There and Back Again: The (After)Glow

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“Why do you go away?

So that you can come back.

So that you can see the place you came from

with new eyes and extra colors.

And the people there see you differently, too.

Coming back to where you started

is not the same as never leaving.”

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Terry Pratchet

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Travel invites us to break our routines, sharpen our senses, and open ourselves to seeing our world from a novel point of view.

Back now from a week on the West Coast with daughter and her family, I am enjoying the warm after-glow of our time together as I edit the hundreds of photos which came home with me.

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The weather was fine during most of my visit, and so we spent as much time as we could playing on the many beautiful nearby beaches, or letting little one run and explore at the Connie Hansen Garden Conservancy.  I was very pleased to see the upgrades and improvements to the garden there, all accomplished by devoted volunteer gardeners.

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A sunset walk at the Connie Hansen garden revealed this beautiful glade beneath old Rhododendrons.

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Now nearly four years old, my granddaughter has grown and matured a great deal since I last saw her.  She bubbles with happiness and personality; her fearless energy driving her to explore and transcend the limitations of the very young (and sometimes the very old…)

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I watched as my daughter tended her own garden, and as she tended this beautiful child.  It takes great vision, patience and understanding to nurture both children and gardens.  

We wandered together through a local nursery while little one was away at her pre-school class; I indulged in buying herbs, flowers and ferns to grow in my daughter’s garden and in her care.

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Beautiful native and exotic ferns fill the shady spots at the Connie Hansen Garden.

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There was so much to enjoy and to feel glad about on this visit to the Oregon Coast.  I was delighted to find abundant life in the tidal pools and around the rocks which line the coast.

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“Wherever you go becomes a part of you somehow.”

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Anita Desai

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I have come home energized and inspired.  Even as I unpack, re-organize and readjust to Eastern time; my mind is teeming with ideas to tend and improve my own garden.  I’ve photos to share, trees to sculpt, bulbs to plant and plans to make with friends.

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I made this for a friend one evening, after little one and her mom went home.  Now I am filled with ideas for incorporating sculpted trees with slices of geode to make unique pendants.

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There will be a new line of note cards with photos taken in Oregon.  And, I came home with heavy suitcases because I picked up so many beautiful rocks from the beach!

I’ll soon use them as bases for the trees I plan to make over the next few weeks.

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What an unusual view of Siletz Bay, with the tide completely gone out.  These trees remain an inspiration to me as I combine organic and mineral forms.

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“The real voyage of discovery

consists not in seeking new landscapes,

but in having new eyes.”

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Marcel Proust

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So fair warning:  I have many photos  left from my trip to share here at Forest Garden during the coming weeks.  I hope you won’t mind too much..

I remain intrigued by how the same plant grown in Virginia and grown in Oregon can come to look so different. Climate and soil make all the difference.

And I am endlessly fascinated by the magic that always greets me in Oregon.

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Gorgeous Fuchsia grows at Mossy Creek Pottery near Gleneden Beach, Oregon.

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Photos by Woodland Gnome 2017

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Fabulous Friday:  Happiness is contagious….

Let’s infect one another!

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For the Daily Post’s

Weekly Photo Challenge:  Glow