End of June and Celebrations

As you know, Father's Day was yesterday; but my family decided to celebrate on Saturday. It was a most laid back day to celebrate with no rush to go anywhere else. It was just the right sort of day for a celebration. My "live-in gardener" (husband) wanted a picnic on our daughters new deck at her house. She barbecue for the first time and I brought everything else. My family said I always make pie for company or other people, but it was time to make apple pie for my family. Father's Day was the best day to finish off the last of the apple pie fillings in the freezer. It will probably be the last time we have apple pie (gravenstein apples) from the apple ranch that once belonged to my grandfather; so it was extra special.

I took time to walk in my daughters garden and smell the flowers. Jill grows chamomile for tea.

My husband built the tree house during Covid for our grandson. The tree has grown up around it. What a fun hideaway place to go.

Then on the actual Father's Day I took Jim out for lunch on a floating dock along the Columbia River. It was a lovely, sunshiny day; so it was fun to watch the boats come and go.

There was a stop in Camas, Washington. They have a downtown, vintage movie theater. I loved seeing the lights. It is a sweet downtown.

This past week we also visited Fort Vancouver in Washington State. It has a wonderful early history that included the Hudson Bay Company.

There is a garden just outside the fort and I needed to savor the garden for awhile. What a beautiful day to walk in the garden.

Hollyhocks were growing beautifully there. I always wanted hollyhocks in our garden, but they never did well. It was fun to see how well they were doing here. I think they like full sun.

Bachelor buttons took up the showy blue color for the garden. With a pause I enjoyed them.

Roses too!!!

And lots of California poppies!

Then because we needed a good walk, we enjoyed the shade trees of the fort.

There is even a restaurant in one of the old buildings on the fort grounds.

We must remember to have lunch there soon.

There is a big 4th of July celebration that takes place here with music in the bandstand and fireworks too. When my children were small we enjoyed the fireworks on several occasions, but now I prefer not fighting the crowds and traffic. Is it that I am less patient now or is it that there are more people out and about now? Maybe a combination of the two?

 I love this time of year with sunshiny days to take small adventures and just celebrate the day. Hoping you are also enjoying each day with small celebrations and adventures.

Sending love,

Marilyn

Paths

Gautama Buddha says: No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path. 

My word for this year is Adventure/Path. I find it fascinating to notice how many paths there are in life. Sometimes we get distracted and wander off the path in front of us, getting lost for awhile. Sometimes our paths are a bit rocky as we try to please others and lose focus on our own path. And then there are the paths that are smooth sailing and we forget to notice the beauty of the path.

 Hawaii

Camassia Nature Preserve

Elk Rock

Tiny Poetry’s “Twisting Paths”:

Along the twisting paths we tread,

Adventures wait around each bend,

With every step, a tale is spread,

New horizons beckon us to send.

Whispers of stories in the air,

With every heartbeat, we declare.

Along the twisting paths we tread,

New horizons beckon us to send tinypoetry.com.

Kellogg Park, not far from my apartment.

What's around the bend?

Iris in the Peony Gardens at Adelman's, a cloudy day

And even David Hockney included a path into the woods in one of his paintings. Sadly he passed away this past week. He has taken a path only he can take alone. Oh, the joy he has left along the way with his whimsical art.

Do you notice the path you travel? Does it sing a song of JOY to your soul?

No matter the path along the way, "Notice what you notice".

Sending love,

Marilyn

A Little Oregon History

Many of you may have heard about the Oregon Trail; so this is a little history lesson. One of these days I will take some pictures of the actual end of the Oregon Trail. It's where my grandson and daughter live. Right now it is having a big transition. It had a large paper mill right on the river. Originally it was sacred fishing grounds for the Indian nation and now the land has been returned to them. The paper mill is coming down. The governor just had a ceremony to dedicate the land last week. 

Jane Kirkpatrick is a local historic fiction writer that writes most of her stories about the Pacific Northwest. I have a book on my "to be read" pile about women in history along the Oregon coast. I am looking forward to reading it, as I read the first of the two book series several months ago. I didn't realize there would be a second book and I was left hanging; so glad she will finish the story.

Well another place she has written about is Aurora, Oregon; which is very close to Oregon City. Oregon City is the end of the Oregon Trail. Just down the road by covered wagon a religious group settled. It has remained a small town with many antique shops, a few places to eat, and a sweet little museum. Every once in awhile I like to venture there just to browse and have lunch. It's about 30 miles from where I live and right along Pudding Creek. 

"The colony was established by Dr. William Keil, a Prussian‑born tailor, apothecary, and preacher, along with followers from the Bethel Colony in Missouri. Keil had rejected organized religion to create a primitive Christian community based on the Golden Rule and communal living City of Aurora. In 1856, after moving from Willapa Bay, Washington, he purchased a donation land claim on the Pudding River in Marion County, naming the settlement after his daughter, Aurora City of Aurora+1.

The Aurora Colony grew from about 250 settlers who left Bethel, reaching a peak of over 600 people City of Aurora. The community was known for its orchards, crafts, and German traditions, and its members practiced the principle of “From each according to his abilities; to each according to his needs” Old Aurora Colony."  Quote taken from my search online.

Jane Kirkpatrick's trilogy includes: A Clearing in the Wild, A Tendering in the Storm, and A Mending at the Edge. All about Emma, a young woman that settled in Aurora and a part of Dr. Keil's group.

The museum has different events throughout the year. In October they have a quilt show. One year I actually entered a quilt square into a contest and got chosen to be part of a quilt they auctioned off for a fundraiser.  The museum hosts Jane Kirkpatrick occasionally for book promotions too.

Saturday my "live-in gardener" and I went to the White Rabbit Bakery for lunch and a little browsing, but I couldn't help myself; I had to snap a few pictures just for you.

If you ever visit Oregon and you love a bit of history; Aurora, Oregon is definitely a peaceful, pretty place to stop for awhile.

Sending love,

Marilyn

Gardens - Roses and Pansies

 I have been visiting a lot of gardens lately. It is indeed garden season, which is my favorite season. Here is the original rose garden for Portland, Peninsula Park. It is in full bloom now and just gorgeous! The day I was visiting this garden there was a wedding taking place in the gazebo in the background. What a beautiful place for a small, intimate wedding.

It is Rose Festival time in Portland right now. That festival is always centered around rose season and so beautiful.

But sometimes I must just savor what is out my backdoor.

We seem to have a lot of pansies this year.

The birds are certainly enjoying the little bird bath and sunflower seeds.

I was gone over the weekend and the feeder was half empty when we returned.

A Child in a Garden

by Ethel Romig Fuller in Kitchen Sonnets

Once I had just half an hour

To frolic by myself;

Presto! By a lilac bush

I changed into an elf.

I whispered to a ladybird,

"I really am a child!"

But the disbelieving thing

Shrugged it's wings and smiled.

A dusty bumblebee and I

Robbed the honey crocks

Of the Canterbury bells

And the hollyhocks.

And beneath a pansy plant-

A place no grown-up knows-

I pirouetted with an ant

On my elfin toes.

Then down the spice-pink-bordered path

Mother came for me;

The elf became a little girl

Ready for her tea.

This is what I imagine a childhood should be like in the garden.

Happy Spring Garden Days!!!

Sending love,

Marilyn

David Hockney

 On the first Thursday of every month the Portland Art Museum has a free entrance day. Off my "live-in gardener" and I went, as I wanted to see the temporary exhibit of more than 100 pieces of art by David Hockney. 

This was David Hockney sitting in two different chairs viewing bouquets of flowers. Each of those flower pictures also showed up individually around the room.

What a variety of techniques from collage, video, photographic art There were whimsical child like drawings to very intricate personal artwork of friends and lovers. There were scenes from Yosemite, British landscapes, his dog Stanley, flowers, swimming pools, and intimate pictures of people. And then there were paths, which fit in very well with my word for the year (Path/Adventure).

Here is Stanley.

I was enthralled by the different art techniques he so creatively used to express his artistic talents.

And a swimmer for the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.

The museum recently built a new entrance to the museum and added a small French style bistro/restaurant. We stopped there for a bite to eat and a pot of tea. For a little while I felt like I was in Paris. They even served and sold tea and jellies from my favorite teashop in Paris, Mariage Freres. Their baguettes, which they made, were amazingly good.

The park outside the museum was so pleasant to walk through both to and from our car.

Two books completed recently, both about young girls that grow into womanhood in different ethnic lives. One is from Iran and the book is The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali. The other is from China and the book is Teagirl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See. This second book was a re-read from several years ago. I read it to refresh my memory for a presentation I am doing at TeaFestPDX the end of June. I really enjoyed both books. 

Now I wrote this post a couple weeks ago and forgot to say "Publish".  The museum exhibit was amazing and the books were too.  Already I want to return to the museum before the David Hockney exhibit leaves the museum.

Sending love,

Marilyn