Trilliums, Pets, Rainbows & Crocheted Flowers

Do you have Trilliums where you live?  They are wildflowers here in Oregon and they're just wonderful - you know it's really Spring when you see their bright white faces in the forest.  Hubby spotted these out our bedroom window and called me over to see, and I asked him if he'd take the camera into the woods and get some photos - the forest floor is soft and waterlogged, and he's enjoying photography more every day.  The purple flowers beyond them are "Vinca Minor" or more commonly called "Periwinkle".  They are taking over our forest so be careful if you plant them!

A lovely bunch of Trilliums!

 A closer view of the Periwinkles.

The Trillium below seems to be a different variety as the petals are narrow.  They thrive is shaded moist forest floors.

The blooms above are just opening up and will be big and pretty soon.

A story.. we used to have hundreds of these flowers but long ago a friend came over with her two little girls who were outside in the woods for a long time, and finally they came up to the back door with a wagon, HEAPED with Trillium flowers!  If picked, the Trillium will not bloom for 7 years or so!

The other day I looked out the kitchen window and saw the MOST brilliant rainbow ever, hubby ran out to get a photo - I must say the photo did not show the size and color of this but I thought it would be nice to show you.  See the Buff Orpington hen?  She gives us pinkish brown eggs, the Rhode Island Red lays darker brown eggs and the Ameracauna lays mint green eggs.  Love them!

I snapped this photo yesterday, our Cairn Terrier Buddy and Lucy the Tortoise Point Himalayan in one frame! Don't look at the bag of wood pellets in the chair, not pretty at all. :-)

I've made progress on my Japanese flower crocheted wrap.  Lots more to go, but wanted to share.  Which flower do you like the best?  My favorite is the yellow orange center, green and turquoise petals.  

This photo shows my Lucy bag, folded down to show the Drops Alpaca yarn.  

Close up to show the wonderful fuzzy, hairy organic-ness of this wonderful yarn.

Below my attempt of a soft drape of the wrap-in-progress over the bag of yarn. :-)

I can see that I'm going to love wearing this as it should go with every color of my mock turtles that I have and wear all Fall, Winter and Spring.  To me it looks like a bouquet of flowers of all colors.

I hope you all have had a good week and have fun plans for the weekend.  We've had a lovely, slow, home-y week, very relaxing.  This weekend will be the birthday celebration of our youngest grandson, Caleb.  I should have some fun photos of that soon!

Love the comments, keep them coming! ((hugs)) Teresa

Oregon Has a Reputation...

...of being rainy and cloudy.  I would like to tell you that it's a big hoax to keep the hordes away from our little Eden.  But it's green here for a reason.. :-)

Hubby cut these daffodils yesterday after hearing that a new front was to come in today and drop lots more rain.  Let's just say these are happy little dry flowers who escaped the downpour today.  

Here's a photo to prove what I'm telling you... can you say *gloom*?  Thank goodness our 3 chickens don't seem to mind and are giving us 2 or 3 eggs a day.  Hubby picks them a big handful of green grass each day as we can't let them roam free as we lost one early on to a raccoon, coyote or fox.

Don't the Daffodils brighten up the rainy day?

Is there anything more saturated with YELLOW than a Daffodil?  And the aroma is quite simply unique and makes me think of all the Springtimes over the years.

We just picked a small bouquet of Daphne Odora - the only 2 flowers in bloom here on the farm right now.  Have you ever smelled one?  If you have, you'd never forget it.  This little posy is sitting on the table next to me and the fragrance is wafting up to me.  Mmmm.

I found this little vase at an antique show in Hood River several years ago, it's turning slightly purple from the sun and has little thumbprints all around it.  It's just the right size for small bouquets such as this and especially my favorite, Lily-of-the-Valley of which I have a very large patch of them to the right of our brick pathway up to the front porch and front door.  I can't wait till they bloom and I'll share them with you.  Don't you wish blogs had "smell-a-vision"?  :-)

I hope you're having a nice week, ours is nice and calm, I only have one commitment this week, I have a Friends of Multnomah Falls bus tour planning dinner meeting on Thursday.  We will be planning the itinerary for a bus tour of the Columbia River Gorge and will be having lunch at the Columbia Gorge Hotel, a vintage and wonderful hotel that sits on a cliff with a major waterfall right behind it!

((Hugs)) Teresa

Crochet Baby Booties

I was on Facebook and saw postings of some photos from my cousin's wife of a baby shower for their new grandchild that is due in May.  So, I decided to crochet some booties for the new baby.  I made one on Wed. evening and then the 2nd one yesterday while volunteering at Multnomah Falls.  It was a rainy cold day there yesterday but still busy as it's Spring Vacation here.

I'm seeing other bloggers that cannot help but start bringing out their Easter decorations and I'm right there with them.  Above is my Easter "tree" I got years ago and have collected some new ornaments over the years.  I'd gotten a box of little wooden ones and let my granddaughters add them to the tree - I think they enjoyed that.

Above are the booties.. this is a design that I've developed over many MANY years of making booties for friends and family that are expecting babies.  The stitch around the top is called a "backward single crochet".. I think it makes a great edging for boys things as it's not too "girl-ie".  I will endeavor to write up this pattern to share but it will take some time.

See the little ceramic bunny?  WELL... I made that in art class in 7th grade at Tigard Jr. High!  We had a pretty great teacher and he let us do ceramics.  It's got a hole where the tail is and you stuff it with cotton and you can pull cotton out of the tail to use for makeup or whatever.  My daughter recently found it up in the attic and I'm so happy to have it back.  It's all cleaned up and happily sitting on the dining room table.  :-)

I'll be wrapping up these booties to send to my cousin in Annapolis MD over the weekend. :-)  Also, do you see the quilt below the booties?  It was made for me in 1971 by a very aged and talented quilter I met while I was acting as nanny for 4 children right after I had gotten married, her name was Granny Nell and I'll never forget her.  She made this for my first baby.  I remember being homesick and she wisely told me.. "bloom where you are planted".

Last but not least, I got a package from my friend blogger Shanti - I won a "give-away" on her blog and received these beautiful cherry jade earrings.. see the neat little fleur-de-lis in silver on the bottom?  She's currently visiting her family in Mexico City but lives in the USA and is working at a "local yarn shop" and doing projects there.  A very nice lady.

Well, time to go for a walk outside, hubby says there is a spring that has popped up by our mailbox and he wants to show me. :-)   ((hugs)) to you all who visit me here.  Teresa

Give-Away *WINNER* & Waterfalls

What a fun day we had yesterday! Our daughter Amy brought our granddaughters Jenna and Paige out for the afternoon.  Here is Jenna when they first arrived, I asked her to bring her sock monkey so I could get photos of both the girls and their monkeys, here is Jenna holding them both. :-)

Here are both the girls with their monkeys.. I have to tell you, the photo session was HILARIOUS! Trying to get a good photo of two wiggly girls is a challenge to say the least.  I have 20 photos and most of them have blurs or something goofy going on.  This one I thought was adorable.

Having fun...

The best one without blurs.. :-)

And below are the girls drawing the names out of the hat for the Give-Away... ::drum roll::

AND THE WINNER IS.........

A lovely blogger who lives in England, Anne from Andamento Blog. I just love her blog as she takes us along with her on these fun bike rides through the English countryside and shows us great old ruins and cows and lakes and things.  I count her as one of my blogging friends.  Anne, please visit my Etsy shop and pick out your favorite pair of earrings and I will send them to you!  :-)

After a cozy and fun afternoon by the fire and taking photos and drawing names.. we bundled up for a drive to show the girls the gorge and some waterfalls.  Here they are at Portland Women's Forum State Park with Vista House and the Columbia River Gorge behind them.  

Then we drove around Vista House and on to Latourell Falls.  It's a beautiful waterfall and quite big.. the photo below shows the wonderful neon green lichen that grow there all year.. and see the orange lichen too?  

Here is the mossy and fern-covered rock wall by this waterfall.

Next is the most un-discovered and special waterfall - it's a favorite of mine - called Shepperd's Dell Waterfall.  The family that owned the land where this waterfall is in the early 1900s would go there for family "church" as it was such a sacred feeling place.  You can't get the full feeling and magnitude of this waterfall from the photos, but you walk down a curving pathway from the edge of the bridge you see in the photo below and you come to a viewing platform at the VERY EDGE of this rushing waterfall - it's loud and amazing!  In the photo below you can see the rock wall on the left, that's the walkway.

Youngs Creek cascades down a twisting alcove in a series of falls totaling about 180 feet in height, with the lower half of the visible portion of the falls (essentially everything upstream from the bridge) totaling 82 feet. The falls begin with a horsetail which feeds into a plunge, stuffed back in an inaccessible part of the recess. Below here, the creek turns 90 degrees and cascades 32 feet over a few small drops before funneling down a 50 foot veil with a concave hourglass shape. As the creek passes beneath the graceful arching bridge spanning the chasm, it drops over two final falls of about 20 feet each.

Amy and the girls in front of the falls. 

Shepperd's Dell Bridge and the waterfall as you stand at the viewing platform.  You can see the railroad tracks at the base and the Columbia River is over the lowlands you can see past that.

It was super fun to have almost 40 people leave a comment for the give-away - as I've said before I just love reading your comments, it makes me feel as if I'm making friends around the globe - which I just love.  I hope you are all enjoying Spring!  ((hugs)) Teresa

Monkey Business

I've been working on a special project for my 2 1/2 year old granddaughter, Paige - a sock monkey.  I had made one for her older sister Jenna (6) a few years ago and I wanted her little sister to have one too.  I've been working on it over the week and showing progress photos, but this monkey is done!  The last thing I made is the little flared skirt.  So, I took the monkey and our kid's childhood chair out on the deck in the RAIN for a photo session.  

The girls and our daughter Amy are coming for a visit tomorrow and I'll give Paige her new friend.  When I showed it to her last Thursday she hugged it and said.. "I want to SLEEP with it!".  How cute is that?  Jenna sleeps with hers every night.  I sewed the flannel heart on the monkey's chest and I tell the girls that the heart means that I love them and to remember that each time they look at it.  I have a feeling I'd better make Jenna a skirt too out of the yarn I made her hat and scarf out of. :-)

Say, my Give-Away of a pair of sterling silver earrings ends tomorrow, the girls are going to do the drawing.. have you left a comment on that post?  The one below the one below this one.  Hurry and sign in so you will be in the drawing.  You can see the earrings in my Etsy shop, link to the right on my page.

I have made some wonderful blogger friends since I began blogging 8 months or so ago... Suz, Kate, Meredith, Heather, Millie, Julie, Alicia, Saskia, Robin, Sue, Ursula, Tif, Kelly, Helen, Denise, Dorothy, Anne, Rachael, Cath, Jane, Erin, Lucy, Emma, Elizabeth, Shanti, Melissa, Nicole, Erica and many more.  Thanks ladies for giving me the opportunity to see all over the world from your eyes and viewpoints - you have expanded my horizons beyond my little corner of the world and I really appreciate you.  ((hugs)) Teresa

Gourmet, Girls, Gorge, Cannon & Monkey!

What an eventful few days!  Yesterday my sister Denise hosted the "Girl's Lunch" at her home.  She prepared a dish she'd discovered on a visit to New Orleans, Louisiana - Shrimp & Cheesy Grits.  It was delicious, shrimp, bacon, green onions and she made roasted asparagus to go with it. YUM!

 My youngest granddaughter Paige.. they got peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. :-)

Jenna has a few missing teeth! Isn't that a cute smile!?

We had such a nice time, before we knew it we'd spent 5 hours visiting!  Off I headed home - hubby had been busy, he had a pork roast in the slow cooker all day and made BBQ pulled pork sandwiches.. and his OWN homemade rolls to serve it on!  Plus he'd made a jello salad with whipped cream, cottage cheese, and fresh fruit.  He's a keeper, isn't he? :-)

On Thursday evening he was reading Craigslist and showed me this cannon.. now I know this is odd, but he's been wanting a cannon for years and it was a very good price, so we called the seller and got the directions and off we went to look.  The seller had worked on the movie "Glory" in the UK and had won this in a drawing.  He also did Civil War reenacting.  Isn't it kind of neat?

Below is a sock monkey I'm making for Paige, her sister has one.  I need to make one more for my youngest grandson, Caleb.. his brother Hayden has one I'd made and his mom said that Caleb had "adopted" his brother's monkey so I'd better get another made soon.  I still have eyelashes to embroider, and a mouth and nose.. and a red felt heart sewed on so that Paige will know that her grandmother loves her.  When I showed it to her yesterday she hugged it and said.. "I want to sleep with it!".  Awwww

I've got a "Give-Away" going for one of my pairs of earrings... please read the post below and leave a comment if you want to be in the drawing.  My granddaughters will be here for a visit on Wednesday and I'll have them draw a name.  So, leave a comment before Wednesday of next week!

Today I volunteered for Vista House at a meeting at Rooster Rock State Park, on the way back to popped off the freeway at a turnout viewpoint and took this shot of Rooster Rock on the left and Vista House at Crown Point State Park up on the bluff 733 feet above the Columbia River.  The trees are getting the tiniest hint of green, in a few weeks I'll try to get a shot when everything is leafed out.

I hope you're having a wonderful weekend.  Love and hugs from Corbett, Oregon... Teresa

Give-Away & Happy St. Patricks Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day and thanks for dropping by to visit today! Below is a felt, sequin and bead pin I made years ago.  Sparkly fun!

I decided I wanted to celebrate my excitement at reaching 100 "Followers" by having a "Give-Away"!  The rules are only to leave a comment and tell me you'd like to "throw your hat in the ring" to win the prize -- I'm going to give one of you a pair of my sterling silver pine cone earrings.  The winner will get to go to my Etsy shop and pick out their favorite pair!  I've only been blogging seriously for 8 months and have enjoyed meeting so many people and making friends.  So, thank you! 

One of my bloodlines is Scotch-Irish, my great great Grandfather Robert Fletcher McAlister married a Cherokee woman - so I treasure that line and makes me really celebrate this Irish holiday.

Above is a flower on my Shamrock plant that I got starts from my mother.  I lost her one year ago tomorrow.  Here's to my Mom.

((hugs)) Teresa