Wide, Wide as the Ocean
Wide, wide as the ocean, high as the Heaven above;
Deep, deep as the deepest sea is my Savior’s love.
I, though so unworthy, still am a child of His care;
For His Word teaches me that His love reaches me everywhere.
Words: C. Austin Miles, 1914.
The beach in winter is a favorite of mine. These were some photos from our time at Huntington Beach during our family vacation in January that I haven’t shared yet.
I find the underside of a pier interesting and love watching the waves roll through.
Our niece Debbee and Lenny were married in 2013 in Huntington Beach and they took their engagement photos here so it was fun to try to recreate that moment.
This day was also Lenny’s birthday.
Today we are nowhere near the coast and we still have that white stuff on the ground and it’s not beach foam.
Our Colville kids are coming over for dinner tonight. Speaking of dinner, tonight will be the third dinner in a row that I’ve made. It’s a Notable February for that reason and others, too. Wednesday we had an Asian Stir Fry with actual vegetables. Here’s the dinner we had Thursday night. Leg of Lamb with vegetables in my Jamie Oliver Retro Roaster. We like lamb and I know many people don’t.
Tonight we’re having Oven Baked Tilapia with rice and vegetables or salad.
Speaking of food, 18 eggs were $4.24 at our local Wal-Mart on Wednesday. They were not the brown eggs, or free range eggs, or Beverly Hills Eggs, just the white caged bird eggs.
What have you been eating these days? Happy First Friday in February.
February, I’m still cherishing the memories of January, so slow down. 🙂
The Hodgepodge is back for the start of February. Thank you Joyce, From This Side of the Pond!
1. Tell us anything you want about your January.Â
From January 13th until January 19th we had our DisneyCaliFam Vacation and it was packed with great interactions with our extended people! Twelve of us spent one day at Disneyland and a great birthday celebration dinner out at Orange Hill Restaurant and quiet times in our VRBO. Ten of us spent some hours with my siblings and our kids’ cousins in homes, at the beach and bowling alley. The two of us spent an afternoon and evening with my bestie from the 70’s. A rich time of relationship sharing and growing.
All of these peeps are ‘Moisi and Nadia’s People’.
2. Lake Superior State University posts a list each year of words they think should be banished from the Queen’s English for misuse, overuse, and/or general uselessness. The 2023 list includes GOAT, inflection point, quiet quitting, gaslighting, moving forward, amazing, Does that make sense?, irregardless, absolutely, and it is what it is.
Which of these words/phrases do you use regularly?
amazing
Which of these words would you most like to see banished from everyday speech and why?
It is what it is…because it is more than it is. LOL!
Is there a word/phrase not on the list you’d like to add?Â
Racist, because lately it is used to gaslight people.
3. February 2nd is Groundhog Day. What’s something that feels repeated in your life right now?Â
Waking up to snow on the ground that has not melted.
4. What’s a food you love that’s named after a place?
Mexican food is my comfort food, but I think maybe you want us to be more specific. I do enjoy a good Boston Cream Pie and how about German Chocolate Cake. Now I’m on a roll since I just remembered Belgian Waffles, French Toast, oh, and our family favorite, Swedish Pancakes!
5. What’s the best season of the year to visit your city or your part of the country? Tell us why.Â
Fall is a wonderful time to visit our area. Not too hot, not too cold, and full of beautiful color.
6. Insert your own random thought here.Â
We planned our time for our DisneyCaliFam Vacation this past November in lieu of Christmas gifts. Our time in California also spanned 3 birthdays, Jamie’s, Dan’s and Josh’s. Gifts were purchased for the birthday ‘kids’ at Disneyland. Meals were paid for to celebrate the three of them while we were in California. They each got Birthday badges to wear at Disneyland. Addy and JJ got their Disneyland 1st Time Visitor Badges. Special times with memories to store.
Looking forward to catching up with Hodgepodgers!
After we walked the pier on Monday the 16th we headed down the steps to the sand and on to the shoreline.
Brothers born while we lived in Huntington Beach over 40 years ago in January.
And yes, JJ ended up falling in the water and getting soaked so we stripped him of his wet clothes and wrapped him in some dry coats before hypothermia set in.
Monday afternoon Josh, our trusty 15 passenger Van driver made a trip to the airport to pick up Jamie’s mom and her granny who would spend the next few nights with all of us. We enjoyed soup for dinner. We made a special trip to Rockwell’s Bakery to pick out a cake for Dan’s birthday.
Addy chose the cake. Her daddy bakes the best macarons and Addy spotted this cake and decided it was the one.
Good choice Addy! Happy Birthday Dan. The birthday celebrations keep coming.
During our ‘DisneyCaliFam’ vacation we spent a few hours at Huntington Beach on Monday January 16th. Some of our Cali family met up with the 10 of us at Fred’s Cantina on Main street for a bite to eat before we braved the high winds on the pier and at the seashore. Two of my sisters and seven nieces and nephews joined our ten for a lively few hours. The Swordfish tacos were delicious!
This guy saves me a seat next to him 90% of the time.
Happy Birthday churros for these two who share their birthday.
Off to the pier with Main Street behind us and Fred’s Cantina on the corner upper floor on the right.
Leaving the pier and heading to the sand and shoreline. That is another photo intensive post that will be coming soon.
Jo From This Side of the Pond has some beachy questions for us today.
1. Do you like the beach?
Yes, I like the beach. I like to walk at the beach, especially in the winter. I’m not a fan of heat and being overheated. I like to walk the pier, watch the waves and enjoy the cool breezes. We lived in Huntington Beach from 1975-1984. We lived in Ventura (which is a beach town) from 1984-1988. We lived in Camarillo, 8 miles from the beach from 2006-2010. While we lived in Camarillo we drove to Emma Wood State Beach most every Saturday morning to walk the beach at dawn. The collage at the top of this post include photos from Emma Wood.
How far do you have to drive to get to the nearest beach?
Since my definition of beach is related to an ocean we would have to drive over 450 miles to get to the Pacific Ocean.
If you are talking about a sandy or pebbly shore we could get to one of those in under 10 miles. We live close to the Columbia River, Lake Roosevelt and other lakes and rivers.
Your least favorite thing about the beach?
Getting sandy or sunburned.
Last beach trip you took?Â
I flew to Southern California in June and stayed with my sister in Huntington Beach and enjoyed walking at Corona Del Mar and Huntington Beach.
2. Are you known for making waves or are you more of a ‘go along to get along’ kind of person? Explain.
Hmm, if I have to make waves I will but it’s not my first choice. When something goes against my beliefs I won’t compromise. I don’t nod my head or keep silent when someone presumes to speak on my behalf and what is said is not part of my convictions. I will challenge things said that aren’t the truth in proper settings, when it’s within my boundaries to say something and could make a difference.
3. A favorite song that in some way references the beach?
I’ll give the beach nod to our Marine son-in-law and all Marines!
A favorite book and/or movie with a beach-y setting?Â
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader from The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
4. Tuesday is National Simplicity Day…what’s a simple pleasure you’ve enjoyed this week?
The simple pleasure of enjoying my cup of coffee each morning and the pleasure of the morning unfolding.
What’s something you could eliminate from your life to make things simpler?Â
Extra weight on my body. My current clothes would fit better and my movements would be easier. It’s harder to move excess weight around,
5. What’s something you love to do? Do you do it often? Why or why not?Â
I love to plan a trip. I don’t do it often, maybe once a year or every two years. It’s fun to anticipate a journey or a destination that will be fun to experience. I find the more I research the destination the more enjoyment it gives me when we get there.
6. Insert your own random thought here.Â
Two months from today, Lord willing, me and Dear will be in Oxford, England for about 12 days. I’m doing what I love and making plans for our days there. We will be staying in an apartment in Oxford (central) for 9 of the nights, 2 nights in a hotel in Woodstock, and our last night back in Oxford in a hotel. When we had our trip planned in 2020 that got cancelled for obvious reasons, we were reimbursed for everything but a day tour we had booked with Go Cotswolds, a small touring company. We asked them to keep our money just in case we were able to return to England in the future. They were appreciative as they had to cancel so many tours and the more people that kept their reservations on hold allowed them to stay in business during the tough season everyone was in. We contacted them and they were so gracious to honor our two year deposit for a day tour. They are flourishing again in their business. We will hop on the train in Oxford to Moreton in Marsh and get picked up for a day in the small villages of the Cotswolds. Another tour we have on the books is The Kilns, the home of C.S. Lewis just outside Oxford. We will ride a bus to Headington for that tour. We are not renting a vehicle for this trip but depending solely on public transportation and our own two feet . Most of our sight seeing will be right in Oxford. There is so much to see in this compact city that we will be able to enjoy on foot from our apartment.
I was happy that these Pelicans were resting instead of flying so I could get my photos.
Back here in N.E. Washington State we have entered a dry warm cycle which means I’ll need to start watering the planters.
Dear has started painting the exterior of our home. When it’s complete I’ll share some before and after photos. Enjoy the last weekend in June!
Home again after a long day of traveling and no energy to participate in Wednesday Hodgepodge. Alaska Airlines upgraded me to First Class for my flights home and that was a nice treat. The flight attendant was cheerful and happy to serve which made things even more enjoyable. After landing in Spokane on my second leg of the journey, we made a stop at Hobby Lobby to try to find a few things for the walls of my of our guestrooms that we upgraded to a King bed, etc. My brain was in slo-mo which made making design decisions difficult. We left with two small items and headed to Costco to fill up our vehicle with gasoline and buy a few items. Back on the road home we tried to stop at a favorite spot for dinner in Deer Park but it was closed for some mysterious reason. We tried a new spot in Loon Lake and it was good enough that we will stop there again in the future. Once home we had absolutely no energy left so the unpacking will be slow. Here are some extra photos from a walk along the Beach that my sister and I enjoyed.
Besides the beautiful ocean and beaches we saw both pretty and unusual things on our walk Friday the 10th of June.
The dog walker. This made us smile. This was a group of very well behaved dogs!
And besides seeing things on the ground we spotted this group in the sky.
Getting back in the groove here at home. Thank you for following along and all the kind comments. I’ll be responding soon. And just like that we are at the middle of June!
On Sunday my sister Vera and I were happy to see that June Gloom was nonexistent. We dropped our brother off at the Orange County airport for his trip back to Dallas and decided another trip to the beach was warranted. We had a good meal at Dukes at the Huntington Beach Pier with this view from our table…
After our meal we headed to the pier to walk it and enjoy the views.
I’ll have a full post with this pelican as the star later.
The crashing waves looked like snow from above.
This post is being published on Tuesday June 14th, Flag day. I will be in the air for a few hours and then on the road home.
Happy Flag Day from Huntington Beach and Newport Beach.
On Friday morning my sister and I drove to her son’s home to feed the cats and have a walk along the coast. The photo above is from the patio of our nephew’s home. Not too shabby.
This was a typical June gloom morning with the sun hiding but it was still warm. They live by ‘The Wedge’.
We ended up at over 7,000 steps and lots of nice views. The houses along our walk were beautifully landscaped with great windows positioned to get all the views. When our walk was over we did some shopping and had lunch out. Later in the day the sun broke through and we could see blue skies. Maybe by the time I fly home we’ll get a blue sky day at the beach.
Tonight (Friday night) we pick up our youngest brother when he flies in from a long day of flying.
The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b. 