Author Archives: Ellen

If It’s Tuesday…

…this must be Belgium Chilliwack! Do any of you remember that film from the 60’s? Anyhoo my life seems to be on a whirlwind tour right now so I thought this title appropriate. Today Katie and I are on our way to Chilliwack, B.C. (not Belgium)  to pick up a little gift I ordered for my niece’s upcoming bridal shower from Wink’s .  We are meeting up with some special residents of Chilliwack for lunch while we are there!

These next photos have nothing to do with our trip North across the line. These are random shots, one from the past and new photos from what is springing up around this old house.

It seems I have always wondered what to do with my hands when someone is taking a photo of me. This is a photo from the 50’s in front of our home on Oak Street in Pico Rivera, California.

What a fun surprise to see these on Monday morning. I sort of remember replanting them from containers I had inside last Spring. Are they Narcissus?

My Lenten Rose never ceases to delight! What an appropriate name as it always blooms during Lent!

Such a humble plant with it’s face looking down. I have to get on my knees to take photos…another appropriate stance for this season and always!

More than usual this season of Lent has brought some significant sorrow to the door of friends and to us. We stand with them in hope for better days ahead and ultimately for the Hope we have as believers for what Christ has done for us and what He promises us.

My dear sister-in-law Nina who passed away in 1993 from complications due to Cystic Fibrosis had these verses highlighted in her personal journal.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18

 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

Praying for God’s light to shine through his presence in us to the world around us.

Hoping your week is going well and that you have hope for your future…

Beloved, Let Us Love ~ Hymn

Beloved, Let Us Love

Belovèd, let us love: love is of God;
In God alone hath love its true abode.

Belovèd, let us love: for they who love,
They only, are His sons, born from above.

Belovèd, let us love: for love is rest,
And he who loveth not abides unblest.

Belovèd, let us love: for love is light,
And he who loveth not dwelleth in night.

Belovèd, let us love: for only thus
Shall we behold that God who loveth us.

Words: Horatius Bonar, 1880.

For the Birds?

Today is one of 3 days to participate in the Great Backyard Bird Count. I heard about this last year.

I filled this old bird feeder back up along with my two others. Time will tell what I see and count in a 15 minute period. This photo is from May of 2011 and I doubt I’ll see this Evening Grosbeak.

Yesterday afternoon we had some glorious sunshine but today we are cloudy and misting again. This is a long President’s weekend for some of us in the U.S.A. Dear gets Monday off but he is on call so there’s a possibility he’ll have to do some work on Monday but only from home so that will be nice.

Have a great weekend.

Valentine Day Table

An early Happy Valentine’s Day to all who visit here!

We are celebrating the arrival of Katie tonight and our son Josh and DIL Laura are joining us around the table set for Valentine’s Day.

Dessert will be a Red Velvet cake.

Our dinner tonight is going to be Rib Eye Steaks, Roasted Vegetables, and a Cucumber Tomato Salad. I hope to remember to get a photo of all of us around the table. I’ll edit my post tomorrow to add the photo if it gets taken! Here’s the update…

On Valentine’s day our Small Group is having a potluck meal together. We have joked that the big pot of chili I’m making for that event is ideal for Valentine’s Day because it could give everyone Heartburn. Are you making a special meal on Valentine’s Day or do you go out?

I’m linking up to Kathleen Cuisine for her Let’s Dish weekly event. Here’s a Valentine’s Day bar scape from our condo years.

More From the Road…

Although the eagles and mountains we saw on our roadtrip were the most majestic of our views we saw other lovely sights. This robin sat still long enough for me to capture with my lens.

The sun played nicely on and through the moss on the trees we passed along the road.

The last photos I took on this trip were of this Orthodox church in Arlington where we returned to Interstate 5 to head home. Love the design of the crosses.

What’s up for you today? We are having a meal tonight with 3 of our 5 kiddos. I’m thinking I’ll set the table with pink, red, and white…

Sun and Eagle Chasing…

Our trip on Sunday up highway 530 in Northwest Washington was one of trying to find the sunshine and spotting some eagles along the Skagit River.

We found both and enjoyed the sunshine and the eagles we spotted. Some of our Mennonite girls get eagles right on their own properties and others don’t have to travel far to enjoy viewing them. Maybe next year I’ll just go squat on their properties to see many eagles all together.

The Skagit River area between Concrete and Marblemount off of highway 20 in Washington is a good spot to see eagles in January. We were a little late to see a good number this year.

The Skagit river was flowing nicely with some interesting swirling that we enjoyed watching.

Tomorrow I’ll be picking up our daughter from the airport for her 1 month stay with us while our Son in law is doing some training off the base. We’re happy to have her here with us instead of on base by herself for the month. We are looking forward to some fun events together. She’ll bring a different kind of sunshine to our home.

Off the Beaten Track…

We had a choice or two on how we might reach our destination for our Sunday drive. We chose the back way. We decided we had enough of the interstate and wanted to see interesting scenes along a smaller highway. We were happy with our choice to take highway 530 to Rockport. We had some good views of Mt. Pilchuk.

How’s this for a tree lined road?

Here we have a little peek of snow covered Mt. Pilchuk. We enjoy roads that wind along rivers.

We arrived to our destination and spotted what we were hoping to see. Can you see it? I’ll have more photos in the days to come.

This week begins a very busy time around this old house. How’s your week shaping up?

A Sunday Drive…

Dear and I decided on a Sunday drive to the North of us on a small highway to see if we could spot some eagles. We were socked in with fog at our house and it was so nice to travel out of it and come into the nice bright sunshine. Funny that we had to go North instead of South to get to the sunshine. I’ll be sharing more photos tomorrow of our outing and the 3 eagles we did spot.

This is the Skagit river at Rockport, Washington, looking East. A different part of our beautiful state. Blessings on your week!