willing to admit it.
  
• I am thankful my hubby person is the extremely talented man he is! He would have made a great pioneer!


• I am thankful that we had money in savings to cover this 'emergency' and that after 5 stores and many, many miles we found all of the answers to my cooking dilemnas.

So what are YOU thankful for this week?

Thankful in the NW,
Aimee

Life is good-for the moment-in my Queendom!

I was going to get stuff done today. Really I was.

It was on my ever-expanding 'to-do' list to:

• clean the exercise/craft/currently used for storage room so I could get in those three days of exercise sessions (in the three days left of this week; now two),
• find that info I should have mailed out days ago for my husband.
• catch up on Bible reading--to keep that promise I made and...
• do the other hundred things I should be doing (Instead of sleeping in).

A call at around 11:30’ish woke me up from a very strange dream. It was from my best friend, who you know has been up and busy for hours. Hyper person she is who can live on almost no sleep!

How could I have slept in SO long? It might have something to do with staying up so late...Aimee.

What to do about dinner now? With the oven temporarily out of order and a good roast ready to go to waste, that means stovetop cooking. But my only recipe for pot roast requires oven cooking...oh oh.

I know!! The wise and wonderful source of 'all' information--the Internet--must have an answer for my dinner dilemma. Good thing as my best source--my knows how to cook everything, was once a restaurant cook, hyper, needs no sleep best friend is in her meeting by now.

Onto the web via a very slow modem I go and about 1/4 hour later (or more) I've found the perfect recipe for my beef bottom round roast. No time for breakfast this is going to take some time…need to lose weight anyway.

A quick review of the list of ingredients needed showed me to be missing some. But we women are all a 'mother of invention', right?? Besides it's way too cold and wet to run to the store when one can substitute in your very own nice, dry, warm home kitchen..maybe.

Red wine becomes Marsala cooking wine (and you thought that was just for Chicken Marsala, not!) In goes the fresh herbs that say best used by---yesterday. Shouldn’t be a problem. Add A-1 sauce--hey everything is good with that stuff, yep. No parsnip -- oh well I've never ever cooked and probably not even eaten one. No garlic--no problem--the fresh stuff makes me sick anyway-- ah I know...the all time love of my life (besides my hubby that is) Greek seasoning has it in the ingredients list in doable, smaller amounts. Looks like it's a go on the roast! Yippee!

Good thing because it is really late now. Great move about the getting up 'early' bit goal, Aimee. This calls for a long, long time of cooking to become something not akin to shoe leather. And hubby person does not do tough meat-ever!

Ah--the positive self talk in a woman's day to day existence!

But soon--well actually after quite a bit of prep--the roast is happily simmering away (in chef-talk it's being braised)

Now what to do in the hours I have left? Consider that since dinner is cooking on the stovetop I can't really disappear to the exercise room to clean it up. Not since our recent bad run on dying kitchen appliances; nope- I don't dare leave my one remaining, very precious and probably fragile stovetop burner alone. And my dog can't be trusted to not let the roast burn if the liquid level "that should cover up to 1/4 of the roast" drops precipitously. Well not yet..

So I busy myself with more Internet cooking research, a few quick tasks here and there (mostly here) and those few hours pass by rapidly and then…the man cub is home.

I add the required can of tomatoes (although I think the sauce was better without it), the cut up potatoes (that seemed a tiny bit frozen--oh oh) and the rest of the listed ingredients and voila ½ hour later the dinner presentation is complete and pretty good (you can tell if the man cub takes a second helping it's OK) but I do need more specific information so the nightly question...

“Grade please?” I ask him. He is a man who has to be primed to answer questions a wife needs to know. And besides I must sub-conciously miss the days of my performance job reviews. Well maybe not.

And the roast passes!! A repeat performance is called for. And all is well in my little queen-dom!

But then I realize...Thanksgiving Day dinner is coming really, really soon..and we have company coming...oh boy.
Blessings anyway, Aimee

Life Happens

Well I was hoping to have a post HERE about seasoning cast iron cookware and one ABOVE HERE with a recipe for Mole Enchiladas, but life (or at least my cooking method life took a downturn yesterday when the oven decided it was too tired to work anymore.

I really can't blame it; I have times that I feel too tired to work...

It wasn't the best timing though as I had about 5 minutes of baking time left on my one and only precious $7.99 package of specialty cornbread mix bought this summer in the Rockies and it was still a bit soggy in the middle.

If you know me then you know I wasn't about to waste anything from the beautiful Rockies (and especially not $7.99 cornbread!!)

So flame out (house preserved, all peril gone for dogs and humans) I shut the oven door to conserve all remaining heat and about 10 minutes later the cornbread was moist, sweet, yummy--perfect!

I would have posted a photo but you forget important things like that when you have fabulous Rocky Mt flavored honey to go with warm, buttered delicous cornbread!

Fortunately, I'm married to a man who knows how to fix everything ----and there is a weekend coming...and I have been VERY good this week (well sort of)

I think I'll ask him to fix a couple of the stovetop burners that aren't working too...I just found out there will be more then him and I for Thanksgiving here!

Blessings, Aimee

A Walk in His Gardens--America's NW Switzerland

The Wallowa Valley & Mountains~

We entered this magical valley through a twisting mountain pass with steep sides and spectacular views. My family and I had been invited there, for a visit, by my cousin and her family. I did not know then that days later, when we had to leave this blessed place, that a piece of my heart would remain there forever.

This "Walk" is dedicated to my cousin and the sweet memory that was then (and will someday be again). May God bless and keep you always. Aimee

Once past several valley towns we pass fields being harvested below tall snow capped mountains. Many farms in this area have picturesque red barns.

And then we see it for the first time close up--the Wallowa Lake nestled between two morraines. We walk for awhile along the banks of it's outlet. The water level is at a low point right now because it is late summer/early fall. But we have already had the first snowfall and the mountains have a white dusting on them!

Another view of those beautiful mountains.

Photos: Minam Grade; farm fields near Joseph; Wallowa Lake looking towards the resort and Eagel Cap Wilderness area (the Gondola is here along with lots of wildlife; actually the wildlife is everywhere in this valley!); a view of the mountains to the west from the cemetery where Chief Joseph, Sr is buried.

Note to viewers: I have many, many more photos of my time in this valley--pictures of the Lostine area, Wallowa Lake and other places around the Joseph and Enterprise community. I'll be making another post or adding to this one but it is late, or should I say early in the morning and sleep calls me for the reasons of stewardship and expected good weather!!

Blessings, Aimee

I am NOT a Pioneer Woman.

After about a week of playing Pioneer Woman by being forced to do the wash by hand, I added to my already huge admiration of my Pilgrim and Pioneer ancestors! Strong women all :)

I don't know how they did it ... I really don't.

After a week of hand washing in the sink I was more then eager to welcome home another friend to help me with the load(s)...so we went shopping. Super capacity and regular sized ones. Ones that looked like commercial washers; ones that didn't. A lot of features these days. Nice colors too. Red anyone? Ahhh-red, a fantasy of mine. I LOVE red.

I did eye a front loading washer...another fantasy. Saves water too but due to our floor problems it will have to wait.

After all it would do me no good if the washer spun its way down to our non-existent basement. I'd be back to doing the wash by hand again and we would have a very drafty laundry room.


I chose this beauty. A super capacity for a two person household. Well two person, three dog household. You definitely have to count our long haired dogs.

My new partner has NO transmission and is SO quiet my honey and I sneak in there to see if it's on or not. It is light too--about the same as a dryer and it also has some nice features like an optional extra rinse or extra spin (for those endless loads of heavy towels!) Needless to say, it was love at first wash.

Thank goodness for the 21st century modern convienences of life and laundry.

Speaking of endless amounts of towels..why do we use a clean one each time to dry totally clean hair and body parts? Hum. I will have to think about that.

Blessings,
Aimee

Friday Means Fitness Day. (Yea, well not quite)

It's time for me to put actions behind my words in the area of fitness goals. Really, it's way past time.

As all those who have passed THAT certain age know, if you don't use it you will lose it. Well I've lost it--or at least a lot of it. With each passing year I am less flexible, have less strength and my endurance... well let's not even talk about that. I might need carbs if I start thinking about that.

Honestly, there is little to no excuse for not doing something to reverse this aging tide that has caught me in it's rapid current. Oh, and I didn't mention this: I was diagnosed with Osteopinnea several years ago--not good and it might be worse now as I've done little in terms of intervention.

Yep, it's past time for me to do something about this matter. I have all the essential equipment here inside my dry, warm home: treadmill, a fitness band, hand weights of various sizes, weight scale, kitchen scale...and time.

To inspire me I painted the 'exercise' room a bright yellow, put a radio in there and made sure the treadmill was pointed towards the window so I could look outside at the beautiful view. Really what more do I need?

And it occurs to me, in my present 'inner arts' focus on stewardship, that my body is the temple of the Holy Spirit so it really belongs to Him. Yikes.

Come to think about it-all that is standing between me and better fitness is to obey the Word and just do it. And then keep doing it at least 3-5 times a week.

What are you doing to prevent Osteoporosis?
Do you have fitness goals?
How do you stay consistent with your exercise program?

Blessings needed for my bones, Aimee

"..your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s." I Corinthians 6:19, 20 KJV

Time For A Change~

The season has definitely changed here in the NW. We just got finished with a spell of really rainy days here and some snow has fallen earlier in the mountains too--conclusive evidence that though we might get some nice days again (before July 4th that is) we’re now caught in the 'dreaded' clutches of the monsoon time AKA as a NW winter.Good for skiers and all plants; bad for us SAD sufferers and sun lovers.

But today we had a momentary reprieve from THAT time and it was beautiful here! I was thankful and yet I stayed inside for most of the day (albeit with the mini-blinds open). Why? I know better. I know these days are in short supply and each one needs to be cherished like the precious jewels they are. I know I’ve tons of stuff to get done too and yet I wasted too much time again.

And what is even worse is that this pattern is happening too often, especially lately, since I ‘retired’, Each time I’m left with an unsatisfied feeling and a hunger for something better. And it isn't like I don't have control over doing it differently.

When I was working, the days were very challenging and I usually liked that. I enjoyed the stimulation of creating and conquering the tasks and problems put before me (well most of the time until things changed there). But deep within me there was a battle--a struggle over two passions of my heart. The love (and security) of a job that paid relatively well and I knew I could do versus the deep, almost overwhelming desire to be a homemaker again. And I stopped feeling passionate over my job because I knew my heart was no longer there but at home.

Time passed, prayers went heavenward and finally--in a way I would never have guessed--the path lead home and it was good and peaceful, and I was - for the most part - happy and so was my husband.

Of course all problems did not magically vanish, for life here om earth is never that easy or predictable. At home we still fought the battle of the mice that most if not all country dwellers fight, and we still had mold/mildew in places. For awhile, too, my dad suffered some medical challenges-but I was home to help and that was good. And our plan for a new home was put on hold but it was paid off fully and I was HOME and that nourished my soul.

I went on trips to see my children and grandchildren. And that was good! I enjoyed the passing seasons and that was good (except for the extended rainy time). I enjoyed cooking again for the man-cub. And even when he said nothing or that it was just 'OK', I knew he liked having something other then fast food on the table most nights…and a wife to greet him each afternoon. And I liked it too.

But now it’s been over a year and a half since I quit… and life is still good but it is not great! And that is not good. You see I have wasted way too much time--something I never did at work (well 99.99% of the time) and I am definitely feeling more and more that this is bad stewardship of the time and talents I’ve been given. And that is not good because someday I won’t be here anymore and all those unfulfilled dreams and purposes for which I was sent won’t be accomplished. And that is really sad.

So it is accountability time for me--time to stop procrastinating, time to stop the laziness, time to CHANGE. But the change won’t be coming from the government and it won’t be coming because that is a key phrase of today. Nope--it won’t be coming because I am being forced into it either. Not even close. It will be coming instead because I want to make a difference in my family and friend’s lives by being a good steward and I want to please God who made it possible for me to again be home where my passion lies.

Blessings everyone, Aimee

Proverbs 31:10-31

Photo: NW Coast Range

A Walk in His Gardens

Take a moment to change your focus…

From the worries and stresses of your long, hard day...

From the news of war, more crimes and a bad economy…

From all the negativity and uncertainty that surrounds us all and invades our senses..

Instead -

Imagine yourself in a beautiful garden...

A garden created by the Master Gardener for all of His beloved children…

There you--
Feel the sun on your face as you smell fragrant herbs and flowers, harvested fruit and the freshness of the clean air there..

in His garden

There you see--
vividly colored autumn leaves of red & gold

forests of tall evergreens, ferns and native woodland plants

and

blue lakes and rivers set below high, snowcapped mountains.

Feeling better now?

Take a moment to fully experience God’s handiwork as you walk in His gardens.

Take a moment to feel the abundant love He has, for you, His child...

And remember that
He who made all of this...

Says to “Fear not” for He is with you---

always

And for those who don’t believe in Him…..

He is waiting to welcome you as a son or daughter. You just need to accept the gift of salvation He so freely offers.

Blessings, Aimee

“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. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” John 3:16, 17 KJV

Photo: Olympic Penninsula, possibly Marrowstone area

Mountains, God & Serenity

I love mountains. I really, really do!

I am drawn to them wherever I go because of their great beauty and immense size--their glory if you will. I never get tired of looking at them or being near or on one.

But I think another reason I love mountains so very much is because of the message they speak to all of us (though some might think them silent).

And that message is that they were created by God and so am I. That message brings me peace and comfort even in tough, uncertain times like these.

Blessings, Aimee
Psalms 121
Photo:
The Wallowa Valley & Mts near Joseph, OR