Author Archives: Ellen

Feeding 50 in Style…

What a beautiful cold day we had for Thanksgiving this year. We drove over the freeway and through the burbs to arrive at our dear friends Dave and Jody’s home overlooking the Puget Sound for our Thanksgiving day celebration.

In the main dining room seating for 21 or more…

In the kitchen nook seating for 15.

In the entry seating for up to 14 kids…

We started with appetizers…

We enjoyed meeting new friends and seeing old friends.

Our hosts daughter Jamie with our daughter Katie.

Dear was the master carver. Jody made a turkey in the oven and Dave smoked a turkey in his green egg. Jody also made “Deena’s Potatoes, and stuffing and gravy and her yearly traditional mushroom lasagna. Her soup starter this year was dairy free, roasted butternut soup and she made special potatoes for our son Josh without dairy. She’s a gem in the kitchen and in hosting huge parties!! Others of us contributed some other sides like yams, broccoli salad, spinach salad, corn bread casserole, and rolls.

Andrew and Katie…

Cousins, Jamie and Matt.

Our hosts Canadian nephew with his wife on the right and our son Josh and hosts daughter Lucy in the middle.

My sister Lana with her hubby Steve.

This little sweetie with her parents is the first grand babe of our friends Gregg and Tami.

My brother Tim and wife Letty.

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Our host Dave with Dear.

The beautiful Puget Sound.

My friend Jan brought the dessert for our meal. This fun display along with 4 delicious pies.

Apple, Pumpkin, Berry and Banana Cream Pie!

We had a great time exchanging sentiments to each other on why we are thankful for them in our lives. I didn’t get photos of the annual turkey shoot that is such a treat for the children.

Hope you had a wonderful time, too.

Black Friday

2015-11-25 Borsch Snoqualmie

Good Friday morning to y’all. Just a quick post while my camera battery is charging so I can upload the photos from our Thanksgiving gathering yesterday. This past Wednesday we traveled east to Snoqualmie Falls with my brother and sister-in-law and even though it was clear and sunny in the lowlands when we got to the Falls it was misty, moisty and foggy. It’s still an amazing site.

Today we might take a little drive to see some another site or two…no shopping for us!

Below are a couple shots of Snoqualmie Falls in March of 2014 when our daughter Katie and I visited.

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Happy Thanksgiving!

To all our friends in the United States a very Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!

May God bless you with a peaceful gathering enjoying good food, friends and family! Count your blessings, name them one by one!!

Psalm 28:7 ~

The LORD is my strength and my shield;
my heart trusts in him, and I am helped.
My heart leaps for joy
and I will give thanks to him in song.

Господь–крепость моя и щит мой; на Него уповало сердце мое, и Он помог мне, и возрадовалось сердце мое; и я прославлю Его песнью моею.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone…Gobble Gobble!

T is for Thanksgiving

Give thanks to the Lord for he is good; his love endures forever.

Here are some of my Thanksgiving Tables over the last few years.

2010

Thanks to God for my Redeemer,
Thanks for all Thou dost provide!
Thanks for times now but a memory,
Thanks for Jesus by my side!

2011

Thanks for pleasant, balmy springtime,
Thanks for dark and stormy fall!
Thanks for tears by now forgotten,
Thanks for peace within my soul!

2012

Thanks for prayers that Thou hast answered,
Thanks for what Thou dost deny!
Thanks for storms that I have weathered,
Thanks for all Thou dost supply!

2013-11-17 Early Thanksgiving

2013

Thanks for pain, and thanks for pleasure,
Thanks for comfort in despair!
Thanks for grace that none can measure,
Thanks for love beyond compare!

Early Thanksgiving 001

Thanks for roses by the wayside,
Thanks for thorns their stems contain!
Thanks for home and thanks for fireside,
Thanks for hope, that sweet refrain!

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2014

Thanks for joy and thanks for sorrow,
Thanks for heav’nly peace with Thee!
Thanks for hope in the tomorrow,
Thanks through all eternity!

Words: August L. Storm, 1891

I’m linking up for ABC Wednesday started by Mrs. Nesbitt and now carried on with the help of Roger and a team of volunteers. T is for Thanksgiving, Thanks, Thankfulness, Tables.

Happy Thanksgiving to all my friends in the United States!

Barn Collective

A fun painting to make a building look like a barn and my last from the little town of Duvall, Washington.

Linking up with the Barn Collective with Tom at Backroads Traveler.

Here we go into the great week of Thanksgiving. I’m looking forward to our Turkey meal gathering on Thursday at the home of some friends. There will be just 50 of us…LOL! I’ll be making a smaller turkey at home with all the fixins next Sunday. Hope you see all you can be thankful for! Blessings…

O Give Thanks to Him Who Made ~ Hymn

O Give Thanks to Him Who Made

O give thanks to Him Who made
Morning light and evening shade;
Source and Giver of all good,
Nightly sleep and daily food;
Quickener of our wearied powers,
Guard of our unconscious hours.

O give thanks to nature’s King,
Who made every breathing thing;
His, our warm and sentient frame,
His, the mind’s immortal flame.
O how close the ties that bind
Spirits to the Eternal Mind!

O give thanks with heart and lip,
For we are His workmanship;
And all creatures are His care:
Not a bird that cleaves the air
Falls unnoticed; but who can
Speak the Father’s love to man?

O give thanks to Him Who came
In a mortal, suffering frame—
Temple of the Deity—
Came for rebel man to die;
In the path Himself hath trod
Leading back His saints to God.

Words: Josiah Conder, 1836

ht: Cyberhymnal

InSPIREd Sunday

While I was in California I took a walk down to the beach and through a neighborhood on the way back to my sisters. I saw a couple churches that I took some photos of.

Community Bible Church in Huntington Beach, California.

Originally known as the First Baptist Church, the Community Bible Church was dedicated in 1906, three years before Huntington Beach was incorporated.  This is one of the oldest churches still standing in Huntington Beach today.

Just along the same street I saw this quaint Catholic Church, St. Mary’s By the Sea.

In 1905, St. Mary’s was established as a mission of St. Joseph’s Parish in Santa Ana.  A former church building and property were purchased at Tenth & Orange Streets in Huntington Beach. Later the name was changed to Sts. Simon & Jude to avoid confusion with St. Mary’s Parish in Fullerton. A new church building and rectory were built in 1923 at a total cost of $21,000.

Joining Sally and Beth for InSPIREd Sunday later today.

I’m happy to report that the sun is shining brightly here in the Seattle area. It is cold, though. I made a big pot of Borsch and it’s sure to warm us up. Have a wonderful weekend!

Good Fences

How to make a chain link fence more interesting…

I saw this wall just off the pier in Huntington Beach.

I’m sharing these fences from California that I took in October on Good Fences #87 with TexWisGirl.

We are enjoying electricity again after being without it for 24 hours. We have started our thankfulness early! We are thankful the temperatures were mild for this outage instead of freezing. Before the power went out I baked Snickerdoodles and if you click over to Mennonite Girls Can Cook you’ll see the recipe I used.

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I’m glad I didn’t do my Thanksgiving food shopping early. Hard to believe Thanksgiving is a week from today! I’m not sure what day I’ll be making our turkey. We are invited to our friends home on Thanksgiving day. My brother and his lovely wife will be flying up for a week and will spend the holiday with us. What are your plans this year?

Unique Signs…

While on our drive to Sandals Church in Riverside/Moreno Valley California for our brother in law’s funeral we saw this sign that peaked our interest.

When I first saw the sign I read it as burrito crossing…maybe I was hungry.

Glad to see the warning sign meant business. When we rolled down the window to take this shot this wild burro came right up to the window hoping for a little treat!

Linking up to ABC Wednesday for S is for signs and with Signs, signs with Lesley later this week!

We have a big storm pushing through our region with high winds. I hope we don’t lose power before I can visit some blogs…

Update: The winds whipped and howled and our power was out for a full 24 hours. Boy do you appreciate your electricity when it finally comes back on! We played a game of Scrabble with candlelight and found our battery operated radio to get the news about the storm. It was so dark…

InSPIREd Sunday

While we were in Huntington Beach before and after my brother in law’s funeral we took a side trip to visit the church we attended when we lived in Huntington Beach from 1976-1984.

Evangelical Free Church, Huntington Beach.

Our son Josh attended Joyful Noises way back in the early 80’s.  Both of our son’s were dedicated to the Lord at this church.

Josh Dan 79-834

This photo is from the baby dedication of our second son, Daniel, at E.V. Free. Our pastor at the time was Bob Thune. Dan decided he really would rather stay with the pastor instead of being handed back to me after his dedication. Too funny. You might recognize the name Thune as Bob’s brother is John Thune the honorable United States Senator from South Dakota.

One of the planters in the church yard had tiles with the names of God, our Lord on it.

The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe. Proverbs 18:10

Linking up to InSPIREd Sunday with Beth and Sally.