Five on Friday: Flight >>>>>

One:  This past Saturday, my oldest daughter, Mary, and her youngest daughter, Sarah, and I drove to Seaside, Oregon, to spend some time on the beach with some of Mary's women friends from church.  We forgot our kite, but we had barely gotten settled on the sand when folks around us started launching theirs...more than six we counted in flight!  We could hardly see Tillamook Rock Lighthouse through the mist to the south of us; and once on our way back into Portland, Oregon, on Highway 26, we got some fleeting glimpses of Mt. Hood to the east, but the journey was a success.

Two:  At home we have had family and friends gathered around various tables and sometimes a campfire as we enjoyed the fire smoke taking flight above us and chasing away some of the annoying insects, especially mosquitos!

Three: Our fruit is taking a downward flight from laden tree branches and into our hands! Mary has made one apple pie so far, and I have eaten several fresh apples and one scrumptious peach.

Four: We have found several fledglings after their early flights.  This one used a rock as a resting nest for quite some time, and my oldest granddaughter, Hayley, watched in distress as a baby robin tumbled from his nest on the bat box on the garage, and fluttered down into the green lawn garden trailer of the mower below.  Mr. and Mrs. Robin are tending him there and we are staying clear so as not to disturb the process.[ I have been tending to my knitting and crocheting and reading inside :)]

Five:  The flowers are still taking flight toward the sun when it dares to shine. We are excited that the wildflower seeds my youngest son planted are now a lovely patch of Poppies and Daisies and such. We now have a pretty variety of colored Sweet Pea blooms, a first for us, and one Joseph's Coat climbing rose bush is sending branches up to the roof!

Since I plan to be trailer camping with my youngest daughter, Elisabeth and her husband at Cape Lookout State Park on the northern Oregon coast I may not publish a post next week, but thank you Amy for hosting Five on Friday.  I am really enjoying sharing common interests with folks around the world through this link-up format, and am sending my love to anyone who reads this :)

Have you, or things around you, taken flight this past week?

Gracie xx

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

Five on Friday: Camping!

For quite some time I have been enjoying viewing posts published by bloggers participating in Amy's Five on Friday gathering.  Since I find myself creating posts about once a week, I am going to have a go at joining Amy's link up and share five highlights of my past week.

One: Forest camping between Rock Creek Reservoir and Wamic, Oregon, on the east side of Mt. Hood, for the last ten days has been wonderful! Some of the roads my family traveled on to go camping are part of what was the Oregon Barlow Pioneer Trail.  Although we set up my tent, my youngest daughter and her husband invited me to sleep in their camping trailer which was very comfy.

Two: Fun was had by all who came with me as well as those who just visited for a day. Our campsite was right alongside a manmade irrigation creek.  It was so relaxing listening to the water ripple past although we ventured away from our campsite nearly every day for a bit. One day we drove to the nearby lookout over the Tygh Valley and it was lovely to see the farm land below us. Another day we played a round of miniature golf, and then my son and son in law played 18 holes on the beautiful, nearly deserted golf course in around 100 degree sunshine! On Sunday we visited the local log cabin Wamic Community Church and enjoyed their Pot Blessing lunch after worship.

Three:  Firelight and heat was our friend for some daytime cookouts and in the cool evenings.  We enjoyed playing Scrabble, Pegs and Jokers, Bannangrams, and, Five Thousand here and there during the days and evenings. I finished knitting two dishcloths and crocheted three little round face scrubbers. During some days my youngest daughter had to use WiFi at a local cafe to complete homework assignments for her Master's in Nursing Informatics.  While she did that I colored some more pages with watercolors, and fiber tipped pens and sketched and watercolored a view of our campsite. Some of the time I spent reading, too, from the "One Year NLT Bible," and Jan Karon's  pastoral but driving Father Tim novel, "In the Company of Others."  

Four: Feathers were a highlight of our days. We visited Rock Creek Reservoir frequently and gathered many goose feathers and a pretty little orange and black feather that I think may have come from a red winged black bird. On one of the near 100 degree days we went swimming in the clear cool water.  Ahhhhhh....  While we were out in the water  without our cameras we were thrilled to watch a Bald Eagle swoop down to the water, catch a fish and then fly directly overhead so that we could almost see the scales on the fish! Family members and friends also went fishing, but unlike the Bald Eagle, no one caught a fish.

Five:  Flowers were a delight to see tucked here and there in the green grasses and bushes around us.  When four year old grand Joy visited for a day she picked a sprig of Queen Anne's Lace for me which I brought home with me although it is a bit worse for the wear. The photo of the Thistle I took with Jennifer of Thistlebear in mind.

Now that I am home and unpacked and reconnected to more reliable internet connections, I look forward to visiting with and finding out, "what is new or old with you?"

xx
Gracie

Collaging

 Since my last post, my good friend Teresa came to meet my newest granddaughter, Sarah, while my oldest sister, Carolyn was visiting from CA.  Teresa generously brought beautiful pink booties she crocheted for Sarah. Thank you again, Teresa.

 After a week's fast and fun visit, Carolyn left, and one afternoon I came home from running errands and found a box waiting for me from my good friend, Betsy.  She sent me this lovely blown glass teapot because she knew I would enjoy it and I am!  It is sitting on a wonderful doily that Betsy crocheted. Thank you again, Betsy.

 Last February my good friend, Fran, gave me these primroses which have persistently bloomed on our front porch through our months of drought, and weeks of rain and frost. I am perplexed...wondering how they can be so hardy in spite of my care or lack their of! Thank you again, Fran.

 Mr. and Mrs. Mallard are visiting our front pond and we have already started hearing a new froggy chorus from the pond, especially at night.

 This last weekend I had great fun attending our worship art group at church.  We worked on making vision boards/folders. I don't have a good spot for a vision board on my wall so I opted to make a folding version from file folders.  I really am enjoying collaging the surface of both sides...not quite finished yet.

 Then I think I am going to put the words walking with Jesus on the folder and make foot shaped pieces of solid colored paper with words like love pray enjoy patience mercy and glory as goal reminders.

 Sunday afternoon my youngest daughter, Elisabeth, took this photo of the radiant rainbow we saw while standing on our front porch.

 My oldest son who lives just outside of NYC sent this photo and the next to show us how much snow they got from the East Coast blizzard!

He, his family and neighbors got plenty of exercise, and thankfully one of the neighbors helped clear pathways with his snowblower.

 This morning I enjoyed watching the sunlight stream through our windows onto my collage of collections.

Looking at all that I surround myself with can you tell that I love the simplicity of Japanese art displayed on the backdrop of black and white shoji screens?

Hoping your week is a satisfying, creative collage!

Gracie xx