Category Archives: Beach

Just Beachy Hodgepodge

Three generations at the beach in Southern California in the early 70’s.

It’s time for another summertime Wednesday Hodgepodge. Thank you, Joyce!

1. When does time pass slowly for you?

When waiting on news from a loved one. When flying from Seattle to the U.K.

When does time pass quickly for you? 

When spending time with loved ones and watching how fast our grandchildren grow from stage to stage.

2. Do you have a favorite beach? What’s your favorite ‘beach’ activity? Tell us what we’d find in your beach bag.

Laguna Beach in the early 70’s.

Over the years favorite beaches included, Newport, Huntington, Laguna, Emma Wood (Ventura), San Clemente, and Refugio (campground on the beach above Santa Barbara).

In my 74 years of life, over half of those years were lived close enough to a beach to spend a day there or just a few miles from a beach. Our sons were born while we lived in Huntington Beach and our daughter was born in Ventura which is also a ‘beach’ town. In my younger years I loved to be in the waves or do a little body surfing. In high school, I enjoyed playing ‘Hearts’ on a beach towel with friends slathering on the cocoa butter to get a tan (I know…dumb). With small children, I didn’t like the beach because of all the sand I had to clean off everyone, the sand in the food and the panic I’d feel about them being swept away in the waves. In my older days we lived temporarily in Camarillo a short distance to the beach. I loved to have a walk on the beach before dawn and watch the waves and the sea birds. Currently, I’m not a fan of being on the beach on a hot day. If I’m going to spend any amount of time on the beach it will be in the Winter, at sunrise or sunset.

My bag is most likely in the car and I would be hands free except for my camera or my cell phone. I would be taking photos of the birds and the surfers and the waves. I’d have sunblock on and a hat. I would be walking along the shore and not sitting. 🙂

Cousins camping at Refugio State Beach in California, 1984.

3. Your favorite book or movie with a beach setting? 

Flipper and Voyage of the Dawn Treader

4. What’s a food you love, but find it’s a pain to eat? Is it worth it? 

Love is a strong word. I enjoy mussels and they aren’t the easiest to eat. Caramels are delicious but they might pull out a crown. Peanut brittle is another thing that can be dangerous for teeth but is delicious.

5.  Do you like roller coasters? What’s the best (or worst) roller coaster you’ve been on? 

Big Thunder Mountain January of 2023.

I enjoy the Disney rides that are roller coasterish like, Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain, or Space Mountain. I’m not a fan of carnival rides.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

Addy and JJ below the Huntington Beach Pier in the town where their Dad and Uncle were born.

Better or Worse Hodgepodge

There is always a way to take a photo of our acreage without showing you the close-up of our out of control weeds! 🙂 We got behind and it seems there is no catching up. A couple evenings ago, I was thanking the LORD for this view out our bedroom window. It is His handiwork, not mine. I just water between the rain.

Thank you, Joyce, for more Hodgepodge Questions this week. 

1. What’s an adult problem nobody prepared you for? 

All the technology stuff and apps you need on your phone and those QR thingies to take a photo of so you can do stuff like, parking downtown, checking in for a flight, ordering food at your table. Besides being unprepared for it, I dislike it and avoid it as much as possible.

2. How tuned in are you to all the recent food related health news? Have you gotten rid of your scratched cookware? Did you pay attention to food additives before they made the news? What’s one healthy eating/cooking/food shopping habit you need to adopt? 

Oh no, what have I missed or should I be glad I missed it. Maybe I will learn more when I read all the answers from other hodgepodgers. The one habit we’d like to adopt is to eat less sugary things.

I was a home economics major but that doesn’t mean I’m the model of excellence in all things home economics. One thing I learned in a nutrition class that has always stuck with me is that there aren’t fattening foods, per se. What is ‘fattening’ is the total of what you eat not one individual thing. Does that make sense. Some foods have gotten a bad wrap.

3. What’s getting worse and worse as you get older? How about better and better? 

Worse and worse is my memory and being able to recall the right word or the name of something or your name in a pinch! The struggle is true and real.

Better and better is my assurance of and the hope I have in the one true God who saved me by sending His Son, Jesus Christ to be the substitute for my punishment and the redeemer of my life here and the giver of my life in heaven for eternity.

4. Are you more of an indoor person or an outdoor person? Elaborate. 

I’m a little of both. By outside, if you mean having a stroll through a beautiful garden or around beautiful ancient ruins I’m a fan. I’m not a fan of getting to the top of the mountain by hiking where there are mosquitoes and other bugs and natural prey to contend with all the way. I do enjoy an early morning stroll along the beach. The cool of the morning calls to me. I guess I’m a comfort traveler or outdoorsy person. Strong emphasis on comfort.

From 2006-2009 we lived in Camarillo, California while Greg worked in Thousand Oaks temporarily.  Most Saturdays we would walk the beaches starting before sunrise. We moved back to our home in Kenmore (NE of Seattle) in early 2010.

I enjoy being inside in the morning hours in my robe and slippers getting ready for the day leisurely. I’m not a fan of being stuck indoors, though. I will enjoy strolling through a cathedral, or a museum, or a library. I prefer eating inside.

5. If you had an expert personal assistant today, what would you have them do? 

Since being healthy is all the rage, I’ll take a personal chef who makes healthy food Greg and I would eat.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

We are having a garage sale this Friday and Saturday. Pricing and organizing takes a lot of time. Hopefully we’ll make enough so that we feel it was worth it and at the same time get rid of a lot of stuff we don’t use anymore.

There will be several more tables added and more stuff but this was the start of things for the sale. That pretty butterfly came to visit while I was pricing things.

We have a fire in our area and people are pulling together to help and give shelter to people and animals.

This fire is north and across the Columbia river from us.

Staying safe in Colville. Hope all is well in your neck of the woods.

Sorry to See Spring Go Hodgepodge

Last week it was time for the white peonies. This week it is time for the pink peonies and they are my favorites!

Wednesday Hodgepodge with thanks to Jo From This Side of the Pond.

1. Summer officially begins this week (in the northern hemisphere)…what was your favorite thing to do in the summer when you were a kid?

We grew up in Southern California so a favorite was going to the beach. Newport Beach in California was where extended family gathered. I remember scouring the beach for soda bottles and turning them in for the deposit at a store and buying a treat, ice cream or a candy bar.

What do you like most about summer now? 

Visits from family. Watching the Grands at their summer sports.

First golf, then swimming and lastly soccer.

2.  Something you’ll celebrate this summer? 

The 4th of July is the traditional day we celebrate in the summer. I love to pull out my bins filled with red, white and blue decor starting in June.

3. Summer tastes like? Smells like? Sounds like?

Taste~Watermelon

Smell~Lavender

Sounds~Mosquitoes buzzing around my head

4. June 18th is National Splurge Day…what’s the last thing you splurged on? 

My old riding mower died and we bought this new beauty.

What might you splurge on today? 

Not today but tomorrow I’m splurging on a massage.

5. Share a favorite summer quote, saying, song lyric, or meme. 

When I was younger it would be ‘Schools out for the summer’.

These days it will be ‘Where’s the shade?’

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

By next week the Peonies will have wilted away so here are some more for today.

Thank you for visiting today!

W is for…

For April I’m challenging myself to an A-Z photo a day excluding Sundays and in addition to any regular posts that come to be. Disclaimer: this has been a lot more than a photo a day. It has been more like a theme for the day.

Today is Saturday the 26th of April and we are on the letter W. Today is the 2nd day that I’m participating in a flea market in downtown Colville. Hopefully I’ll recoup the charge for my space.

W is for Waves.

Waves at Emma Wood and other Ventura, California beaches.

P is for…

For April I’m challenging myself to an A-Z photo a day excluding Sundays and in addition to any regular posts that come to be.

Today is Friday April 18th and time for the letter P in the challenge. Today is also Good Friday on the calendar. I have a separate post for Good Friday.

P is for Point Mugu on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California and off the Pacific Coast Hwy.

Point Mugu Rock, Point Mugu State Park, Point Mugu Beach off the Pacific Coast Hwy.

Photos from 2008

Point Mugu Rock

Photos from Point Mugu State Park and from Pacific Trails.

H is for…

For April I’m challenging myself to an A-Z photo a day excluding Sundays and in addition to any regular posts that come to be.

Today is Wednesday April 9th and a two post day. Wednesday Hodgepodge will show up after this post.

H is for Herons

These Heron nests were located behind the Kenmore Park and Ride in Kenmore, Washington. Photos taken in 2008.

 

On the Water

On Saturday the 17th of August an afternoon boat adventure became reality. The younger set filled up all the seats on the boat for a cruise and landing on a beach. Gramps and Baba relaxed and recuperated at home.

Enjoying the best that summer offers in our own backyard! The weekend and Uncle Joshie and Auntie Lolo’s visit was coming to an end.

We all gathered at church on Sunday morning and Josh and Laura hit the road for home right after the service ended. Till next time, adieu!

July Wrap-Up #3

At the end of the week with Southern California cousins visiting in Washington State, the party shifted down to Southern California with more cousins and aunts and uncles for what we have dubbed these gatherings, Bag-o-rama! Josh and Laura flew down to catch our visiting Bagdanov-Dallas family along with more of our family in So Cal! I’m living these events vicariously with photos shared.

First stop, my sister Vera’s home, where my brother Leonard’s family were staying. They are the Dallas fam.

Our youngest niece, Hope, enjoying Jamie’s sourdough bread that Josh and Laura transported to So Cal.

Saturday was beach day!

Party shifted from the beach to their cousin Debbee and Lenny’s home in Huntington Beach.

On Sunday Bag-o-rama continued at Debbee and Lenny’s home.

Half of the Bagdanov siblings were there. My brother Tim, sister Kathy, sister Vera and brother Leonard.

The Sunday crew of my brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, grand nieces, grand nephews, son and daughter-in-law.

Josh and Laura flew home on Sunday and some of the crew continued with Bag-o-rama at Disneyland on Monday. Earlier in the week my brother Steve and brother Leonard made a visit to our parents’ gravesides.

My parents would be pleased with all these gatherings. We carry on our pop’s now famous phone call or end of visits benediction, I love you, I love you, I love you.

This will wrap up my July posts. Onward to August for more fun in the sun!

The King Shall Come When Morning Dawns

The King Shall Come When Morning Dawns

The King shall come when morning dawns,
And light triumphant breaks;
When beauty gilds the eastern hills,
And life to joy awakes.

Not as of old a little child
To bear, and fight, and die,
But crowned with glory like the sun
That lights the morning sky.

O brighter than the rising morn
When He, victorious, rose,
And left the lonesome place of death,
Despite the rage of foes.

O brighter than that glorious morn
Shall this fair morning be,
When Christ, our King, in beauty comes,
And we His face shall see.

The King shall come when morning dawns,
And earth’s dark night is past;
O haste the rising of that morn,
The day that aye shall last.

And let the endless bliss begin,
By weary saints foretold,
When right shall triumph over wrong,
And truth shall be extolled.

The King shall come when morning dawns,
And light and beauty brings:
Hail, Christ the Lord! Thy people pray,
Come quickly, King of kings.

Words: Unknown au­thor; trans­lat­ed from Greek to Eng­lish by John Brown­lie in Hymns of the Russ­ian Church, 1907.

ht: cyberhymnal

And the Blog Goes On Hodgepodge

Joyce From This Side of the Pond asks the questions for us to answer and get our brains engaged with Wednesday Hodgepodge. Thank you, Joyce.

Camarillo is where I started blogging. We were close to the Pacific Ocean and enjoyed many hikes along the coast. The photo above is from Sycamore Canyon just south of Point Mugu and north of Malibu in California. This was in the Santa Monica mountain range.

1.Why do you blog? Have your reasons changed over time? 

I started blogging in March of 2007 when we lived in a very small condo in California for a couple of years and I had lots of time on my hands. I enjoyed the weekly challenges like Blue Monday, Ruby Tuesday, ABC Wednesday, Tablescape Thursday, Friday Fave Five and many others. It was also good to journal the events going on in our lives and our family life. Through blogging I’ve met so many good friends over the years. Some I’ve been privileged to meet in person and others I cherish without ever meeting them face to face. Through blogging I became one of the Mennonite Girls Can Cook. What a joy that has been. It’s a creative outlet for me and lately has turned out to be a great tool for recall in my lapses of memory.

2. What’s a typical Friday night look like at your house?

Typically it is pretty boring unless we have our local kids over for dinner or if it’s a weekend that our Westside kids drive over.

3. Do you like donuts? Yes.

Your favorite kind? Cinnamon twist or maple bar or Jelly or Glazed or….

How often do you treat yourself to a donut? Not often but every time I step into Super 1 (one of our local grocery stores) and the donut aroma hits me I’m tempted.

Have you ever made homemade donuts? No

4. How do you feel about shopping? I like to shop when I have something in particular that I’m looking for.

Are you an online shopper? Only because I have to, not because I enjoy it.

Catalog shopper? Rarely

Brick and mortar shopper? Yes, because I like to see something and hold it in my hands before I buy it.

Do you order groceries online or prefer to select items with your own two hands? No online grocery shopping. I like to check dates on the products and make sure I’m getting the freshest loaf of bread, etc.

5. Next week’s Hodgepodge finds us somehow in the month of April, which just so happens to be National Poetry Month. Sum up (or tell us something about) your month of March in the form of a limerick. You can do it!! 

We celebrate March with cake
Not too early or late we bake
One young, one old
With joy behold
We celebrate March with Cake

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Our two family birthdays in March are 6 days apart, one in Winter and one in Spring. I’m the old one and the oldest one in our family of ten. Addy is the young one but not the youngest in our family. So thankful that we can celebrate each other. So much joy to behold. We’ll celebrate two more in April, the youngest of the males in our family. Birthdays celebrated four days apart and birthyears 30 years apart.