Author Archives: Ellen

Watch Your Step…

15894538_10211789411759035_1305461421566904195_nWe have been experiencing freezing temperatures at this old house. This next photo is our frozen deck and we need to walk very carefully on or we’ll land on our backside.

misc-stuff-019It’s about 26 feet from our deck doors to our garage so when the ice is thick and slick on the deck we’ll circumvent the deck altogether and walk around from our front door to the garage to be extra safe. This next photo shows the length of the deck we walk daily although this photo was taken in early Spring.

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15871461_10211801064250340_6812811793242974831_nI took this photo of this frozen fountain yesterday. It is outside one of our favorite garden shops to visit especially for their after Christmas sales. The fountain is for sale, not on sale, for $3999. I wonder if you get the ice at that price?

misc-stuff-001Our kids in Eastern Washington have been having temperatures in the minus -5 degree range. I’m glad I bought our little one who is busy gaining weight in her mom’s womb this snow suit that she should fit into during next winter. Justifying purchases for her has begun already. This was 1/3 it’s original cost so the justification came easy.

Dear is about to install a new piece of equipment that our internet provider sent us to upgrade our unit that they say is way out of date. I might not be able to be on the internet for a while. I do hope all goes well and we are back up with no headache problems with the installation. Hope you have a wonderful day free of any internet issues! Blessings…

Starting Fresh with Hodgepodge…

1. Share one favorite moment/memory from your Christmas holiday.
 15747502_10211510518384524_8505381520756214670_nOur Nutcracker Christmas Crackers had little whistle/flutes in them and instructions to toot some Christmas songs together. It was so much fun with us laughing so much we snorted and maybe drooled a bit while trying to toot our whistles upon demand. Each whistle was numbered to created the right tone/note. Oye…it was fun!
2. What was the best thing you ate over the holidays? Was it homemade or store bought? If it was homemade did you make it?
swedishSwedish pancakes on Christmas morning are the best. 1st because Dear cooks them. 2nd because we all love them. A tradition that will not be broken.

3. What was one of the most beautiful things you saw over the holidays?

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People, people, people are the most beautiful things we saw over the holidays. A very beautiful thing was that our oldest flew to eastern Washington to help his brother and sister in law move into their new home in frigid temperatures. Our boys have a way of being able to motivate and help each other in good and tough times and it’s a beautiful thing to see and hear about.

4. What does fresh start mean to you?

Fresh Start was the name of my home cleaning business that I started in the late 80’s and early 90’s and that’s the first thing that came to mind with this question. Dear was in Pharmacy School for a mid-life change in his profession and I cleaned toilets to make money in several homes and at a medical and dental clinic. Of course I cleaned more than toilets but you get the idea. The work was so aerobic and I was so skinny.

5. On a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being very positive and 1 being not so great) how would you rate 2016 in terms of personal achievement and well being? Explain.

If I take my fluff out of the equation I’d give myself an 8!

van 2 035I’m still fluffy but besides that my health and outlook are good. I am not taking any medications. An IT Band Syndrome is still plaguing me even though I’m not a runner by any stretch of the imagination. Exercises to strengthen my core and take the strain off my IT band are helping. It generally takes a lot to get me down and I’m thankful for that. So…I’ll stick with an 8!

6. Every January 1st since 1976 Lake Superior University has published a list of words they’d like to see banished from the Queen’s English. Words may be banished due to misuse, overuse, or just general uselessness. Go here to read more about how the words were chosen or, if you’re like me, to find out what in the world the word or phrase even means or the context in which it’s used. There were quite a few on this year’s list I’d never heard before. Here’s the 2017 list of banished words-You, Sir-focus-Bete Noire-Town Hall Meeting-Post Truth-guesstimate-831-historic-manicured-echo chamber-on fleek-bigly-ghost-Dadbod-listicle-get your dander up-selfie drone-frankenfruit-disruption. Which word on the list would you most like to see banished in 2017? What word or phrase would you add to the list?

I’m tired of hearing about Town Hall Meetings. Another one I’d like to not hear again is “Gun Control”.

7. Large or small, light or deep, share with us one goal you have for the new year.
misc-stuff-028I got this fitbit for Christmas and I’d like to add the light goal of moving more.
My deep goal is to pray more.
 1 Thessalonians 5: 16-18:
Rejoice always,  pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
8. Insert your own random thought here.
I’ve got a recipe for Crock Pot Potato soup inspired from bj’s blog and Paula Deen up on the Mennonite Girls Can Cook blog. It was easy and satisfying. Click on over to see it.
The illustration at the top of this post is Russian and the words translate Happy New Year. I wish you all a very Happy New Year!
Linking up with Joyce at From This Side of the Pond. She provides the questions and we provide the answers.

Zestful and Zany 2016

Zestful: full of energy and enthusiasm. Here are some zestful captures in 2016.

There are also some zany moments. Zany: amusingly unconventional and idiosyncratic.

pictures dj15Dan and Jamie have birthdays one day apart in January. Here’s their Happy Birthday Cookie Pizza.

2016-01-16 Josh 2016Our boys have birthdays 3 days apart in January. We were able to celebrate Josh since he lives on our side of the state.

Eleanor 2My pop holding his youngest great granddaughter for the first time in 2016. She was born Christmas Eve 2015.

12801376_10207490791500845_3603949523279273893_nSister weekend Selfies.

12797850_844294819033073_347721827_nDaughter Selfies.

easter 2016 002Easter Egg Hunt!

kulich-16Praying over our dough so it will rise!

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13061943_10209470854876562_4327377309614113889_n-001Met up with my brother’s family in Austin Texas at the end of April. They live in Dallas and I drove from San Antonio.

HolsteinsTogether with my brother and sister in June in Southern California.

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pop f.d.'16My siblings having some fun with our sleeping pop.

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Canada new book launch 086The Mennonite Girls having some fun with our newly published book.

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14317439_10210161594261007_2186919252756866346_nOur 93 year old Pop getting his turn to hit the pinata at his great granddaughter birthday party.

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15442312_10211344817842114_7566032109614302110_nZestful Sounders MLS Cup win in Toronto, Canada.

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15726430_10211703331807090_3701693253863052823_nOur zany daughter on Christmas morning in her onezie.

2016-12-09-decor-snowWe are already at the letter Z for ABC Wednesday. Thanks to Mrs. Nesbitt and her team for keeping us going all these years. Joy to my ABC Wednesday friends!

Onward and upward into 2017 we go. Today we woke up to cold temperatures for the Puget Sound area, 15! We aren’t suppose to get up over 30 degrees today. Brrr. I guess we’ll wait to prune our fruit trees till the days warm up next week. Hope your year is starting well.

2016 in Review July-December

2016-07-07 4th and beyond1Fourth of July with family, friends and neighbors.

2016-07-19 Canada new book launch3Book launch for Bread for the Journey at Marg’s home in Chilliwack, B.C.

2016-07-19 Canada new book launch4

2016-08-02 kids weekend1July 30th we received an announcement from Dan and Jamie that they were expecting our first grandchild!

museum book launch6August Book launch celebration at the Heritage Museum in Abbotsford, B.C.

2016-08-25 pump house and homeTravels to Dan and Jamie’s to help with projects in August.

Pictures62Memorial service for our dear friend Dave Dickinson late in August with all of our family.

mohai66August/September visits to Eastern Washington and visits here from cousins.

danjam-home-020October Western Conference clinched and another trip to Eastern Washington where I was able to hear Baby Bayles’ heartbeat, attend a sign making class and see that beautiful rainbow above.

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15036604_1356018304417236_4867337359558403527_nWe found out we are having a little granddaughter!

 

2016-11-27-2nd-t-day2November day trips and wonderful Thanksgiving gatherings with friends and family.

2016-12-05-mgcc-xmas16

mgcc-162Early December trip to Canada for our annual MGCC Christmas dinner.

pictures66Our 42nd wedding anniversary meal in La Conner at the Oyster and Thistle a day late but just as good .

recently-updated-001December 11th our Sounders beat Toronto to win their first ever MLS Cup!

15390853_10211460213602920_8728460629010838251_nDowntown Seattle for the MLS Championship parade and celebration with Josh and Laura.  (December 14th)

pictures65Dan and Jamie moved into their new home in weather that ranged from 8 degrees to 22 degrees. Josh flew over to help them move the weekend before Christmas!

mohai67Christmas day with all of our kids and then a trip to La Conner with Katie and Andrew to celebrate Katie’s birthday.

We ended the year with a nice chilly walk and then a Raclette dinner at this old house with dear old friends. Sad to say I forgot to take a photo! Here’s the table set in Husky gold and purple even though our dear Huskies lost to the Crimson Tide after a great run in 2016!

pictures67Today on New Year’s day we managed to put away Christmas decorations and drag the tree out to the yard waste bin. Woohoo! Tomorrow I will enjoy sitting and watching the Rose Bowl Parade and maybe the Rose Bowl game.

Hope that 2017 is having a good start at your house!

Numbers 6: 24-26

The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

Standing at the Portal ~ Hymn

Standing At the Portal

Standing at the portal
Of the opening year,
Words of comfort meet us,
Hushing every fear;
Spoken thru the silence
By our Savior’s voice,
Tender, strong and faithful,
Making us rejoice.

Refrain

Onward, then, and fear not,
Children of the day;
For His Word shall never,
Never pass away.

I, the Lord, am with thee,
Be thou not afraid;
I will help and strengthen
Be thou not dismayed.
Yea, I will uphold thee
With My own right hand;
Thou art called and chosen
In My sight to stand.

Refrain

For the year before us,
O what rich supplies!
For the poor and needy
Living streams shall rise;
For the sad and sinful
Shall His grace abound;
For the faint and feeble
Perfect strength be found.

Refrain

He will never fail us,
He will not forsake;
His eternal covenant
He will never break.
Resting on the promise,
What have we to fear?
God is all sufficient
For the coming year.

Onward, then, and fear not,
Children of the day;
For His Word shall never,
Never pass away.

Words: Francis R. Havergal, January 4, 1873.

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Happy New Year everyone. Here’s a antique post card from one hundred seven years ago.

 Glory to God in highest heaven,

Who unto man His Son hath given;
While angels sing with tender mirth,
A glad new year to all the earth.
~Martin Luther

С новым годом!

Happy 2017 dear readers!

Marinated Cheese Platter

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Click on over to Mennonite Girls Can Cook for the instructions to put together this Marinated Cheese Platter.  It’s easy and great for a crowd.

Hope your last day of 2016 is filled with good things and here’s a prayer for 2017…

A New Year’s Prayer

May God make your year a happy one!
Not by shielding you from all sorrows and pain,
But by strengthening you to bear it, as it comes;
Not by making your path easy,
But by making you sturdy to travel any path;
Not by taking hardships from you,
But by taking fear from your heart;
Not by granting you unbroken sunshine,
But by keeping your face bright, even in the shadows;
Not by making your life always pleasant,
But by showing you when people and their causes need you most,
and by making you anxious to be there to help.
God’s love, peace, hope and joy to you for the year ahead.

Anon.

Cherry Varenya ~ Russian Tea Sweetener

This was one of my most visited posts in 2016. I first posted this in 2008. I’m adding a photo to the top of the post. If you look carefully you’ll see a glass bowl of Varenya on the table next to the tea cups in front of my paternal grandfather (dzedushka) and grandmother (babushka).

img578The Russian immigrants I grew up around would make and enjoy this Cherry Syrup made with whole pie cherries in their hot tea. They used this syrup in place of sugar to sweeten their tea. I called my mother this week (April 2008) to get the following recipe from her to share for The-Sweet-and-Savory-of-Yummy.

This is a very simple recipe for Cherry Varenya. This is a syrup made with Cherries to sweeten hot tea with.


Cherry Varenya

1/2 Cup Water
1 Cup Sugar
1 Cup Whole Sour Cherries (Pie Cherries)
1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice

You would increase the proportions of this recipe according to how many cherries you have on hand that you want to make into Varenya.

Boil the water and sugar to make a clear simple syrup. When the liquid is clear add your cherries and let it boil for 10 to 20 minutes (depending on how hard the cherries were to begin with) At the end of the boiling add 1 Tablespoon of fresh lemon juice to help preserve the brightness of the syrup.

You may want to can it at this point. (I don’t know how to can anything so you are on your own here!)🙂

You can do this process with sliced lemons, too, to make a Lemon Varenya.


Lemon Varenya

When I was young our family would go to a Cherry Orchard somewhere near Lancaster, California in July when the pie cherries were ready to harvest. It might have been in the Leona Valley. We would pick cherries all day and take home upwards of 40 pounds of cherries. That’s a lot of Varenya. When we picked this much my parents would give about half of the cherries away to other relatives and friends who couldn’t make the trek out to the Cherry Farm. Then it was a full day of preparing the cherries for Varenya. Washing, cooking and canning.

The photos are quite dark in this post and I’ve learned a few things since 2008 about taking photos of food and brightening them up before posting them. The photo of my grandparents is an old film photo scanned.

Hope the end of the year 2016 is going well for you. Maybe a cup of tea will help to brighten your day. Blessings…

2016 January-June in Mosaics…

2016-01-24-sat-morn-s8January: Dear started a consulting job from home. We celebrated January birthdays. A business trip to San Francisco with reunions with old friends from my college days.

2016-02-11-february-plants-and-food6February: Our Lenten Rose bloomed early. We had a Superbowl party with a Chinese New Year theme with souvenirs I bought at San Francisco’s Chinatown. We also enjoyed a Valentines day lunch with a view in Bellevue.

2016-03-18-van-23March: We had a sister’s weekend. We celebrated my Medicare birthday in Bellingham with the Mennonite Girls and our hubbies. Dear and I had an overnight in Vancouver, B.C. to continue celebrating my birthday. Katie and Andrew celebrated their 5th anniversary!

2016-03-27-easter-20164Easter landed at the end of March and deserved it’s own mosaic. Our family was all together. Kulich baking, Seerney Paska, Easter egg hunts and Raclette all happened during Easter weekend.

2016-04-28-trolley-tourApril: We took a quick trip to Eastern Washington to work on some projects at Dan and Jamie’s. Late in the month I went along with Dear on a business trip to San Antonio, Texas. While there I drove to Austin to meet up with my brother’s family for a few hours.

2016-05-13-bow-edison5May: Mother’s day with the kids on this side of the mountains. Dear and I took a road trip to Whatcom Falls and on the way home enjoyed stopping at a restaurant on Chuckanut Drive for lunch.

2016-05-31-rosella4May: Two trips across the line to Canada to meet our play writer and later to meet a favorite blogger who gives so much encouragement to us Mennonite Girls, Rosella.

2016-06-05-more-of-ellie2June: I flew down to be with family and enjoy my sister’s open house in her new digs.

mohai65June: A trip to Leavenworth where our family and our new daughter in law’s family enjoyed a weekend together eating and river rafting.

2016-06-19-fathers-day-20167June: Father’s day brunch downtown Seattle with a photo op on Queen Anne Hill overlooking downtown Seattle.

2016-06-24-yosemite-2June: We finished off June with a road trip to Yellowstone National Park and Cody Wyoming with stays in Montana coming and going. June really was packed full!

Six full months of blessings with people we love and trips to places we had never seen before. I’ll share July to December later. Dear’s consulting job ended in June and we began our time of wondering if we were unemployed or if we were retired.

How are you spending the last days of 2016? We are planning a little get together on New Year’s Eve after the Peach Bowl between our Washington Huskies and Alabama. We are the underdogs and will be cheering our Dawgs on to victory. Time will tell. Win or lose we will ring in the New Year with gratefulness to God for all He has done this year in our lives and the lives of our friends and family.

Happy Birthday to Our Katie Kat…

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She is such a great character. She is comfortable in her own skin and in other skins or onesies, too. The “Kat” photos were all taken on our Christmas morning walk.

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She’s the little girl we didn’t know we wanted but are so thankful to God for blessing our home with. The collage above are photos of Katie in 2016.

Christmas Eve 013She has been an avid reader since very early on. At the age of four she read a sign at the beach “caution low head clearance” out loud while walking with our friend. We knew we had a prolific reader. What we didn’t realize is that she could read even before she was four!

We think she’d be a great books on cd reader. She’s read so many genres and she has dramatic skills. So if anyone knows of a lead for her to get into that line of work let me know.

Tomorrow we will have a little outing with Katie and Andrew to celebrate her so our festivities continue which is why I’m scarce on line.

Happy Birthday Dear Katie!

We just got word that our Eastern Washington Kids have made it safe over the snowy pass and are through Spokane with about 60 miles to go before reaching home sweet home.

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More snow has fallen since they left here to come to our house for Christmas. We hope they can make it up their drive without having to plow it!

Are you all recovering from good food and frolic? Hope all is well and that you are content.