Purples, New Grad & Panorama

I love purple.  We have several varieties of Rhododendron here on our little farm place, but not a purple one.  So, yesterday hubby and I were running some errands and I saw a few of these purple rhodies in bloom so asked my dear spouse if we could add one more stop - at the nursery to see if they had a purple rhodie.  They did!  We adopted it and brought it home to free it from it's pot to live out it's life in the splendor of the countryside.  :-)  Now.. where to put it?

We've had an amazing run of wonderful weather, and if you know much about Oregon, our Springtime is known for rain and coolness.  Today the run of warm sunny days came to a screeching halt and it rained all day.  Yesterday I realized that it was time to get some "farm in the spring" photos as most of the flowering shrubs were at their peak.  

Last year my sweetie bought, painted and installed two trellises for our Clematis on either side of our garden shed, this one just bloomed!  Purple!

Walking closer, you can see the flowers in bloom... 

The ruffled edged pansies are filling out.. purple...

Dayle always goes in and brings the dog out for a walk as soon as we arrive home.. there they are! 

The other ruffly pansy.. purple!

Our garden shed.. the shrub on the right end is a mock orange.. hope it blooms.  The 6 ft windmill and small water trough are an homage to my farm heritage from Oklahoma.  My grandfather farmed wheat and raised cattle on a large farm in Watonga, OK.  My dad and his 4 brothers and 1 sister were born there.  My Dad inherited 80 acres after grandpa passed away.  He eventually sold the land, but kept the mineral rights.  Recently an oil company drilled on the property and so now we get a check from them each month for the oil and natural gas they are pumping from there.  :-)

Don't you just adore pansies?  Their happy little faces bring me much joy. 

Dayle replanted the little pots in the window shelves on the shed and they're doing well.  See the old rusty milk can?   

More pansies..  more purple. 

Here is my sister Denise's youngest child, Whitney - we are so very proud of her as she graduated with a law degree from Lewis & Clark College on Saturday. 

My sister put on a celebratory graduation BBQ at her house and here is Whitney with two of her friends.  Ah, to be young again.. her whole life stretching before her and all the challenges, successes and experiences.  I'm so proud of my niece!!

Today I went swimming for an hour, then attended my monthly meeting of the board of directors for the Friends of Multnomah Falls.  I'm almost to the 2nd half of my 2nd year as president of the group.  :-)  On my way home I pulled over by the Sandy River to get a photo of the river and the beautiful clouds lit up by the setting sun.

So lush and green here.   

I love looking at the sky, don't you? 

When I was looking at cameras at Costco, the salesman told me I should get this free App for my iPhone for making panorama shots, it's called Photosynth.  Just download it and click on it and follow the easy instructions.. isn't this fun? 

I hope you have a nice week planned.  We're doing some planning for our DC trip.  We leave on June 4th and return on the 12th.  We have a house/pet sitter all set up. Thanks for visiting and you know I treasure your comments.  ((hugs)), Teresa :-)