Cookies!

We Gathered.

We huddled, prepared, and watched.

All hands in!

These hands made Lovella’s Nanaimo Bars, Marg’s Tee Gebaeck-Linzer Cookies, Anneliese’s Peppermint Cookies, Judy’s Peppernuts/Pfeffernuesse, Julie’s Chocolate Chocolate Gluten Free Cookies, Bev’s Honey Cookies. We also served appetizers (Red Pepper Jelly tarts, Judy’s Christmas Tree cheese board, Lepp’s prepared platters of cured meats, and Marg’s Apple Spiced Cider that was posted on the blog yesterday)

Each baker had her time in the spotlight!

Work continued out of the spotlight.

Judy had her own personal sous chef.

Even though I didn’t bake any of the cookies I got to stir!

I watched and smiled because for a change I brought along my own personal photographer. Note to sassy looking self standing behind Lovella: When you are behind the scenes and someone is taking photos you should always remember your weird expressions will get caught on film.

Favorite moment of the night…laughing about Anneliese’s good old pans!

When everything was said and done each guest at the cooking class got to take home one of these beautiful baskets of cookies the the girls had prepared ahead of time! All profits from last nights cooking class will be going to Matthew’s House in Abbotsford a non-profit help to families of children with disabilities.

Lovella took this next photo of Katie, my personal photographer for the evening. It was wonderful to have a traveling companion for the 200 mile round trip to the cooking class.

I managed to get one photo of my personal photographer before the class when we stopped for tea at Clayburn Village Candy shop where we had a lovely meal and we shared sticky toffee pudding for sweets before the sweets!

Dear and I are headed North again today. I’ll share more tomorrow on our adventure. I’m real happy someone else will be doing the driving the next couple of days.

Hope you all are enjoying some sweet moments in the bustle of this joyful time of year! Blessings…

Tower Bridge…

and the Tower of London.

Along with Big Ben and Westminster Abbey, the Tower Bridge tops Great Britain’s list of architectural icons that make up London’s distinctive skyline. While not the first bridge to span the Thames, Tower Bridge is the most recognizable and is often mistakenly referred to as “London Bridge.” While Tower Bridge is one of the world’s most famous bridges, few know its rich history.

During its original construction, Tower Bridge was considered the most impressive and advanced of bascule bridges. At the time, the hydraulics used to open the bridge were powered by steam yet still able to complete the feat within one minute. In 1976, the steam-powered pumping engines were replaced by ones powered by electricity and oil.

Tower Bridge is the only bridge on the Thames that can be raised and lowered to allow ships to pass. Supposedly, witnessing the Tower Bridge opening brings good luck because it’s such a rare occurrence. Visitors can ensure their luck by checking the Bridge Lift Times on the official Tower Bridge website.

For many, the famous nursery rhyme “London Bridge is Falling Down” conjures up images of the Tower Bridge. These individuals assume the rhyme refers to the raising and lowering of the bridge, but they are mistaken. The real London Bridge was located approximately a mile to the west of where Tower Bridge was constructed.
Throughout the centuries, a number of bridges have been constructed on the site of the actual London Bridge, some of which did fall into disrepair before being replaced. One of these bridges was sold to an American entrepreneur by the name of Robert P. McCulloch in 1968. McCulloch reconstructed the bridge as a tourist attraction in the desert city of Lake Havasu, Arizona.

The Tower of London has a rich and brutal history. You can read all about it on links at this page and others.

The Crown Jewels are housed at the Tower of London. You can read about the history and meaning behind many of the jewels here.

Today Katie and I are on the road to that foreign country to our North! We love to use our passports. We’re having quite a cold snap here and I hope our trip will be without snow. We are looking forward to being at Lepp Farm Market in Abbotsford ringing in the season with our Old Fashioned Cookie class. I guess we’ll need to choose a couple of our favorite Christmas Cd’s to enjoy on the road.

It’s a Christmas miracle at this old house. I mailed all my Christmas cards yesterday and now I feel I can relax for the rest of this week until we pick up our tree on Sunday! What do you like to see behind you during this busy time of year?

Birthday Celebrations!

Our DIL’s birthday is today and we got together this past Sunday to celebrate. We thought it would be fun to re-visit our most excellent England experience and headed to a British Restaurant in Redmond Washington for brunch/lunch. Neville’s is located in a trio of store fronts joined together in a strip mall in Redmond, Washington. There’s Nevile’s and then the British Pantry and the 3 Lions Pub. We had fun shopping in the British pantry after we had our meal.

We are so thankful to God for Laura and her all she adds to our family. Happy Birthday dear Laura. May God bless you dearly in your new year!

I’m happy to report on this Tuesday that our Christmas letter is done and copied off. I picked up our photo collage from Costco to pop in our Christmas cards along with the letter. That’s a load off. Now to address all the envelopes and stuff them. Tomorrow Katie and I head to Abbotsford, Canada to attend and participate in the Old Fashioned Cookie demonstration class that the Mennonite Girls are teaching at Lepp Farm Market. Fun times! Hope we don’t encounter snow. On Thursday Dear and I are headed to Semiahmoo Resort to celebrate for 2 nights. I’ll tell you what we are celebrating on Friday!

Big Ben

The Clock Tower of the Palace of Westminster – officially named Saint Stephen’s Tower – is commonly known as the Big Ben. The tower is one of London’s most famous landmarks.

The clock inside the tower was the world’s largest when it was installed in the middle of the nineteenth century. The name Big Ben actually refers to the clock’s hour bell, the largest of the clock’s five bells. The other four are used as quarter bells.

The hour bell was probably named after Benjamin Hall, the First Commissioner of Works. Some sources however claim the bell was named after Benjamin Caunt, a British heavyweight boxing champion.

The clock was the largest in the world and is still the largest in Great-Britain. The clock faces have a diameter of almost 25ft (7.5m). The hour hand is 9ft or 2.7m long and the minute hand measures 14ft (4.25m) long.

The clock is known for its reliability, it has rarely failed during its long life span. Even after the nearby House of Commons was destroyed by bombing during World War II, the clock kept on chiming. The clock’s mechanism, designed by Edmund Beckett Denison, has a remarkable accuracy. The clock’s rate is adjusted by simply adding small pennies on the shoulder of the pendulum.

The tower was constructed between 1843 and 1858 as the clock tower of the Palace of Westminster. The palace is now better known as the Houses of Parliament.
The clock tower rises 316ft high (96m) and consists of a 200ft (61m) high brick shaft topped by a cast iron framed spire. The clock faces are 180ft / 55m above ground level.

HT: A View on Cities

I just have a few more England Trip posts left and good thing because the Christmas/Advent season is here and so many wonderful things happen this time of year. I hope that joy and peace will fill your hearts during your busy days. And in the spirit of this post I hope to fill my “time” with good things. We celebrated our Daughter in Laws birthday today and I’ll share about it on her actual birthday which is December 3rd. I’ve pulled the cards out and have to get busy on our annual letter (I could write a book about 2013). All the Christmas bins are down from the attic. Fun events planned for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. I wonder if I can get those cards done by Wednesday morning?? If not there’s always next week…

I’m so excited that it’s snowing on my blog. It happens this time of year without me doing anything. Thanks WordPress!

What is going to fill your time this week?

The Advent of Our God ~ Hymn

The Advent of Our God

The advent of our God
Our prayers must now employ,
And we must meet Him on His road
With hymns of holy joy.

The everlasting Son
Incarnate deigns to be;
Himself a servant’s form puts on
To set His people free.

Daughter of Zion, rise
To meet thy lowly king,
Nor let thy faithless heart despise
The peace He comes to bring.

As judge, on clouds of light,
He soon will come again,
And all His scattered saints unite
With Him in Heaven to reign.

Before the dawning day
Let sin’s dark deeds be gone;
The old man all be put away,
The new man all put on.

All glory to the Son
Who comes to set us free,
With Father, Spirit, ever One,
Through all eternity.

Words: Charles Coffin, 1736.

Fashionably Late…

Here I sit on this Friday after, Black Friday, It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas Friday, still in my robe Friday but still very thankful Friday!

I’m joining in with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story with my favorites from this past week. Five (or so) faves but lots more than five photos!

1. I’m thankful for this leftover photo of when my kids were all together a couple weekends ago.

2. I’m thankful for our Son-in-law, Andrew, serving his country in Afghanistan. He had to have Thanksgiving in what he calls the sandbox.

This photo is from his cold weather training for Afghanistan.

3. I’m thankful for some leisurely shopping the evening before Thanksgiving with Dear and Katie topped off with Happy Hour at Daniel’s Broiler in Bellevue. I know from here on out it will be crazy out there in the stores. I am still sitting here in my robe on this Black Friday with no intentions of going anywhere.

A good meal with a lovely view with people you love…priceless.

We could see all the way across Lake Washington to downtown Seattle.

I’m always grateful to see a glorious sunset!

4. We were invited to our friend’s home for Thanksgiving. There were forty five of us gathered and the food was amazing and oh so plentiful. I made double the amount of yams needed and I could have fed a whole neighborhood with just the yams. Oye. By the time we ate my memory card was full so I can’t show you the ginormous pan of yams with marshmallows on top browned to perfection. You’re going to have to take my word for it.

The cousins table, the kid table and the collective table. The collective table was for those of us who had the most collective Thanksgivings…translation ~ the old people table! We had those of us starting in the 50’s to two matriarchs that are very close to 90 represented.

Some of the younger guests!

When you see a crowd on the deck poised with their phones, quick, grab your camera and fun out there, too!

There was a cloud layer resting above the Puget Sound and at sunset we got a fun view of the Olympic Mountain range peeking out above the fog with the lovely colors of the sunset above. What you see with the naked eye is very hard to capture with a camera or phone. The view with the eyes God gave me was so much more spectacular than this photo.

5. I’m thankful that with our technology we can talk to and communicate with people across the world and in a different hemisphere than us. Our hosts’ youngest daughter is on a 2 year trek around the world living in different countries. We were able to communicate with her and see her on one of the I-phones from Australia.

Hi Jamie!! We love you and miss you! (Jamie was our Katie’s maid of honor)

Did I mention I’m still in my robe? I love the morning after Thanksgiving when there is nothing on the calendar and I can just dilly dally the day away!

Sunday starts another week of celebrations around this old house. Now that Thanksgiving is behind us I’ll start getting serious about Christmas, too. How about you? Have you started on Christmas?

Happy Thanksgiving to All in the U.S.A.!

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!

And Happy Hanakkuh to all my Jewish friends!

The Original Tour of London…

On Saturday the 21st of September we headed into London early to take advantage of touring London from a bus top. It was cold but we braved the upper deck to see what we could see. We had a plan in place in which we’d hop off the bus if our tour guide was lousy and hop on the next one. Our guide was fabulous with an amazing store of knowledge and he could recite quotes and passages and entries from famous historical documents including the Bible. We stayed on the bus!

Fountains and statues and fabulous architecture, oh my.

The ballerina on top of the Victoria Palace Theater is Anna Pavlova this statue is not the original but a replica made in 2006. Here’s the story of the original…

From 1911, the year after its rebuilding to its present design by Frank Matcham, the Victoria Palace had a gilded statue of prima ballerina Anna Pavlova poised above it. This was owner Alfred Butt’s homage to the dancer he had spectacularly introduced to London.

The tribute was not appreciated by the superstitious ballerina, who would never look at her image as she passed the theatre, drawing the blinds in her car. The original statue was taken down for safety reasons in 1939 before the blitz and has completely disappeared. It is not known whether it is in someone’s garden or was turned to wartime military use, such as bullets.

Standing on Old Park Lane since June 14th 1971, this is the one that started it all. The brainchild of Isaac Tigrett and Peter Morton, the cafe attracted customers from day one with first-rate, but moderately priced, casual American fare (available no-where else in London or the UK at the time), warm service and ubiquitous Rock ‘n’ Roll music and sensibility – Hard Rock Cafe London became an instant classic.

The reason I’m including this in my Saturday London post is because Dear and I ate here with the members of our singing group and band in the summer of 1973. We were so ready for a good ole American meal after having so many salads and other interesting food touring England. We savored each bite of our hamburgers and cokes with ice in them!

This masterpiece by Adrian Jones (born 1848 – died 1935) named “Quadriga”, was commissioned by King Edward VII, and stands on the top of the Wellingtons Arch, Hyde Park Corner. Quadriga (from the Latin Quadri-, four, and jungere, to yoke) is a four-horse chariot, raced in the original Olympic Games and other sacred sports. The Statue was built in a garden in Old Church Street Chelsea by Adrian Jones. This iron work weighs 40 tons, and dates from 1912.

It was fun to read the different names of all the pubs you see around London.

There is so much to see and share from London. You could have ten posts just on statues on top of buildings. I haven’t even gotten to the very familiar landmarks yet. Only two more days that we were in London so the end is in sight. Glad you have hung in there. Next time we’ll hit some of the well known images of London…

Back to the good ole U.S.A. On Monday I had my hair looked after by my very efficient hairdresser and I let her know that I have come to peace with my “new do” and she could continue that cut for the time being. When I got home from that appointment I totally ruined my fresh cut and color by mowing the lawn for the last time this year. I’m happy to report that all the leaves have been swooped up and delivered to the yard waste bin. Can I hear some applause? You should have seen my drippy hair do after that task was completed! Now I’ll sit back and enjoy the cleaned up look around here.

How was your Monday? If you live in the U.S. are you hosting Thanksgiving or are you going somewhere else for a meal?

To London We Go…

On Friday September 20th we left the coast of Cornwall for the long trip to London. We were dropping our car off at Heathrow and then booking a taxi to take us to the apartment we were renting through the weekend. Soon we would be depending on the London Tube for our transportation. “Mind the Gap”!

This is the street and building where our flat was located. It was a short walk to Portabello Road but a long walk to the nearest tube station that got you into London easily. We were close to a station that required connecting to a London central line.

The living space was roomy and comfortable.

We each had our own king room and bathroom.

After we settled into the flat we decided to head into London and see what we could see but first we had a nice long walk along Portobello Road to the Notting Hill Gate Tube Station.

We walked up the steps from the underground and landed right in Trafalgar Square. Soon we would be quoting Laura every time we tried to get from A to B in London proper… “Oh the Humanity”. After being in the countryside it was quite unnerving to be thrust into such a sea of people.

Now we were very hungry and Dear remembered a pub we ate in back in 2003 just down the road from here so we walked with “the humanity” and headed that way. The pub was packed to the gills but we found a nice spot in the back and settled in.

Our food was good and we were revived and decided to try to take in as much of the National Gallery before it closed. It was getting dark outside.

We saw some wonderful works of art but no photos were allowed in the National Gallery. We were all well spent from our long day and found our way back to the flat for a good nights rest before our Saturday in London.

Back here in the Northwest we’ve had a relaxing weekend and we’ve been cooking meat. I cooked a chuck roast in the slow cooker and we had roast beef sandwiches for dinner on Saturday. Today we had ribs slow cooking in the oven and will have them with some coleslaw and baked beans. Good thing we don’t have any vegetarians in our house. Our Katie is a huge Dr. Who fan so Saturday’s 50th Anniversary special airing in Britain and B.B.C.- U.S.A. was on the agenda. Judging from her squeals of delight it was all she had hoped for.

I had a fun experience today after church. We host a Toy Shop at our church for needy families from public school districts in our area. Church members donate toys for different age groups (new, unwrapped toys). Parents can then come to the toy shop and choose 2 gifts for each of their children. They take them to the wrapping table and we wrap the gifts for them to take home and give to their children on Christmas. So after church I headed to Fred Meyer to do some toy shopping. I was in the Lego aisle and a grandmother with her two grandsons came into the aisle. The grandmother told the boys to choose a toy that they would like but the toy was not for them. The toy was for someone who had less then them. She was trying to teach them about giving. She looked at my cart and the list in my hand and asked me who I was shopping for. I told her all about our Toy Shop at church. She then said, “Ok, boys pick a gift and put it in this ladies cart, I’ll give her the money for the toy and it will go to the toy shop and a little boy your age will get it and enjoy it” Ha! After they selected the gift and gave it to me (and $15.00 cash) I told the boys that a boy their age would be really happy to get that toy. Then I said Thank you very much and Merry Christmas. The grandmother explained to me that she wasn’t sure where to donate a gift so she was happy to bump into me at the store…

How was your weekend?

Thanks to God ~ Hymn

Thanks to God

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

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

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!
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.

The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b.

To honor and encourage

Author Archives: Ellen

Tower Bridge…

Birthday Celebrations!

Big Ben

The Advent of Our God ~ Hymn

The Advent of Our God

Fashionably Late…

Happy Thanksgiving to All in the U.S.A.!

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!

And Happy Hanakkuh to all my Jewish friends!

The Original Tour of London…

To London We Go…

Thanks to God ~ Hymn

Thanks to God

The Advent of Our God

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!

And Happy Hanakkuh to all my Jewish friends!

Thanks to God

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.