Crafting December 2020 Vision

 

🎶 Do You See What I See?🎶  Thanks to my youngest daughter who contributed a basketful of greens and pinecones, I was able to make a wreath in December. The never-ending circle of green especially heartened me this year.  For me, it symbolizes the everlasting loving life in Christ I look to see now and forever.

A friend who was trained by a florist showed me how to make the wreath fuller by adding little bunches of greens.  She also crafted the pretty plaid bow. 

One misty December afternoon I drove out to the Women's Forum lookout to admire the view of the mighty Columbia River.  Looking East from the Portland, Oregon, area, I love seeing the Creator's amazing craftsmanship.

Over 40 years ago my pastor's wife gifted me with a dishcloth similar to this and helped me learn to knit. I am so grateful for her investment in me.

This December I finished knitting a purple cotton dishcloth and hope to knit many more.

Finishing crocheting another hot-mat in December 2020 seems to just fuel my desire to craft another!  Do you have patterns and projects you like to repeatedly make?

 

One December afternoon a masked friend stopped by to give me this dear rock she had painted for me, a priceless gift. On the back, she painted the passage reference she knows has been especially encouraging to me. 

Philippians 4:6-7

New King James Version                                                                                                                         6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

  Isn't this sunrise spectacular? I saw it one December 2020 morning from the parking area near my back patio. I hope that we can often see such amazing beauty in the days ahead, and I also hope we can creatively encourage one another, through any storms that may challenge our beautiful views.  

Love to you in the New Year 2021!

Gracie ((hugs)) 

Five on Friday: Fun!

Have you had fun this past week?  I hope so!  Since I last checked in with you, I am grateful to realize that I have had a lot of fun and want to share some of it with you in this post.

One:  On July 4th we gathered with family and friends at a home on the Clackamas River close by to celebrate the birth of the USA.  The kids had great fun in a little bouncy house, some went swimming, some played crochet, some played with various flying objects, there was yummy food and the evening ended with watching fireworks.

Two:  On Wednesday Teresa and I drove up the Columbia River Gorge.  We loved seeing the blue sky, wild flowers, and some sailboats that members of the youth Sailing Foundation had been racing.  We had good hamburgers for lunch and were able to swim at the gorgeous Bonneville Spa pool for an hour.

Three:  Mount Hood peeked out from under clouds as I drove around our area during the week.  The first view is off of Highway 212 in the Damascus area. The second view is zoomed in from 302nd street near our home.

Four: It was very exciting to me to see our Holly Hock start to bloom this past week! The magenta blooms are so pretty and bouquets of Joseph's Coat roses are amazing. Our generous neighbor brought us lots of Marionberries! They are delicious!

Five:  We are hosting a wedding at our house this Saturday and I have been experimenting making napkin rings with Martha Stewart Glitter Eyelash, just single crocheting around rings.  One of the ladies in my Wednesday morning stitching group showed me a sock she is making on 9inch circular needles...another project I want to try :)  She also uses size 3 knitting needles to knit dish/wash cloths with size 3 HH Lizbeth cotton thread and I have started one.

I am also having fun joining in with Amy's Love Made My Home blog Link up and visiting bloggers from around the world.

What have you been doing for fun?

xx
Gracie

Just a Bit More Stitching In June

Little Rosie tries to keep up with her older sisters, but running through the sprinkler takes some careful consideration... 

although my great niece, Laura, who was visiting from Nebraska, Rosie's mom, Mary Kathrine, and I were there to cheer her on.  Before we took Laura to the airport to fly to visit her G'ma [my oldest sister] in California we had to get a picture of Laura with some of our clan at one of our favorite local sight-seeing sites :) :) :)

 Jonsrud Overlook, to admire Mt. Hood, and imagine how Native Americans and Pioneers traversed the terrain to establish homes for their families.

I am so pleased that the pretty primroses that were blooming in February when my good friend Fran gave them to me for my birthday are blooming again in June!  I did not know they could do that.

The fuschia starts we planted in Spring are showing more and more ballerina blossoms dancing down to delight us.

One day after Laura left for California, I headed off to my favorite park, but when I saw this view, I knew I had made a wrong turn.  Mt. Hood and the foxglove and daisies were all very pretty to see, but I was lost.  There was NO traffic, so I stopped at the top of a hill and asked the 
"Google Map Girl" to tell me how to get to the park.

I managed to follow her directions and found my way to the peaceful Sandy River.  One day I want to set a chair in the shallow water and enjoy the cool rushing water running over my feet ~ ~ ~ 

Then my good friend, Teresa, invited me on an adventure, to cruise on the mighty Columbia River with her and some of her family members. As you can see, to get to the sternwheeler we had to bravely pass the wooden carving of Big Foot, a giant hairy beast who reportedly roams the forests of the Northwest!  Have you heard of him?

Isn't the Columbia Gorge Sternwheeler beautiful?

I admired the paddle wheel made to resemble those used on paddle wheel ships of the 1800's .

Teresa had me stand at this angle for an interesting view as we floated further from the dock.

Teresa, Travis, Dayle, Hayden, and Caleb all helped me feel most welcome to enjoy adventuring with them.

For more details about what we saw up and down the river, check Teresa's beautiful and interesting post.

We are trying to grow a hydrangea bush at home like this gorgeous blue one we saw when we got off the ship. 

Then while driving through  beautiful Cascade Locks Park, Teresa stopped and took this photo with my camera of the bronze statues of Sacagawea her baby on her back and her dog who were made to commemorate the valuable help they gave Lewis and Clarke in the early 1800's on their journey to explore what is now the northwest USA;

and Teresa took this photo too of this statue made to remind folks of one of the very real dangers the expedition faced.

As we left the park, we enjoyed a parting view of the sternwheeler headed to the West, so that other passengers could enjoy the fresh air, sunshine, and natural beauty  like we did.  The memory of which will surely linger for them and for us, beckoning us all to come back as often as possible.

The next day I could not bear to stay inside, so my oldest daughter, Mary Kathrine, and her girls [Rosie and Molly in this photo] and I headed to another nearby favorite park.

Hayley enjoyed playing with two girls just her age.

I was thrilled to snap a photo of Joy smiling while she jumped for joy on the wonderful wobbly bridge!

We loved seeing the friendly tree roots reaching out to greet one another,

as we followed a path by the clear running creek over smooth brown rocks by the sturdy bridge on the way back to the car.

The next day I attended Vespers at St. Nicholas Orthodox Church in Portland.  With all my galavanting around and car troubles it had been many weeks since I had visited there.  It was good to worship with folks I have been missing,  but the next day found me homebound and unwell with some sort of achey flu [?] that I am praying I don't pass on to anyone.

Now several days later I finally have felt well enough to read, and hone my posting skills.  I signed up for PicMonkey.com and made my first collage!  So far I am still blogging not as means to earn an income, but because for me it is a creative pursuit that combines many of my artistic interests.  When I link to a site it is not because I am seeking income or favor with anyone, I'm just sharing my interests with others who have similar interests, and trying to give credit where credit is due.

In the process, I am building cyber friendships that have amazingly sometimes become face to face friendships!  I feel that God is blessing me tremendously in the process, and I am praying my interaction with others is a blessing for them as well.

Currently I am working on a red headband for Molly using Sue's pattern and using Stylecraft acrylic yarn from my Lucy [Attic 24] pack stash that I still want to make a blanket and bag from ........someday.......sigh.  Many of you Makers inspire me to not give up on my To Make List.
Thank you!

I have nearly finished reading "No Place of My Own" by Christine Laennec and am enjoying it on many levels.  The general locations mentioned in the book are places I have been near and my imagination is fired by May's [Christine's Great Granny's] description of living in those locations mentioned in her diary entries in the early 1920s, mainly in northern California.  Her life story is unvarnished [except for the pages that were never printed because she ripped them out!]  She was a physically hard worker with a poetic streak.   Her account of working on a river boat for a time and then on a mining camp make for adventure driven reading! Her wrestling with her sense of her place as a woman in her part of society worried and or frustrated me; but her appreciation for beauty and her humor are lively and propel her story forward, and I don't want the book to end.  In fact I have already re-read parts of it to savor her viewpoint or puzzle over her choices.
The author, Christine, lived in Portland, Oregon, and taught in several schools in the USA before she and her husband moved to Scotland to teach.  You can [and I hope you will] read more of Christine's writing on her blog Writing From Scotland.  

As I finish typing to you I hear "ka-thunking" on the roof above me!  Ripe wild cherries are falling from our massive tree!  So far various family members have climbed on ladders and up on the roof to try to gather ripe cherries; but maybe now the cherries are ready to fall into waiting buckets below... 

What do you think?

Wishing you Happy Summer Days and hoping you'll share some of your news with me, too :)

Gracie xx

Meandering

My youngest son, Tim, visiting from NJ, and I started meandering  from  Vista Point along the Columbia River in Oregon,  where Tim took this photo with the Washington shore pictured behind us.

We meandered by Multnomah Falls, and up Mt. Hood,

and along the Sandy River at Dodge Park,

and then to Blue Lake Park where you can see Joy and Molly splashing,

and where Uncle Tim and Rosie had a serious consultation,

and Uncle Tim gallantly guided Joy balancing on a log.

Meandering around our home after Tim flew back to NJ some of the family picked the first of our crop of apples.

Hayley asked for help learning how to crochet a blanket for her mom.

I knit some dishcloths for my friends, Teresa, Betsy and Taci, and my oldest daughter picked some of her lavender to share with them.

Then I meandered south to Crescent City especially to visit my dear 83 year old friend, Donna, and my wonderful friends in the Windy Weavers group.

Donna and I ate dinner here and played a game of Scrabble, too :)

Right after I left Donna in Crescent City, after a delightful visit with her, she suddenly had a heart attack and then a stroke and died...a shock I am still processing while celebrating her beautiful creative life filled with teaching, playing piano, making and appreciating art, and being a champion Scrabble player who trounced me nearly every time we played.  We shared faith in God, both graduated from San Jose State University and had a loving friendship that made light of the 20 years that separated us in age.  I am so grateful to have known her.

From Crescent City I meandered further south to Sonoma, CA, to pick up my oldest sister, Carolyn, and we then drove north to the high desert land of eastern Oregon.

Just south of Bend, OR, we saw this fabulous sunset at Waldo Lake.

We had hoped to go swimming with Teresa and Dayle in Waldo Lake and see 140 feet down in the clear water, but thunderstorms prevented that :( and Carolyn had a migraine headache so was not able to enjoy the delicious dinner of baked potato, corn on the cob, and filet mignon that Teresa and Dayle fixed for us. I also got to meet and enjoy a visit with Teresa's brother and sister-in-law, and one of her other sisters.

The next day, Carolyn, who felt better, and I meandered further north by the three Sisters Mountains, had lunch in the charming Western themed town of Sisters, OR ,and drove back to my home in Gresham.

We meandered out to eat several times in the next few days, and my youngest daughter, Elisabeth took this interesting photo at Tad's Chicken an' Dumplins along the Sandy River where we had  memorably yummy meals.  Then tomorrow we meander to the Portland, OR, airport PDX, so that my sister can fly home to Sonoma, CA.

Where have you been meandering?

Gracie xx