Saturday, May 21, 2011

Volcano, Portland, Farm & Flowers

I'm enjoying sharing my part of the world with people around the globe.  I recently put a "flag counter" on my blog only 8 days ago and in that week I've had visitors from *51* countries!!  I've had 22,830 pageviews since I started blogging in earnest, just last September, 2010.  Many comments on my blog tell me they never knew how pretty Oregon is. :-)

Yesterday my 2 sisters and I met for lunch at "Skyline Burger", then 2 of us headed on up to visit our mother's resting place at Skyline Memorial.  It was her birthday and she would have turned 90 yesterday.  My older sister, Roberta, and I visited the mausoleum and I thought it would be neat to sing a song for Mom, so I picked a vintage song Mom would love and we sang "You Are My Sunshine" in 2 part harmony.  The echo in there worked to our advantage and we sounded pretty good!  Before you think we're loony, we were the only ones there. :-)

On my way UP to Skyline I noted there was a wonderful view of Mount Saint Helens - our very own volcano, up in Washington, but the view from Oregon is pretty amazing.  My sister Roberta sent me this photo below of her and a school friend canoeing on Spirit Lake in 1957 long before it erupted on May 18, 1980.  Isn't it pretty?  It was a lovely "snow cone" of a mountain.
Below is a photo of the mountain erupting.  I'll never forget when it happened, my mom, sisters, children and I drove down to Roseburg to visit my brother and I was driving home.  I looked north from the freeway I-5 and saw this HUGE cloud that looked different than a cloud - I remembered that geologists had been predicting an eruption, so I said, "Wow, look at that!  I wonder if St. Helen's erupted??"  My sisters said.... noooooooo... so I turned on the radio and sure enough, I was right and it had erupted.  Here is a great video from History.com
We live in the countryside of Corbett, Oregon an estimated 70 miles (as the crow flies) and I'll never forget the amount of volcanic ash that fell on our acreage.  Everyone had to wear face masks when outside and it played havoc on automobile engines.  
This is the photo that I took yesterday - I call it "Old Flat Top" now.  Over the trees you will see the Columbia River, across it is Vancouver, Washington and the mountain beyond.
I have a bad habit of taking photos while I'm driving :-) -- This is beautiful downtown Portland, Oregon, which is bisected by the Willamette River, which makes for a gorgeous view of downtown while on the bridge over the river.
Another shot.  I think hubby and I live in heaven - the Columbia River Gorge is just 20 minutes from this beautiful cosmopolitan city with museums, Portland Opera, world class Zoo, theaters, wonderful restaurants - but it's still clean and pretty and not TOO big.
And here I am, 20 minutes later, driving up the lazy Sandy River Gorge.
I arrived home to find hubby out mowing the pasture on his Kubota tractor, burning yard debris and having a good old time.
This photo shows our two wonderful pear trees that have probably been here for 100 years.  Our farm was one of the older ones in this area and was once a fruit orchard, and we still have apple, pear and plum trees bearing fruit.
This is from the hilltop behind our house looking down on the back of the farmhouse - you can see the chicken house and our garage through the trees.
Now inside and here is my beautiful bouquet of 3 colors of Lilac from our garden - white, lavender and dark purple - and a bouquet of Lily-of-the-Valley I picked - and I cut the lilac too.
I wish you could smell my lilies.  Mmmmm.  In my glass lantern, I still have agates hubby and I found on the beach, some bits of driftwood, 2 fossils and a few bits of sea glass - and a tiny bird nest I found.
When I walk by this bouquet and put my face in the middle of it and let the fragrance wash over me.  When we bought this farm 28 years ago there was just ONE giant and venerable common lavender lilac, now I have 4 lavenders, 2 dark purples and one white.  I need a blue-toned one and a pink toned one.  Years ago I visited the Hulda Klager lilac gardens up in Washington and saw a tri-color bouquet in the farmhouse there and wanted to emulate it.  Success!

And so there you go.  My day yesterday.  I must say I love blogging as before I thought I lived a pretty run-of-the-mill, humdrum life - then when I started recording it and photographing it, it's made me appreciate all that I have around me and things to do..  sooOOOoo much more!!

Again - I want to thank those of you who visit my blog and those who take the time to leave me your adorable and heartfelt comments.  I treasure you!!  ((hugs))  Teresa

19 comments:

  1. My oh my Teresa you sure do get around! You're quite an amazing lady. Love your flowers and the good olde tractor! xoRobin❤

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  2. Wow they are fantastic photos, I now feel like I have just been on a little trip to your side of the world, instead of sitting here on the sofa watching sad saturday night t.v. xx

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  3. Lovely photos Teresa, your lilac bouquet is wonderful and the scenery as always takes my breath away its so beautiful! Have a lovely weekend. Joanna xx

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  4. I think you have summed up the beauty of blogging Teresa, we are so used to our familiar surroundings that we forget they are new and beautiful to other peeps all over the world. You live in a very beautiful part Teresa. I loved my trip with you today.Thanks for sharing more wonderful photos. I still smile when I see the difference in size in your and my garden-LOL. Enjoy the rest of the weekend, Jane x

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  5. Teresa, we are all so happy you take us along for the ride. I have learned so much from you and I feel blessed to experience your beautiful world right along side of you.
    Have a wonderful, beautiful day and smell those lilacs for me.
    Meredith

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  6. Awesome photographs again, it is very educational to read about other peoples lives and parts of the world. I had no idea you were close to a Volcano! I can smell that Lilac from here. Hubby looks as happy as Larry on his tractor! :) I think you chose a beautiful song to sing xxx

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  7. Lilacs are my favorite! That bouquet is just gorgeous!

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  8. Teresa, you make me want to come and visit... all that country so close to the city. You have wonderful pictures!

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  9. Lovely countryside - you are lucky. I used to live on a small farm here in England and really loved it - although not all the hard work. We are retired now to a different area still nice and as it is spring a lovely time of year. dojo

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  10. WOW WOW WOW Teresa..such beauty
    Fabulous photos from a fabulous place and a fabulous blogger....loving this post so much

    NooNoo was back in the fold today to harden off the new paint job
    It took us a while to find her and yep you hit the nail on the head there, a good one can be very expensive we had a lot of help from an on line V dub owners club finding our NooNoo
    Hugs Suz x

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  11. Hello Teresa This post was sooo interesting - I even showed the pictures to my hubby as I knew he'd be interested in the volcano! And the beautiful lilacs, those big bunches of different shades all together were so exquisite! Have a lovely week.
    Helen x

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  12. Fab posting... but seriously mowing the pasture... I would love to have all that land to play in. Stunning Lilacs, they are in bloom here toooo, but not in my yard. Ha-Chew...

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  13. Dear Teresa,

    you reside in a wonderful area and you wake up pleasurable memories in my mind with your lovely pictures and stories!
    We lived in the USA 20 years ago for five years, four in California and one in Texas. We made a lot of trips to many of the beautiful places in your country and one of them was to Oregon. We have been in Corbet, we visited the Columbia River Gorge and we saw the fish ladder - I even made a quilt top about the ladder later! We admired the creative and wonderful beading and basket weaving works of the Indians in the museum and we enjoyed the fantastic landscape, the waterfalls, the green lush vegetation, the mountains, the gorge itself!

    Can you imagine how much I enjoy your photos? Thank you for your most lovely blog!

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  14. I remember watching the news when Mount Saint Helen's erupted. I was in middle school and our science teacher thought it was such a wonderful teaching experience. I just love the pictures of the farm. I was able to spend the weekend on a farm and it just reinforces my desire to own one at some point. I can just see Car Guy becoming Tractor Guy :) LOVE the flowers!

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  15. Beautiful! Our son-in-law is a pilot and he took us up in a "little bitty" plane a couple of weeks ago. We got as close as you're allowed to go around Mt. St. Helens. What an awesome experience. Just a little steam was coming out of the vent at the time and it looked surreal. Thanks for another glimpse into your world.

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  16. Your pictures always inspire me. Thank you for sharing your part of the world with us...it's beautiful. The flowers are so yummy looking! Can't wait to see what you have next for us. :)

    Blessings always

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  17. Lovely pics Teresa! You make me want to move to Oregon, as that's one thing I have always wanted. I have a friend that I went to school with, that moved to Oregon (Medford area) passing through here next week and he's stopping by to see me. How lucky you both are to live in such a beautiful state!

    My mother is buried in NY state. I have never been to her grave. That is on my bucket list.

    The pic of Mt. Saint Helens exploded is just beautiful.
    (My name is Kat...it's always at the bottom of my posts) :o) xoxo

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  18. I was in 8th grade when St. Helens erupted. Our science teacher lectured on that for days.

    Love your pictures.

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  19. Teresa,
    Your photos are so beautiful. I can smell the flowers through my monitor! Thanks for sharing all the photos from your neck of the woods. I used to live in the Pac NW and miss its beauty very much.

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