A Wee Bit of a Journey

Last year I celebrated an early St. Patrick's Day with a trip to Portland's
Irish Famine Monument and lunch at Kell's with a good friend and one of my sons.

Both places were memorable!

This year, saw me looking for ways to augment our St. Patrick's Day celebration at home.

As you may know, both hubby and I have some Celtic ancestry 

and I find myself identifying with it more than my German and Pilgrim heritage the older I get.

I think this, in part, may have something to do with the fact that it was one of my Celtic lines who came to the Pacific NW over the Oregon Trail so many years ago.

Or maybe it is my love of green (or the fact that we have so much green year round here--LOL).

Or maybe it's because I find something very mysterious and lovely about Celtic music...

especially Celtic Christian music like Eden's Bridge, etc

Ah, who knows? But I really do love my Celtic roots.

Anyway back to our journey...to a little bit of Ireland right in SE Portland

(actually a little bit of all of Great Britain).

I had known about this place for awhile--

since finding their website earlier this year when I was looking for places to purchase tartans.

But what finally brought me here was I wanted to buy a shortbread pan I had fallen in love with,

but didn't have time to have delivered before St. Patrick's Day.

Besides I am always up to exploring new places...

especially when it seems like the whole world is in bloom!

When we got there, they remembered my call and were quick to retrieve the pan

(by the way I absolutely, totally LOVE it!)

I also asked about the tartan scarves

thinking I would have to order them before one of my clan's special days this year.

I was overjoyed to find out they had quite a few in stock,

and soon set to work trying to decide which tartan to choose

(I have several clans in my ancestry so this tooka bit of time)

Do you see any you like?

The one I chose is this one and I LOVE it...

it was also a favorite with both the wonderful lady who helped me

and my best friend who had come with me.

I can hardly wait to wear AND use it at home!

The colors are much prettier than they look in this photo--

it is the hunting tartan of the Macfarlane clan.

After that we set to work choosing chocolate for the hubby man

*a confirmed chocolate lover*.

This costume caught my eye...it looks perfect for this Sunday...

but I think this Celtic lass will just go casual since I am cooking at home

(actually I will be cooking Irish themed meals 2 days in a row).

Loved our trip here...

they have so many nice things to celebrate your Celtic heritage with--

and if you aren't Celtic at all,

well I know they'll make you feel quite at home too.  

(Of course, everyone is Irish on St. Patrick's Day)

And now to the blooms...

as I have said it seems like the whole world is in bloom right now!

In the city we saw blooming trees, camellias, daffodils and magnolias.

And here at home we have in bloom--

forsythia,

one flowering plum tree,

a magnolia,

daffodils

(dwarf and larger varieties),

camellia

(both the sausanqua and japonica--amazing),

a daphne,

lots of dandelions and common daisies,

pieris...

and the evergreen huckleberries are going crazy:)

I LOVE spring, don't you?

Everyday I find myself exploring the gardens and then bringing more spring blooms inside.

Blessings,

Aimee

Notes:

You can find more about the Scottish Country Store here on their very nice website:

http://scottishcountryshop.com/

Very, very nice people there!

All kinds of imported items -- some food, music CDs, books, kilts, etc.

Oh yes...disclaimer here.

I am not associated with the shop at all--just wanting to share with those who may be interested.

Oh---and the cookie above?

The delicious, scrumptious, totally yummy shamrock shortbread cookie above?

Well you can find that here at Baker + Spice,

one of my fav bakeries in the SW Portland area!

Their website is here:

http://www.bakerandspicebakery.com/

(same disclaimer as above)

They carry lots of very yummy items!

A BIG thank you to both of these shops for helping me celebrate my Celtic heritage

and giving me permission to post photos:)

And now--to work

(well after I devour the rest of my shamrock goodie)

Last note:

Sorry about any typos and grammar errors...

Note to self -- posting using your laptop and smartphone

at the same time and in a hurry can lead to very amusing results!

Fortunately things can be undone...LOL:)

 

 

On Meeting My Waterloo (and links to other Linn County posts)

Besides the beauty of the foothills and mountains of this land I love so very much.

Besides its forests, woodlands and wilderness areas.

Besides the best drive in, numerous museums and a whole lot of covered bridges.

Besides its waterfalls and lakes,

well I love it here because of the many rivers and creeks which one finds within its borders....

I just can't get enough of this one...the South Santiam river.

I dream of what it looked like before the dams came.

I dream of how our family lived back then.

How the moods of the river might have affected them...

how they felt when they looked out on its beautiful waters on sunny, warm days such as this one.

I will never know the river such as they did,

in the time before the waters were impounded.

But here and there I catch glimpses of what it might have been like then,

in that simpler time when one was so connected to the land and its rivers and creeks.

A hard life, with less technology and with its share of challenges and losses,

but I think a good life...

And with that I introduce you to Waterloo Falls...

so you can say,

as I now can,

that you have met your 'waterloo'.

 

On this Monday,

I slept a long time

(after watching my dad while my sibling was out of town this weekend)

and then I spent time researching the land and history of our family and their neighbors.

Right now I am watching The Bible on the History Channel with mixed feelings,

but mostly happy with the presentation thus far.

Tomorrow I shall be 'greening' up our place in anticipation of St. Patrick's Day.

What did you do?

 

Blessings,

Aimee

 

Other Linn County posts

(I am beginning to think I need to make it a category LOL. This is mostly for me because my labels and search function are not 100% accurate right now for some reason.)

I will updating this as I add more photos from Linn County taken over the years...well at least the ones I have taken since getting my first digital camera.

 

Brownsville/Crawfordsville area:

http://aimeeonthemountainside.blogspot.com/2012/09/a-trip-into-our-past-brownsville-beyond.html

(Brownsville was one of the locations for the film Stand By Me; the town also has an incredible museum. Nearby Crawfordsville has a historical covered bridge and is part of a scenic byway that runs over the Cascade Mountains to Sisters in central Oregon)

 

Lebanon/Sweet Home/Cascadia area:

http://aimeeonthemountainside.blogspot.com/2009/03/five-years-ago-today.html

(including over the Cascades to Sisters)

http://aimeeonthemountainside.blogspot.com/2010/09/of-ancestral-places-home-sweet-home.html

http://aimeeonthemountainside.blogspot.com/2012/02/of-home-sweet-sweet-home.html

http://aimeeonthemountainside.blogspot.com/2012/02/trip-back-in-time-east-linn-museum.html

http://aimeeonthemountainside.blogspot.com/2012/02/more-in-land-of-linn.html

http://aimeeonthemountainside.blogspot.com/2012/10/back-to-west-central-oregon.html

(including over the Cascades to Sisters)

http://aimeeonthemountainside.blogspot.com/2013/03/when-meeting-my-waterloo-involved-fall.html

http://aimeeonthemountainside.blogspot.com/2013/03/and-part-two.html

(Murals, waterfalls, another great museum, covered bridges and other historical buidings, reservoirs, gateway to mountain, river and wilderness adventures to the east and northeast, two scenic byways)

 

 Scio, Crabtree, Jordan area:

http://aimeeonthemountainside.blogspot.com/2011/03/in-land-of-linn.html

(History and peaceful landscapes)

 

 Shedd Area/Thompson Mills area:

http://aimeeonthemountainside.blogspot.com/2011/01/look-back-at-2010-bit-more-of-summer-in.html

 (Fascinating historical mill with Queen Anne home)

 ~

Notes:

 I am intending to catch up on posts I have talked about. I ask patience as sometimes our connection is bad and my hubby has needed the laptop lately for work related education.

And Part Two...

Now this part is going to be painful...

but I promise I will share the pain

(in fact as I prepped the waterfall photos I felt great suffering believe me).

But I promise you a reward

sort of

if you make it all the way to the end.

 

Now by turning left instead of veering right,

then going to the park,

then going straight where he was supposed to turn,

the right and up, up, up...

my DH actually brought me to a place I have wanted to visit for a long, long time...

(but was too afraid to go)

and he did it without ever knowing he was doing so!

So here we were...

I hesitantly stepped near the edge of the first 'waterfall'...

and then thanked God I didn't fall in.

Now it was time for a little hike...

(yes, for those who know where this photo was taken, this is NOT the first thing you see)

Actually this is one of the first things you see...

depending on where you park that is.

Past a sign with a map,

over a bridge,

up a trail,

by the water...

in the forest

you will come to this

(if you are looking for it)

Oh that was painful!

But I am forcing myself to do this to remind me...

of

1) the need to brush up on how to take photos of waterfalls.

2) what an amazing, wonderful, loving hubby I have.

You see Aimee was NOT happy at this hike...

not because it wasn't absolutely gorgeous

(because it was),

but because Aimee has a challenge in her life...

and she was just a whole lot nervous that she couldn't

*shouldn't*

be doing this trail.

But Aimee's DH wouldn't take no for an answer...

 

So on we trudged...well one of us did.

Past happy, happy hikers and their amazing dogs

(we had our amazing dog with us).

And then we saw steps going UP

(and I do mean UP),

but to the left...a bridge.

And that is where we saw this...

and I almost missed it.

And it wasn't till later that day

that Aimee figured it out...

the DH had not allowed Aimee to stop,

turn back

or give up,

because the DH was NOT doing this hike for himself...

he knew this hike was a dream of Aimee's

and he wanted that dream to come true:)

Sigh ...

I married a really, really sweet man.

 

Do you have someone like that in your life?

Maybe a spouse,

a sibling,

a best friend?

Someone who wants you to reach your goals,

your dreams?

 

On to my waterloo

(which was a good, a very good thing).

 

OK enough of me

now it is time for your reward...

and that reward is a link to the site of a GOOD photographer

one who knows what he is doing:)

http://oregonwaterfalls.net/mcreekf.htm

 

Blessings,

Aimee

When Meeting My Waterloo Involved a Fall (or Two)...and was a good thing:)

Our most recent trip brought us again to the land I love so very much...

the land our family has roots in.

We ate lunch, grabbed at my favorite drive-in

(the type my hubby and I went to when we were younger)

and ate it by the lake...

in view of the mountains.

Pretty, huh?

The water of the lake was like a mirror in places...

the sky,

well you can see for yourself:)

And then my plans got changed

(well actually they changed a bit before this too)...

and I have my hubby to thank for the change!

The change involved a turn to the left...

and brought us to a park...

by a river

where we could see some very, very special rock outcroppings.

And then a missed turn

(missed on purpose)

and a turn to the right

which led us up,

and up,

and up.

 

Where silence reigned supreme,

the views

(well you can see for yourself)

and...

I wished I had put some family history on my smartphone.

 

Can you believe this weather?

Couldn't have asked for a better day.

 

 In addition to not having family history on my smartphone...

I didn't have my zoom either.

Guess that is pretty evident:)

 

And then we went by a camp...

a camp which held awesome memories for me...

because it was there I heard a wonderful, incredible, beautiful woman speak once...

so many years ago now.

Perhaps you have heard of

Elisabeth Elliott.

She inspires me!

I count hearing her in person as one of the BIG blessings of my life,

along with hearing Corrie ten Boom.

 

In this day and age

(actually in every day and age)

we need women inspiring other women to be everything God created them to be.

 

Well back to the trip

and the falls...

 

Blessings,

Aimee

 

What did you do today?

For my fellow PNW friends and visitors,

did you LOVE the weather today as much as I?

Felt like spring

and can you believe it,

we are just a few hours from springing forward!

March 1, 2013

March is here with longer days

(sure noticed this last evening as we were making our way home

 from IKEA, near PDX),

happier koi

(well maybe it is just me that is happier),

daphne getting closer to blooming,

sunlight breaking through the clouds as I type this,

hopefully more days with windows opened like today,

'beads' of beautiful pieris,

In our home March has arrived too...

items in white, natural, ivory seem to be multiplying

making the rooms seem MUCH lighter.

Yep, shades of white...

with little splashes of color in places too:)

In the miscellaneous culinary category...

have you ever tried rosehip juice?

I had my first this morn

and thought it tasted a bit like papaya (maybe).

Speaking of tropical fruit,

I also discovered recently that I am probably NOT allergic to mango after all

after accidentally (and then purposely)

ingesting some chia clusters that had some in them.

After a brief search on the Internet

(source of all knowledge--NOT)

I found that most likely it was the skin/rind of the mango I had reacted to years ago.

Who would have guessed that it contains urushiol--my arch nemesis?

I am now looking forward to trying more mango...

very, very cautiously of course.

 

Well time to go eat some lefse and Danish cheese,

and check how my scientific experiment is going:)

Wishing you a blessed Friday!

 

Blessings,

Aimee

Truly...

Truly I can't believe that St. Patrick's Day is less than 3 weeks away...

truly I can't believe I have SO much to do before then:)

Have a great day!

Blessings, Aimee

Yesterday

Yes!

Aimee's place now has,

as of yesterday,

daffodils in bloom...

can spring be far away?

 

What's happening at your place?

Blessings,

Aimee

 

 

Amazing!

Wow! As a bird and wildlife lover, I think KNOW these are the most amazing owl photographs I have ever had the pleasure of seeing...

http://leerentz.wordpress.com/2013/02/22/winter-predators-of-the-samish-flats/

(By the way, if you have never visited this site before, be prepared for a real treat!)

Blessings,
Aimee (who is crossing her fingers, hoping for snow and more bird visits tomorrow)

Month of Love: Day 17 Memories

On the 17th day of the month of love,
my TRUE LOVE gave to me...

a thousand geese a roaming
and  

an old hunting lodge in the middle of trees.

 

OK...enough.

I'm just not feeling that poetic this evening after a fun time at one of my fav stores today...

 

But last Sunday my DH did give me all these things (and more) as my Valentine's Day gift!

Yep,

a roadtrip to wherever I wanted to go...

and I wanted to go see one of my favorite national wildlife refuges,

the William L. Finley NWR just north of Monroe, Oregon

in the beautiful Willamette Valley.

 

 I love this NWR for several reasons...it is large and has varied topography

(a long gravel road allows you to drive through the park--although some sections are not accessible).

But most of all, I love the historic buildings there

(barns, carriage house, two homes)

and the wildlife!

 We quickly changed out the lenses on my camera, opting for the zoom lens.

 It was a wonderful day... 

my hubby is a very good, loving man who knows how to make his wife smile
and her heart sing:)

Blessings,
Aimee

Link:
 http://www.fws.gov/willamettevalley/finley/index.html

More photos to come;
photos from 2 years ago...

 http://aimeeonthemountainside.blogspot.com/2011/03/sometimes-you-just-need-refuge.html
and a post with close ups of my fav geese:)

Please excuse any errors...typing this by
yep, candlelight:)

Month of Love: Day 15

Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us,

 that we should be called the sons of God...

Up late (because of several factors) I awoke to this beautiful blue sky
and after taking care of our smallest dog, went for a stroll in the gardens...
what a gift such a day like this is!

Everywhere I looked I could see the first signs of spring...
and I almost felt like crying--
not from unhappiness or pain but
from sheer joy:)

And now,
as I sit comfortably curled up on our recliner,
with light streaming through the window
(which by the way is opened all the way),
listening to my favorite radio station playing 'Friday favorites',
I can't help but feel loved by Him who made all this beauty around me
and sent His only begotten Son to save me:)

Is it sunny where you are?
What beautiful scene have you seen lately?

Wishing you all a happy weekend whether your weather is sunny OR cloudy:)
Blessings,
Aimee
 

Notes:

I John 3:1a KJV

Photos:
plum (Shiro, a Japanese plum) buds
camellia sasanqua
(thank you DSLR for finally getting the pink right -- LOL)
daphne odora
(I'm on a fragrant flower watch...)
daisies (lawn or common---although I think there is nothing 'common' about them)
AND
sunlight--
beautiful, wonderful, incredible sunlight!

Month of Love: Day 14

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

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

This year I wanted to do something special for my hubby.

So starting on Monday I began cooking his favorite meals...

tacos, Reuben sandwiches, a heart shaped meatloaf...

and tonight a meal from the land of amore--Italy

(or at least my version of Italian food).

 We are starting to get changes in the yard outdoors--

 

promises of the spring still to come,

and I wanted to bring a little spring to our table

with some 'lovebirds', a lantern, some greenery and these napkin bundles.

BTW--sunstarved Oregonians.

Did you hear tomorrow's forecast?

I am giddy just thinking of it...

today, when a friend and I were on a roadtrip

we actually saw blue skies and a farmer in his field.

I should also say, while it is still Valentine's Day--

Happy Birthday Dear Oregon!

And now back to our meal

(and further proof why I am not a food blogger)

First up antipasto...do you have a favorite?

I confess there will probably be no more green olives by tomorrow eve...

I LOVE green olives:)

 

And at the same time,

a tossed salad.

The main course,

spaghetti and meatballs

(my DH said they were as GOOD as THAT Italian restaurant...

perhaps you know which one I am referring to?

I LOVE their chicken marsala;

he always, always orders their spaghetti and meatballs...)

 They were pretty good,

and so was the garlic bread.

Mmmm, Italian garlic bread...

 

And then there was dessert...

but since it is almost tomorrow

and since we are going to have a winter 'heat wave'

and since I am going to be busy...

 

Happy Valentine's Day

and night all.

 

Blessings,

Aimee

Month of Love: Day 13

Charity (love) suffereth long, and is kind;

charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,

Doth not behave itself unseemly,

seeketh not her own,

is not easily provoked,

thinketh no evil;

Rejoiceth not in iniquity,

but rejoiceth in the truth; 

 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things,

Charity never faileth...

And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three;

but the greatest of these is charity.

 

I love you Farmer Boy.

May God enable me to love you even more:) 

Blessings, Aimee

 

Notes:

Scripture from I Corinthians 13:4-8a, 13 KJV

charity=αγαπη (agape) unconditional, perfect love

 

Photos:

My wedding veil and gown.

DH and I on our wedding day.

Month of Love: Day 9

"Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it..."

Blessed Saturday to you.

This has been an eventful week...

a short visit by a virus

(ick!)

 a very scary discovery

(which later on. thank God, was revealed to be not quite as bad as I had thought at first),

a lot of progress on the alcove area (cabinets and moulding now finished),

garden discoveries

 (a camellia sasanqua STILL full of blooms;

a dapne odora that has buds on it now, 

continued bulb stalk growth)

and more.

Spring cleaning and organizing continues with a few bright sunny days to remind me that spring is just around the corner...

well almost.

Oh, and little reminders of the day of love are beginning to appear around our house:)

Anything happening at your place?

Blessings, Aimee

 

 

Notes:

Scripture is Song of Solomon 8:7a KJV

 

Photos:

The cute couple above is a salt and pepper shaker that belonged to my mom.

I am not sure how old it is but I really love it!

Our daphne odora

I can hardly wait for the buds to open....mmmm

Valentine Tree