Author Archives: Ellen

Friday’s Fave Five ~ Walks-Relationships-Food

My favorites can always be narrowed down to these three…a nice long walk, peaceful relationships, and good food. A fulfilling walk is one shared with someone who I have a good relationship with or am building a relationship with. Food, sitting around a table, is always better if it’s shared with someone. My past week has been rich with walks, relationships, and good food.

Visit our kind hostess Susanne at Living to Tell the Story to join in with your favorites from this past week…

 

1. Early Saturday morning Dear and I walked at Emma Wood State Beach and enjoyed the cool crisp air. We usually will stop at our favorite breakfast spot in Ventura after these walks. Allison’s has the best hot out of the oven baked biscuits and fresh raspberry jam. Oh they serve eggs and stuff, too.

 

2. Saturday evening we met my brother Steve and his wife Kelly at Tam O’ Shanter in Glendale for a birthday dinner. Kelly is celebrating a milestone birthday and we wanted to treat her at our favorite spot for prime rib. The chocolate souffle and C.C. Brown’s hot fudge were pretty good, too. Oh, right about now you are probably wondering how my healthy weight loss program is going, aren’t ya? Well with these habits of mine it’s going slow but I am losing instead of gaining. So far I’ve lost 4 pounds.

 

3. For Willow and my walk this week we met up at Joy’s Blueberry ranch and then walked through a neighboring ranch or two. Instead of going past rows of blueberries we walked through an avocado grove and past rows and rows of raspberries. Joy told us we could pick some raspberries even though it wasn’t her property. Those ranchers are all like family :0) I still felt guilty for picking and eating…

 

Here’s the great variety of growing goodness we’ve spotted on our ranch walks…

4. On Tuesday afternoon I drove across town to my parent’s apartment for a meal with four of my nieces, my three sisters, one of my SIL’s, two nephews, my grand nephew and grand niece. Would you believe I didn’t take one photo? It gets a little crazy when we all cram into that little apartment for a meal. It was good to see everyone and to get caught up a little. I was happy to get to spend some time with my folks before I head North for the rest of the year.

5. On Wednesday I decided to go to a regular kind of store instead of a thrift store and I was able to buy 4 shirts and 2 pairs of pants for Dear and 2 tops for myself for $150 with $30.00 cash coupon back to spend next week. I was pleased with the experience and now I won’t have to go back to a regular store for a long time. We aren’t your fashionista/fashionisto.

Bonus!! My #6 is a looking forward to…

 

spending lots of time with these peeps and my kids over Thanksgiving!!

Blessings everyone! Looking forward to seeing your favorites…

Photobucket is holding all my photos that I stored on their site from 2007-2015 hostage replacing them with ugly grey and black boxes and asking for a large ransom to retrieve them. It is a slow process to go through all my posts deleting the ugly boxes.

Bittersweet…

It’s always bittersweet to get on a plane and fly away from the Condo to our home in Seattle. I’ll be separated from Dear which is always hard but reunited with my children which is always good. I’ll miss our favorite early morning walks at Emma Wood. We haven’t established an early morning walk in Washington yet because duty calls when we are there. Here are some scenes I’ll miss…

 

 

 

 

 

 

Have a great Thursday everyone!

Photobucket is holding all my photos that I stored on their site from 2007-2015 hostage replacing them with ugly grey and black boxes and asking for a large ransom to retrieve them. It is a slow process to go through all my posts deleting the ugly boxes.

Veteren’s Day 2009

Thank you, thank you to all the soldiers who have gone before us and those who are still serving us. Thank you to all those who are in harm’s way keeping us safe. May God protect you from evil and bring you safely home.

“They have laid aside their armor
For the robe of spotless white;
And with Jesus they are walking
Where the river sparkles bright.
We have labored here together,
We have labored side by side,
Just a little while before me
They have crossed the rolling tide.”

From the Hymn The Lights of Home by Fanny Crosby.

Counting Down to Saturday…

 

I love this view that we had on our early morning walk this past Saturday. The sky looks painted don’t you think? This coming Saturday I fly to Seattle and will be at our home there until the New Year. I’ll miss our early morning walks here in Southern California with Dear and with Willow. Dear will join me there over Thanksgiving and then have an extended vacation during Christmas in Seattle, too. I have projects to complete that require some extended time there for me. My countdown here includes projects that need to get done before I fly away on Saturday. On Tuesday I’m headed to my mom and dad’s for a meal with the girls in the family, sisters and nieces and a nephew or two. It will be hit and miss with me and the blog till I get my Seattle legs. In the meantime I’ll be praying for God’s blessings on my bloggy friends…

 

Where’s ellen b.? ~ She flew the coop!

Just wanted to share one last image of our first born Josh with his beautiful wife Laura at a good friend’s wedding this past Friday. Laura was in the wedding.

I stole it without asking right off of facebook!!

Photobucket is holding all my photos that I stored on their site from 2007-2015 hostage replacing them with ugly grey and black boxes and asking for a large ransom to retrieve them. It is a slow process to go through all my posts deleting the ugly boxes.

Tea Things Tuesday ~ White

 

I found these pieces at a thrift store. They are Johnson Bros. I got several round and square dessert plates, too.

Please visit Kim at Shabby Pink & Pretty the hostess of Tea Things Tuesday to join in or see more Tea Things…

Photobucket is holding all my photos that I stored on their site from 2007-2015 hostage replacing them with ugly grey and black boxes and asking for a large ransom to retrieve them. It is a slow process to go through all my posts deleting the ugly boxes.

Montebello Dear Old High ~

It’s almost Monday so it’s time to post mosaics for Mosaic Monday with Mary at Little Red House and post something blue for Blue Monday with Sally at Smiling Sally!

On Thursday last week I met 2 of my sisters at the high school we all graduated from for a Homecoming Reunion BBQ. The school was unveiling a 100 year celebration mural and giving tours of the school culminating with a BBQ and entertainment from the band and Cheer Squads. Our high school colors were and are blue and gold so it was easy to have lots of blue to show you.

Early in Montebello’s history there were oil derricks on the hills that surround Montebello, that is where the Oilers came from. Our school newspaper was Derrick Diary. Our mascots were Ollie the Olive.

This next photo was taken in 1968 of a group of my friends standing in the same courtyard that I took one of the photos in the mosaic above. You can see that the building hasn’t changed except for some fresh paint.

Didn’t we dress reasonably back in the 60’s for school? :0)

The Auditorium is exactly the same and the lockers are the same but the courtyard with the blue umbrellas is new.

 

After they unveiled the new mural the pep squads let helium balloons go up into the sky.

This was just downright scary to watch. I kept wanting to yell “CATCH HER!”

Have a great week everyone!

Photobucket is holding all my photos that I stored on their site from 2007-2015 hostage replacing them with ugly grey and black boxes and asking for a large ransom to retrieve them. It is a slow process to go through all my posts deleting the ugly boxes.

Onward We Will Go ~ Hymn

 

Onward We Will Go

With our Savior close beside us,
Onward will we go;
With His loving hand to guide us,
Onward will we go.
Since His truth abideth ever,
And His love no power can sever,
Since His promise faileth never—
Onward will we go.

In the strength of His salvation,
Onward will we go;
Heeding not the world’s temptation,
Onward will we go.
Though the clouds may gather o’er us,
This our watchword and our chorus:
“He has trod the way before us;
Onward will we go.”

Every trial meekly bearing,
Onward will we go;
Each another’s burden sharing,
Onward will we go.
By His mighty arm defended,
By the heav’nly guards attended,
Till our life work here is ended,
Onward will we go.

Words: Fanny Crosby (1820-1915)

Good Saturday Morning!

 

It’s still morning on the West Coast. I took this this morning during our walk at Emma Wood State Beach. It was a crisp beautiful morning. I don’t feel like a half stuffed limpy scarecrow anymore. Hope you all have a great weekend.

In the morning, O LORD, You will hear my voice;
In the morning I will order my prayer to You and eagerly watch.

Psalm 5:3 (NASB)

Photobucket is holding all my photos that I stored on their site from 2007-2015 hostage replacing them with ugly grey and black boxes and asking for a large ransom to retrieve them. It is a slow process to go through all my posts deleting the ugly boxes.

Too Much Fun Leaves Me Limp…

This is how I feel right now. So many fun things on my plate that have made me a little limp. I’m looking forward to the weekend and some relaxation. I’ll post some photos from the Homecoming for Blue Monday and Mosaic Monday.

Photobucket is holding all my photos that I stored on their site from 2007-2015 hostage replacing them with ugly grey and black boxes and asking for a large ransom to retrieve them. It is a slow process to go through all my posts deleting the ugly boxes.

Homecoming!

Today two of my sisters are meeting me at Montebello High School for a Homecoming BBQ. It’s special this year because our High School is celebrating their 100 year anniversary. Kathy graduated in 1964, Vera graduated in 1966, Fred graduated in 1967, and I graduated in 1968. It wasn’t easy following my older sisters and brother through school because they were a lot more compliant and successful then I was. I’d always hear comments like “you aren’t like your sisters”,or “I thought you’d do better because you are a Bagdanov”. My sister Kathy was G.A.A. president. My sister Vera was Valedictorian of her class, a wiz in mathematics. Back then there were no calculators and you should have seen her work that slide rule…amazing. My brother Fred was ASB president. Our 4 younger brothers and sister graduated from high school in Whittier. Was it Monte Vista Lana?

I’m looking forward to meeting a couple who I’ve met through my blog who graduated in 1951 and 1954. I’m also hoping to see other people I haven’t seen for 41 years.

Have a great Thursday everyone.