Have you ever been anywhere where the beauty is so
breathtaking that it literally
does take your breath away? Cape Perpetua, my favorite spot on the Oregon coast, is that place for me. I have blogged about it in the past; and yet, after our visit there again today, I must say it once again: the majestic, inspiring view from the top reduced me to tears once more. As I gaze upon the waves crashing on the shore far below (800+ feet down), the trees reaching down from the heavens in their attempts to touch the water, and the vastness of the ocean stretching beyond the horizon, I simply cannot speak. To talk would be to shatter the sweet exquisiteness of the moment. And so I cry. Every time. And as the tears course down my cheeks, I stand in awe of the One who created such beauty. He is bigger than anything and everything. We have faced some difficult days in the past two weeks, but HE CAN HANDLE it. Thanks, Mark, for taking us on this journey today. I needed that time with you. I needed to see the ocean. I needed to see God.
After leaving the Cape, we headed south to Florence. Mark pulled over at a random lookout point so we could look north along the coast route we had just traveled. And to see what we saw, you must click on the picture above. There were hundreds and hundreds of seals and sea lions - some in the water, but most of them on shore. Each black speck and each light brown speck is one of the beautiful creatures. And they were NOISY! So fun to see and to hear. And whereas at the Cape I cried at God's creative power, here we laughed aloud at God's sense of humor. For what could be more delightful than hearing all those beasts calling out to each other.
The heron above was beneath the pier that Mo's restaurant in Florence is built upon. All these pictures were taken on my cell phone, so not the best quality, but it was fun to see the beautiful bird just hanging out. And our fish and chips and clam chowder at Mo's were amazing.
My sweet hubby. I know Mark was tired today, having spent the night last night at the Benton County Museum with twenty 8th-grade boys. Every year his students spend the night there (the girls have their turn next weekend), learning about local history, having a scavenger hunt finding information among the various exhibits, and watching (what else)
Night at the Museum. Thanks, honey, for making today happen for us. I love you.
Last year we splurged on a living Christmas tree. We were doing some major landscaping in our back yard, and we wanted a tree we could plant there after using it for our Christmas tree. And that's precisely what happened - we paid big money for a lovely Nordeman Fir, used it for Christmas, then planted it afterward. Fast forward to Christmas 2009. We debated cutting a tree versus purchasing another live tree. And then we looked out the window at our back yard and started thinking - could we? dare we? - use last year's tree again? Hmmm. And our conclusion? We could! We dared! And we did. Mark dug it out of the ground, hauled it inside, and we re-used that tree again. And it worked just fine. It's now been happily replanted in the back yard. And I'm already wondering about next Christmas. Might we get three years out of one Christmas tree?
