Category Archives: England

Fun Monday ~ First Celebrity Crush?

Oh boy is this one going to age me. Actually I’m aging just fine with no help 🙂

There probably was someone on the Mouseketeers that I had a crush on in the 50’s and early 60’s. Then there was Ricky Nelson (Ozzie and Harriett) that I might have had a crush on but the first out there in public crush that I had was for the Beatles. I think I liked them all but Ringo was my favorite. I sat there and watched them on the debut in the U.S. on the Ed Sullivan show. I was giddy with delight! I learned all their songs by heart and went to see all their movies.

For more Fun Monday go visit Jo

Jesu, Our Hope, Our Heart’s Desire ~

 

Jesu, our Hope, our heart’s Desire,
Thy work of grace we sing;
Redeemer of the world art Thou,
Its Maker and its King.

How vast the mercy and the love,
Which laid our sins on Thee,
And led Thee to a cruel death,
To set Thy people free!

But now the bonds of death are burst;
The ransom has been paid;
And Thou art on Thy Father’s throne,
In glorious robes arrayed.

O may Thy mighty love prevail
Our sinful souls to spare!
O may we stand around Thy throne,
And see Thy glory there!

Jesu, our only Joy be Thou,
As Thou our Prize wilt be;
In Thee be all our glory now
And through eternity.

All praise to Thee Who art gone up
Triumphantly to Heav’n;
All praise to God the Father’s Name
And Holy Ghost be given.

Words: Un­known au­thor, 7th or 8th Cen­tu­ry (Je­su nos­tra re­demp­tio, Amor et de­sid­er­i­um); trans­lat­ed from La­tin to Eng­lish by John Chand­ler (Hymns of the Prim­i­tive Church, 1837) and the com­pil­ers of Hymns An­cient and Mo­dern, 1861.

ht: cyberhymnal

Photo Hunters ~ Glass

 

A stained glass window at St. Mary’s church in Painswick, Gloucestire, England. This church is known for its 99 Yew trees.

 

This is St. Mary’s with some of the Yew trees…

For more Photo Hunters click over to tnchick.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage and they have blacked them all out. I’m slowly working at restoring my posts without their help. Such a tiresome bother!

WFW ~ Psalm 20:7

 

Psalm 20:7 ~

“Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.”

For more Word Filled Wednesday head over to 160 Acre Woods.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage and they have blacked them all out. I’m slowly working at restoring my posts without their help. Such a tiresome bother!

ABC Wednesday ~ J is for…

Blogspot bloggers!! Please do all of us bloggers a favor and add the “Choose an Identity that lets you put in your name and url without a google account” feature to your comment page. It makes life easier for those of us who aren’t blogspot bloggers. Please, pretty please, with sugar on top!
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J is for

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Our Son Josh who has brought lots of Joy to our lives! Click here to see him suspended in the air in China!

 

Johnson Bros. Dishes that I love to collect here and there if I find them at a bargain price.

And for your dining pleasure a lovely Applesauce Rasberry Jello Salad that is perfect for Spring and Summer and you can click here for the recipe.

For more ABC Wednesday Posts travel over to Mrs. Nesbitt’s.

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

Teacup-a-Story ~ Week One

 

March 16 – March 22
Teacup-a-Story ~Share a picture of your favorite teacup and saucer; describe it and tell it’s history (or make up a story about it’s past). Why is it meaningful to you? This would be a good place to share about the details of your teacup collection if you have one.

 

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These cups are each special to me for different reasons. The first one was made in Russia. My heritage is Russian and I was happy to find this cup and saucer at Goodwill on one of my shopping trips there. I really enjoy blues in dishes so that’s another reason I like it.
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The second photo is a tea-cup from the tea set that I bought as a souvenir when I was in England in 1973. I really enjoyed the shape of the Royal Albert china. After we were married we traveled to Canada and were able to add to my original tea set with a dinner service for 12. Besides blue and white I find pink and green very pleasing to my eyes.
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This next tea cup and saucer are from my MIL’s stash. Her brother gave her a set of dishes in this pattern as a wedding gift. I love the flowers and the history that goes with this sweet cup.
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The last cup is from a set of dishes that I saw in a model home that we walked through before we bought our home in Ventura, California in 1984. When we moved in to our home the housing development had a model home furniture and accessories sale and I bought the service for 4 for $25.00. I was a happy camper. The pattern is English Chippendale/Johnson Bros./ England.

I never collected tea-cups but I inherited and bought them here and there when one caught my eye. You can visit LaTeaDah and see more Tea-cups with a story.

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

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.