Author Archives: Ellen

InSPIREd on Bainbridge Island

While on Bainbridge Island last Friday and Saturday we spotted a couple churches to share for InSPIREd Sunday hosted by Beth and Sally.

We also spotted one more spire on our travel up the island, Seabold United Methodist Church.

We are getting ready for Easter Week at this old house. Tomorrow is Palm Sunday and through the week we’ll pause on Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and the amazing climax and grand celebration of the week, Easter Sunday or Resurrection Sunday! I love all the history of this coming week and what it means for us…

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
    Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your king is coming to you;
    righteous and having salvation is he,
humble and mounted on a donkey,
    on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

Zachariah 9:9 (ESV)

God Loves Me…

It’s good for me to look at all the ways God loves me and blesses me week in and week out. This past week my cup overflowed. Here are five things that filled my cup this week…

Living in the Seattle area with all it has to offer including a wonderful ferry system to take us away to new places to explore.

Comfortable spaces to stay that I don’t take for granted.

Good food and drink plopped in front of me is always a treat!

God’s creation in a beautiful setting to explore and marvel at. I will share a post from the Bloedel Reserve soon.

My cup was full from a wonderful weekend getaway with Dear and then on Monday I met up with 6 of the Mennonite Girls Can Cook at the Tulip fields with a nice lunch afterwards. Now my cup was overflowing. I will share more photos from the tulip fields later.

I said I had my Friday’s Fave Five that I’m linking up with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story with but I’d like to add one more blessing from afar.

My father, Moisi or Moses has re-discovered his love for jig-saw puzzles and it’s nice for him to be able to enjoy this activity. For those of you that have been following my updates on my pop, he is now living with my oldest sister and her husband. They are taking very good care of him and his loneliness has lessened. He is eating a whole lot better, too, thanks to my wonderful sister.

As you look back over this past week what do you count as blessings?

The Inn on the Island

The room had one of my favorite color combinations and was very well appointed.

There is no front desk or humans to show you the way at this lovely Inn. You come with your access code in hand and are greeted by this big chicken! We were happy with the no fuss process.

Room #7 had the best views, especially when you stepped out on the little deck.

The village below the Inn had everything we’d want if we hadn’t already stopped on the way in for dinner. There was a bakery that we did stop in at on our way out on Saturday. Delicious fresh choices! I wish I would have taken a picture. Restaurants, Farm Market, Wine Bar, A Small Grocers, The Market Place is a coffee house, Bakery, and Delicatessen that offers a wide variety of quality food and drink—all with an emphasis on local. Open Now: The Marketplace Tap Room—enjoy microbrews on tap. Everything you would need if you want to stay put for the whole weekend.

We would enjoy going back now that we are more familiar with the island. On Friday when we arrived we were still in a rainy pattern through the early morning hours of Saturday. As we got to mid morning on Saturday the sun was shining and the rain was gone and we enjoyed a wonderful stroll through Bloedel Reserve. I will give that property a post of it’s own.

A Nice Getaway…

It’s always interesting to plan a getaway close to my birthday since you never know what weather you will encounter. We were blessed this past weekend with some rain when it didn’t really matter and a beautiful dry sunny day when it did matter.

I picked up Dear at his office building in downtown Seattle and drove a few short blocks to the waterfront to board the ferry to Bainbridge Island.

Leaving Seattle behind us we journeyed west across the Puget Sound.

Our first stop after we exited the ferry was The Harbour Public House for an early dinner.

Nice views from inside.

We had a good meal and we were glad we made a stop at Bon Bon for some treats to enjoy in our room when we settled into the Inn at Pleasant Beach. More posts from our time on the island to come.

I’m linking up with Signs, signs with Lesley.

Kingston to Edmonds Ferry…

Dear and I enjoyed an overnight trip to Bainbridge Island last Friday to Saturday. On Friday we took the Seattle to Bainbridge Ferry to get to the island and on Saturday after visiting the Bloedel Reserve we drove from Bainbridge across the Agate Pass Bridge to the Kitsap Penninsula and took the Kingston Ferry across the Puget Sound home. Have I confused you yet? Here are some photos from our Kingston to Edmonds voyage…

If you look closely in the window you can see Dear smiling at me in his shades!

That’s downtown Seattle in the distance with the Space Needle to the right…

It’s nice to have a good ferry system so we can enjoy easy trips to the beautiful islands and peninsulas in our area.

I’m linking up to ABC Wednesday with thanks to Mrs. Nesbitt and her ABC team! K is for Kingston to Edmonds Ferry and KNOW!

Here’s my Bible Verse card for the letter M! Know…

Walkway – Before & After

Since our yard project was completed for now I’m sharing the before and after views before I share our great overnight getaway.

We had an unusual string of dry mild days in February and the beginning of March that gave us lots of time to work on some projects in our yard.

Before

First Phase…

Phase two in process…

Walkway done and now onto the extension and step down from the deck.

Before…

Digging, digging, chipping away at large tree root, digging some more and hauling off the dirt and grass…

Defeated the tree roots and moved on…

We are now getting to the end of this part of our project.

Chose a new planter box and planted some plants in the cement blocks.

Another before shot…

We are pleased with the results from all our hard labor over several weekends and evenings.

We still have a few more ideas for tweaking some things but for now we enjoyed a weekend without any labor. During our overnight away we probably put back on the weight we dropped working on this project. Looking forward to this first full week of Spring. What’s on your agenda?

Sunlit Spires

Dear and I were able to get away on an overnight trip to Bainbridge Island and we decided to drive up to the Kitsap Peninsula through the Nordic town of Poulsbo on our way home. We were pleasantly surprised by a very nice and sunny mid-morning to evening on this Saturday after being soaked by rain Friday night and early Saturday morning. I have lots to share from our wonderful getaway.

We had a wonderful Sunday morning at our own church, not this church I pictured. We were able to witness 15 or 43 total Baptisms. We have 3 services so the Baptisms were spaced out between the services. From elementary age children, high school, college, and older adults including a married couple we witnessed obedience to the Word of God to believe and be baptized.

I’m linking to InSPIREd Sunday with Beth and Sally and Sunlit Sunday at My Little Home and Garden.

Behold the Lovely Springtime ~ Hymn

Bloedel 069

Behold the Lovely Springtime

Behold the lovely springtime!
We hail its rosy hours,
We welcome back the sunshine
And cool, refreshing showers;
There’s beauty all around us,
And music everywhere;
O praise our great Creator
Who makes the earth so fair.

Refrain

Come, children, join the chorus,
Ring out in joyful strain
A song of love to God above;
The Spring has come again.

Our youth is like the springtime,
Our hearts are like the flowers;
Our smiles like playful sunbeams
That cheer its passing hours;
And may our deeds of kindness,
As one by one they fall,
Be like the gentle raindrops
Our Father sends to all.

Refrain

Each tender bud and blossom,
From out its dewy leaves,
Gives back to God who made it
The sweet perfume it breathes;
Then let us give to Jesus
Our youthful hearts today,
And in life’s happy springtime,
Begin the heavenly way.

Refrain

Words: Fanny Crosby, 1876.

My “Burb” with Fences and Blooms!

I’m linking up to Good Fences #52 with TexWisGirl at Run*A*Round Ranch Report.

I had a lovely walk out my door, out of my immediate neighborhood, up the hill, and all around the way in a large square route coming down hill on my way back home. Have you noticed that walking down hill is a lot harder on your knees than walking uphill?

We’ve enjoyed a mostly dry Winter this year although this past Sunday we had the most rainfall in a single day since the 70’s. It was nice to wake up to sunshine on Monday.