Category Archives: England

Advent Tells Us, Christ is Near ~ Hymn

At first glance this hymn may not seem appropriate for our Easter Season but read it all the way through. Blessings on you today and through Easter Celebrations this year!

Advent tells us, Christ is Near

(words by A. Katherine Hankey 1834-1911)

Advent tells us, Christ is near:
Christmas tells us Christ is here!
In Epiphany we trace
All the glory of His grace.

Those three Sundays before Lent
Will prepare us to repent;
That in Lent we may begin
Earnestly to mourn for sin.

Holy Week and Easter, then,
Tell who died and rose again;
O that happy Easter day!
“Christ is risen indeed,” we say.

Yes, and Christ ascended, too,
To prepare a place for you;
So we give Him special praise,
After those great forty days.

Then, He sent the Holy Ghost,
On the day of Pentecost,
With us ever to abide:
Well may we keep Whitsuntide!

Last of all, we humbly sing
Glory to our God and King,
Glory to the One in three,
On the Feast of Trinity.

For information on Whitsuntide click here.

This was written for Sunday School of St. Peter’s Eaton Square, London and printed on a card with music by the author.

Ht: Cyberhymnal for Hymn and history.

Sycamore Canyon Hike ~ Walking Club Totals

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…

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage. I’m working on updating my blog posts very slowly.

The Ultimate Blog Party ~ March 7th – 14th

 

Ultimate Blog Party 2008

 

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!

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage. I’m working on updating my blog posts very slowly.

ABC Wednesday ~ E is for…

E is for…

This is a sitting room in a Model Home in our neighborhood. I was tempted to nab the pillow with my initial on it but I controlled myself and resisted my Evil side…

 Ellen b. and one of our favorite Saturday walks at Emma Wood State Beach in Ventura, California.

 

E is for the Ebb of the tide

 

E is for Edinburgh

Dear and Ellen B. in Edinburgh

 

the elephant house in Edinburgh

 

An Epitaph for J.R.R. Tolkien and his wife in Oxford, England.

For more ABC Wednesday photos head over to Mrs. Nesbitt.

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage. They have blacked out all those photos on my blog posts. OH BOTHER! I’m slowly cleaning up my posts.

ABC Wednesday ~ D is for…

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage. They have blacked out all those photos on my blog posts. OH BOTHER! I’m slowly cleaning up my posts.

My first ABC Wednesday and the letter is D today.

So many choices, I think I’ll share daffodils, dogwood and doors.

 

This photo was taken in England in April 2004.

 

This Dogwood tree is in a garden on Queen Anne Hill in Seattle, Washington, just uphill from Kerry Park. The photo was taken in July of 2007.

 

The photos in this collage were taken in Oxford~England, York, Edinburgh ~ Scotland, South Kensington and the bottom middle one if taken at Ste Michelle Winery in Woodinville, Washington.

To view more ABC Wednesday participants click here.

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage. They have blacked out all those photos on my blog posts. OH BOTHER! I’m slowly cleaning up my posts.

Fun Monday ~ The Bucket List…

Tiggerlane, the Neophyte is hosting Fun Monday this week. Here’s her assignment.

Have you heard of The Bucket List? Well, that’s what I want from you! Make a list of things you want to do before you die. It must be at leastfive items – and you can make it as long as you desire. Photos are optional. And let’s hear about some of the wackiest, most bizarre to-do’s on your Bucket List!

These are not listed in order of importance just in order of how they came into my brain.

1. Visit Ireland. And while there I want to visit Trinity College and see the Book of Kells. I also want to tour the Guinness Brewery. A visit to the Jameson Distillery for my husband’s pleasure. I want to eat a good meal in Cork. I’d like to see the countryside. I’d love to do a Pub Crawl with some good traditional Irish music.

2. I’d love to experience grandchildren.

3. I’d like to fly first-class to Australia or New Zealand so the many hours in the plane would feel more comfortable.

4. I’d like to have a great famous cook like Ina Garten or Jamie Oliver cook a meal for me and my friends at my house with a clean up crew.

5. I’d like to walk across England from the Irish Sea to the North Sea.

6. I’d like to meet some of my bloggy friends at a spa resort.

7. I’d like to be living back in my home in the Seattle area.

I’m just not a person who desires whacky or bizarre things in my life. I’m happy with a cup of tea in a beautiful setting.

Or a lovely meal with friends. A worshipful church service where the truth is taught and the love of God is felt. Probably the most out of this world experience I think would be real cool is …

8. The Acts 2:2-4 experience…”Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.”

For me that would be an amazing experience.

For more Bucket lists check out Tiggerlane’s site for more links to Fun Monday posts…

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage. They have blacked out all those photos on my blog posts. OH BOTHER! I’m slowly cleaning up my posts.

Wildflowers in Winter Week Three ~ Literary

All of these photos of Spring flowers were taken in England. The third photo on the top of the collage is of a Fritillaria meleagris which grow wild on the grounds of Magdalene College in Oxford. This photo was taken on Addison’s Walk, a footpath along the grounds and River Cherwell. When we were on this trip I wasn’t a blogger yet. If I was, I would have taken more and better photos of this wonderful flower. I’ll add a google image of a closeup so you can see it better. The 1st photo I believe are Anenome nemerosa. The second daffodils. The fourth are Pink Pom Pom Aster? Any real gardeners and flower buffs can correct me if I’m wrong, please.

Fritillaria meleagris

While on one of our trips in England we stayed on the Farm in the center picture in the Lake District. This was the first time I ever experienced hearing a Cuckoo Bird. I was amazed and excited to realize it really says “cuckoo, cuckoo”. Then after hearing the cuckoo from our room at the Bed and Breakfast we got to see some of these cuckoos as they flew from tree to tree on one of our walks. This brings me to the poem about Spring and Flowers and the Cuckoo that I chose to share for week 3 of Wildflowers in Winter. I would highly recommend a walking tour in the Lake District or the Cotswolds in late Spring and early summer.

To The Cuckoo

~ by William Wordsworth

O BLITHE New-comer! I have heard,
I hear thee and rejoice.
O Cuckoo! shall I call thee Bird,
Or but a wandering Voice?

While I am lying on the grass
Thy twofold shout I hear,
From hill to hill it seems to pass,
At once far off, and near.

Though babbling only to the Vale,
Of sunshine and of flowers,
Thou bringest unto me a tale
Of visionary hours.

Thrice welcome, darling of the Spring!
Even yet thou art to me
No bird, but an invisible thing,
A voice, a mystery;

The same whom in my school-boy days
I listened to; that Cry
Which made me look a thousand ways
In bush, and tree, and sky.

To seek thee did I often rove
Through woods and on the green;
And thou wert still a hope, a love;
Still longed for, never seen.

And I can listen to thee yet;
Can lie upon the plain
And listen, till I do beget
That golden time again.

O blessed Bird! the earth we pace
Again appears to be
An unsubstantial, faery place;
That is fit home for Thee!

I’m adding two photos of my husband and our daughter and myself with our daughter on Addison’s Walk on the grounds of Magdalene College where Tolkien and C.S. Lewis would walk and talk.

For more literary contributions to Wildflowers in Winter Week 3 click here.

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage. They have blacked out all those photos on my blog posts. OH BOTHER! I’m slowly cleaning up my posts.

One of My Favorite Card Artists ~ Gordon Fraser

Here’s some more fun for Saturday, scroll down below this post for a quiz…

 I want to share one of my favorite cards and card illustrator Gordon Fraser. This card was printed in England. Whenever I’m in Canada I search the stores for any of his cards. I love the little hedgehogs, mice and other animals on these cards.

 

 

The card reads To Wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. To all Bloggy Friends that celebrate Christmas my wishes for you are the same with added blessings too!  I hope my card makes you smile.

Photobucket has blacked out all my photos I was storing on their site and they are holding them hostage. I am working on updating my more than 4000 posts.

God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen

 God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen

God rest ye merry, gentlemen
Let nothing you dismay
Remember, Christ, our Saviour
Was born on Christmas day
To save us all from Satan’s power
When we were gone astray
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy

In Bethlehem, in Israel,
This blessed Babe was born
And laid within a manger
Upon this blessed morn
The which His Mother Mary
Did nothing take in scorn
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy

From God our Heavenly Father
A blessed Angel came;
And unto certain Shepherds
Brought tidings of the same:
How that in Bethlehem was born
The Son of God by Name.
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy

“Fear not then,” said the Angel,
“Let nothing you affright,
This day is born a Saviour
Of a pure Virgin bright,
To free all those who trust in Him
From Satan’s power and might.”
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy

The shepherds at those tidings
Rejoiced much in mind,
And left their flocks a-feeding
In tempest, storm and wind:
And went to Bethlehem straightway
The Son of God to find.
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy

And when they came to Bethlehem
Where our dear Saviour lay,
They found Him in a manger,
Where oxen feed on hay;
His Mother Mary kneeling down,
Unto the Lord did pray.
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy

Now to the Lord sing praises,
All you within this place,
And with true love and brotherhood
Each other now embrace;
This holy tide of Christmas
All other doth deface.
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy