No.5: Her lullabies

My mother use to sing us to sleep with her peaceful, beautiful voice. I remember her standing the doorway to our rooms, leaning against the wall or door frame with her arms crossed and a look of peace on her face. (Probably thinking, "Thank God I have all four of these kids in bed and the same time!") But only her songs came across to us in a soft gesture of peaceful sleep.

No.4: Her Quest for Natural Foods

Stockhouse's Farm Market

My grandmother was in a constant quest searching for what was best in her diet. She was a tiny, healthy, energized woman with a fridge full of homemade, handmade simple freshness. My mother is the same way. If she can't grow it or buy it local is it worth buying? She usually does not think so. Nearly everything in our home growing up was hand made, or least I thought... Now her house is full of natural foods from her garden: dried beans, jars of corn and tomatoes (in various forms), jams, a plethora of soups, and on and on. I love going to eat at her house because everything is natural and healthy and full of a mothers goodness.

No.3: Her dedication to plants

My mother is a Master Gardener. She has a beautiful piece of property, along with my father, on an Island in the Columbia river where she grows amazing vegetables and flowers.

As a child we always had the most beautiful yard on the block. All due to my mothers schemes and sketches of what she wanted next. All her planning is paying off as she now sleeps across the street from her 11 acres of plants that need the care and attention she so willingly gives them.