Full of Thoughts…

In my college years which happened to be the late 60’s and early 70’s I bought this album to keep me organized in my thoughtfulness. Appropriately the album is called…

P1040773These sweet illustrations called to me back then. Remember Holly Hobbie?

morning trail5Each month has a page with a pocket and each day of the month is in a list form for you to add birthdays, anniversaries and other events.

P1040775I cherish this old album that is worn with age and use.

It’s time for me to go through that drawer in my desk…you know the one, where you throw everything in for future organization. I have wedding invitations and birth announcements and funeral leaflets to put into the appropriate month of the year pocket. These monthly pockets are wonderful now all these years later because so much has happened and I forget more and more about when these events took place. Each month I can flip the page and not only see who’s birthday and anniversary fall in that month but what year the event took place. Everything all in one book.

How do you keep organized when it comes to birthdays and anniversaries?

Thirty Nine Years Strong…

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Dear and I are at Semiahmoo Resort in Blaine Washington celebrating our anniversary. That’s White Rock Canada across the Salish Sea/Strait of Georgia/Semiahmoo Bay! We headed out for a morning walk but the wind chill factor threatened to freeze our faces off so we didn’t last long. I did manage to get some photos of the lovely views we have from this resort which sits on a spit between Drayton Harbor and the Strait of Georgia.

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This was the view from our room last night when we arrived just before sunset. We headed to the restaurant to meet friends of ours from Birch Bay for Happy Hour.

 

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When we got back to our room the hotel had left a nice little treat for us to help our anniversary celebration.

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Back to this mornings freezing walk…

 

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I thought of Vee when I saw this bush with the red berries.

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We’re so close to White Rock, Canada that my cell phone company sent me a text warning me about international roaming fees. I called them immediately and told them I was still in the U.S.A. and they better not charge me for roaming fees. They were happy to oblige…

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This building is the restaurant at Semiahmoo where we had our meal last night. Semiahmoo resort was closed for many months and was re-opened in August of this year. There are still several million dollars worth of renovations that they are in process of including renovating the rooms and the restaurants. We took advantage of the lower rates while they are in process.

In this next photo I tried to capture the stiff wind that was threatening to freeze our faces. I think the high today is only suppose to reach 28 degrees!

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We have massages booked today at 2:00 in the Resort’s Spa. I’m really looking forward to that. We will be here one more night and then we’ll meander southward home tomorrow. Hope you all have a nice weekend.

Swingin By…

IMGP1000…to let you know I’m working on a post to share what Dear and I were “up” to while our kids were enjoying the Sounders game against Portland last night.

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Josh and Laura celebrated their 12th anniversary with dinner, a show and capped it off with the Sounders game. We were pleased that Katie and Andrew are here safe and sound from the cross country road trip from North Carolina and could join Josh and Laura at the game with my ticket and a friend’s ticket. I’m sure Josh and Laura enjoyed the added gift for their anniversary when the Sounders won their game last night.

Today I’ll be laying low and recuperating from all the fun of our kids coming “home” and Dear and my little trip for a wonderful get together. Hope your week is starting well…

Christmas Casual

We’ve been enjoying Christmas Casual in our Kitchen/Dining area. I bought those fun button up napkin rings at Crate and Barrel and I think they go perfectly with the napkins Judy from My Front Porch gifted me with last Christmas. I have 2 of each napkin design.

Our meal out for our anniversary was nice but it’s one of those places that we won’t rush back to. I did try a couple things I’ve never had before and was not disappointed. I had never had Farro grains before and they were prepared nicely with salted beets and lemon. The dishes were small enough that we decided to also have dessert which was a panna cotta with hazelnuts.

I’m happy to report I got our Christmas letter done. Now to address and mail the cards…

We’ve gotten a few Christmas cards already. Since I took this photo there are a few more hanging. One new addition this year that we are enjoying are our remote controlled battery operated candles that I bought at Costco.  It’s fun to light them all with one push of the button and knowing they don’t need to be watched as carefully as traditional candles.

Hope you are already experiencing Christmas blessings…

The Star…

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Star of Bethlehem

Star of Bethlehem, shining bright,
Long ago by thy holy light
Sages met in praise to bring
Eastern gifts to their newborn King.

Star of Bethlehem, thou didst show
Wond’ring shepherds the way to go,
Thus revealing by thy ray
Where the infant Redeemer lay.

Star of Bethlehem, heav’nly guide,
Take us all to our Savior’s side,
There to kneel and there to bring
Loving hearts as our offering.

Words: Edna R. Worrell, 1914.

We got our star up on our shop/garage. I like having a star shining at Christmas time.

I was inspired to get a lit star on our shop/garage by Gumbo Lily’s Star on her barn here.

It’s hard to tell from this photo but the star is 2-1/2 stories up from the ground. I now have a plan for the window under the star and time will tell if it works.

Thank you all for your nice comments on Dear and my anniversary post. We both appreciate them. We had our small group over last night for our regular meeting. Tonight we’ll enjoy dinner out. Do you have a busy weekend coming up?

Thirty Eight Years and Counting!

Today is Dear and my 38th wedding anniversary. We will be celebrating this weekend. I’m thankful to God for a faithful husband. We decided early on that with God’s help we’d stay together no matter what. We’ve had our ups and downs over the years but giving up was never an option. We like most couples have our “discussions” now and again but we always come back together and press forward. We are thankful that God’s faithfulness to us and our relationship keeps us strong. I have never wanted to spend my life with anyone else but Dear.

Married for 69 Years!

Their wedding was in Iran (Persia) in 1943.

Here’s what they’ve got to show for all their years together and what they cherish along with the love they have for God and each other.

 

Add 15 more to this number for the more accurate count of their legacy which continues to grow.

 

 

 

 

So raise your glasses and toast to my mom and pop for all these years that God has been faithful to them!

Second through fifth photos were all taken by Jeremy Leffel our photographer and good friend at Andrew and Katie’s wedding.

Still in His Fifties…

…for yet another year. He’ll join me in the sixties next September 9th! Yes, I married a younger man and it’s been one of my best decisions in the last 38 years! Today we celebrated Dear all day. Before I share a few photos from this day I need to go back just a week to share another day of celebrating.

Last Sunday we enjoyed brunch at Palisade on Elliott Bay to celebrate Josh and Laura’s 11th anniversary.

Views from our table looking out on the marina and bay.

Besides our choices for brunch off the menu there was a brunch buffet, too.

Salads, scones, biscuits, croissants, banana bread, and muffins…

Jumbo shrimp and crab…

Banana macadamia nut pancakes made to order…

They even had a build your own Bloody Mary station…

Dear and Josh ordered the Crab Benedict and Laura and I ordered the 2 egg breakfast.

And would you believe they had a dessert bar, too. There was a lot more to choose from than what is on this next plate.

I shared this plate with Dear…

We had a wonderful time and the day was so nice in the Seattle area that when we left our table full and satisfied we strolled along the marina enjoying the water views and seeing the cruise ships docked.

See the Space Needle beyond the ships?

Father and son…

We were surprised to see the leaves changing already.

Last Sunday was a beautiful day to enjoy Seattle or any city in the Northwest.

Today the weather turned on us. The winds kicked up. The temperatures got cool. The leaves were falling and blowing around the yard. I’ll share more from Dear’s day later. Dear’s day was a work day for all of us and I still need to upload the photos…

Hope you all had a good weekend.

Eleven!

“To get the full value of a joy, you must have somebody to divide it with.”
– Mark Twain

“There is no more lovely, friendly and charming relationship, communion or company than a good marriage.”
– Martin Luther

We love our firstborn Josh and we love the girl he married, Laura. God in his goodness brought them together and we can’t be more pleased.

Happy 11th Anniversary Josh and Laura!

Photo taken by Jeremy Leffel Photography

#37 In the Present…

We decided to have our 37th Anniversary dinner at Duck’s Grille and Bar in Jacksonville, North Carolina.

Katie joined us because our time together is short.

We really enjoy the food here at Duck’s. For appetizers we had Ahi Tuna and Carolina Crab Cake. Both were very good. Dear and I had the Rack of Lamb and Katie ordered angel hair pesto for our main courses. We were all very happy with our choices.

After a couple drinks all you have to do is look around to remember you are at Duck’s. :0) I hope by now you all understand my sense of humor!

Oh my! We even split a lovely Chocolate Souffle 3 ways and it was superb!

We are so excited to get home after dinner because Katie and Andrew’s couch and loveseat were finally delivered this afternoon and we have a comfortable place to relax for the rest of the evening.

Thank you for all your beautiful anniversary wishes. We really do appreciate them.