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Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Cedar Valley Botanical Gardens

Another place Yai and I visited in August is the Cedar Valley Botanical Gardens in Waterloo.  Admission was only $3 per person.  There were all sorts of gardens, goldfish ponds, and little waterfalls, and there was even a section for children. Everything seemed well-maintained.  
“My prayer for today is that we will feel God’s loving arms wrapped around us,
and we will know in our hearts that He will never forsake us as we trust in Him.” --Billy Graham
“People are like stained glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out,
 but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.” --Elizabeth Kubler-Ross
“He who fears God fears no man. He who kneels before God will stand in any situation.” --Leonard Ravenhill
“Ordinary riches can be stolen, real riches cannot. In your soul are infinitely precious things that cannot be taken from you.” --Oscar Wilde

“Life’s greatest happiness is to be convinced we are loved; loved for ourselves, or rather, in spite of ourselves.” --Victor Hugo

“Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” --1 John 4:10
“Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee: He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.” --Psalm 55:22
“When I think of my God, my heart dances within me for joy, and then my music has to dance, too." --Franz Joseph Haydn
“If you look at the world, you'll be distressed. If you look within, you'll be depressed. If you look at God you'll be at rest.” --Corrie ten Boom
Our visit to the gardens was very pleasant; I definitely think it's a worthwhile summertime stop for anyone who enjoys photography or likes flowers.

36 comments:

  1. Three smackers a person? Wow. That's fantastic. Great pictures too. We have melted snow and ice here today so it's nice to see these flowers.

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    1. Our driveway has been pretty icy the past couple days. Today it's melting a bit. We still have a while to go yet before we see flowers like these again. :)

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    2. True, but wow, such great pictures.

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  2. Fantastic garden!

    May God spread prosperity and joy in your life on this New Year and fulfill all your dreams. Happy New Year!!!!
    Lucja

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  3. This is a beautiful place and it looks so warm!

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    1. We were in a beautiful place called summer. And to that beautiful land we shall someday return.

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  4. Thanks for sharing photos of beauty along with beautiful quotes, Bethany! I appreciated them all.

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  5. How beautiful to see the flowers, Bethany! And you look beautiful, as always! Here in Montreal today we are having snow...and lots of it! Thank you so much for sharing this beauty! :)

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  6. Amazing place! So much beauty to stroll through and relax in. You captured it wonderfully! I LOVE that quote by Elizabeth Kubler-Ross about people being like stained glass windows. Very true! Thanks for sharing this with us, Bethany. And only $3? That is spectacular.

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    1. Thanks! I was pretty happy about how inexpensive admission was.

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  7. Very cheap price, and well worth it just to see the beautiful flowers!

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  8. What a beautiful place to walk around and spend time in.
    Wonderful words of wisdom.

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  9. How pretty! And, I LOVE the quotes, especially the Scriptures you included. Another wonderful post, Bethany. I hope you and your family are blessed with a Happy New Year!

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  10. Hi Bethany, Wow, lots of neat photos and I love all the quotes, thoughts, and Bible verses. Your blog is teaching me a lot about Iowa. I am going to have to adjust my preconceptions. When I think of Iowa, I think of all the crops growing there in the big farms, corn fields, etc. I don’t usually think of the beautiful flowers in gardens like you are showing us in the Cedar Valley Botanical Gardens. As the year draws to a close, thank you for sharing your photography and thoughts in your 2016 posts. It’s been a pleasure following you and I’m looking forward to seeing what you’ll be posting in 2017. Happy New Year to you and the rest of the Carson family.

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    1. Thank you, John, and a wonderful 2017 to you as well. Iowa is a beautiful place. Much of it is indeed covered with soybean and corn fields, but there are some pretty neat spots that aren't.

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  11. Beautiful photos!
    It was so sweet to see another picture of your grandma...
    Praying that you will have a blessed new year, dear Bethany....

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  12. SO peaceful and beautiful. This has me wishing it were summer again. I'm sitting in my sunroom, looking out at gloomy skies and rain!

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    1. Nice that your sunroom is warm enough to sit in! Ours is more of a three-seasons room! Hope you get a little sunshine this week.

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  13. I hope you and yours had a very MERRY CHRISTMAS and are looking forward to a very HAPPY NEW YEAR. May we display your header on our new site directory? As it is now, the site title (linked back to its home page) is listed, and we think displaying the header will attract more attention. In any event, we hope you will come by and see what is going on at SiteHoundSniffs.com.

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    1. I don't have much of a header, but yes, feel free to. Thanks.

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    2. Thank you so very much for giving permission. You can see your linked header under All, Beliefs, Daily Life, Photography, Travel and the United States. If you could say something (preferably good) about SiteHoundSniffs.com here and there, we would greatly appreciate it.

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  14. Happy New Year dear sweet precious Bethany!! Wishing you many blessings for 2017! ;)

    This post was like a gift. I have my pretty music playing and as I gazed over the photos and the quotes - it was so lovely and meditative. What a gorgeous place to visit!

    Hope you have a wonderful week as we all get back to "real life" after a nice holiday break. xoxo

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    1. Glad you enjoyed this post, Carrie! Hope your 2017 is beautiful.

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  15. Looks like a lovely botanical garden!

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  16. The gardens look lovely. I think it would make a new wedding venue for people. We have botanical gardens in Australia too, they typically have a formal European garden, an Australian one with native plants and an Asian garden.

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    1. I suspect that it is used for weddings. The Australian botanical gardens sound interesting.

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  17. I like that quote by Leonard Ravenhill. It reminds me of what I read today in Luke 12:4-7 about not fearing those who can harm the body but fear the one who can send the soul to hell. From there it goes directly to talking about how God knows every time a sparrow falls so why should we fear anything if we have Him?
    Beautiful pictures!

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    1. "His Eye is on the Sparrow" is one hymn I really enjoy singing.

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