A Full-time Life

A DIVINE PLACE TO LIVE?

FOR LESLEY'S SIGNS SIGNS  Click on the links for some fun roadside reading. 

Would you want to live on this street?                     

Would you feel  hallowed, holy, or  sacred?  Or excellent or delightful?  Or blessed?

(All of those, according to my dictionary, are synonyms for "divine.") 

 Sadly, I will never be able to let you know what this divine road is like.     

 

Because when you live on a street that is hallowed, holy, sacred, blessed, excellent or delightful, you don't want just any old person walking down your street and spoiling it all!  

And so you add a 'no tresspassing' sign to the bottom of your street sign.

 

IN GRATITUDE ...

FOR OUR WORLD.  This week we are deeply grateful for having not much news to report!  (And grateful too to the hosts for continuing with the second generation of this meme.  Click and visit!) 

 
August 2011, Fern Ridge Shores, Oregon

Things remain calm and peaceful here at the Lake.  We had a week of "hot" weather.  (Hot for this part of Oregon, where hot means a high of 90, usually mid-80s and cooler in the mornings.)    The mantra that we hear from everyone is "Why would anyone want to live anywhere else?" 

We are not smug about our good fortune.  Just grateful.  Grateful for being here and being able to spend time with family and friends and grateful for the calm. 

And we know that peace and calm are not guaranteed.  A year ago this month we were in North Carolina camping on the beach near Rodanthe.  It was incredibly beautiful and I am sure people who live there were also saying "Why would anyone live anywhere else?"  

 August 2010, Cape Hatteras North Carolina

The  pictures of this beach and the nearby towns and roads that we see on the news today do not look at all like this.   Our hopes are for a full recovery of this beautiful area and all others affected by Hurricane Irene and its aftermath.

 

BRIDGE OVER THE SIUSLAW, FLORENCE

FOR SUNDAY BRIDGES

 

We drove over to Florence earlier this month just to see if the Pacific Ocean was still there.  It was of course ... but somehow  I didn't come home with any pictures of it at all.   We drive across this bridge every time we go to Florence or South along the Coast.  The flowers below were at my feet when I took the above picture.

 

 Next time we drive over to the ocean, I'll take some pictures of it as well!

 

AFTERNOON VIEW FROM OUR PORCH SWING

FOR SKYIWATCH FRIDAY

Thankful to be where skies are calm and peaceful and temperatures are moderate.

 
Fern Ridge Lake from the RV Park, August 2011

Like all Skywatch participants, I am thankful to Wren, Sylvia, and  Sandy for continuing to host this  meme after the untimely death of fellow host, Klaus.   And like all the other participants, I will remember his work whenever I take part.   

DOES ANYBODY NEED THIS?

FOR LESLEY'S SIGNS SIGNS -- this photo taken in a kitchen shop in Florence Oregon

 

Just think, for all these years and all these hundreds of bananas, I've been using a plain old paring knife for this job.  Or even a table knife if it was easier to get to.

 Thank heavens somebody invented this wonderful tool to save me from all that hard hard labor! Yeah, right. 

Is this something your kitchen needs?

 

GREBE IN THE REEDS

FOR WORLD BIRD WEDNESDAY, AND WEEKEND REFLECTIONS.

 

Near the shores of Fern Ridge Lake August  2011 

This image is straight-out-of-the-camera.  Didn't even notice the curly-looking reeds until we downloaded it because I was so concentrated on the grebe.   There were two of them there when I first stopped, but one went under and just would NOT come back up!

BLACKBERRY BUSHES

 Blackberry picking is an iconic part of late summer in this part of Oregon.  It's going to be REALLY late summer this year.  We need some hot days, because most of the bushes are still in this state:

    

Lovely to look at, not so delightful to hold.  (You really have to watch those thorns.)

And not very many ready to eat.  There are tons of bushes on the border of the  RV Park. This morning I managed to find a scant cupful of ripe berries. 

Just right for breakfast, but I wonder if there will be enough this year for those who still like to make jam and freeze them. 

 

 Unless it warms up pretty soon, this just may be the year of the green blackberry.

 

ONE OF THESE IS NOT LIKE THE OTHERS

Visit TODAY'S FLOWERS.  

Our kids and grandkids used to enjoy gathering bouquets of wildflowers.

And now our great-grands do.  And so do I.  But I have a different method of gathering.

Here's a bouquet of (mostly) white ones from a recent stroll down the country road.

 

 

SATURDAY SILLINESS

Two persons pretending to be trees and one tree pretending to be a person.

 
Fern Ridge Shores RV Park and part of the crowd at the Oregon Country Fair.

IT'S A WONDERFUL WORLD......

 

FOR LESLEY'S SIGNS SIGNS.  Taken at a coffee shop in old-town Florence Oregon while waiting for our morning lattes.

 

 Enough said!

WALKIN' WITH THE TURKEYS

For WORLD BIRD WEDNESDAY this wild turkey mom and her little family.

 

 

 

 __________________________________________________________________________________________

Just ambling down a wetlands path when I noticed this family out for a stroll too.

They stayed just a little ways ahead of me for quite a while before the mama decided to veer away to the left.  

The young ones didn't always stay on the straight and narrow path.

She turned around and lectured this little one:  I could actually hear her soft noises and I'm sure she was saying "Keep up with us Jr. .. and stop wandering off."

 

 

 

 

  

 

INDIAN PAINTBRUSH

This reddest of all the red wildflowers was a welcome roadside find on our summer roadtrip.   Linked to RUBY TUESDAY.

 

 

PRETTY POISON?

 FOR MELLOW YELLOW  MONDAY. (Definitely yellow, maybe not so mellow.)

   

This bright yellow wildflower (weed?) is growing in several spots along Jeans Road.  We didn't remember seeing it when we've stayed here in previous summers.  And lo and behold the local section of this morning's paper has an article about how TANSY RAGWORT is making a comeback in the area.  It's a weed that is lethal to horses and cattle and it was thought to have been eradicated.  Here's a link to the article and picture, which looks just about exactly the same as the one I took.  So although I thought I was going to post about the pretty little pools of sunshine growing along the side of the road, instead I am posting about a pretty poison.   

 

 

But the bees don't know it's dangerous.   

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

MAGNOLIA

FOR WEEKEND IN BLACK AND WHITE

 

We drove past the house we used to own the other day.  I'm glad we don't own it any longer, but I still want to check up on it whenever we're in the area.  (Are we the only ones who do that?)

When we first looked at the house, in 1971, we were entranced by the big beautiful Grandiflora Magnolia Tree in the front yard.   I wanted that house before we ever set foot inside.  It was a good thing that the rest of it met our needs!

The house has changed a lot since then, but the Magnolia Tree is still there and still as beautiful as ever.    I jumped out of the car for a quick picture and a quick fix of its beautiful fragrance. 

OUT IN THE COUNTRY ....

 

Having fun while taking part in  SIGNS SIGNS.  Visit or add your own.

"Out in the Country Past the City LImit Sign..."  the country boys on the radio used to sing.**

Where we stay when we're visiting Oregon, we do them one better.  We're parked in the country past the "Road Ends" sign.  The entrance to the RV Park is located between these two signs.  

  And after that there really is no more.  

(Sorry 'bout the blur -- apparently my hand was tired from the walk (?).)

 

(**The song is "Boot Scootin' Boogie" sung by Brooks and Dunn.  We don't have elevators out here, but if we did, country and western music would be played on them.  It's what you hear everywhere.... in the grocery store and in the car next to you when you are driving there.  It could be worse.)

So yup we're out in the country, a few miles from civilization, but it's definitely worth it:

 

 

 

MY TERN NOW

for WORLD BIRD WEDNESDAY and WATERY WEDNESDAY

 

A gull seems to be leading a parade of terns along an Atlantic Ocean beach.  (This is a flashback post -- we are near the Pacific Coast currently.)

My bird books are in Florida and I can't identify the variety of either bird.

JEANS ROAD RAMBLE

That's My World

 

The dogwood trees along Jeans Road have been especially beautiful this summer. 

And as a fallen-away, non-practicing gardener, I am grateful for the dedication of these RV-Park neighbors. 

  

For more views of the world as people from all over know it, click the That's My World links.

 And join me in thanking the hosts for bring us this opportunity every week.



 

BICYCLE RACK

For SKYWATCH FRIDAY...This view of the sky over the bike park at the Country Fair.  There really weren't very many bright blue days in this part of Oregon last month, so the Fair was fortunate to have such a lovely weekend.

 

 

RULES FOR GUESTS

 

Taking part in Signs Signs

 

The picture below is an enlargement of a sign posted on the front porch of Seminole Estate,  the winter home of Thomas Edison and family (now a public museum and visitor center).  It is on the Caloosahatchie River in Fort Myers.   (This picture is one of Edison's  many inventions.) 

Here's a link to an earlier post about our first visit to the Edison Estate in case you missed it.  

  

So that was how people knew how to behave if they were lucky enough to spend some time visiting the Edisons (at least one of whom obviously had a good sense of humor!) 

 

 

REFLECTING ON FLORIDA

August 19.  Apologies:  I posted this flashback earlier this month, but computer problems on Friday of that week prevented me from linking to  WEEKEND REFLECTIONS .  So here it is again -- I love the reflection and wanted to share it on James' lovely meme.  

This is a flashback to January in Florida; I posted the pictures back then, but they kind of got buried in a collage at the bottom of a long post. I  think they deserve a rerun.  The birds were showing off for company along the kayak trail  at Ding Darling Wildlife Refuge.  We were enjoying a visit from Geoff and LIsa.

     

  LINKING to WORLD BIRD WEDNESDAY and WATERY WEDNESDAY and (later) WEEKEND REFLECTIONS.  (The original post was not linked to these memes.)

LAKE VIEW, JULY

LINKED TO RUBY TUESDAY

 

The view from from our "back yard" one day last month.  Until this past weekend, it has been cool and rather overcast -- but Oregonians don't let that bother them -- they are outside playing anyway.  And those of us who are visiting are grateful that we're out of the extreme heat.  (Real Oregonians take the cooler weather for granted!)