More From Mom + Dad's

Another day of sorting at my parent's home--

I love these!!

Do you know what they are? I do:)

I think they are really cute and remind me a lot of Port Townsend and Port Gamble, Washington--although I think they predate our time up there by a whole lot of years!

I haven't decided if I should use them at the Tea Party--what do you think?

I could go with a Victorian theme...

of course then it would be tempting to wear some Victorian type clothing:)

I found more tea cups, saucers and these pretty pink bowls/plates over there.

They would work for the party--I love pink!

The four tea cup/saucers hanging (in the picture of the post below) were only the beginning.

I found a lot more in the hutch--more than enough to use for the party...

I was thinking, I don't remember mom using them much--

I intend to display and use them.

Another thing I found today was my baby clothes---that really made me smile!

Most of the little dresses had a little card attached to them (with a diaper pin) explaining a bit about the outfit: where it was first worn, a friend who made it, etc. SO COOL!!

I am totally in LOVE with these shoes BTW--totally!

Another find was cloth napkins (light purple),

crocheted and knitted items,

nice dishtowels, etc.

I particularly loved this apron that was with those things--

it is small (child size),

looks handmade

and unfortunately I don't know anything more about it

except I LOVE it:)

Now I am wondering--

who made it?

who was it made for?

when was it made?

I may never know...

Blessings,

Aimee

A Tea for Mom

My mom loved to have afternoon tea whenever we were at The Harrison or elsewhere in Canada! She also, as you can see, liked to collect and display teacups and saucers (this pic shows a few of them). I will soon be taking some of these home but before I do that, I would like to have a tea in mom's honor there--kind of a celebration of her life!

I have a bit of an idea of what I want to do, having planned several celebrations for a large group of people before at my last job, but (and this is where I hope you will help out) do you have any ideas to make this tea extra special? Decorations? Color themes? Recipes for tea sandwiches you are willing to share? Scones and other desserts? Teas to try? Salads/soups? Other tips? I would LOVE to have your input so feel free to comment--anonymously if you prefer:) Thanks!

I am excited:) Already have never-used special flatware (Kristin, a rosemaling design-from Norway) that I will bring to the tea--very feminine and I am hoping that somewhere in all of mom's stuff I can find pretty napkins, a tablecloth and ???

Blessings,
Aimee

The WORD on Wednesday

"Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." John 14:27 KJV

Blessings, Aimee

Here Ye, Here Ye! News From the Garden

Despite the cold and rain,

we have marionberry plants full of white blossoms

(makes me hungry for a berry pie or berry crisp

or berry smoothie or just fresh berries)!

Two varieties of Japanese irises blooming by the upper pond

(the other variety is bluish).

Every year it seems like we have more:)

Some of our roses are in bloom now--

our rose season tends to run from mid/late May through October.

We have one climbing rose, a bed of miniature roses

and some other roses.

I don't tend to buy flowers at the grocery store

because we tend to have something in bloom most of the year:)

More color in the wildflower/perennial beds

(today I spied a newly blooming orange/red Oriental poppy from across the yard--

you just cannot miss their vibrant color!

(I haven't transferred them yet but will later this week)

Raspberry blossoms--

the plants seem to be doing quite well still in their wine barrel home!

And unless there is a new variety of columbine (not!),

this edition of Our Garden sadly reports

that someone has been eating one of my columbines

:(

Blessings on this first day of June, Aimee

A Witness Now

Among the trees, flowering shrubs and manicured lawn they lay,

side by side,

each with their resting place marked

by a grave marker and American flag.

For this is a National Cemetery --

one of many and it is the final resting place for
Veterans of World War I and II, Korea, Vietnam and more recent conflicts.

Comrades in arms;

both those who have passed on full of years

and those who died while in the prime of their life.

The flags -- small and large --

wave in the breeze on the hillsides here;

so many lives--so many stories told and untold.

We come here-

children and other descendants, schoolmates, friends

and parents too.

Veterans and civilians,

some who have not forgotten the ferocity and cost of battle;

others who just feel the need to remember, to witness

this day-

the service and the sacrifice

of the precious souls at rest in this hallowed ground

above the city.

"You're his witness now.

Without a witness, they just disappear."

Blessings to the families of our fallen Veterans today.

May you find peace in the midst of your loss

and may you know we will remember.

Aimee

~

Note: above quote taken from 'Taking Chance', HBO films, 2009. USA.

Photos taken spring 2011, Willamette National Cemetery.

Things I Learned This Week

This week I learned that one should

always expect the unexpected
because

an injury to the eye is very, very painful

and

I learned that

some medications are really, really expensive

even when they are generic prescriptions

but

keeping your eyesight is priceless.

~

Time for more eyedrops...

Ouch-ing-ly yours,

Aimee

Another Memory

My sons attended a Christian school for many years when they were younger.
One of the special events that the school would have is a Grandparent's Day!
On that day each student could have their grandparents join them for awhile at school
(I had forgotten about this event but my son reminded me of it when I sent him a copy of his artwork by phone)
According to my son, this was made for that day which fell near Thanksgiving.

My mom kept this for all those years--her grandchildren were well loved by her and she prayed consistently for them all. I hope that as long as God gives me life, I will do the same.
Thank you mom for all the prayers over the years + blessings to all you praying grandparents out there!

Aimee

A Piece of My Past Comes Home

The Baby Book mom made for me talked about it--

I had received it as a gift on my second Christmas

and I remembered seeing it too off and on over the years...

but it wasn't at our home, so where was it?

Last weekend I made a trip to my parents' home to help my sibling.

As we sorted stuff in our parents' garage--

we found lots of things, but most importantly we found it!!
A little worse for the wear (just like me),

but still very capable of bringing a BIG smile

to this grown up girl with a child's heart-
who long ago left her parents' home to become a wife,

then a mother, and finally a grandmother.

And meanwhile, my beloved rocker stayed behind all those years waiting patiently,

for just the right time to become a gift to that child (me) again...

Thanks mom!

~

Do you have something from your childhood that makes you smile?

Blessings, Aimee

Photos: me at about age 3 sitting on the rocker

yea! we find the rocker tucked away in the garage

the rocker comes home from the trip--soon to have a bit of restorative surgery to treat its 'fracture' (LOL) and a bit of a spa treatment too to make it as good as new :)

Did I say it is a musical rocker?

Spring has Sprung

Yay! Progress made on the garden project list-

thanks to some really nice weather:)

But more on that later-

just some miscellaneous photos today.

Oh! First I need to say that we have now added rabbits to our list of seen wildlife at our place.

Yep, when I was using our riding mower to mow down all the tall grass, weeds,

caneberries, etc, etc in the area formerly known as the main garden--

out hopped a baby bunny!! Unfortunately I didn't get to see the little one;

fortunately my best friend did!

(it also proved my point that our assorted tree limbs, branches, grass, weeds, berries,

etc, etc is now a wildlife habitat!)

But back to pics...

gunnera

(aka leaf catcher in autumn; petal catcher in spring)

a bee going about their business:)

(wildflower/perennial garden)

baby strawberry!

(I haven't planted the Alpine strawberries yet but they have babies too)

one of many columbine--

every year I buy more and now I collect their seeds to plant.

My dream world would have hundreds of them and California poppies!

Love them both!

Can't remember the names of these right now-

but they are SO pretty!

(upper pond)

Caneberries-

mostly marionberries

taking over the main garden

(but not as much since I mowed back there)

Also got another load of mulch down in the Japanese style garden-

looks SO much nicer now!

Planted two new columbines--

beautiful double white 'woodside gold',

basil, cilantro and three new tomatoes

('sungold', 'early girl' and a cherry tomato variety)--

the tomatoes were only $1 each for a gallon size

(made my day--well that and a hundred other things!)

Time for bed...

Blessings,

Aimee

Spring Events

Birds singing

Lingonberry plants spreading

Lilacs blooming

Petals falling

Sun shining --at times:)

Pine needles + cones growing

Blessings, Aimee

The WORD on Wednesday

I sought the LORD, and He heard me,

and delivered me from all my fears...

This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him,

and saved him out of all his troubles.

The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart;

and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.

Many are the afflictions of the righteous:

but the LORD delivereth him out of them all.
Psalm 34:4,6,18-19 KJV

~

In the last few weeks I have been witness to God's intervention in my life and the lives of several family members. Literally, I have seen Him save one of my loved ones from certain death when we were told that they would be dead by that night.

I feel humbled that God Almighty would answer prayer in such a miraculous way that even the doctors were calling it a miracle! And I give only Him thanks for giving hope where there was none, for shedding light where there was darkness and for His abiding love to my family.

Thank you Lord!

Aimee

A New Sign

Seen at the coast recently...

a new sign:)

seagulls and more seagulls

and often, peaceful views like this one!

Blessings,

Aimee

Spring in the Columbia River Gorge: Pt 2

This part of the Gorge is very special to me,

not just because of the incredible beauty one finds there, but because my mother and I shared a train trip through it in the early 80's --on our way to the Rocky Mts!!

that was before Amtrak discontinued this route (boo!)

The views from the train, were absolutely breathtaking--

we saw many waterfalls and lots of beautiful green! And of course, mountains and the Columbia River.

Now we took that special train trip in winter, and that's when the Gorge roads can be very hazardous because of the way storm systems work in the PNW, but I don't remember any snow through this area then--there was plenty of snow later though:)

Speaking of snow, a great time to visit the Gorge is in the early spring when there is snow in the mountains and higher areas of the Gorge, and seasonal runoff from melting snow

(and this year our abundant non-stop rain).

This waterfall, on the right side of Multnomah Falls, appears to be a result of that runoff-

I thought it very pretty because of all the GREEN!

And this beautiful building? This is the Multnomah Falls Lodge--listed in the historic register for Multnomah county. You can eat there--but we arrived before they were open! You can get to the lodge and the falls by either the Historic Columbia River highway or I-84.

A view along I-84--I think one of the reasons I like the Gorge is that it kind of makes me think, in areas, that I am in driving along one of Norway's fjords. Of course, I have never been to Norway, and of course, the Gorge is not a fjord (although we do have a fjord in Washington state)but since I have an incredible imagination it is always easy for me to pretend!

Not sure what this tree/shrub was, but I loved the color and shaped against the hotel behind it...and of course the lovely blue sky!

Last but not least, the goal of our trip was up here--well one of our goals was up here.

We were going to take this wonderful road UP the Hood River Valley to Parkdale or maybe even do the whole Hood River/Mt Hood loop to view all the fruit trees in bloom--but things changed...so maybe next year we will do that:) It is something I look forward to doing!

~

The incredible, breathtaking and very beautiful Columbia River Gorge--

I will LOVE it always, just as my mom did!

Blessings, Aimee

Photos: spring 2011

The Gown + the Memories

From my other blog, Flowers for my Mother.

Before I got married, before I had chosen a wedding gown,
my mother gave me the option of using hers.
I remember trying it on one day with mom close by--
a gown from the 50's yellowed a little by the years that had gone by but still quite lovely
with an itty bitty waist:)

While it was not the style I had envisioned for my special day, it was a privilege to get to dress up--if just for awhile--in the gown mom had chosen for her special day many years ago! It was a connection that only a mother and daughter could share.

The other day, when I was staying at my sibs to help with dad, I retrieved it from dad's closet and took some photos of it. Now, despite the fact that I should have ironed it first and put it on a padded hanger, I could almost envision mom on her special day ready to put on the dress she would wear down that church aisle to join her life to her beloveds.
It was a good memory:)

Blessings to all you moms and daughters out there,
Aimee

Of Cats

This week, I spent some time at my sibling's house taking care of my father who is miraculously recovering from what looked like certain death (that--of course--is a whole other post or two!). Now my DH and I don't have any kitties, but I have a bit of a soft spot for them having grown up with many cats, so of course I had to capture these kitties in photos so I could 'take' them home with me:)

Meow #1: loves to 'own' any visitors and loves to look outside ANY window!

Meow #1 is diabetic and my sib takes spectacular care of him! He loves to sit on my dad's lap and be petted; he is very, very spoiled:)

Meow #2: this is a Bengal kitty (hope I spelled that right). I LOVE the pattern and color on him--in person it looks even more beautiful! This is probably my fav of sib's cats, but shhhh don't let meow # 1 or #3 know that because I don't want any ruffled fur when I visit there! He is also pictured in the first photo--from what my sib says, it is unusual that they were getting along in it!! Maybe they were mesmorized by my camera's light:) He, just like Meow #1 is very spoiled too!!

Meow #3--now I hope I get this right because I keep thinking this one is a Sphinx cat--but my sib says she is a Cornish Rex kitty. I caught her when she was snuggling up in the BIG down comforter--she also tried to snuggle up on my bed when I stayed the night...and, of course, she is very spoiled too:)

Well there you go---my sib's cats on the Internet just for YOU and me!!!!

Blessings to all you cat and/or dog lovers out there, Aimee