Author Archives: Ellen

A Fatherly Hodgepodge

Me and my dear old pop in 1973.

I’m adding a lot of random (not in chronological order) photos of my dear old pop throughout this post.

1. What happens to the mail at your house?

90% of it goes in the recycle bin. Bills go in my pay bills folder. Our kids’ mail goes next to the microwave for them to pick up the next time they come over. Magazines that we want to read end up in the family room or next to the toilet.

My older sisters and our pop in January of 2017.

2. Something you always splurge on? Any guilt associated with the splurge?

I’ll always splurge on my kids and on a good meal when we have friends and family over. The best meat with no guilt…just an empty pocketbook.

Josh and Laura with their Dzeda in January of 2017.

3. There are many, but what are two important questions you think every bride and groom should ask/answer before they plan their walk down the aisle?

If the bride and groom are believers these two questions are important. Do you love Jesus? Are you willing to obey him?

Our pop in the 1990’s

Dear and our pop in January of 2017 at Joe and Hannah’s wedding.

Me and my siblings in the 50’s with our pop before our next 4 siblings were born. I’m the youngest in this photo.

4. What’s the best advice your father ever gave you?

I can’t remember him giving me verbal advice. My parents were Russian immigrants and it took them a while to communicate in English. My Russian was dismal so verbal communication was an issue. Modeling was the best communication they gave. I learned a lot from watching them. One thing my parents always were ready to do was to drop everything and head over to someone’s home when they heard that a family member had died or to the hospital when they heard a friend or family member was suffering. They showed up. My mom would take food. They sat and listened and then they prayed with the hurting. My parents also modeled their faith in Bible reading and praying.

January 2015 with half of my siblings.

5. Your favorite movie where a father features heavily in the storyline?

I needed help with this one because my memory failed me. I’m going with Fiddler on the Roof. Teyve and his daughters.

“If I were a rich man…”

Our pop in the early 1950’s at 4635 Oak street in Pico Rivera, California.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

Pop in 1967 or 1968 in Montebello while hosting our cheer leading squad for dinner during crazy hat night.

When I was in high school a door to door salesman tried to con my parents to buy a set of encyclopedias that they claimed would help us kids in school. The cost was prohibitive and I confronted the salesman and told him my parents would not be buying the set of books. The salesman was a little hostile and I didn’t back down and showed him the front door. After that incident whenever my father had to go out of town for a job, he’d leave the “purse strings” with me to pay the bills and dole out the money for my mom and the rest of my brothers and sisters. I was a scrooge.

Pop and mom (dzeda and baba) with our kids on Norway Hill in the early 1990’s.

My mom and pop at our niece Debbee’s wedding in April of 2013 five months before my mom passed away.

Me and my siblings with our dear old pop at our mom’s funeral in September of 2013. One brother is missing in this photo.

My pop and oldest sister at the Molokan Cemetery where our paternal grandparents and some uncles and aunts are buried.

Our dear old pop, who is now 95, is struggling more and more and continues to wait on God’s timing for his homecoming.

I’m linking up for Wednesday Hodgepodge with Jo From This Side of the Pond. She asks the questions and we answer them.

Announcements, Announcements, Announcements!

The Mennonite Girls Can Cook have some announcements. We started our journey together when I was still covering my grey roots and had a “Bob”. Now I’m letting my grey shine with a shorter more layered cut. I also started this journey 30 pounds lighter. Last Friday, Lovella posted one of the first recipes that appeared on our blog in June of 2008. Here’s that post with our first announcement, Zwieback. Judy posted our last Bread for the Journey on Sunday. On Monday June 11, 2018, Lovella posted Ten Years of Mennonite Girls Can Cook.

I’m working on my own 10 year post which will be full of photos of our memorable events. This is mostly for my benefit so I have everything in chronological order. Last night we had a casual impromptu dinner at Lovella’s home in British Columbia. Seven of the 10 could be there with our husbands. So much to be thankful for. Dear and I stayed the night at an Oxford Suites hotel in Bellingham just across the border from Lovella’s home. We are really pleased with this chain. We’ll head home today with a couple stops along the way.

Fly Me to the Moon…

The Museum of Flight in Seattle was the venue for Andrew’s graduation with a B.S. in Aeronautical Engineering from William E. Boeing Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics from the University of Washington. The ceremony was held on Friday evening.

We arrived early enough to greet other graduates and take some photos with aircraft above us.

There were some unique things about this graduation ceremony. Before the graduates arrived to their seats, I noticed paper airplanes under each of their chairs. As the graduates walked in to take their seats “Fly Me to the Moon” played which got a chuckle from the crowd. At the end of the ceremony after they turned their tassels the paper airplanes took flight.

We had front row seats.

Each graduate had the chance to write out comments to be read by the presenter. Most thanked their spouse, parents, friends and loved ones. One thanked God and one thanked his Savior, Jesus, which got a cheer. Some had “no comment”.

I liked the ending to the ceremony.

The proud graduate…as he should be.

Proud wife of her hard working husband.

Proud parents, too.

Outside the museum we met up with Andrew’s sister. Andrew’s mother and sister traveled from Utah to be at graduation.

On Saturday late afternoon and evening we had a small graduation party at our home. Josh and Laura brought a pinata filled with candy. After we had dinner and some yummy cupcakes that Laura made we headed out to the backyard to set up the pinata. It was fun to smash it and see the candy fly in our back yard.

“Wait a minute, Andrew!” You need a blindfold before you swing away.”

Andrew connected a couple times and let some candy fly. Katie had a turn and released some more candy.

Josh had a turn and that was all she wrote. The rest of us enjoyed watching and documenting the fun. The candy was gathered and we went back inside before more rain fell. Lots of conversation and catching up. Katie and Andrew just met Andrew’s father’s fiance this weekend.

Make sure you read Andrew’s shirt. Andrew’s father teared up when he received a gift from Andrew from his time in the Marines. Andrew’s father and his fiance were happy they made the road trip all the way from North Carolina to be at graduation.

Before everyone went their merry way, we sang “Great is Thy Faithfulness” and “I Love You Lord”.

Our hearts were full but our bodies were a bit overwhelmed from a week of hard work priming and painting our kitchen cabinets inside and out. That of course involved taking everything out of the cupboards and taking all the doors off and cupboards out and then putting everything back again when things dried enough. Our real estate agent had a photographer come in at 11:00 on Saturday morning to re-take photos with the new wall color and kitchen cabinets all painted white.  Then we prepped for our party for Andrew. Thankfully we had help from Josh, Laura, and my sister Lana. Sunday has been a low key day for us so that our bodies can recover. Looking forward to a new week with no major painting or projects ahead!

 

Be Thou My Vision ~ Hymn

Be Thou My Vision

Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art.
Thou my best thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

Be Thou my wisdom, and Thou my true word;
I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;
Thou my great Father, I Thy true son;
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.

Be Thou my battle shield, sword for the fight;
Be Thou my dignity, Thou my delight;
Thou my soul’s shelter, Thou my high tower:
Raise Thou me heavenward, O power of my power.

Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise,
Thou mine inheritance, now and always:
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of Heaven, my treasure Thou art.

High King of Heaven, my victory won,
May I reach Heaven’s joys, O bright Heaven’s sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my vision, O ruler of all.

Words: Attributed to Dallan Forgaill

Before the End…

…of our Son in law’s tedious years of studying and writing and creating and presenting for his degree in Aeronautical Engineering tomorrow, I thought I would do a quick post recapping our time last weekend with lots of photos.

Uncle Josh and Addy at the zoo. Our kids and our friend’s kids went to the zoo on Saturday.

Uncle and Addy on the carousel.

Auntie and  Addy at our kid’s home. Addy and her parents stayed with our oldest and our dear DIL for this trip since our house is in another period of chaos.

After the zoo we all met up at Jamie, Sarly, Rae and David’s house for a barbecue dinner and fun in their backyard.

The sandbox was a fun discovery for Addy and David enjoyed it alongside his new friend.

Rae was a sweet hostess and took Addy for a ride about the yard.

Addy enjoyed sitting in the driver’s seat.

The dads gave their little ones some fun pushes on the swings.

David and Addy helped out by mowing the lawn and the putting green.

Some use golf clubs to get a hole in one, others take the easy road and just plop the ball into the hole.

The adults took turns helping the younger ones have a good time.

Help down the big slide was appreciated.

More help to zoom about the yard, too.

Loved seeing Katie’s purple hair amongst the purple blooms.

A great time with our dear friends who are family to us.

On Sunday late morning all our kids arrived at Baba and Gramps’ for our traditional family Swedish Pancake breakfast.

Addy got to see her pink kitchen that I bought a Goodwill for $1.79. I’m tucking it away for her to enjoy in the future when she’s older and can appreciate it more.

She enjoyed navigating our home again on very steady feet.

Some fun faces and a discovery of the tupperware lid drawer.

Our girls.

Our guys.

All of us together.

Till next time dear ones! It was a great couple days together.

Looking forward to Andrew’s graduation festivities on Friday and Saturday in the midst of us repainting our colorful walls and our kitchen the last few days. Oye, we are tye tye here at this old house. We are trying the neutral pallet to see if that will help us sell our home. Time will tell. Hope you all have a lovely weekend. I’ll be able to breath a sigh of relaxation come Sunday, Lord willing!

Totally Rad 80’s Hodgepodge

1.Describe your 30’s in one sentence. If you’re not yet 30 tell us one thing you hope to accomplish once you hit that particular decade.

A decade of change with a 2 year old toddler, 2nd baby (1981), 3rd baby (1985) moving on to elementary years with two moves, one north to Ventura where 3rd baby was born and then further north to the Pacific Northwest for hubby to pursue a career change at the University of Washington.

How’s that for a long sentence. In one word or three I’d describe my 30’s as “Changes” or “gnarly but rad”.

2. Is it harder for you to exercise or eat healthy?

Depends on the definition of exercise and healthy. I’m not a gym kind of person but I enjoy walks or easy hikes and mowing the lawn.  I like good food and a variety of food. You won’t find me drinking green shakes.

3. June 7th is National VCR Day. Huh? Anyway this reminded me of something I saw on Facebook listing household items we no longer have and the VCR was on it. I couldn’t put my hands on that list, but found another list here of 21 items we all had ten years ago, but which are now obsolete-

bookshelves (WHAT!!???), drip coffee makers, alarm clocks, file cabinets, desktop computers, printers, printed phone books, answering machines, fax machines, paper shredders, a Rolodex, CD racks, CD burners, china cabinets, home phones, entertainment consoles, DVD players, calculators, takeout menus, incandescent light bulbs, and cable TV

Your thoughts? How many on the list do you still have? Still use?

Haha! We still have everything on the list but CD burners, answering machines, a Rolodex. Instead of CD racks we have baskets that hold our CD’s. We do still have a VCR but it’s not hooked up at present.

4. What’s something you see disappearing in the next ten years?

Hopefully not the postal system.

5. How did you celebrate your birthday this past year? Is that typical?

This year Josh and Laura had us over for brunch to celebrate my birthday and it was wonderful. It is typical for us to enjoy a meal together but we usually go out.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

This past weekend was packed with all these people who are near and dear to us. Our family connected with the Dickinson family the decade of my 30’s and our friendships have grown since.

Linking up to Wednesday Hodgepodge hosted by Jo From This Side of the Pond. She asks, we answer.

Glee!

We got to spend some time with loved ones Saturday evening and on Sunday morning. I’ll share more soon. A busy weekend. We said our goodbyes to these three a couple hours ago. They are driving over the mountains to return home.

Update: Head over to Mennonite Girls Can Cook to get the recipe for Crockpot Creamy Chicken Tortilla Soup that I posted for today. I know it might be hot where you are but I enjoy soup in any weather and this is a good one to bookmark. I first posted this recipe on the MGCC blog almost 8 years ago! Happy Monday and my kids made it back home safe and sound.

Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus ~ Hymn

Wells Tuesday 115

Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus

O soul, are you weary and troubled?
No light in the darkness you see?
There’s a light for a look at the Savior,
And life more abundant and free!

Refrain

Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.

Through death into life everlasting
He passed, and we follow Him there;
Over us sin no more hath dominion—
For more than conquerors we are!

Refrain

His Word shall not fail you—He promised;
Believe Him, and all will be well:
Then go to a world that is dying,
His perfect salvation to tell!

Refrain

Words: Helen H. Lemmel, 1922.

 

Weekend Roundup ~ V

This week’s prompts:  Starts with “V.”  A Favorite.  Violet.

Starts with V: Viola and

my sister Vera who was Valedictorian of her graduating class.

A Favorite is this view.

Violet: Our daughter’s hair at present is violet or close enough to violet.

This is a vintage photo (1950’s) of my cousin Violet and me and my sisters Vera, Kathy and me. I’m pretty sure it was taken at Easter judging by the white patent leather shoes.

Thank you Tom for hosting The Weekend Roundup.

Next week’s prompts  Starts with “W.”  A Favorite.  Water.

Balboa Island

While we were in Southern California on Memorial weekend we were invited over to my nephew and his wife’s home in Newport Beach on Sunday morning before my pop’s birthday gathering in the afternoon. They are enjoying living on the waterway just across from Balboa Island. Living here gives them the benefit of being a stroll away and not having to deal with the constant traffic of those trying to cross the bridge/ Marine Ave. to get to the island.

This nephew of mine is my sister Vera’s son. He and our sons, Josh and Dan, grew up together and have a strong bond. Here we are setting out to walk the floating walkway/dockway to get to the bridge to Balboa Island.

The bridge was nicely decked out for Memorial Day. You can see the lineup of cars crossing the bridge.

I think walking across the bridge is a lot more pleasant.

The main drag on the island with all the clever shops and eateries.

There’s a museum where you can find out which of the frozen banana stands was really the first one, Dad’s or Sugar ‘N’ Spice.

We didn’t indulge in a frozen banana on this morning. Our niece informed us that Sugar ‘N’ Spice is in fact the original. She found that out at the museum.

I was using my little pocket camera this day and managed to cut off the name of this chapel, St. John Vianney Chapel. If and when I visit again I’ll pop in and see the interior. It’s on the main drag tucked between the two banana stands.

“It was about 77 years ago that the tiny church was established and began to see the first arrivals of the Mass-goers for whom it was built: vacationers. At the time, the only Catholic church in the Newport Harbor area was the parish of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, which sat–and still sits–about halfway down the Balboa Peninsula. For weekend and summer visitors to the island, getting to the peninsula church could be a bit of a stretch, particularly when gasoline rationing was instituted after the outbreak of World War II.”

We kept walking crossing the Grand Canal to Little Balboa Island.

We found another walker who was willing to take our photo. My sister, me, nephew, niece, son and daughter in law. We popped in to a local eatery, The Village Inn, for some appetizers before our walk back.

Balboa Island North Channel

It was low tide for our time walking about. On our way back we spotted these creatures.

The sailboats and yachts were very impressive but this next boat is more my speed…

After our little trek to the island we all piled into our cars and headed inland to La Habra for our Pop’s/Dzeda’s birthday gathering.

And just like that we come to the last day of May. We’ve been busy since I returned home. Yesterday was Spring cleaning day at this Old House. I’m determined to visit and see what I’ve missed on your blogs today.