Depot Bay

After fishing on the river with Harvey (see previous posts here and here), we decided to head over to Depot Bay. We spent some time on the marina. And do you think I got any pictures of the boats? Nope, I was to busy getting rope detail photos. LOL!

           I also thought the rust on one of the pillars was interesting.

                              Dale thought about jumping in. :)

 After spending some time on the marina, we headed into town. We parked by this bookstore and I thought all the books in the window needed to have their photo taken.

 We spent a lot of time wandering around this bridge and taking pictures. It was a lot of fun, and sparked some interesting conversations with the other tourists in town.

Siletz River

Last summer my friend Dale was in town and invited me to go fishing with him and his friend Harvey. I drove out to Lincoln City and met the guys at Harvey's river house. Dale and I spent the morning photographing the beautiful Siletz River. And Harvey and I spent the morning fishing. Yes I managed to fish and take pictures at the same time. You can see proof of my amazing multi-tasking skills on Dale's blog. I even caught a fish!! You can read about my catch here. 

 I love the peaceful feeling that comes over me as we drift down the river.

                           The bright color of this tree caught my eye.

 I enjoy watching the colors tumble and distort in the wake we leave in the water.

 Harvey could not understand why Dale and I were taking pictures of leaves floating in the water. But really . . . how could we not? :)

                                                            Meet Dale!

 I might be a little nuts . . . but I think this log looks like a high heel shoe. LOL!

                              Meet Harvey, our guide for the day.

I Caught a Fish

Last summer my friend Dale came up from California for a visit. I met him and his friend Harvey in Lincoln City to go fishing and take pictures on the Siletz River. Harvey has a house on the river and goes out fishing quite often. I however have not been fishing in many many years . . . and I was never very good at it. This time however I caught a huge fish! Harvey was so jealous . . . well according to Dale anyway. (You can read his account Here, he got some fun photos of me too)

Dale was kind enough to take a photo of me and my prize fish.

 Harvey, the seasoned fisherman knows how to display a fish for a photo.

                          Harvey was kind enough to gut my fish for me.

 I will play in the dirt and mud. I will even get greasy under the hood of a car (not that I know what I'm doing) and I kill my own spiders. But I will not gut a fish!!

 My fish next to Harvey's fish. I think I won the fishing contest. LOL! And just so you know I'm not exaggerating we measured my fish . . . 14" long. I'm told that's good.

The Boy's Trees

After the accident each of the boy's schools planted a tree in honor of the boys. Earlier this year I received a call from the middle school. They wanted to let me know they were re-doing the parking lot and as a result had to remove Dawson's tree for the summer months. They assured me the tree would be well taken care of and replaced as soon as the new parking lot was finished. I would have been devastated to stop by the school only to have the parking lot torn up and Dawson's tree missing.   The thoughtfulness of the school district to let me know, really touched me. 

These photo's are actually from last year. I went to the tulip fields last year for Easter, I spent the morning photographing the flowers. After I was finished I bought a bouquet of tulips and took some to the accident site and each of the trees. I had planned to do the same this year for Easter, but was unable to go due to back issues.

                                                   Dawson's Tree

                                                 Devin's Tree

 This little green bug reminded me of Devin. He loved little things and he would have liked to see this guy on his tree.

                     These flowers are so small, smaller than a quarter.

Control, Bitterness and the Loss of Peace

Lamentations 3:17a “I have been deprived of peace”

            In the beginning while still in the hospital I told myself I was gong to be real with my grief. It was an easy decision to make. I had to be real, because I had to express what I was going through. It was the only way I could cope. (If you don’t know my story read – here, here, here, here, or here. To read other things I've learned on my journey read here, or here).

            Because of some of the things I’ve been through, I’ve come to prize honesty and sincerity in others. They are not traits I run into as often as I’d like, but they are ones I highly value. So in the interest of being real, honest and sincere myself, I’ll share something with you I’d rather keep hidden.

            Shortly after the accident God blessed me with immeasurable peace. My life was falling apart around me, and though it was extremely painful I had peace. It was the first time in my life I truly understood the phrase “peace that passes all understanding” (Philippians 4:7)

            Several months ago I lost my peace. It happened slowly. So slowly I did not even notice what was happening. By the time I did notice, it was too late. Stress, frustration, worry and fear were controlling me. The result, bitterness was setting in. I felt like every aspect of my life was spinning out of control, and the harder I tried to maintain control, the worse it got. The bitterness grew.

            Soon the bitterness became an open door for the enemy to add his bitter thoughts to my mind. I knew the thoughts were not mine, but I was powerless to stop them. Thoughts like “what kind of God creates people so they will praise him”.

            Side bar: As I was writing this post it dawned on me that praise was the place the enemy chose to attack. Praise was one area of my life that became important to me after the accident. I would go to church and sing praise songs, and I could feel the grief change. I would pour out my grief in song and God would fill me with his peace. Praise was how I fixed my trust on God.

            But now it was being attacked. I was in such a state I was unable to stop the thoughts and they kept coming. It was frustrating because while I knew the thoughts were wrong, I had no answer. I was bitter.

            I struggled with letting go of control, I knew that’s what needed to happen, but I didn’t want to let go. Eventually I began to release the stranglehold of control I had on my life, and things improved a little. But somewhere I was still holding on tight. Once I was able to fully let go, things in my life started to fall into place. But the bitterness was still there, lingering.

            A few days ago I finally sat down to do my devotions, a practice I’d been neglecting. Oddly enough the devotional was on bitterness. It was during this time I realized I had been letting stress and fear control me.  Once I realized this, I could feel the bitterness that had wrapped itself around my heart let go as well. For the first time in months I began to feel peace again.

           

            The thoughts on praise still plagued me. Though they’d lost some of their power, I still did not have an answer. The other day I was driving and began to really take notice of the scenery around me. I noticed the tress and the many different varieties that lined the freeway. I thought about what I’ve been learning in school about the brain and how intricate and complex it is. I thought about the many little things it takes to keep the world spinning and how the world sustains itself. I thought about the vastness of the universe and the majesty of the mountains. God made all these things. From the microscopic neurons in my brain to the stunning mountains I love so much, to the universe so vast we can never discover it all. The God who made all that loves me, he loves me! When you really think about it, it’s darned humbling. He created the entire universe and yet I have not escaped his attention. Praise isn’t about “God getting his due”, it’s about me expressing my amazement that he even bothers with me, at all. It’s about my feeble efforts to return the love God has so lavishly expressed on me.

            As I was driving all this was going through my head. I happened to look out the window to my left, and I saw the most brilliant double rainbow I’ve ever seen and felt like God put it there just for me. In that moment my peace returned.

           

 Because I was driving I was not able to get a photo of the double rainbow. But this one is pretty too.

Forest Park and Pittock Mansion

Last month a photographer friend and I decided we need to go shooting together again. I suggested we go find this abandoned building I'd seen photo's of. We looked up the location online and head out. Turns out getting vague directions from the internet isn't a great idea. It took us a while to find the trail head, but after a slight detour through Portland, we managed to find our way. We hiked in about a mile to find this abandoned building. Built by the WPA in the 1930s it served as a restroom until the 1960s when a fire destroyed much of the building.                                    

 It was fun to explore the different aspects of the building and the details of the surrounding forest.

After exploring Forest Park, we drove up to Pittock Mansion. I've lived in Oregon for over 20 years and have never visited this popular location. It's a beautiful house, with a stunning view panoramic view of Portland. The mansion was closed for the month. So I'll have to go back to see the inside. We peered in some of the window, and it looks amazing. Since we couldn't get inside, we wandered around the building capturing some of the mansions details.

What I did on Super Bowl Sunday

I'm not really a football fan. I don't mind watching the game, but I don't get into football the way a lot of America does. On Super Bowl Sunday I decided to run up to the Columbia River Gorge to work on a Flat Stanley project for the daughter of a friend of mine. (If you don't know who Flat Stanley is check out this website). My plan was to snap some photo's of Flat Stanley at a few scenic spots then join my family for the Super Bowl. But on my way out the door I grabbed my camera. I ended up being out longer than I had planned. When I'm behind my camera I lose track of time. :) I did manage to see enough of the Super Bowl to watch the Broncos score their only points of the game. LOL!

 I ran into a couple of photographers at Wahkeena Falls. I had a great time chatting with them. I decided to pull my camera out and grab a few shots of this amazing waterfall.

On the way up I decided to check out a new lookout spot I had discovered. I has an amazing view of the gorge. I decided to stop on my way back to try and get a sunset shot. Just after I took this photo the sun when behind a cloud.

The photo below was taken with my phone. I'm not a fan of the photo, but I thought you'd like to meet Flat Stanley. :)