Lots of thanks, lots of photos...

I mentioned in a previous post that my husband and I have been taking short getaways here and there this summer in lieu of our usual longer vacation. The month of August will be busy with a missions trip to Ghana, West Africa for my husband and another big ministry trip for both of us, that I'll tell you more about soon.  So, for the past two weeks we've tried to plan another short getaway during July, but everywhere we wanted to go was either booked up or outrageously priced.  Then we thought to ask our daughter's in-laws if we could use their little cabin on the Umpqua River for a few nights.  After doing so, I wish we would have stayed even longer!  

The cabin is small with a living room that has a hide-a-bed sofa and a couple of chairs, a kitchen and eating area, a tiny bathroom and a laundry room.  There's a pull down ladder that provides access to an attic sleeping area. Out the back door is a large deck overlooking the beautiful Umpqua River.  There is no cable t.v., no wi-fi, and cell phone coverage isn't all that terrific.  It's actually my new favorite getaway spot, I just haven't told my daughter's in-laws yet! (I promise not to overstay my welcome, D and V!) Our time there was so relaxing and enjoyable.

We took the mornings easy, and enjoyed sitting on the deck sipping our coffee and watching the river go by.  Fish jumping, hawks flying overhead, the occasional fisherman or kayaker floating by, were our entertainment.  Breakfast and morning devotions were also enjoyed on the deck overlooking the river.  Eventually, we'd decide to get ready for the day, and enjoyed driving the short distance to the beach.  We had been youth pastors down in that area of the Oregon Coast when our two older girls were small and our youngest daughter was born there.  It was especially nostalgic to drive by the places we used to live and visit the favorite spots on the beach where we used to take our girls.

That's why I was off the grid and didn't get my usual blog posts up.  This post will be a combination of two of the posts I like to do at the beginning of each week, my weekly gratitude post, and my weekly photography post.  So,  this will be a post full of both thanksgiving and photos!

***********

Since 2009 I've been counting my blessings thanks to the prompting of Ann Voskamp.

 I continue to count my thanks

piling up gratitude day by day

in my little green journal.

(and capturing some of my blessings via my camera or iPhone)

#6311-#6338

7-6-15-

-my "little brother"-thinking of him on his birthday and missing him-

getting to see a phone video of him my niece received, (he's a missionary)

-two showings of our house today

-geraniums in clay pots

-a clearance sale on some new bathroom rugs we needed

7-7-15-

-letting go of things we don't need

-going to our grandson's All-Stars game, (he pitched 8 people out!)

-recommitting myself to do something difficult that God has asked me to do

-prayers from others re. the sale of our home

7-8-15-

-spending the afternoon with our two youngest granddaughters

-cooling off in the river

-the funny fact that they both believe that the detangling spray I use on their hair is 

"Nana's magic no hurt hair combing spray"

7-9-15-

-having a staycation day since where we hoped to go is either booked or too expensive

-a morning spent writing

-we get to use D and V's cabin!

7-10-15-

-going to see the Minions movie with the two oldest grands

-another two showings of our house

-all of the people who came out to support our grandson at his All-Star game

7-11-15-

-the beautiful Umpqua River in the backyard of the cabin

(edited with Kim Klassen's hughes texture, hard light, 20% opacity)

(photo edited using Kim Klassen's take heart texture, multiply, 50% opacity)

(photo edited with Kim Klassen's carol texture, hard light, 40% opacity)

-elk!

(edited using Kim Klassen's hughes texture, hard light, 15% opacity)

-driving into Reedsport for dinner

-a text from home that our friend had a stroke-

some dear ones from church going up to the hospital for us 

-my camera and the enjoyment I find in photography

7-12-15-

-Sunday morning breakfast and devotions on the deck

-hearing that all went well at church while we are away

-driving around Coos Bay and North Bend and seeing all of the places we once lived and enjoyed going to

-Sunset Bay, Cape Arago, Bastendorf Beach

-a fabulous seafood lunch

-back at the cabin sitting on the deck and watching the sun go down, 

seeing a hawk swoop and soar looking for prey

gratefully yours,

texture-twist

sonography at "You'll Shoot Your Eye Out"

Psalm 16:9...

A hot summer afternoon spent with our two youngest granddaughters,

splashing in the cool, clear, shallow river,

slurping up A&W root beer floats,

rejoicing,

resting,

remembering that we are safely held in God's capable hands.

still following,

Also happily linking up with the lovely Lisha Epperson 

and Cheryl McCain Photography.

Friday Faves...Little Antique Mall, Lincoln City, Oregon

This summer August is crazy full with missions trips overseas.

So, instead of our usual big summer vacation, we've been taking a day or two here and there to getaway.

Last week we took a couple of days away at the beach.

Besides my top favorite activity, walking by the sea,

 I also enjoyed some time at my favorite antique shops.

Little Antique Mall in Lincoln City is one I go to often.

(Wouldn't that old ice cream cone sign be cute in a vacation home?)

Blue transferware and Franciscan's apple pattern dishes, 

are two things I already have a dish cabinet full of!

Thirty-nine years ago I received some mixing bowls in this pattern for a wedding gift. 

Now I see them frequently in antique stores!

This Watt's apple pattern bowl and pitcher would go with a few pieces I already have.

 I love that old bread display cabinet.

I kind of wish I would have brought this little ironstone pitcher home with me.

That old wooden scoop would look great on my bread board gallery wall.

This little rustic table caught my eye right away.

But, I came home from the antique mall empty handed.

We're getting rid of stuff instead of adding stuff, because...

our home sweet home of sixteen years is on the market!

For three years we've talked about moving closer to our church, 

(my husband is a pastor).

So, with the real estate market really good in our area, it seems like now is the time!

We will see what happens.

Have a HAPPY, HAPPY Friday everyone

and

a safe and BLESSED weekend!

http://linda-coastalcharm.blogspot.com

             

My Mama, the artist...

Though it's been almost five years since Mama passed away, a recent phone call from my oldest brother has me thinking about her even more than usual. "Do you think Mom enjoyed making this quilt?", he asked, referring to the quilt he took home with him after her funeral.  The quilt had covered Mama's bed in her little apartment at the assisted living facility where she lived her last months.  It had covered our Mama, as we all gathered around her when she took her last breath.

I pondered his question, thoughts running through my mind rapidly, knowing my answer was important to him, important enough for him to make a long distance call to me for the sole purpose of him asking it.  My response was based on reason.  "Well, she made that particular quilt for herself in her latter years, there was no need for her to make it, so I suppose since she made it simply because she wanted to that she did enjoy making it."  That answer seemed to satisfy him, but it didn't really satisfy me.  

I pictured asking Mama that question. I knew the exact face she would make at me in return.  She had a way of twisting up her face when she looked in the mirror and she didn't care for what she saw, when she ate something at a restaurant that she wasn't impressed with, or when she was asked a question that she either didn't know the answer to or that she thought was irrelevant.  I was pretty sure asking Mama if she enjoyed making that quilt would be considered an irrelevant question by her.  Mama wasn't exactly the introspective type.  She was practical to the core, so for her to do something simply because she enjoyed it would be rare, and for her to admit that was her motive, rarer still.  More than likely her reasoning for making the quilt would include needing it for some reason, in spite of the fact that she had already made enough colorful, cotton quilts that most of us in her large brood have one of them.

Mama's sewing was meticulous, a perfectionist's dream.  Her patterns were perfectly matched up at the seams, her hand sewn hem stitches never showed on the outside of the garment, her inside seam work was always carefully finished so it wouldn't unravel and then it was ironed perfectly flat.  Mama sitting in front of the sewing machine that sat by our dining room window is one of my clearest childhood memories.

I was in fifth grade the Christmas after daddy left us.  It was both a painful and an awkward time in my life. My body was beginning to change.  I was not yet a teenager, but no longer a little girl.  I was slightly chubby,  wore horribly ugly eyeglasses that I hated, and I had a short hairstyle that even now has me wondering what in the world Mama was thinking to have my hair cut like that.  That Christmas my gift from Mama was a homemade soft cotton nightie trimmed in cotton eyelet lace with a matching robe.  When I opened it, Mama told me that every stitch was sewn with love.  For this little girl who's love language was words of affirmation, being raised by a mama who's love language was acts of service, it was the gift above all other gifts.  

Mama would have never labeled her beautiful sewing as creative, as a form of art.  It was something she did out of necessity to clothe seven kids.  Yet, in the fact that she always chose the best quality of fabric she could afford, that the texture of a fabric was something she gave special attention to, and that her sewing was always meticulous even if she was just sewing play clothes or soft flannel nighties, I see evidence of a true creative, of an artist.  I hope, in all of the work Mama did sewing our clothes and making quilts to cover our beds, that she did, indeed, find a bit of enjoyment.  Her children, her grandchildren,  have certainly found enjoyment in the beautiful work she created.

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Also joining THOUGHT PROVOKING THURSDAYS 

and THE HIGH CALLING