Author Archives: Ellen

Traveling Mosaics…

This past week was filled with travel and travelers. Dear and I traveled to Eastern Washington to spend a couple days with our son and we had travelers arrive at our house for the week. Today I’m sharing some views from our busy week. I’ll be posting more views from our week soon.

This is a restaurant in Chewelah that wasn’t open on Monday or Tuesday so we met our son here on Wednesday morning before we hit the road home. It was worth the wait for breakfast at The Chalet Grill and & Lounge.

At the Chewelah Pioneer Cemetery we saw a headstone for someone who was born in 1820 buried here. Chewelah has some very interesting history that you can read about here.

We took a slightly different route home from our trip out. We made good time and arrived home to spend the evening with our house guests from California. My sister and her daughter’s family spent the week at our home with and without us.

On Friday we had the classic whirlwind tour of Seattle taking in Pike Place Market, Kerry Park, and the Troll. At Pike Place we made stops at the original Starbucks, Piroshky Piroshky for our traditional Russian treats, the flower stands inside the market, the fish throwing, and the yucky gum wall below the market.

My niece and grandniece at the wonderful flower stalls in the Pike Place Market.

One of these dudes is not like the others…

My oldest sister and her granddaughter.

We didn’t escape the gum wall!

Last stop on the way home was a visit to the troll who lives under a bridge in Fremont. We were sad to see that the troll had been defaced.  Look closely at the Troll’s hand that the kids are standing on, that is an actual VW bug that his hand is covering!

Our company hit the road home to Southern California on Saturday. Dear goes back to work on Monday. I’m spending time relaxing while watching the Olympics. So far summer here has been busy and eventful. Hope all is going well in your neck of the woods!

I’ll be linking up with Mary at Little Red House for Mosaic Monday.

All Creatures of Our God and King ~ Hymn

All Creatures of Our God and King

All creatures of our God and king
Lift up your voice and with us sing,
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Thou burning sun with golden beam,
Thou silver moon with softer gleam!

Refrain

O praise Him! O praise Him!
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

Thou rushing wind that art so strong
Ye clouds that sail in Heaven along,
O praise Him! Alleluia!
Thou rising moon, in praise rejoice,
Ye lights of evening, find a voice!

Refrain

Thou flowing water, pure and clear,
Make music for thy Lord to hear,
O praise Him! Alleluia!
Thou fire so masterful and bright,
That givest man both warmth and light.

Refrain

Dear mother earth, who day by day
Unfoldest blessings on our way,
O praise Him! Alleluia!
The flowers and fruits that in thee grow,
Let them His glory also show.

Refrain

And all ye men of tender heart,
Forgiving others, take your part,
O sing ye! Alleluia!
Ye who long pain and sorrow bear,
Praise God and on Him cast your care!

Refrain

And thou most kind and gentle death,
Waiting to hush our latest breath,
O praise Him! Alleluia!
Thou leadest home the child of God,
And Christ our Lord the way hath trod.

Refrain

Let all things their creator bless,
And worship Him in humbleness,
O praise Him! Alleluia!
Praise, praise the Father, praise the Son,
And praise the Spirit, Three in One!

Refrain

Words: Francis of Assisi, circa 1225.

Mountain View Lodge

It was an interesting process trying to find somewhere to stay in Stevens County, Washington. We found a couple spots online that we thought might be OK but our son let us know that they wouldn’t be a good choice. He told us the area to look and we found Mountain View Lodge in Chewelah.

The Lodge has 3 rooms in the lower level with a “great room” on the upper level for guests to use.

This was the outside entry to our room.

Our room, the Selkirk.

This is the great room where continental breakfast was available along with comfortable seating to watch T.V.

Beautiful views from all the windows.

We were the only ones staying at the lodge the 2 nights we were in Eastern Washington. We enjoyed just sitting and catching up with our son Dan.

When we visit again we’ll enjoy coming back to the Mountain View Lodge.

View from our room on the lower level.

Every since we came home we’ve been busy with our company. We’ve enjoyed meals together and an outing to Pike Place Market. Dear has been working on replacing some siding on the house. Our company heads home today. Hope you all have a nice weekend.

Dan’s Digs…

Dan is living with friends on 30 acres. His space in the home is large and comfortable for him.

The property is not in a typical neighborhood for sure. This is the greeting you get as you head up the road to the house.

Mind the dust!

They have all the correct signage to hopefully protect their property.

We took a short tour of the property. It would take quite a long time to investigate all 30 acres.

The rock cropping was so interesting. I don’t know if I’m calling it the right thing but it was interesting to walk along and come upon these areas of rock.

The views were great!

They’ve got their chickens all cooped up and safe so they have fresh eggs.

They have a garden area fenced off to keep the deer and other animals out. These are some of the raspberries growing. They have lettuces, potatoes, and strawberries, too.

Beautiful views every where you look.

Besides the garden they built a greenhouse for the lady of the house.

Until Dan finds his own place this is a great place for him to call home.

O Beautiful…

for spacious skies,

For amber waves of grain;

For purple mountains majesties

Above the fruited plain!

America! America!

God shed His grace on thee,

And crown thy good with brotherhood,

From sea to shining sea.

We did not see any seas but the mighty Columbia River that begins in the Canadian Rockies and flows through the state of Washington empties into the Pacific Ocean between Oregon and Washington…

These are some of the views we saw on our road trip to Eastern Washington to visit our son, Dan. We are home now and I wanted to post something from our trip. Our company survived nicely without us. Don’t know what the plans are for today except for what we are having for dinner. Summer has arrived on this side of the mountains, too, so our guests are finally warming up. Hope all is well with you and yours today…

ht: Words to O Beautiful for Spacious Skies: Katharine L. Bates, 1904.

Random Captures…

I’m getting a few posts ready filled with random shots I haven’t shared. Dear’s on vacation and we are doing random things. I’m going to schedule posts through Wednesday. When we get back from a little road trip East to visit our second born I hope to share some new shots…

While we are gone and when we get back we have a house full of guests from Southern California. My niece’s family along with my sister Kathy are road tripping up for the week.

I’m happy to have a house full of people to use as guinea goats guinea pigs for some recipes I wanted to try. That way Dear and I don’t have to eat the whole enchilada ourselves.

Hope your week is starting off well…

O Church of God, Arise ~ Hymn

O Church of God, Arise!

O Church of God, arise!
Reach out thy helping hand,
And like a trumpet let thy voice
Go forth to ev’ry land;
Lay not thine armor down,
Nor cease by day or night,
To lift the sword of Gospel truth,
And wield it for the right.

Refrain

Then arise in thy glory, O Church of God, arise!
’Tis the dawn of the morrow that greets thy waiting eyes
But cloud and mist and shadow must all be rolled away.
But cloud and mist and shadow must all be rolled away.
Before the world will usher in the long expected day.

O Church of God, arise!
Thy borders wide extend,
And o’er the earth’s remotest bounds
Thy heralds quickly send;
Thine armies now are great,
But greater they must be,
For ev’ry nation, ev’ry clime
Shall yet rejoice in thee.

Refrain

O Church of God, arise!
The grand old choral strain
Of peace on earth, good will to man,
That rang on Judah’s plain,
O’er all the world shall ring,
And echo far and wide,
And then the King, thy Lord, shall come,
And claim His faithful bride.

Refrain

Words: Fanny Crosby, (1820-1915).

Random on Saturday

I bought a new camera strap that is specifically designed with a woman’s body in mind. So far the best benefit is how nice it feels on my body and how much lighter my camera feels compared to when my neck supported the weight with the strap the camera came with. I’ll be breaking it in the beginning of next week when we head out on a road trip to Eastern Washington.

Have a great Saturday!