Beautiful Spring Day

New baby cherry trees - they look like little sticks in the ground.

Frostbitten Choisea Ternata - I hope it will survive after pruning.

Our happy old girl - she just loves a sunny warm day.

Today was a brisk, but sunny and beautiful spring day. The temps were in the mid 40's and there was a sharp north wind, but the sky was clear and there was a definite "spring" in the air.

I did several outdoor chores: filling the bird feeders, sweeping out the lower garage and driveway, and raking the last of the dead apples from under the apple tree. I did some much needed pruning of the decorative grasses out front. Sally kept me company the entire time.

I got some photos of our new little baby cherry trees that were just planted on Saturday. Also I got a shot of one of my Choisea Ternata - otherwise known as Mexican Orange. I don't think it liked the two feet of snow we had this winter. The top half of the bush is pretty well frostbitten. I hope with some severe pruning that it will survive and bloom again. And I had to add a lovely photo of my sweet girl who loves to keep me company. Hard to believe she will be 10 in July!

Great Family Photos With Four Generations

Grandma, Elsa Jane, Great Grandma



Grandma and Elsa Jane laughing together

Three beautiful Grandchildren - Jacob, Elsa, Abby

Great Grandpa Gipson kissing Elsa Jane

Grandpa and Elsa Jane

Elsa Jane Snyder 10 month

Elsa Jane at Grandma and Grandpa's house

Great Grandpa and Great Grandma with Jenn, Abby, and Jacob

Grandma with Abby and her black eye

Where did the last month go? Time has a way of moving so slowly you never think a day will end, and at the same time it goes so fast a person hardly has time to catch their breath. It is over three weeks since I last posted pictures on my blog. I will try and catch up now.

February was very dry this year. We are about 4" below normal for rainfall for the month. Then March came and with it lots of snow and cold. But spring is not to be dissuaded from appearing, and daffodils, camelias, crocuses, and snow drops are blooming all over.

Last week our daughter-in-law, Miranda, and our little Granddaughter, Elsa, came for a visit for 6 days. Elsa is 10 months now and such a funny baby. She is so much like her Daddy. She has very little tolerance for hunger pangs and needs food quickly when she is hungry. She is mobile and cruises around the house. She particularly loves her naked time after her bath. She made up to us in only one day. I was able to get her up in the morning and we spent about an hour with her each morning before her Mommy got up. It was so wonderful to be able to get to know this little girl and watch her interact with Grandma and Grandpa. Jenn brought Abby and Jacob over one day to be with Aunt Miranda and to get to know their little cousin, Elsa. It was great to have all three Grandchildren together. What a blessing these babies are to our family.

It has been great to have Mom and Dad close by to share in the times with the family. They are really enjoying getting to know their Great Grandchildren. What fun for all the family. Abby particularly loves her Papa and Great Grandpa. What an amazing heritage this family has. God has blessed us so much and we are so thankful for His protection and love for us all.

Valentine's Day

Elsa with Misa and Rudy. Notice how big Rudy is compared to Elsa.

Elsa and Joe

Elsa in her little rocking chair.

Jacob and Abby on a winter walk.

VALENTINE'S DAY

When I think about Valentine's Days of my childhood, I have such happy memories. We always spent time the week before the holiday, either making or cutting out premade Valentines. My favorite to make were the ones made from the lace doilies and red and pink construction paper. We learned how to cut out hears that did not have a crease and glued them precisely in the center of the white lace doily. It was lovely. Then we wrote a special message on each Valentine. I remember getting the box of the Valentines on the sheet of paper and we had to carefully cut each one out. That was long before the days of the precut and prefolded ones. We spent so much time choosing just the right message for each person in our class. And then we had the decorated shoe box that we had on our desks. Each child in the class would come by and put their Valentine for you in the box with the cut out slot on the top. We usually had cupcakes decorated with pink or white icing, with just the perfect amount of red sprinkles on them. And one can never forget the conversation heart boxes. Back then they were 5 cents a box. We carefully opened each Valentine to see what our classmates gave us. And when school was out we put everything back in the decorated box and carefully took our treasures home. Once home we had to go through each Valentine again and show our Mom. I loved Valentine's Day then and I love it still today.

When I think of Valentine's Day I think of love. My special Valentine is my husband of 37 years and this year we spent our 38th Valentine Day together. We did our taxes......YEA! We went to Salem and looked at computers, and we went to Chang's Mongolian Grill for a wonderful lunch. It was a lovely day with my honey.

My other special Valentines are my children and my grandchildren. They make my heart warm and put a song in my heart. I am very happy to be able to have a special day to tell them how much I love them. What a joy they are to my life.

The love that means the most to my life is the love of God. Jesus gift of Salvation is the best Valentine anyone could ever have. That is the kind of love that has no human equal. It is unconditional love that we do not deserve. And I am so blessed that God loves me so much.

Family Photos

Kath and Carolyn



Barb, Carolyn, Kath - Sisters

Paul, Barb, Carolyn, Kath, Phil - Siblings

Mom and Dad


These are some family photos from Christmas 2008

Christmas 2008

Snowy Cherry Orchard


Sally Peeking Through Fence


Beautiful View of House in Winter

Christmas 2008.........Reflections and Reminiscences......

The first thing that comes to mind as I think about the holiday season of 2008 is snow. Lots and lots of snow. And cold......extreme cold! We did not have temperatures above 32' for over 10 days. Often in the morning the temperature on our back deck was in the teens, the coldest being 13' one morning. And the deck is somewhat protected from the open cold, and I do not even know what the temperature was outside in the open. The result of all the cold was that the snow, which kept coming down, did not melt. We ended up having 10" of snow, with about 1" of ice on top of that, followed by 8" of new snow. Walking through this was difficult. And since we do not have studs or chains or a snow plow, we were unable to get our car out of the garage for 8 days! The day before we got 'stuck' up on our hill, I had gone to the grocery store and stocked up on double of the items I use most......"just in case". Thank God, I had the foresight to do that because we had enough fresh items to last us for the 8 days we were house bound. My first shopping trip after we were set "free" from our garage was quite expensive. But I realized how creative a person can be when you have a limited supply of groceries. Thankfully, we did not lose power for longer than 4 hours one night. The furnace worked so hard day and night just to keep the temperature in the house at a balmy 68'. The consequence of that was a PGE bill that was $100 more than the previous month! YIKES! But with layers, we kept warm.

My next thoughts are about family. My sister, Carolyn and her husband, Nelson, came out to the NW for a week from Chicago. They had not seen Mom and Dad's new little duplex. They stayed with Mom and Dad for 4 days, and then came over to our house for the last 3 days of their visit. My brother, Phil, also came down for 10 days from WA. He stayed with us the first part of his visit, and then went to Mom and Dad's. We were all planning to have a big Christmas dinner with the family, and our daughter, her husband, and grandbabies on Christmas Day. But the family in McMinnville could not get out, so they had Christmas with Mom and Dad. Jenn and her family did make it up to our house.....thanks to a neighbor who took his big truck and drove back and forth over the lower driveway to make a path for her little car. It was a nice Christmas with just the 6 of us. It was the first Christmas that Jacob, 3 1/2, understood the concept of presents. He did not care what was in them, particularly, he just was excited to open them, and more than willing to help Abby open hers. We did have a fun party at Mom and Dad's on the weekend. It was all the siblings and spouses, my niece, Elaine and her husband, Jeff. We ate tons of yummy food, and played games, and laughed a lot. Very special time as a family. This is why it is so good for Mom and Dad to be closer to family.

We ended 2008 with our annual New Year's Eve party with three couples who are very dear to our hearts........my sister and her husband, Crit and Janice Haney, and Max and Patty Huff. We ate lots, played games, and just had fun bringing in the New Year with very special friends.

My prayer is that as we begin a new year, we will all live by Proverbs 16:9 "Man makes his plans, but the Lord directs his steps." We may make plans that seem good to us, but we must be open to the plans that God has for us each day. Spiritual maturity is being flexible and willing to follow where God is leading us each day.

Winter in the NW

Snow in cherry orchard


Snow in back yard

Heavy snow falling

Well, we are in the middle of a winter storm event that is going to be about 10 days or so. An arctic blast from northern Canada decided to move west and south and park itself right over the Pacific NW. Combine that with some moisture off the Pacific Ocean mixed with a southerly wind warming things up in the upper atmosphere, and you get snow. Not a huge accumulation, but just enough to be an annoyance and cause problems on the roads. It is, however, lovely to look at. The unsettling thing about this Winter weather event has been the extreme (for our area) cold temperatures. It has not been this cold in 2 decades (20 years). We have had daytime highs in the low 20's, and dropping into the teens at night. Add a strong east wind of 15-20 mph, and you get wind chills of about 5-7'. That is cold! My cheeks are chapped from the icy wind. Sally does not seem to mind the cold. But I have to go out and check her water and break up the ice in her bowl frequently. I went around the house and closed all the foundation vents to keep the icy air off the pipes. The poor heat pump has been working nonstop. And I keep going out to fill the bird feeders. This morning there were about 30 birds munching on the Wild Bird Seed. We have Oregon Juncos, Chickadees, Sparrows of all sorts, Nuthatches, Mourning Doves, Towhees, etc. It is fun to watch the symbiotic relationship of the birds. Some of them are feeder eaters. Others eat from the seeds that fall to the ground from the scratching of the sparrows on the feeder (they are messy eaters).

We are scheduled to have more snow tomorrow - up to 3 more inches. And Sat. looks like it could be a nasty snow/ice storm. Not fun for all the Christmas events scheduled. A Christmas concert that I wanted to go to last weekend was cancelled because of snow. And our annual Church Ladies Christmas Cookie Exchange was also cancelled on Monday night.

At least I got all my Christmas cards addressed and sent to the ladies that are part of the Changed Choices program in the SE prison system. I sent out 52 cards this year. Many of the women have no family and getting a Christmas card means so much to them.

Well, that is all for now. Stay warm and well. And be blessed.

The beauty of the Sun as it sets and rises

Last evening Bob called me up to his office to look out his window over the orchard. This is the sunset that was visible. I ran and got my camera and got this amazing picture as the sun was going down and illuminating the clouds with bright red and orange. Beautiful!



That same morning I had captured this shot of the sun coming up over the orchard, with the valley all fogged in. I love living up on our hill above the fog line. The valley is often shrouded in fog this time of year, but we wake to beautiful sunrises quite often. The fog does move up the hill most days, but not before giving us a lovely look at the sun's greeting.

Thank you, Heavenly Father, for giving us such amazing beauty to behold. This is just a tiny glimpse of Your majesty, and I am sure a small taste of the beauty of our eternal home in heaven. Thank you for allowing us to see Your creativity through this amazing world .