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    The School of Life.
   
    
   Hello, here I am again, it has been a long time since I created this site and it is going to take time and some errors to remember how to do it again. As you can see it has been a few year and many things have changed, many years dealing with COVID, Actually over five years and I still have problems, and I think they are here to stay. COVID changed my life and I believe it hastened my stepping into old age. I am eighty seven... I think the body and mind changes would have been easier without the influence of COVID... but be that as it may, I have learned much about myself and my lack of faith, A thinking the Lord had forsaken me.... He is always there and my catching COVID had taught me many things about myself. My lack faith, my lack of remembering life is for learning and believing.... there is a purpose and a reason for everything, even illness and pain. Remembering what Christ suffered and he never sinned. Right? COVID gave me a birds eye view of my lack of letting go and letting God walk with me and show me how to grow as a person... grow in understanding  grow in love and patience. I have grown into a better person, and I am thankful.
   

 

Hello this Sept.9th, 2023

 

 

 

 

 Happy, Happy, the weather has cooled off, more time in the garden!!... I really do not do well in heat, anything past 80 is too much for me. So on days like that I am indoors sewing, reading, house cleaning and enjoying my computer... such as it is. It is very old and sometime terribly slow, and I have to admit although I don't like to.. having had Covid and suffered what is now called Brain Fog, which was awful at the time, it now eighty percent improved... and I have to say being a long hauler as we are labeled, I learned so much about my weakness's I am a better person because of it. It reinforced the knowledge that life's up and downs are learning tools to see our weaknesses and pray for strength and understanding.

Here it is August of 2023....

 It has been such a long... time since I have written in this blog of mine, a lot has happen, good and bad.. but I am still here, thanks to the almighty. I have moved to Albany Oregon to be neer my boys...I have two sons and they are a great help to me. I moved from Florence Oregon and the beaches and ocean which I miss very much, especially the National Forests... I miss living so close to nature. I am 84 years old now and one of the Covid Long Haulers... came down with it March of 2019...and at my age I probably will never be free of it. I sometimes feel sorry for myself, however I shouldn't... it is just old age moving in I think sooner then it would have if I hadn't become ill.. so we do the best we can.. right?

Albany is a nice town, city, I think over 50,000 inhabitants, lots of traffic at times and since I became ill I quite driving and sold my car... you know that is a bigger step then I thought it would be, having to rely on others to get to the doctors, dentists etc., or call a cab is hard... losing you independence is really hard. again I didn't think much about it at the time... so I am learning as I go... if anyone reads this and is in the same boat write me, always open for new ideas.

Here is a photo of my little home, I like it a lot...

It is an historic home built 1920, has a full basement really nice. Well I best get to watering my gardens and getting some other things done... hope you visit me again soon.

Country Beauty 1974 .... Remembering

 

This morning I was cleaning the house as usual when the rain really started to fall, in buckets it seemed. I became concerned about our goats, Nanny and Angel, totally the wrong name for Angel; devil would be more accurate however that is another story. As for Nanny she is very gentle, sometimes when I am sitting in the pasture she comes over, lays down and puts her head in my lap, her countenance is so calming. However both goats truly dislike the rain especially hard rain, no web feet on those two. So Wade, then five years old, and I dressed in our rain gear and with Tag our Border collie “tagging” along, we set out to put Nanny and Angle under the old empty house, a homestead 1905 vintage, which was on the other side of the acreage, it sets up high in the back and provides a nice dry shelter underneath for the goats and the occasional bit of wildlife that take refuge there.

 We no sooner had the goats all snug in their stalls and the rain let up to a fairly light fall and everything sparkled, green and silver. That is one wonderful thing about the Oregon coast, rain sometimes comes in fifteen-twenty minutes spurts with the beautiful sparkling sunshine to follow.

With the goats taken care of we checked on the chickens, picking up the eggs and headed for the house when Nanny started blatting, which I took to mean she didn’t want to stay under the old house with the sun peeping through the gray clouds, so we put the eggs in the house and back we went to tie her and Angel out by the orchard. We took angel out first and by the time we returned with Nanny, Angel was already eating her way through a clump of alder saplings.

 So Wade, Tag and I decided to take a walk up the road that lead to the woods above our house, he always liked to stop and watch the rain water flow through the large drain pipe under the road. Wade, like all children seem to delight so much in watching water rushing by. We both delighted in stopping also to watch thirty or forth little birds that were all singing and flitting from branch to branch along the lower branches of a couple fir trees, little brown birds with sharp eyes and beautiful tiny black beaks. Some of which had brown and white striped breasts. They were such a joy to see.

The rain was letting up and the sun was shining again through the clouds. Blue sky appeared again and all the birds started singing and peeping more, all different types of birds and songs…. What a treat!

 Standing on the road looking out and down on to our land it was the most beautiful sight. I wished I had a camera to share the beauty with others. The sky shone so brightly that one could hardly look in its direction. All the leaves, and brush came alive with silver sparkle, the fur and pine trees looked too green to be real. Everything was fresh and clean, even the old house came alive with color. We could see the white of the goats against the green of the pasture and the red chickens against the brown soil. The Alder trees were losing their leaves and one could see through them down into the deep woods.

We watched the birds a while longer then started for home. Wade decided to run down the old road to the old house, then across the pasture and up the path to the pumpkin patch. To see his delight of getting there before us Tag and I really had to walk slowly.

Walking down the driveway together, Wade, Tag and I, could see the heat of the sun shining on the bark covered ground in front of the house and shinning on the roof which was causing the water to turn to steam, the house appeared to be smoldering.

 Now back inside, we are canning apples, the sun comes and goes but the rain has stopped. The sky is ever changing here on the coast. I find that in the fall and winter here, everything is alive and constantly changing. Living there it was so easy to see the wonders of God…His beauty, His subtleness and His strength.

 

Ahhh.. the warming Sunflower.

Here it is July 9^th already and I have been negligent of my blog… well here I am today and I would like to share some pretty photos of my garden and my thoughts.

Summer is the most glories time of the year, not that the other seasons do not have their beauty but none as striking as summer with it's sunshine, trees and growing things. My flowers are doing nicely thanks to the work and help my son Paul gives me. We have already eaten Sugar Peas, dug up potatoes and enjoyed raspberries and strawberries…. not to mention the trips up the North Fork into the forest, and what a treat that is, it is always so quiet and beautiful in the wilds of the woods.

Well here are some pictures. I hope the bring pleasure.

 I call this my Drug Store rose as that is where I bought the plant....

 English rose 'A Shropshire Lad'

This rose looks so Victorian to me.

'Gift of Life'

 'First Kiss'

' Hydrangea'

 'Betty Prior'

Hope you enjoy the gifts from nature in your backyard and all around your area, with the things that are happening in the world today a closeness with nature restores the soul.

Enjoy life and share you joy.

Christmas Day at the Ocean….

Nothing like a morning walk on the beach any day, however on Christmas Day it is something special. We were not the only folks to leave our cozy homes to wander the wet sand and view the low tide after so many days of unusually high tide, heavy winds and rough waters. I as usual found two beautiful small stones to bring home and put on my living room windowsill. The weather was cool, some dark clouds rolled in while we were there but it was exhilarating and beautiful.

The Area is Carl G Washburne Memorial State Park, for CoastWatcher’s http://oregonshores.org/coastwatch.php5 it is within mile 181 of the Oregon Coast, 14 miles, 23 km north of Florence, Oregon. You will find that along 101 there are many, many areas to stop and enjoy nature.

The Tide was way out, very clean beach considering the storms we have been having. There was a lot of large wood and logs washed up against the banks and of course the beach stones were all visible, and being I always find a stone or two I have to take home I found two of a color not common for the area. They sit on my windowsill now.

Here are more pictures of the area... enjoy!

Paul enjoying a walk along the water.

It became a bit cloudy, dark and beautiful.

A delightful, blessed day.

Thanks for visiting, feel free to leave a message.

Natures Gifts One Treasures

The Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area

This photo a friend of mine shared on Facebook and it brought to mind a wonderful day a few years ago, so I thought I would share it here.

I used to work for the Forest Service out of Reedsport, (The Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area) My position was Public Relations, one of my duties was to take visitors out on hikes in the Dunes, loved the job... couldn't believe what a treat the position was and I was paid too! Miss it a lot at times.

One time I will never forget, It was on my day off and I was just south of Reedsport, I went for a hike on an area of one of the highest dunes... when you were on top you stood next to the top twenty feet of some of the trees the view was beautiful, it was like being all alone in the world, not a sign of humanity anywhere and so quiet.  Anyway I had seen bear tracks as I was ascending the dune, but couldn't tell if they were fresh or from the night before as the dune was wet, anyway as I sat at the top and looked toward the forest area there she was with cubs, not only that but after she disappeared into the wooded area out came what looked like a dog, and it was walking toward me; silver looking with a very bushy long tail. I thought what is a dog doing way up here all alone, well it was a good sized fox and as it walked closer I stood very still and when it saw me it turned and walk into another part of the woods... what a treat that day was... miss those experiences a lot, miss the Forest Service... If you have a chance to visit the Oregon Coast, visit the Dunes.