"The Dahlias were blooming in the ground as if they were welcoming her." ~Love Happens

I love flowers, of any kind. In the last few years I have come to love Dahlias. I've realized that I am not a fan of the old fashioned pom pom dahlias. I love the colorful, fireburst looking dahlia. The varigated colors are phenomenal. Someday, I will have lots of these beautiful flowers in my yard. Someday....In the meantime, I will enjoy them at the Swan Island Dahlia Festival. And, I will daydream about the ones I will pick out to plant in my yard.

**warning:lots of flowers to come**

Rows upon rows...

I was amazed by the size of this one...

There is a pond that has HUGE Koi!!

They have a Ponderosa Lemon Tree with HUGE lemons...You can see one of the lemons behind some of the leaves below and just to the left of the sign.

In the display of cut dahlias, they also use the lemons. Each lemon was about the size of a large grapefruit/small cantalope.

I love the dahlia called Jitterbug. It is used in the display below with the purple dahlia.

Displays....

I couldn't go and see all the beautiful flowers and not take some home, right?! This is the bouquet that I bought.

Pretty, huh?! Now, wouldn't you want some in your yard, too?!

Joining the deer for dinner

I'd never been to Oxbow Park, until today, that is. I joined my friend, Linda and her husband (Larry) and daughter (Connie) for a delightful picnic dinner in the park. We roasted hot dogs, ate yummy salads, cookies and of course roasted marshmallows. It was one of the hottest days Portland has experienced this summer and the park was cool and a tranquil place to spend the evening hours. Just as we were talking about packing up dinner stuff, along comes a deer to enjoy her dinner in our company...even though we were in her territory.

Linda, grill, deer, Connie. The deer was so close and crunching away on leaves.

Packing up the goods...

Thanks, Linda, Larry & Connie for the invite to a lovely evening!

Perfect Summer Evening

I love Portland, especially in the summer months when there are loads of events to attend. There are festivals, concerts in the parks and outdoor movies. Last night, Tera and I ventured out to a park for a Portland Parks and Rec sponsored movie night. We were seeing "Back to the Future" and went with picnic dinner in hand. We were celebrating Tera's birthday a few days early, and it was glorious.

Does she look tired?! The movie hadn't even started yet. That watermelon was amazing though!

We had dessert, also. My g/f snickerdoodle cookie was pretty amazing, too!
Us with the screen behind us before the movie started.

Thanks Portland, for the enjoyable experience! We had a blast and will be back!

Beach Weekend Bachelorette Party (& Bridal Shower)

Jamie is a friend of mine from college. I see her monthly with my Girls Group. She is marrying Alex this late summer/early fall and so there have been wedding events scattered through the summer-Bridal Shower and Bachelorette Party to be specific.

Jamie on her Bridal Shower Day~ (7/30/11)

The weekend of August 12-14 was her Bachelorette Party at Lincoln City. I went over Saturday rather than Friday, and joined in the festivities.

We hit up Aunt Mary's, an interesting little place. Described as "the vegetarian/adult novelty hangout in Lincoln City." This is the kind of place that truly does have a "back room." 'Nough said....

Shot time...

Smile!
~Cheers~

After Aunt Mary's we headed back to the house to get ready to go out for the night.

Jo assisting Rachel.

**Note: If you are easily disgusted or very sensitive you can pass these next two pictures**


Fun-fetti Penis Cake

Post frosting...

**Alright, you can come back now if you passed the previous pictures.**

There were twelve of us who were at the beach house for the gathering. Saturday night was the night to go out to dinner and to a dance club (yes...I am quite the clubber--yeah, right, but you do what you do for friends)! Jamie wore red and the rest of us wore black...

Group Shot

Me and Elysia at the club, holding down the table. :) As much as the club is not my scene, I enjoyed my time and barely noticed that I was eating dinner at 10pm, or that I went to bed at about 1:45am.

Sunday morning I got up before most of the others and went for a walk on the beach. I can't go to the coast and not walk on the beach. It was a beautiful, sunny morning!

I found all sorts of fun stuff on the beach...

hollowed out logs...

a star fish amputee...

and some pretty cool ripples in the sand.

What a nice view.

It was a fun, and actually, very relaxing quick weekend away. Looking forward to the wedding day now, Jamie!

"Every goodbye makes the next hello closer." ~Anonymous

There are some friends that you don't want to say goodbye too. And sometimes, if you are like me, you can just pretend that they are on "vacation." My friend Rose and her husband, also friend, Lee just moved up to the wilds of Alaska. Rose graduated in June with a Masters in Teaching degree and in order to be able to work (since Oregon schools are downsizing) she took a teaching job in Pilot Station, AK, truly the wilds of Alaska. Before they left we (our core group of friends) congregated as often as we could. There were movie nights, parties, a bridal shower and lots of laughs at all those events. In a short few months Rose and Lee will be back for the Christmas holiday and I will get to say hello to them again.

Rose and Lee in Anchorage (I hijacked this picture off Facebook)!

Rose and Lee sang Pray For Me during the last church service they were here for.
After the service and the bustle of people who love Rose and Lee departed, there were a few of us who hung out for a bit longer. Jen and Daren (and Oscar) came down from Seattle and it was so fun to catch up with them and spend time with everyone that was there.

Daren and Zach had a great time with the doll and this toy...pink spiky hair, or swim cap, or...

Rose and Lee, good luck and many blessings to you in your Alaskan adventures. It will be great to say hello to you again soon!

"You ought to have seen what I saw on my way...

...To the village, through Mortenson's pasture to-day:
Blueberries as big as the end of your thumb,
Real sky-blue, and heavy, and ready to drum
In the cavernous pail of the first one to come!
And all ripe together, not some of them green
And some of them ripe! You ought to have seen!" ...
~Robert Frost

I must admit that this poem extends from here, but bores me dearly. My blueberry picking time, however, didn't bore me. I've always wanted to go berry picking, and after being tipped off to a great blueberry farm by my friend, Diane, from work, off I went for an experience. It was a hot day, I was freshly sunburned, but oh-so-productive in my berry picking endeavor. There were lots of rows of bushes and I had no idea how to pick which row to pick on and settled it by selecting row 22....my favorite number. It was a good row to pick. I emerged from the bushes 6+lbs later. Unlike Mr. Frost's poem, there were still lots of green berries, but lots of ripe ones also.

Now...to bag and freeze some for the winter and crossing off of my to do before I die list!!

To Smooth the World's Edges...

I feel like I am eternally behind this summer. I am behind in reading, writing, blogging, friending, out-of-doors-ing. I'm slacking on leisure time, saying no time and enjoying time. I'm becoming buried and it really is only just beginning. Don't get me wrong, there have definitely been high spots of the summer, but not consistently and not withstanding. I hope to catch-up on at least the blogging time in the near future as I have so much to show and tell of those high points, but in the meantime...enjoy...

What if we rolled our Rs instead of our eyes,
if we gazed at faces instead of screens?

What if we wore our listening ears always (no more taking them off only to put them back on),
if we popped off our sunglasses so our eyes could smile along?

What if we tore away at defenses one disarming compliment at at time,
if we stopped screaming "hurry!" and started whispering "wait"?

What if we stopped looking around for something else, someone else, and simply loved and let ourselves be fascinated by the something, the someone right in front of us?

What if we did all of this?

Wouldn't we together sand at least a few harsh edges off the world?

~courtesy of J.M.