Tuesday, November 25, 2014

The Thanksgiving Feast

My heart is full of gratitude this week, with the anticipation of a table full of loved people enjoying a wonderful meal together (not to mention a Seahawks game). However, my mind constantly returns to the reason we celebrate, our Great God who rains down blessings on His creation. I read a post that says it better than I could, so if you need a mind reset, or a little break, follow the link for a small moment of blessing. The Thanksgiving Feast    Happy Thanksgiving to you!

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Time with William

My goodness a lot has happened since I last posted. With all the frozen snow outside our window, it's hard to believe I was talking about the pretty flowers a week ago. We have managed to stay warm, and enjoy the deep snow from our windows.
To get back to Julie's visit... we had a wonderful time with grandson William for a week by himself. The insurance man took a little time off, and we went camping in the Fort Rock area of Eastern Oregon. It was dry and dusty, after a dry summer.
 
But the blue skies and pine trees were beautiful anyway. We chose an un-improved camp site, and mainly had it to ourselves.
This allowed for William to drive around the camp unhindered on our ATV.

He got the hang of it quickly and had fun on Saturday, getting faster.
 Until Sunday morning, when things went awry. He turned the wrong way into a barbed wire fence, and then into one of the pine trees. He walked back to the trailer to tell us about the accident. Our first question was "Are you alright?" After ascertaining he was, we walked back to the site to inspect the damage. 
 Proclaimed un-driveable!
 Papa and William fixed the broken fence, and sustained a few scratches.William a few more from the crash through it.
 They brought over the pick-up and managed to get the ATV pushed up onto the bed to haul home. God was so good to let that happen safely, as there was no help in the immediate area.
 William is showing me that he is sad that the accident happened, but that he is happy he was not hurt!
 
Our campsite was right next to an abandoned Forest Service Ranger Station at Cabin Lake. People lived and worked here in the 1940's, and it was then converted to a summer guard station and there are still six rustic buildings left on site. The Forest Service closed the site for good in 2002, but it was added to the National Register of Historic Sites in 1985. William and I hiked over to inspect the buildings while the insurance man prepared things to travel home.
 
Head Ranger's Home in the 1940's
Bunkhouse


 William decided to leave a mark of his passing....
 
While Will was at our house, he set out to accomplish this mighty jigsaw puzzle. Quite an impressive goal, considering how little we were actually home. He was working on it, right up to the time that we left for Portland and the flight home to West Virginia. He almost made it, and so Papa and I finished the final few pieces when we got back and Will, here it is. The final finished product. Windsor Castle complete.
What a treat, to have time with a very special young man.

Thursday, November 6, 2014

November Flower Blessings

 I planted this Helleborus or Lenten Rose last spring to have a growing cycle before blooming spring 2015. To my surprise, as I was raking leaves, I came across all these beautiful blooms just peeking out through the dead leaves. After pushing the leaves away, I have a beautiful plant to enjoy in November. Even as the foliage is dying, the blooms are breaking forth. It's been an amazing autumn for us, the longest and brightest in recent memory. I have a number of plants still blooming, as of today November the 6th.  
Reluctantly, I cut this beautiful double hollyhock down as I was doing my fall clean-up yesterday. You have to understand, we usually get our first frost about the 3rd week-end of August. So all this flower goodness in November is just incredible. I for one am loving it!
*Next post I will finish up Julie's trip to Oregon