Author Archives: Ellen

Antique Easter Postcards ~

Greetings from the beautiful wet Puget Sound Area of Washington!!

I wanted to share these Antique Easter postcards that Dear’s Great, great, Aunt Emma received in the early 1900’s.

 

And then here’s a classic Easter shot from the 50’s of my sisters and me!

Vera, Kathy and Ellen b. We always got dressed up for Easter with a new Easter dress that my mom would usually sew for us. White patent leather shoes and white socks and a cute little purse finished off the outfit.

I took a stroll around the yard yesterday and I was so happy to see my Lenten Rose in full bloom for Easter.

 

Lana G! and I worked hard yesterday baking Kulich, (Russian Easter Bread), for the first time all by ourselves. In the past we’ve always watched my mom make it or were part of a group effort in making it. We had many questions in our heads yesterday wondering about the instructions and if we were doing things correctly. We were exhausted by the end of the baking process! Lana re-wrote the recipe and instructions so that someone who has never seen the process would understand what to do better…

 

My mother wants us to bring her back a piece so she can see how we did. Oh the pressure!!

 

Today we will decorate the tops of the Kulich with some frosting and sprinkles, color eggs and shop for our portion of the Easter dinner tomorrow.

The most exciting thing that is happening today, though, is that my son Josh is taking me to the Seattle Sounders Game tonight!! That’s MLS soccer for those of you who don’t follow soccer. My son Dan is giving up his season ticket and his scarf for me tonight! Whoohoo! Of course you’ll see and hear more about it later…

Tomorrow we’ll be celebrating with millions of people all around the world that Jesus Christ came to earth, lived a perfect life, died on the cross for our sins, and was resurrected from the dead with the power to save anyone who believes in Him. Now that is something to celebrate everyday! Blessings on you and yours!

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.

Good Friday 2009 ~

Luke 23: 44-46 ~ “It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour, because the sun was obscured; and the veil of the temple was torn in two. And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, “Father, INTO YOUR HANDS I COMMIT MY SPIRIT.” Having said thus, He breathed His last.”

I’m so happy we know the rest of the crucifixion story and that Jesus rose from the dead and lives, not just lives, but rules and reigns at the right hand of God and can rule and reign in our own hearts! Looking forward to enjoying the whole weekend with preparations and celebrations! Blessings…

The Last Supper ~

Since this is Holy Week around the world for Foodie Friday I thought it would be appropriate to remember the last supper and the reason Christians observe communion.

1 Corinthians 11:23-26 (English Standard Version)

  23For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

 

 

For more Foodie Friday please visit Gollum at Designs by Gollum who is the hostess for this weekly event!

I’m on a plane to Seattle tonight. I will be there for 10 days. I hope to be able to get around tomorrow in between making Kulich (Russian Easter Bread) , Seerney Paska and coloring Easter eggs…

May your Easter celebrations be glorious!

ht: Lana G! took the photo of the cross with the Last Supper in Hawaii.

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.

Easter Tablescape Thursday…

Welcome to Tablescape Thursday. Susan at Between Naps on the Porch is the hostess of this weekly event so hippity hoppity on over and see more scapes besides mine this week!

This is my Easter table for two. The actual Easter table I will be sitting down to at my friend Jody’s house will be set for a gazillion crowd of  28 or 36 give or take a few…

Happy Easter Everyone! My family is looking forward to celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus Christ at church on Sunday and at brunch and dinner with loved ones! And for the record we celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus everyday :0)

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.

My Mom~

I wanted to give you all an update on my mom. She’s doing a lot better and is healing nicely. She even answered the phone when I called last night and sounded upbeat. So again thank you so much for your concern and your prayers. It means a lot. Oh and today is her actual birthday! I’m driving out to see her today to wish her a Happy Birthday in person and see for myself how her face is doing!

Happy 85th Birthday Mom!

My other update is that Dear and I will be flying to Seattle tomorrow for 10 days to celebrate Easter with our Northwest loved ones. I hope to continue posting but if I’m a bit slow you’ll understand why.

Outdoor Wednesday ~ Crosses…

I’m continuing my Easter/Holy week theme with Outdoor Wednesday for this week. I love to walk through old cemeteries where there are above the ground headstones. There are always the coolest crosses to be found.

Ventura, California

Santa Barbara, California

Seattle, Washington

Seattle, Washington. If you look closely in the background you can see the Space Needle.

Seattle, Washington

Cotswolds, England

 

Oxford, England

1 Corinthians 1:18-25 (New International Version)

 Christ the Wisdom and Power of God

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written:
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;
the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.” Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.

For more Outdoor Wednesday please visit Susan at A Southern Day Dreamer!

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.

WFW ~ Luke 24: 1-6, The Resurrection

But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you while he was still in Gallilee, …

A Blessed Holy Week  to you all and have a glorious Easter celebrating the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.

To see more Word Filled Wednesday please visit Amydeanne at the 160 Acre Woods!

Three or More ~ Crosses

All my posts this week will be relating to Holy Week and The Celebration of the Resurrection of Christ.

These are some crosses that I have at my home in Washington and at the Condo in California.

A prayer from Richard of Chichester (1197-1253) English bishop who fought to abolish the abuses common in the church of his day.

“Thanks be to you, our Lord Jesus Christ,
for all the benefits that you have given us,
for all the pains and insults that you have borne for us.
Most merciful Redeemer, Friend, Brother,
may we know you more clearly,
love you more dearly,
and follow you more nearly,
day by day.”

To see Three or More Posts visit Tam at The Gypsy’s Corner.

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.

Oh What A Saturday ~

The whole experience yesterday had the disorienting, hallucinatory quality of a dream. What’s the word I’m looking for?

We woke up on Saturday morning and realized our modem had died in the night. Before the rest of the world woke up and we could call about getting our modem replaced we left for a hike in Sycamore Canyon. It was a great heart pumping hike and for the first time we heard some rattling noises. I was concerned it might be a rattlesnake but Dear was pretty sure it could be some kind of bird.

When we came home we called Verizon to let them know their modem died and what our options were. We were so pleased that John from Verizon arrived early in the afternoon and replaced our modem and gave us some great additional information about our T.V. options.

We had a tea in Pasadena planned for my mother’s 85th birthday. Nine of us were meeting for Tea at the Rose Tree Cottage at 4:00. When my sister Vera and mother arrived my mother was tripped up by an uneven sidewalk and landed flat on her face splitting open her forehead just above her left eye. She was bleeding quite a bit. We were all at her side and helping her get more comfortable on the ground and trying to stop the bleeding. My SIL Letty who is a nurse and the rest of us mothers realized by looking this was going to need stitches. You just learn those things over the years. We heard sirens and the paramedics arrived. My poor mother was so upset that she would miss the tea she asked the paramedics to just put a band-aide on her forehead. They were very sweet and told her they would have to do what was best for her. We also knew she’d need further tests because the split on her forehead was very deep. When the fire engine pulled up one of the firemen saw my sister Kathy and said hello Mrs. W. and gave her a kiss (we Russians greet each other with a brotherly kiss).  He’s the one in the sunglasses reassuring my mother. Our oldest sister Kathy went to the Emergency room with mom in the Paramedic’s van.

So what should the other 7 of us do…go ahead with tea or not??? Well we were going to have to pay for the tea if we enjoyed it or not so we decided to go ahead with the tea. It was really weird not having the guest of honor with us and we all felt a bit guilty my sister Kathy was missing out, too, but it was just what the circumstances handed us.  My sister Kathy gave us updates while we were at tea. When we finished tea we headed to the emergency room a block away. On the way I managed to back into a block wall and give my car bumper an owie! Sheesh! I never back into stuff…

It was finally determined my mom did not have any bleeding in her skull so after she got stitches they released her at 11:00 PM. I was happy to finally make it home and crawl into bed.

My mother is in a lot of pain. Her left eye is swollen shut. Please pray that all will go well and she will heal up soon and that the swelling and pain will subside. Thank you all for your prayers and concern for us. I really appreciate it :0)

Update on Monday night: My mother is doing a lot better! Thank you so much for your prayers!!