Author Archives: Ellen

More from Butchart!

Welcome to my Outdoor Wednesday brought to you from the land of our lovely neighbors to the North…Canada!!  Please visit Susan at A Southern Daydreamer to see more outdoor posts…

I’m thinking this post will also be my Outdoor Wednesday Post but I’m going ahead and posting it now. There are so many wonderful things to see at Butchart Gardens on Vancouver Island. Warning: This post has several photos!! I caught some flack for not having any photos of me on this post so I’m adding this one of Dear and I…

If you ever get a chance I would highly recommend a trip to Butchart Gardens!

Thrifty Monday ~ Target Clearance

Rhoda at Southern Hospitality is the hostess for this enabling fun weekly exercise of posting the treasures we find at thrift stores, yard sales, garage sales, clearance sales or on the street for free.

I bought this outdoor screen at Target in California over 2 years ago. It was marked down from $99.99 to $12.54! My first thought was to use it at our condo when people had to spend the night so we could give them a little privacy since our guest room ends up being the living room. Well after sitting in the box for over 2 years, I shoved it in my Camry and drove it up with me to Washington and am using it on my patio for the first time.

It’s fun to string lights on it and we move it around depending on where we want to block the sun. I’m considering spray painting it a darker color…

For more Thrifty finds visit Rhoda here.

Sweetly the Holy Hymn

Sweetly the Holy Hymn

Sweetly the holy hymn
Breaks on the morning air;
Before the world with smoke is dim
We meet to offer prayer.

While flowers are wet with dews,
Dew of our souls, descend:
Ere yet the sun the day renews,
O Lord, Thy Spirit send.

Upon the battlefield,
Before the fight begins,
We seek, O Lord, Thy sheltering shield,
To guard us from our sins.

Ere yet our vessel sails
Upon the stream of day
We plead, O Lord, for heavenly gales
To speed us on our way!

On the lone mountain side,
Before the morning’s light,
The Man of sorrows wept and cried,
And rose refreshed with might.

Oh, hear us then, for we
Are very weak and frail,
We make the Savior’s Name our plea,
And surely must prevail.

Words: Charles H. Spurgeon, 1866.

Round Robin Photo Challenge ~ Bottled Up!

Here’s what Karen originally had to say about this topic:

Bottled Up – Show us a bottle. Is it glass or plastic? Is it old? Is there a message inside? Will the contents give you a buzz, or help you fight a cold? You decide!

Maybe it’s not the bottle that matters, but the label. Kim of Nekked Lizard Adventures suggests this variant:

Your favorite wine label (or other favorite beverage)

Carly‘s suggestion focuses on what’s inside the bottle:
Quench My Thirst – Take a photograph of your favorite beverage, in an artistic light. Include a recipe if you have created a completely unique drink.
So there you go! Photograph a bottle or other drinking vessel, its label, and/or whatever liquid refreshment is inside. Make it artsy, make it fun, make it send us running to the fridge or the supermarket, or even the liquor store. It’s up to you! Just be sure to follow the usual guidelines:

A Favorite for the man of the house.

A Washington State Wine that is mighty fine…

Chateau Ste Michelle 2005 Canoe Ridge Estates Merlot

A twist on Sangria from California!

To see more Round Robin Photo Challenge click here!

A Week Filled With Favorites!

It’s time to visit Susanne at Living to Tell the Story to join in the fun of remembering our favorites from this past week.

At the very top of the list is the good extended time we’ve had with our kids this past week. We had meals together, went to church together, traveled to Canada together, enjoyed sporting events together, and cared for each other.

 

On Tuesday when Dear, Katie and I traveled to Vancouver Island and back we saw a great Sunrise and Sunset.

Finding great places to eat when we’re traveling is a favorite thing of mine! We really enjoyed our eating adventures on Vancouver Island and back home, too.

Seeing signs that remind us of good books we’ve read  is always fun.

Enjoying all of God’s creation intensified in a beautiful garden and out on the waterways…

Looking forward to seeing all your favorites from this past week!

Foodie Friday ~ Eating on Vancouver Island

Welcome to Foodie Friday hosted at Designs by Gollum. Click on the logo to see more.

 

My husband, daughter and I spent Tuesday on Vancouver Island and we managed to eat well. From the Ferry in Sydney on our way to Butchart Gardens we stopped at a restaurant called The Roost which had great freshly made food. I opted for their sandwich special with Beet Borsch on the side. The sandwich was a chicken, cheese, basil, tomato, red onion and portabello mushroom. Dear had the same sandwich but with a Roasted Yam and cilantro soup. Katie ordered the 3 cheese quiche with a garden salad. We would go back to this spot if we ever ferry across from Anacortes to Sydney again. After we walked about Butchart Gardens and on our way into Victoria we stopped in Oak Bay and were happy to stumble upon the Penny Farthing where we enjoyed some traditional Fish & Chips and Lamb Stew. It’s too bad we had to be in the ferry line for 90 minutes prior to our trip back to the states or we could have fit in one more good meal on the Island!

Butchart Gardens ~ The Sunken Gardens

I have so many photos from Butchart Gardens that I’d like to share so I’m dividing them into a few posts for the different areas of the Gardens. The first area we visited were the Sunken Gardens…

Katie was really intrigued by the Chilean Rhubarb that grows 6-10 feet tall. I zoomed way in to try to capture it. Katie is sure you could float down a river on one of the leaves! :0)

 

You have to work real hard to get a photo without 10 people you don’t know in it at Butchart. It’s a very popular destination and after visiting we can understand why. I’ll show more flowers from other parts of the garden soon.