Love

1 Corinthians 13. The love from the wedding Friday night, overflowed and continued to bless all of us through the Sunday service. God's anointing and presence was so sweet. Our church family, and our Pastor and his wife are so precious to us. Pastor spoke from Galatians about bearing one another's burdens. I just love how the Holy Spirit confirms things that we've been praying about, through other brothers and sisters, and the Word of God.

When God Made You

Friday was busy. I gave Jim a haircut, and we primed the barn for painting. The little girls helped us until they lost interest....after 10 minutes or so. ;) We were blessed by attending a beautiful wedding that evening. I took photos, and got better acquainted with members of the family, which proved to be such a joy. They're so much fun, and all of them are sweethearts. I'm sharing this particular photo of the couple, since I didn't remember to get permission to blog them. There was a music solo of "When God made you", sung by our friend Joni. I've known Joni since he was in kindergarten, and he's in college now. He has such an awesome voice and style, and brought tears to a lot of guests. This wedding blended two families, and there was so much love there.

Santiam Fall Day

Last weekend the "color" was so pretty up on the pass, we made plans to go get some pictures and do some hiking this weekend. We started out with a leisurely breakfast in Sweet Home, and then made our way up the Santiam.

The rains have taken their toll on the colorful leaves, but I love this damp, mossy,

Northwest-ness.

Where the ferns grow from the mossy trees and rocks.

And the mossy branches shed their fall rain tears.

Where leaf strewn paths beckon you to wander and discover familiar and favorite sights from yet a different view.

And side roads incite dreams of future hikes and fishing expeditions next summer.

Coming home to the most vivid leaves of all, in our own front yard.

Greenhouse Thyme

On our way to the coast, we stopped at one of my favorite nurseries. I think Mom and "the girls" are fans of it now also. There is a greenhouse tropical oasis and I found a new appreciation for Passion Flowers. In the past, the ones I had seen, had been rather pale and anemic looking lavender and yellow numbers. I hadn't been impressed. I don't know what variety these are, or the Latin name, but these little beauties really caught my camera's eye. I call them "Nature's Kaleidoscope."

Passion Flowers have been used herbally in treating anxiety and seizures, which would've come in real handy last night when Jim and I were caught up in a construction zone traffic snarl FOR AN HOUR at 10:40pm. Note to self* Don't tell hubby you can't wait to get home into your own cozy bed, that you're so tired you feel nauseous.....Murphy's law evidently says 2 minutes later you'll be in a Traffic jam. ;)

I'm not sure what this next picture is, I think it's lovely too. I just call it "flower within a flower." Or the "three sisters flowers" This particular shot reminds me of a fairy tale from a favorite book when I was a little girl. It was a sort of wierd one about sisters that all had different #'s of eyes. So meet Little One Eye, Little Two Eye, and Little Three Eye....

Grimm, I know.

I think, Jen got not one, not two, but three of these beautiful angel trumpets. One in each of the colors they had.



They won't survive outside in our climate zone, and since they grow into the tree you see here in the foreground.....

I'm seeing either a new VERY large sky-light in her living room or the construction of a pole-barn greenhouse by her hubby, in the future!

Mama's Garden

The Truth about Cats and Dogs

Remember that movie from the 90's?

Well the truth it seems; requires some deductive reasoning:

This morning here at home:
Little SISTER: Nanny, Bella has whiskers. DOGS have whiskers?
Nanny: yes, DOGS have whiskers

Little SISTER: And CATS have whiskers?

Nanny: Yes, Birdie and other cats, have whiskers too.

Little SISTER: Well, I must not be a dog or cat, cuz; I don't have whiskers.

(cracks me up.)

It's evident why you always see more food and knitting photos on this site, rather than living breathing, beings. Easier, to get a clear shot, and with much less coaxing! Who ever heard of having to bribe an apple to sit still and look pretty?

Yes, our CAT is named "Birdie"....what would you expect from people that named their DOG "Cricket"? What can I say......He's not Adam, and I'm not Eve.

Frosty Friday Morning

A few years ago when we did a kitchen reno, I got the open shelves I wanted. I had envisioned a very simple classy "great wall of china" like "MARTHA". Just white pieces, which we had a lot of.
But it was boring. Maybe my pieces just weren't interesting or classy enough, not sure. It didn't take long before it was getting doctored up with a shot of color, depending on the seasons. It also helped to keep the shelves themselves cleaned routinely.

My sister gave me this cute Nordic Christmas teapot.
Shhhhh! Don't tell but this next one is supposed to be a doggie dish

(from Ross).
But it works great for snowy mashed potatoes.

Love, love, ambient lighting. Have this little lamp that I just swap shades out on.

Covered this one with red ticking, to go with the Scandia decor.

When Pottery Barn came out with their snowy and glittery candles, I thought they would go great with our Christmas decor, but they were pricey. I had some plain cheapo red candles that I had set aside to glam up. When I saw Melissa's post about epsom salts; I thought PERFECT!

Ashlyn helped me this morning. It was easy and fun, and didn't they turn out fab?

We just painted on our mod podge, rolled and sprinkled our epsom salts on, and let dry.

It was so fun, we were looking for other things to "frost" too, and didn't know where to stop:<)

The lambs ears look like frosty tongues:

the teasel:

the dandelions:


Even Chantilly?

Evidently Jack Frost thought it was a fun project too!

Linking this through Inspired Room's Holiday Linky Friday. Check it out.

Lots of festive goin's on out there!

***************UPDATE ON Yesterday's CIVIL WAR***********

It was a close game, a platypus toss up. you might say...

Unfortunately for the Beavs.......

Heads won.

(Jim is flaunting it.....strutting around here with his Duck emblazened chest puffed out!)