"To me, flowers are happiness." ~Stefano Gabbana

Happy Mother's Day! Since my Mom is so far away and I couldn't spend the day with her, I decided to go see some pretty flowers, that she would have appreciated seeing as well. Down near Salem is a big Iris Garden called Schreiner's Iris Garden that I'd always wanted to go to, but had always missed for one reason or another. This year I decided to go. Saturday was filled with Rhododendrons, so it was only fitting to have another flower day. After church I headed south to see the beauty.

There was a display area where they had all the Iris cut and in vases and also bucketful after bucketful of Iris you could buy.

Out in the gardens were lots of other flowers as well. Lupine. I love Lupine.

 Such rich colors.

There were also loads of allium...many with bees.

Almost black Iris.

 Above picture: normal; below picture is the same photo but enhanced. I love my little point and shoot camera and its fun features.

 Above and below pictures are the same just normal and with a fun effect.

 Ditto to these...

 ...and these...

 ...and these....

 ...and this amazing clematis. I haven't seen this kind of clematis before. It was fun.

 More color to end the day.

I remember that I don't love Iris-at least the bearded varieties. I think they are pretty, but I cnn't say that I'd plant them in my yard. I do enjoy the dwarf Iris and would plant them I think. But God doesn't make an ugly flower-I still appreciate all the amazing colors and varieties and the sunshine of course. Such a fantastic day.

**Happy day to all of you who are Mothers, Grandmothers, God-mothers, Step-mothers, foster mothers, those who are mother figures to someone not their child, single father's and even moms to four legged children! This world is a better place for the difference you make in the lives of others. May you be richly blessed today and all days!**

Friends and Flowers and Fowl

My friend, Tera is in town from Corvallis for Mother's Day weekend and as she and her family gets ready to travel for a family vacation so we squeezed in some time to go to the Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden as it was peak bloom time for the flowering bushes. We were quickly greeted by this pretty duck.

 And by these buddies of his.

 Then we got into the flowers. They were so beautiful. Portland has rhodies all over the place, but it's fun to see the variety of color and the number of them all in one place.

So glad I caught the bee in this picture!

 Tera with one of her favorite colors.

 These ducks were running/waddling as fast as they could down this deck walkway. It was the cutest thing in the world.

 There were also lots of geese.

 And more flowers.

 And then we got to the baby geese. The cutest things in the world. I could have taken a million pictures as they were so adorable. I resisted and only took about 20, of which I won't post all of them...to spare you.

This picture is one of my favorites of them....

 Curious little guy...

 Momma (or Daddy) protecting the flock of goslings.

 This is another of my favorites....

 Tera and me!

 I love the twisting/turning trunks and branches of the rhododendron bushes. It's amazing how large they can get.

 We went into a building to see all the cut rhodies for the show they were having and the geese were using the roof as their landing pad. It sounded so funny to have them land and run across it and then run and take off again. It reminded me of the movie The Rescuers when Orville, the Albatross took off in flight. Below you can see geese feet...

 Some pretty unique varieties.

Now you can see the goose head...peering over the edge of the roof. Surveying his territory.

 Duck butts!

 Exploring!

Tera and me at the entry.

Following flower seeing we went to dinner at Red Robin! So yummy and a fun way to spend the day!

Thanks for the adventure added to our list of adventures, Tera!

The Letter "F"

My friend Janelle has a daughter turning 1! I can't believe how time flies. For Naomi's 1st Birthday gift Janelle asked a bunch of folks to decorate specific letters so that Naomi could have the whole alphabet hanging on her wall. I was assigned an "F" and had the darndest time trying to find a letter "F" in a font I like and sometimes just finding a letter "F" was a challenge. Notice the labels for the letters below. Something missing?

Once I found a letter "F" I went to town to decorate it. I'm not a glitzy, shiny kind of girl. Bling is not my thing, but I so wanted to rhinestone my letter. With some help from my brother in design I settled on an ombre style of rhinestoning. My friend Stasia also helped with layout and then I finally several days later got inspired to actually glue the rhinestones down-something I've been avoiding because of their small size and not knowing which glue would be the best. I just needed to do it.

Here's the finished product. I'm pleased with how it turned out! Hopefully Janelle and Naomi enjoy it as much also!

Happy 1st Birthday, Naomi!