Author Archives: Ellen

Tablescape Tuesday ~ Seattle Christmas

Welcome to Tablescape Tuesday hosted by Susan at Between Naps on the Porch. Today I’m sharing a Christmas Table from my home in the Seattle Area of Washington State.

The Santa Hat Chair covers are from Target clearance a couple years ago.

I just bought the green goblets over Thanksgiving at Goodwill in Lynwood, Washington. I paid full price for them $1.99 each and there were 11 of them.

The red chargers are from Sears. They were 50% off so I got a package of 4 for $9.99.

 

The square green salad plates were from Sears, too, on sale but I forget how much.

The 3 tiered sever is from Target clearance from a couple years ago.

The crystal side dishes are from Goodwill in Bellevue

 

I forget where I bought the poinsettia napkin rings but I bought them last year at a Christmas Clearance sale. I love this tablecloth that I bought years ago from Molbaks at their after Christmas sale…

To see more tablescapes visit Susan at Between Naps on the Porch.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007 to 2015 hostage and has replaced them all with ugly black and grey boxes asking for a ransom to have them re-published. Such a frustrating bother as I go through each post to delete the ugly boxes.

Blue Monday ~ Seattle to San Francisco

Welcome to Blue Monday hosted by Smiling Sally. My photos this week are from the Seattle area and from San Francisco.

 

Over Thanksgiving we made at trip to Ste Michelle Winery and enjoyed their fabulous Peacock tree and Tree Topper and wreath. Then we went outside and met their inspiration, this wonderful peacock!

 

From Seattle I flew to San Francisco to meet up with Dear who was attending the American Society of Hematology conference and here is some blue from this very interesting city.

 

Hope you enjoyed my Blue this week. Enjoy your Monday and new week!

Visit Sally at Smiling Sally to see more Blue Monday Posts.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007 to 2015 hostage and has replaced them all with ugly black and grey boxes asking for a ransom to have them re-published. Such a frustrating bother as I go through each post to delete the ugly boxes.

Tag You’re It!

My friend Willow at Willow’s Cottage tagged me for this easy meme.

TAG!

You’re supposed to do the following:
1. Open the 4th picture folder on your computer
2. Open the 4th picture and post it on your blog.
3. Explain the picture.
4. Tag 4 people to do the same!

 

These are some easy chocolates that I saw on someone’s blog and now doggone it I don’t remember whose blog it was. Please let me know if it was you and I’ll credit you. So here’s the easy recipe for these: Melt 1 bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips with 1 bag butterscotch chips. When they’ve melted and you’ve mixed them together smoothly pour in some nuts (pecans, walnuts, or your pleasure) drop in little mounds on parchment lined cookie sheet and let cool. Voila!! Yummy candy!

So I’m a rebel and I’m doing all but #4 but if you’d like to do this meme let me know and I’ll come see :0)

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007 to 2015 hostage and has replaced them all with ugly black and grey boxes asking for a ransom to have them re-published. Such a frustrating bother as I go through each post to delete the ugly boxes.

Today’s Flowers #19 ~ White as Snow…

 

I took these photos of all these beautiful white flowers a couple weeks ago at Molbaks Nursery in Woodinville, Washington. During this Christmas Season they remind me of Christ and His purity from birth till death and what he did for me.

Isaiah 1:18 ~ Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins be like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be like wool.”

Merry Christmas to all…

For more Flowers from around the world visit the Today’s Flower Blog.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007 to 2015 hostage and has replaced them all with ugly black and grey boxes asking for a ransom to have them re-published. Such a frustrating bother as I go through each post to delete the ugly boxes.

Ah, Dearest Jesus ~ Hymn

Ah, Dearest Jesus

Ah, dearest Jesus, holy Child,
Make Thee a bed, soft, undefiled
Within my heart, that it may be
A quiet chamber kept for Thee.

My heart for very joy doth leap,
My lips no more can silence keep;
I, too, must sing with joyful tongue
That sweetest ancient cradle song.

Glory to God in highest Heaven,
Who unto man His Son hath given;
While angels sing with tender mirth,
A glad new year to all the earth.

Words: Mar­tin Lu­ther, 1535; trans­lat­ed from Ger­man to Eng­lish by Ca­ther­ine Wink­worth, 1855. These lyr­ics are from the long­er hymn, From Heav­en Above to Earth I Come.

San Francisco Landmarks

 

Alcatraz, Ghirardelli, Lombard St., and the Golden Gate Bridge.

 

Fisherman’s Wharf and the Bay Bridge.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007 to 2015 hostage and has replaced them all with ugly black and grey boxes asking for a ransom to have them re-published. Such a frustrating bother as I go through each post to delete the ugly boxes.

Pink Saturday ~ Travels

It’s time for Pink Saturday hosted by Beverly at How Sweet the Sound! I’ve been travelling since Thanksgiving and am finally back home at the little condo in Southern California. The first collage are shots of pink I saw in San Francisco.

 

Nieman Marcus had all their little trees decorated with pink and white. When we were in the Ferry Terminal a little pastry bakery had this cute little white tree with some pink on it, too. The pink plastic bag is on the back of one of the Trolley cars I was travelling on.

 

When I got back home I headed over to the Camarillo Ranch House to see it all decked out for Christmas. I’ll post a full tour of this great Historic Victorian Home in my town that the family that the city is named after owned. Each bed had a quilt made by different quilters for the Christmas season. So different and beautiful. I’m just showing the pink ones. There are a few more beds in this great house with other fabulous handmade quilts on them.

To see more Pink visit Beverly at How Sweet the Sound. A good weekend to you all…

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007 to 2015 hostage and has replaced them all with ugly black and grey boxes asking for a ransom to have them re-published. Such a frustrating bother as I go through each post to delete the ugly boxes.

San Francisco ~ Inside Grace Cathedral

The pipes to the Aeolian-Skinner Organ, the only one of it’s kind west of Chicago, heard in over 400 services and concerts each year.

Chapel of Grace, the oldest part of the cathedral features Connick windows, a 14th century Flemish altarpiece, and Lewis Hobart design.

 

The church is lined with different murals painted by renowned artists such as Antonio Sotomayor and John de Rosen. “Centennial Mural” shows the 1906 earthquake and the fire that destroyed the city, including Grace Church.

 

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007 to 2015 hostage and has replaced them all with ugly black and grey boxes asking for a ransom to have them re-published. Such a frustrating bother.

 

Fridays Fave 5 ~ San Francisco Style…

The lovely Susanne at Living to Tell the Story hosts Fridays Fave Five where we recap our favorites from the past week.

 

I met Dear in San Francisco on Saturday to celebrate our 34th wedding anniversary so here are my Faves from the time we spent there and a couple from home.

1. Celebrating our Anniversary with a walk around the city and dinner at Scoma’s Italian Fish Restaurant in Fisherman’s Wharf and our lunches at Johnny Foley’s Irish Pub.

2. Walking into some old churches with the most amazing interiors and stained glass windows.

3. The 4 story Christmas Tree at Nieman Marcus in San Francisco and all the other wonderful Christmas displays in the city.

4. Coming home and seeing the Tumbleweed tumbling around the neighborhood!

 

5. Finding treasures at my favorite thrift stores in both Washington and Camarillo. These sweet Brambly Hedge Tea cups, 1 for each season, were found at Goodwill in Washington. Only the Autumn one has the saucer so I’ll have to be on the lookout for the other saucers. :0)

For more Fave Fives visit Susanne at Living to Tell the Story.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007 to 2015 hostage and has replaced them all with ugly black and grey boxes asking for a ransom to have them re-published. Such a frustrating bother.

San Francisco ~ Grace Cathedral

 

Today I’m sharing my outside shots of Grace Cathedral. I will show my inside shots later.

Grace Cathedral is descended from the historic Grace Church, built in the Gold Rush year of 1849, and the imposing structure on the corner of California and Stockton streets that was destroyed in the 1906 earthquake and fire. San Francisco’s Crocker family gave their Nob Hill porperty, destroyed by the fire, for the building of a new cathedral.

Work began on this structure in 1928. Designed in the French Gothic style by Lewis Hobart, it was completed in 1964.

Famed for its Ghiberti doors, labyrinths, stained glass, the cathedral has become an internationally-known place of pilgrimage.

The Doors of Paradise are considered by many to be the first and greatest masterpiece of Italian Renaissance. The magnum opus of Florentine sculptor Lorenzo Ghiberti (1378-1455), the doors were made for the Baptistery of Florence Cathedral (the Duomo) and told the story of the Old and New Testaments. Grace Cathedral’s doors were made from the same molds – which were later destroyed – used for the originals.

 

I was also impressed with several of the other doors into the cathedral and wanted to show you them, too.

 

One of my special treats the day I visited the Cathedral was a small orchestra practicing for a Christmas concert. It was just so beautiful to walk around the inside of the cathedral being serenaded with beautiful music that inspired me to praise God for all the wonder available to us…

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007 to 2015 hostage and has replaced them all with ugly black and grey boxes asking for a ransom to have them re-published. Such a frustrating bother.