Wedge Salad, Martinis, Porterhouse Steak, Rack of Lamb and a free Birthday piece of Mud Pie. All the food here was very good. We’d go again for a special occasion.
The Birthday Girl
The Guy who supports me in everything I do and always shows me love. Thank you Dear!
Today is my birthday and I decided to go down memory lane and post some older photos and show you a little of my history.
First I’ll surround myself with things I enjoy. I do know how to pamper me 🙂
I think this is my seventh birthday because of the candles on the cake which would make this 1958.
This is our dining room at 4635 Oak Street in Montebello Gardens. We lived here till I was in 5th grade. My brother Fred, sister Vera, me, my cousin Jim and my sister Kathy who got cut off when I posted this (sorry Kathy)
This birthday was either 1960 or 1961 because there’s my little brother Steve in the high chair and he was born in December of 1959. This is the kitchen and my cousins around me are Tanya, Valia, Vera, Johnny, and you can barely see Walter. These next 4 photos were taken just last Sunday when we ended up driving through Montebello to go to a family function in Whittier.
While we lived on Oak Street in Montebello Gardens (Pico Rivera) my 3 older siblings and I would walk to the Montebello library to check out books. We’d head to Whittier Blvd. and have to cross this bridge over the Rio Hondo River to get to the library. It was approximately 2 miles each way.
The library was located at Montebello Park. This is the building the library was housed in where I spent many happy hours looking at all those books and trying to choose just 4. Now it’s a senior center.
We moved from Montebello Gardens across the river to Montebello when I was in 5th grade. This is our house at 305 Los Angeles Ave. When we lived here there wasn’t a second story and there wasn’t a chain link fence. Although a chain link fence would have come in handy after the twins (escape artists) were born…
This was my high school. Montebello High home of the Montebello Oilers. It’s totally fenced in now so they can have Lock-downs. How sad is that?! That’s a reality of our times. No fences in the 60’s!
The football field that I spent most Friday nights at during football season in high school. It’s under renovation.
In my junior and senior year I was a Song-leader and part of the cheer squad. I’m in the bottom row on the right. Judy, my best friend from junior high and high school is next to me. Debbie next to her. The top row left to right is Kathy, Bet (yes we called her Bet), and Judy. You can see those same stands behind us. This photo was taken in fall of 1967. We’re seniors here and will all graduated in June of 1968.
These are the photos I had access to while I’m here at the condo in California. Tomorrow I fly to Seattle to see my kids and celebrate Easter with them. I’ll be there for a couple of weeks. I haven’t seen them face to face since January 1st so I’m really looking forward to my time with them.
 Friday March 14th is my 57th Birthday. For my TT this week I’m choosing 13 very memorable years in my 57!
1. 1951 ~ My birth year. I was born in East Los Angeles, California.
2. 1963 ~ At Hume Lake Christian Camps in King’s Canyon, California God called me to become a disciple of Jesus Christ and I started a new life following him.
3. 1968 ~ Graduated from Montebello High School in Montebello, California
4. 1972 ~ Went on my first date with Dear in October of this year.
5. 1973 ~ Graduated from Cal-State Los Angeles with a degree in Home Economics and an Elementary Teaching Certificate.
6. 1974 ~ Got married on December 6th to Dear and have celebrated 33 years of marriage so far. We were married on a Friday evening.
7. 1979 ~ Our first child was born in January. Josh is our firstborn weighing in at 10 pounds. Born on a Friday.
8. 1981 ~ Our second son was born also in January, also on a Friday. Dan was 8 pounds and 1-1/2 oz.
9. 1985 ~ Our third child was born on a Friday, too but not in January. Our first daughter (and last) Katie was born at the end of December even though her due date was in January also. She weighed in at 8 pounds and 12 oz.
10. 1988 ~ We moved from California to the state of Washington so Dear could go to Pharmacy School at the University of Washington.
11. 1996 ~ We gave our dream home and all of our equity back to the bank because of a major landslide on the slope behind our home.
12. 2001 ~ Our first born son was married to our beautiful daughter in law, Laura.
13. 2006 ~ Dear took a full-time job in Southern California and he and I find ourselves living in Southern California again but without our children close by. They are all still in Washington. Dan and Katie are taking care of our home while we’re in Southern California in our Condo.
I’ll leave you with this birthday image of me in the 50’s.Â
For more TT click here.
We went on a Hike early Saturday morning. We drove west to Pacific Coast Highway and South to Pt. Mugu State Park. We started at the Sycamore Canyon Campground and made sure to read the warning signs. We spotted Poison Oak at the very beginning of the hike. The only animals we saw were rabbits, lizards and birds.
We decided to take the scenic trail for our hike and we were rewarded with some beautiful views of the Pacific Ocean and of the mountains of the Santa Monica coastal range.
We also were happy to spot many wildflowers.
We are hoping to do this great hike again soon.
For more ABC Wednesday click on over to Mrs. Nesbitt’s.
For more WW click here.
So this was simple and good. You start with the frozen bread dough you find in the grocery store. I thawed one loaf. Then I floured my surface. I separated the loaf into 3 equal parts. Yikes but when I went to roll out my first circle I realized I do not have a rolling pin in my condo kitchen supplies! What to do? Well I’m not a HomeEc major for nothing people. I’ve learned to improvise. The closest thing I could find in my condo that resembled a rolling pin was this…
A muddler! Wasn’t the simplest tool to use to roll out the dough to a seven inch circle but it worked.
I sauteed most of the filling ingredients before adding them to the circle of dough. You can choose whatever filling floats your boat. I chose red onion, mushrooms, green bell-pepper, and chicken sausage. After sauteing these together and getting rid of some of the moisture I spread a little marinara on the dough placed some soft mozzarella cheese on top of the sauce and then added the sauteed ingredients. Egg wash the edges like shown above and then fold it over and seal it. Give the top another egg wash and prick it with a fork. Bake in a 425 degree oven for about 15 minutes. And drum roll please…here’s how it came out.
It was very yummy! Oh and I was so proud that I got it to fit on a smaller plate to fulfill my brown plate challenge…
We got together on Saturday night at Moreno’s in Orange to celebrate my sister Vera’s bigger than the last big birthday party!
Vera the Birthday Girl and Me,  Leticia my SIL and Tim my brother, The Mariachis, and the table conversation with David, Debbee (Vera’s kids) Noah, Melissa and my sister Kathy at the end of the table.
The Matriarch and Patriarch of the family…
There were these great old trees in the patio. The original part of this restaurant was a Friends church (Quaker) and built in the late 1800’s! Click here to read the interesting history.
If you like non-spicy Mexican food that any Gringo can eat and enjoy this is the place for you. For us spicy hot Mexican food lovers this was fun for the history, fun being with family, fun with the mariachis, but not memorable for the food. 🙂
So Dear and I decided we’d stray from our usual beach walk at Emma Wood and we headed to the Santa Monica Mountains. We decided on Big Sycamore Canyon starting at Point Mugu State Park. Here are some of our breathtaking views!
We picked the Scenic Trail to the Overlook Fire Road. Besides the gorgeous views of the Pacific Ocean and the Santa Monica Mountains we were very excited to spot one of these…
This is a Chocolate Lily (Fritillaria biflora Lindl.) Lily Family. LILIACEAE
Chocolate Lily is local on clay slopes, often under shrubs and blooms from February to April. This has been called the Cleopatra of the Fritillaries – darkest and the loveliest. It is our only species, although there are 16 California natives in this genus. We were first introduced to a Fritillaria in Oxford, England on Addison’s Walk. We were there in April and there was a field of blooming Fritillaries.
We did enjoy our hike and we will return again. I’ll show more photos of our hike later in the week and add another wildflower post for Wildflowers in Winter.
But now to my step totals for 6 days this week for Lovella’s Walking Club. My average was good again at 11,283.
We’re headed off to Orange County now for my older sister’s Leap Year Birthday Celebration with the family. Have a great weekend and keep on walking…
Welcome to my Blog Party. You have arrived at The Happy Wonderer. I’m ellen b and I’m so happy to welcome you here. I’ve made a cake for the occassion and I’m sharing the recipe with you. My birthday is March 14th so this is a great week for a party around here. I would like to give you a taste of what my blog is like. I’m posting some regular kind of things you’ll see if you come back to visit. So relax and enjoy as you scroll on down…
Applesauce Spice Cake
1 pkg. yellow cake mix
1 pkg. 4 serving size jello instant vanilla pudding
4 eggs
1 cup applesauce
1/2 C. water
1/4 C. oil
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. all-spice (optional)
1/2 raisins finely chopped (optional)
Combine all ingredients in large mixing bowl of electric mixer and blend then beat at medium for 4 minutes. Pour into well greased and floured 10 inch tube or fluted tube pan. (I’ve used a bundt cake pan and angel food cake pan). Bake at 350 degrees for 50-55 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean. DO NOT UNDERBAKE. Cool in pan for 15 min. remove and cool on rack. When the cake has cooled and before I serve it I give it a dusting of powdered sugar.
This goes really well with whipped cream or a good vanilla ice cream, too. This has become a favorite in my house and is requested for birthday cakes very often.
I like to share my recipes and I really enjoy inviting table settings like these…
Special times with family and friends are shared on my blog as well.
I enjoy walking and I share photos from these walks and I’m part of a Bloggy Walking Club. The bloggers who participate keep track of their average steps for a 5-6 day period each week and share their totals. My husband who I call “Dear” on this blog and I walk most every Saturday at Emma Wood State Beach in Ventura, California.
I’m also a Brown Plate Special participant which is a sensible challenge for some of us older bloggers to eat smaller quantities and add more activity in our lives and be accountable to each other.
I participate in a few weekly blog carnivals like ABC Wednesday, Word Filled Wednesday, Wordless Wednesday, Thankful Thursday, Sky Watch Fridays and Photo Hunters. I post a Hymn or Worship song on Sunday. Sometimes during the week I’ll share a devotional or a quote from a book I’m reading.
A fun experience I’ve had since I started blogging is meeting a fellow blogger who lives in the same city as me. After meeting we decided to walk together. We try to walk every weekday which has been great. Here’s a photo from the day we met at a local Coffee shop in town.
This is Willow from Willow’s Cottage. I’m the brunette (I think brunette sounds so much better than I’m the old lady on the right with brown hair)
I will also share photos from travels here in the states and abroad.
My sister Lana and I started blogging about the same time. We talk most everyday (mostly about our blogs). It’s fun to have a bosom bloggy buddy who doesn’t get tired of “blog talk”. We laugh all the time. Her blog is called Above the Clouds because she travels weekly by air.
I post a lot,  at least one post a day sometimes 2 to 3 posts a day on bloggy carnival days.
I choose for my blog be an encouraging blog and to honor the Lord so you generally will not hear me ranting and you will not find bad language and things that I find objectionable to my heart and mind here.
Whew! My posts are not this long generally unless it’s all photos (Did I say I’m visual and love photos!?)
Thanks so much for visiting and I hope you come again. Blessings on you…
You can see more blogs that are participating in the party at 5 minutes for Mom. I’ll add the link when they have it up later tonight. Well as soon as 5MFM fixes their site you can click and get there we all crashed it I think. For now you can google Ultimate Blog Party and find some sites!
I was wondering what I was going to post for the “different” theme when on our walk on Thursday we came upon these toilets sitting in this driveway. I said “that’s different”, then pulled my camera out of my pocket and took the photo! Happy hunting everyone.
Check out more “different” here.
