Blog Your Blessings

If you care to join us acknowledging our blessings go here: Blue Panther


My blessing this week is the joy of simple things because I own a digital camera even if it isn't as powerful as the old one that couldn't get parts for it . . . I like how this macro shot came out. Before I owned my first digital camera, I would not have thought to snap a photo of such things. NOW, I look for them. IF you click on the photo, it will enlarge and you will enjoy this shot as much as I do.

Postscript: EG Tour Guide identified this plant as catkins. The Elder trees produce yellow catkins in early spring, with the wind catching and spreading the pollen and the male catkins developing woody cones - the only deciduous tree to do so.

Does this look like impending snow?

The weatherman says snow is coming in after midnight Wednesday night. . . I just don't know --lots of blue and dark clouds and even fluffy white clouds. What do you think? Will thee be snow on the ground here tonight late?

PS It missed us and makes me sad. . .

Close ups of moss or lichens on tree branches

I was trying my macro setting on camera again and for lack of some early spring flowers, I spotted this stuff in a tree. I am not sure what it is. Maybe someone will inform me and I can change the title of the post to match. . . I thought it was pretty anyway.

Sails on the Columbia

Friday was "blue skies and a great day for sailing" and while I did see one boat on the Columbia as I walked over the I-205 bridge, there were lots more there on Saturday when the skies were not as blue. Probably had something to do with Friday being a workday. . . caught a few of them while on a walk with my friend, Dorothy, after we walked Officer's Row and attended a program to celebrate Lincoln's birthday at the Pearson Air Museum, we walked over to the Columbia River to introducer her to Rosie the Riviter statue. I think I wore her out but she says she likes to walk and one day we hope to walk out to Vancovuer Lake again -- 15 miles round trip. Unless we decide to walk Frenchman's Bar beach strip which will add 2miles doubled to it. . . Without further ado, here's a few of the sails I saw this weekend before the rains really came on Monday.

ODD SHOTS

If you want to join ODD SHOTS, see Katney



After the snow had melted about a month ago, I was walking to my friend's home to visit her and saw this puddle that was frozen after the recent snow melt. There's lots of ruts and big holes along the old Evergreen Hiway which is now mostly used by people that live on the street. They have big, beautiful homes so I don't understand why they don't repair their road. . . Anyway, the frozen melted snow made a wonderful odd shot! CLICK on it to see an even better ice photo.

Blog Your Blessings Sunday

If you care to join us acknowledging our blessings go here: Blue Panther

My blessing this week was an opportunity to walk over the I-205 bridge (with blue skies as an added blessing) from Vancouver, WA to Portland,OR. I have lived here 22 years and only this week, found the walkway to get to that bridge. It isn't easy when walking, but hidden. You will learn more about this bridge the first Monday of March on my "Bridges Between" post.
Marina in Camas on the Columbia Riverlooking east.

Mount Hood in the background with Vancouver city limits and and Camas, WA to the left.
Looking back to Vancouver from the pedestrian/bicycle walkway on the bridge. See that white spot in the background? Well, look to the left at the other"white"spot and see Mt.St Helens, also covered in snow. I forgot to look back and take a photo when I was closer to Vancouver than Portland as I walked over the I-205 bridge. CLICK on to see Mt. St Helens. Next time I walk the bridge, I will remember to look towards Vancouver too. Taking the bus home, there was a big beautiful view of Mt.St.Helens. It is important to remember to look back from where you came when taking photos too!
Looking towards Portland, one can see the airport tower from Portland Internatinal Airport. It is between the tree on the left and the rest of the foreground trees that are in Vancouver.

Mount Hood in all its glory with blue skies above and the Oregon Coastline as seen from the I-205 bridge,looking east.

Can SPRING be far behind?

I found my first flowers yesterday near a cement wall of the entrance to the bridge that I walked over. I have no idea what they are -- maybe Katney will identfy them for me. They are very tiny and this is a macro shot but hard to tell since there is nothing but a wall in the background on which they seemed to be climbing..

Your EG Tour Guide identified them as VERONICA and I verified his answer on Google. (Both images and info) It said this about this flower:


Flowering - March - August.( It is almost March. . . )

Habitat - Open rocky woods, glades, waste ground, cultivated areas, fields, pastures, lawns, roadsides, (It was on the bicycle/walkers entrance to the I-205bridge) railroads.

Origin - Native to Europe.

Other info. - This little introduced species can be found throughout Missouri. This is one of the earliest little plants to bloom in the spring. (It isn't quite spring here yet. . . ) The earliest flowers tend to be smaller than the flowers that come later in the season. This is an easy species to ID in the field because of the small blue flowers, sessile leaves, and pubescent stems.The info in between {and) are my comments.

Experimenting with my camera on windy day

The first two are cattails (second one is going to seed) and the last three are teasels.



CLICK on to see the above one enlarged.

Beyond the trees and thru the bus window

Wasn't sure how this would turn out but decided to try taking it anyway. It seems lately that I am always on a bus at sunset!

ODD SHOTS

If you want to join ODD SHOTS, see Katney

CLICK on to enlarge to see the creatures on the gate.
Well, maybe I found one that might be called odd since it is so ornate in a neighborhood of regular gates. . . can you see all the creatures on the gate? I see a mermaid, a whale, a fish (several), an octopus, a seahorse and who knows what else. I don't know if that is the signature of the artist or not. . . The rest of the yard was filled with palm trees so maybe they moved here from Hawaii or another island paradise?

More from December

A few more of my favorite snow photos from this winter to share. . . CLICK on to see the snow crystals!

Blog Your Blessings Sunday

If you care to join us acknowledging our blessings go here: Blue Panther

My blessing today is a dear old friend who has been as much a part of my life as my own Mother who died many years ago. Her name is Myrl and she had a stroke a few years ago and can't talk with her vocal cords anymore but she talks to me with her eyes and she understand what I say to her. When her one non-paralyzed hand reaches out to me, I get tears in my eyes.

She now lives in a huge caregiver home down by the Columbia River so I have to walk to visit her because there is no bus out that way. I do it because I love her. I saw something familiar on the entrance of the caregiver home this week --it was always there in front of her home where she used to live in before her stroke. This carved bear stump used to hold her spare house key in case she got locked out. I can tell that now since it no longer does but probably makes Myrl feel more "at home" in her new place.

This week when I went to visit her, I took her this simple Valentine I made but it was the words I wrote inside that expressed my love for her and reminded her of the "good times we had together" memories.

Yes, Myrl, you ARE my blessing this week and always!

Happy Valentine's Day!

For my post today, please click on this bench blog today,CLICK on it to enlarge to see why it was perfect for today. . .

More December ice and snow

CLICK in these to see the ice better,

Local artist formed these

I was walking over to see my friend Myrl, in her new Caregiver home. It was an area I had never walked before but high up on Evergreen hill and overlooking the Columbia River. I saw a statue by a stream of water in a garden area in front of a house and decided on the way back, I would get a photo of it even tho the "boy" was facing away from me. It had a bucket of water on its head and looked like it was playing in the water to cool off.
On my way back, I snapped this photo and then someone shouted out from the house at me. . . I was a bit worried because some people think you are invading their privacy when you take photos of things in their yard.
I needn't have been. The lady invited me to come closer and take a photo from the front too! I couldn't believe my luck -- what a blessing she was to me that day! So, I came closer to her home and took the photo and then she mentions that the artist that made "Captain Vancouver" statue in downtown Vancovuer also made this one. I thought to myself, how fortunate I was to not only get the photo but the whole story behind it. She apologized for the condition and said that in the spring, she does some special things to clean it and it looks much better. I got an invite to return and take another photo after she had cleaned it up from winter dirt and grime. We will see . . . I like it just fine now!
Then she asked me if I would like to take a photo of the boy fishing statue in her gold fish pond. So I did, of course! Some people are so happy with their special yard decorations, they like to share. Thus, I was twice blessed that day! Tomorrow, I am going to go visit Myrl -- after missing last week when I wa sick with a terrible cold -- to take her a valentine and will think fondly of the generosity of this stranger who I now call "friend."

Snow Geometry . . .

Walking in the snow, one discovers all sorts of patterns.

Just for fun . . . 100 drops of rain and more

Got this from blog friend but don't intend to pass it on so won't link. It started out as a list of 100. I added a few more. The things in red, I have experienced.

1. Started your own blog


2. Slept under the stars


3. Played in a band -- well, really it was a hand bell and chime choir


4. Visited Hawaii == and lived there three years and had one son while there.


5. Watched a meteor shower


6. Given more than you can afford to charity


7. Been to Disneyland - and was there opening day for California Adventure and was one of the first 100 in the gate as we "camped out" all night long -- until opening ceremonies the next morning.


8. Climbed a mountain --many ON throughout my life, mostly rockhunting


9. Held a praying mantis -- no, but got a neat photo of one.

10. Sang a solo

11. Bungee jumped

12. Visited Paris

13. Watched a lightning storm

14. Taught yourself an art from scratch == hairpinlace crochet

15. Adopted a child-- no but sent money to help "pagan babies" when attending Catholic high school

16. Had food poisoning

17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty

18. Grown your own vegetables

19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France

20. Slept on an overnight train returning home to Idaho from Portland, Oregon just before I moved to Washington.

21. Had a pillow fight

22. Hitch hiked

23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill -- that's how I went to the opening for California Adventure since I was already down there for a workshop the day before and right across the street from Disneyland. . .

24. Built a snow fort -- many

25. Held a lamb

26. Gone skinny dipping once

27. Run a Marathon-- well, I walked and finished the Portland Marathon in 2005

28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice

29. Seen a total eclipse

30. Watched a sunrise or sunset - both and also at the Grand Canyon

31. Hit a home run -

32. Been on a cruise

33. Seen Niagara Falls in person from both the US and Canada sides

34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors

35. Had enough money to be truly satisfied

36. Seen an Amish community

37. Taught yourself a new language - well I worked hard at German in high school and college

38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person

39. Gone rock climbing -- well not on wall but in nature

40. Seen Michelangelo’s David

41. Sung karaoke

42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt-- several times

43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant

44. Visited Africa

45. Walked on a beach by moonlight in Oregon and Hawaii

46. Been transported in an ambulance

47. Had your portrait painted-- no but sketched at a county fair when I was 21

48. Gone deep sea fishing -- off Ensenada, Mexico when we were fishing for yellow tail tuna and little sister caught one!

49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person

50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris

51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling-- snorkeled in Hawaii

52. Kissed in the rain

53. Played in the mud -- many times including two years ago with the daycare kids I was teaching

54. Gone to a drive-in theater -- many times

55. Been in a movie - no but I was on the radio for a kids program and interviewed when I was 7

56. Visited the Great Wall of China

57. Started a business

58. Taken a martial arts class Ty Kwon do (spelling) but quit after two lessons

59. Visited Russia

60. Served at a soup kitchen on Thanksgiving for battered women's shelter

61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies-- you don't want to know how many I sold and my daughter sold when she was the age to do it too. Lets just say we set Council records.

62. Gone whale watching

63. Got flowers for no reason == well no special occasion but the card always said "I love you!"

64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma -- I tried but they sent me home and told me I needed some myself.

65. Gone sky diving

66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp


69. Saved a favorite childhood toy-- I have a doll that was a kewpie and had wings

70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial when I was 19

71. Eaten caviar

72. Pieced a quilt -- 3 baby ones and 3 twin size ones completely myself. Pieced many blocks for our charity quilting at church

73. Stood in Times Square and walked and ran

74. Toured the Everglades

75. Been fired from a job -- my last one at a daycare -- they couldn't afford to pay me ten dollars an hour any longer so I lost the job.

76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London -- ONLY on TV

77. Broken a bone -- the radius of my left hand and the ulna was cracked when I tried to help a Brownie roller skate and she pulled back on my arm and I fell on the other one when roller skating with my Girl Scout troop

78. Been on a speeding motorcycle - on the back of one when I was working at a nursing home and the cook -- a young lady -- gave me a ride home on hers.

79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person

80. Published a book -- no but articles have been published in newspaper and magazines

81. Visited the Vatican

82. Bought a brand new car -- only with my hubby since I don't drive

83. Walked in Jerusalem

84. Had your picture in the newspaper-- when I taught 10-- 4th graders to do hairpinlace crochet during their free time at school in the media center and we made a collective baby blanket together and donated it to a teacher who just had a baby. The local newspaper felt it newsworthy.

85. Read the entire Bible many times over but not in one read!!!!!!

86. Visited the White House - outside only because they weren't accepting visitors the day we came to DC

87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating -- no but watched my mom cut heads off chickens

88. Had chickenpox

89. Saved someone’s life

90. Sat on a jury == just this year

91. Met someone famous -- Pat Boone -- he was my singing idol when growing up while everyone else liked Elvis instead -- met him at a cncert in Oregon and again at the church he attends in California. As a young kid, I was a fan club President for him.

92. Joined a book club

93. Lost a loved one -- many including parents, twin sister, 2 brothers and oldest sister and grandparents

94. Had a baby --3

95. Seen the Alamo in person

96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake

97. Been involved in a law suit - does divorce count?

98. Owned a mobile phone-- is that a cell? yes.

99. Been stung by a bee--several

100. Read an entire book in one day -- many

Since this isn't going to travel anywhere, I will add to it too:

101. Lived in 13 homes in 10 years when married.

102. Flew across the US from northern California to NY with three children, one 6 weeks old, one 16 months old and one 3 and half by myself and a bunch of other passengers

103. Resigned from a job I loved because I did not want to be the Administrator besides teach K and a First grade split.

104. Tried snowshoeing a trail with a group with no practice and failed miserably

105. Cross country skied with 5th grade class when student teaching.

106. Learned how to start knitting at the county fair.

107. Had 40 pen pals I wrote to regularly when I was ten years old -- all long hand and earned money for stamps and stationery while babysitting.

108. Was leader of a Brownie Girl Scout troop, a Junior Girl Scout Troop and Neighborhood Chairman for the rest of the leaders all in one year.

109. Helped daughter (5th gr) deliver 999 boxes of Girl Scout cookies she had taken orders for that year -- we did it on foot since I didn't drive.

110. Hairpin lace crocheted 37 scarves and three hats for mission projects last year.

111. Learned to square dance as a child and did it regularly on Friday night for fun and was on television dancing.

112. I loved having a twin sister until she went to heaven when we were 33.

113. Saw the Rockettes dance at Radio City Music Hall -- found out from my Dad that he dressed as a lady and did ballet dancing on the stage in New York when he was a young man.

114. Went to the New York World's Fair when I was 19 and later saw "It's a Small World" that was there moved to Disneyland after it was over.

115. Traveled with my parents and litle sister to over 40 states and Canada and Mexico when I was 19 -- in a camper.

116. Graduated from college when I was 40.

117. Planted 36 tomato plants in my first garden in upstate new York when I was married and never ran out of great home grown tomatoes

118. Had a paper route when I was an adult.

119. Each of my three kids were born in differnt states: Massachusetts, Hawaii and northern California

120. Own 5 computers and only two work presently, one doesn't work on internet anymore and was my first and this is my only hope presently. All Apple computers. Well, one I got from freecycle to see what I could do with it.

121. My minor in college was Media Specialist and I worked as a sub for 8 months for a mediaspecialist one year.