All things Mary Oliver

I feel like I am ages behind in recording life here. I will get caught up. Until then I am loving all things Mary Oliver. Here, I share some of my favorite quotes/short poems of hers. 

“Instructions for living a life. 
Pay attention. 
Be astonished. 
Tell about it.” 
― Mary Oliver

“Someone I loved once gave me a box full of darkness. It took me years to understand that this too, was a gift.” 
― Mary Oliver

“Listen--are you breathing just a little, and calling it a life?” 
― Mary Oliver

“Keep some room in your heart for the unimaginable.” 
― Mary Oliver

“I want to think again of dangerous and noble things.
I want to be light and frolicsome.
I want to be improbable beautiful and afraid of nothing,
as though I had wings.” 

“Sometimes I need
only to stand
wherever I am 
to be blessed.” 
― Mary Oliver

“I don't want to end up simply having visited this world.” 
― Mary Oliver

“How I go to the woods

Ordinarily, I go to the woods alone, with not a single
friend, for they are all smilers and talkers and therefore 
unsuitable.

I don’t really want to be witnessed talking to the catbirds 
or hugging the old black oak tree. I have my way of 
praying, as you no doubt have yours. 

Besides, when I am alone I can become invisible. I can sit
on the top of a dune as motionless as an uprise of weeds, 
until the foxes run by unconcerned. I can hear the almost
unhearable sound of the roses singing.

If you have ever gone to the woods with me, I must love
you very much.” 
― Mary Oliver

“maybe death
isn't darkness, after all,
but so much light
wrapping itself around us--” 
― Mary Oliver

“He is exactly the poem I wanted to write.” 
― Mary Oliver

“And that is just the point... how the world, moist and beautiful, calls to each of us to make a new and serious response. That's the big question, the one the world throws at you every morning. "Here you are, alive. Would you like to make a comment?” 
― Mary Oliver

“I held my breath as we do sometimes to stop time when something wonderful has touched us...” 
― Mary Oliver

“it is a serious thing // just to be alive / on this fresh morning / in this broken world.” 
― Mary Oliver

“But I also say this: that light is an invitation to happiness, and that happiness, when it's done right, is a kind of holiness, palpable and redemptive. ” 
― Mary Oliver

Year 3 makes it tradition, right?!

For the 3rd year my friend Jenny and I whisked away to Hood River for our now annual fall trip to the Fruit Loop for apple season. We went to lunch at what has become our favorite restaraunt (Horse Feathers) and then on to the rest of the adventure and we got to go in my new car to boot!

Always a funny picture face.

 And then a nice one...

 Sunflower seeds still in the flower.

 We take a picture with these pumpkin people in it every year. It's a must.

 Autumn splendor.

 Apple time!

 It was cold and a wee bit wet-misty rainy. But we still had fun. Our hands were freezing in this picture...

 We'd had such a warm and lovely fall there were still lots of dahlias. I love them.

 And goats! They were so stinkin' cute!

 Look at that face...and those ears!

 The smallest and the largest at one stand.

We had a grand time, like usual. Maybe we should aim to go for another fruit season this coming year, Jenny?! Make it a bi-annual trip?!  :) Thanks for the friendship and laughter.

I feel old today!

My little brother turns 30 today. I feel old. :) Heehee. I love him. So much. Hope the coming year is fantastic for you, brother!

Pictures from my trip to visit him in Cali in April.

A Visit from Dad and a New Car

A bit over 10 Years ago my Dad bought me a car so I could stay in Portland after graduating and have an easier way to commute to and from whatever job I'd get post college graduation. It needed a bit of work that he and a friend did and they drove it out here together. I had to learn how to drive the car as it was a manual transmission, which I'd never driver save a shifting of a gear or two on an old Datsun truck in the middle of the night with Holly and Mary. So...I learned to drive it and I have driven it now for nearly 10 years. I racked up lots of miles on it. To the beach countless times, to the mountains, to Seattle, Leavenworth, Salem, Corvallis, to many, many hiking destinations and umpteen days of work and other around town errands and many more places. I love the Escort. It's been so much a part of my life. But, as it has gotten older and had more miles added to the odometer it has started having issues that aren't worth the cost to repair. So, Dad was tasked yet again with car hunting.

We pooled money and did what we needed to financially and before we knew it Dad was in possession of my new car and on his way to Portland. It was so nice to have him and it was sad and happy to deal with car stuff-new and old. Because of some issues with the Escort I hadn't driven it for a little over a month and had been blessed by some friends who had an extra vehicle and it was insisted that I drive one of them. So we were working with three cars for a few moments-returning borrowed car, taking the Escort to the junkyard, registering and licensing the new car, etc, etc.

So many miles...I had hoped to make it to 254,00 but we were shy a bit.

 Farewell Escort. I will miss you-not the bad things, but the good things and all the memories.

 At the junkyard-I may have had a few tears in my eyes.

 The new car. Ford Focus. Still a manual and not a Skittle colored car. Kudos to my friend, Natalie for that term. She and I had been talking about car colors and I was telling her I didn't want red or green or yellow or any bright colors so she coined "no Skittle colored cars" and I gave that to Dad as a rule. If there is a Skittle that color then it is a no. He did well with a gray.

Dad loves the Farmers Market so we went while he was here.

 Check out those huge carrots!

We also drove to Cascade Locks to get milkshakes at our favorite drive-in with the best milkshakes and on the return trip we made a detour that ended up being much longer than I thought it would be to Larch Mountain for some wonderful views of Mt Rainier and Mt Hood and others.

Rainier...

Hood...

Thanks for making the trip Dad and all the work in finding my next set of wheels. I appreciate and love you!

She turns 3!

My delightful Goddaughter, Josie turns 3 in a couple of days, so we celebrated this afternoon!

She loves the movie Cars and the character of Lighting McQueen as you may have read in a previous post or two so her dad made her a McQueen cake!

"All this singing....can we just eat the cake already?!"

 Makin' wishes, blowin' out candles.

 Cousins

 Yummy cake time.

 Little sister, Ella knows what to do with it. Ha!

 Gift time.

 Can you see the excitement on her face?! I love it!

 I got her a Cars 2 book with a playmate of race tracks and cars. She enjoyed it. She also enjoyed the Cars coloring books and crayons.

 Testing out the new toys!

Happiest of Birthdays, little Josie. I love watching you grow up!

Casper Peeps in Portland

After a whirlwind of Sternwheeler adventure I took a quick nap and then met up with the mother of one of my brothers childhood friends, Tina. She was in town with a friend of hers and that friends daughters who were running the Portland Marathon. I went to their hotel and from there we went to dinner on Hawthorne at a yummy pizza place! Woohoo. Casper Peeps in my fair city.

Champagne Brunch on the Sternwheeler

I've written previously about getting to do wonderful things for work. There is a program called Senior Make a Wish here in Oregon and we participate in this program at work but holding 2-3 of these events a year. They've been small scale to larger scale. This go-around we took a participant who wanted to do the Champagne Brunch Cruise on the Sternwheeler. The cruise started from Cascade Locks and lasted a couple of hours. We weren't sure how the weather would be, but it was delightful. The Captain said he's not ever seen a better day on the Columbia River. 

A friend of mine has a florist shop and they did up this beautiful corsage.

The Sternwheeler.

Some pretty amazing champagne- Wycliff. From California...so I remember for later.

The beautiful Columbia River Gorge.

Bridge of the Gods from the underside.

The "paddle wheel". Lots of water spray.

There were lots of boats out for Salmon fishing. more beautiful Gorge.

Bonneville Damn.

I so wish I could post pictures of the people, but for confidentiality reasons I can't. Our participant had requested we all wear nautically themed clothing if possible so we all had on red, navy, white and stripes for the most part. We were a great looking group and she was so pleased that so many of us (12 total) participated. What a delightful day!