NEW PERSPECTIVE.

I'm such a photo junkie! Every spring, I find myself looking  at my photos of all the beautiful flowers that I've grown in the past years (and even the "weeds"). I suppose it's because I live in a somewhat "flowerless" area of central Oregon. Here's a sampling of what I looked at today.

Although these Queen Anne's Lace (above) are really just "weeds" (I guess?), and they grew profusely up in SW Washington, we don't see nary a one here. And I didn't grow it anyway, but it sure is pretty! I love how lacey it looks.

Lovely Iris kissed by the morning dew.

The faintness of the stars,

the freshness of the morning,

the dewdrop on the flower,

..... speaks to me.

~Chief Dan George (1899-1981)

Native American logger, actor, poet~

I guess I get a little nostalgic this time of year.  Though I love this sunny climate, and the lack of those everlasting gray gray days of SW Wasington, I do so miss the riots of flowers (and weeds) everywhere that were refreshed almost daily by the rain there!

Since we've been renting here for the last year and a half, I don't get too excited about planning a permanent garden like I had at my other house. Plus.... sadly... the deer eat most everything I plant, but they are nice enough to wait until they bloom (for at least a day or two!) before they eat them!

I

I did manage to grow these (above) last summer here in central Oregon, on my back deck. I got to enjoy them for awhile before the deer jumped over our chain link fence, and walked up on the deck and ate them, along with the strawberries I had so carefully nurtured.

At least I have my photos to look at, and my new perspective is that now, when I see a flower growing here, it is so much more precious to me! I think I appreciate it even more, knowing that it has struggled to survive our below freezing nights, deer (and other critters), and hot dry days. What champions these hardy flowers are!

 
The above vivid orange flowers are Crocosmia. I brought some of the bulbs with me from my SW Washington home, and planted them VERY deep in the ground here, but they didn't survive our last winter nights of -32 below! I'm glad I have tons of photos of them to remind me of their beauty.

I guess there isn't a "perfect" climate anywhere. I did love the fields of tall green grass that just exploded in the springtime, due to the wet wet wet, with the brush and blackberries, and old orchards where I used to live.  And yet I got sick and tired of the rain! My new perspective is that there is really no "happy medium", so we learn to appreciate what we do have where we live.

Blackberries overtake an old farm gate in SW Washington. Rains feed everything to overwhelming growth.

I must admit, I DO love this dry climate in central Oregon. I love the big pine forests, and the lack of underbrush that would deter a person from walking through the forest beauty.

 And I love the big skies......

....and the big rivers....

And I'm glad I take so many photos of all the beauty of nature! I guess I kind of got off the subject... I just wanted to say that no matter where we live, there is so much beauty around us... and my new perspective is to appreciate it all.

Into the scented woods we'll go,

And see the blackthorn swim in snow.

High above, in the budding leaves,

A brooding dove awakes and grieves;

The glades with mingled music stir,

And wildly laughs the woodpecker.

~Mary Gladys Webb (1881-1927)

English novelist~

Have you left a place you loved that is totally different from where you live now? What did you love about the place you left? and what do you love about the place where you live now?