Faeries and Banners…

Our daughter made her face up to hand out candy to the little neighborhood kids that would stop by last night.

We finished the night off at 7:54 P.M. with 57 little trick or treaters. All very polite and gracious.

Earlier in the day I completed a little project for an upcoming event at our house in November. It was a simple cut and clip project but I was still proud of myself to get it done. Now I’m talking myself into making some napkins from some fabric I bought to go along with our theme. Once the event is over I’ll share the decor and the theme.

How did things go at your place last night?

It’s November and I finally got the Thanksgiving bin down from the attic. We will be celebrating two Thanksgivings this year. One early on the weekend of the fifteenth with our kids (that’s the weekend our son and his girlfriend can join us) and one with friends on the actual day set aside by the U.S.A.

I Can See Clearly…

I’ve been moaning so much about the foggy pattern we have been in that I could not delay in showing you the turn in our weather. It will not last forever or even until Thursday so I had to hurry up and post the photos of the beautiful light in my corner of the world.

Romans 13:12 (ESV)

The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.

Of course you notice that all the leaves I picked up in my mower last week have been replaced nicely by my neighbor’s huge maple. Today I hope to ~~vacuum~~ mow the latest fall leaves up again. Seeing the leaves that still remain on the trees we’ll have to mow at least 2 or 3 more times before we retire the mower for the winter months.

Instead of cooking today I’ll be mowing.

If it’s Tuesday, it must be La Corona.

On Tuesdays at this old house we go out for Mexican food.

Do you have traditions at your house each week? They don’t have to revolve around food, either.

Birds of a Feather…

We have had birds and more birds pecking about our yard the last couple of weeks. It has been fun to see the many varieties.

This European Starling is a new addition in our yard this year.

They like to stick together and they fly off together, too.

We had a fun time this weekend with a few members of our family. Girls of a feather that enjoy sticking together, too. It wasn’t the whole flock but we take what we can get. My oldest sister Kathy’s two daughters were able to fly to Seattle to stay with my baby sister Lana. Our daughter Katie and DIL Laura joined the girls at Lana’s for a few days of nonstop fun.

Michelle, Melissa, Katie and Laura

Our hostess, Auntie Lana, joined the girls for a photo!

And Auntie Ellen, too.

Between seasons of Downton Abbey we were able to fit in a trip to Country Village in Bothell where we made some fun purchases and after the shopping trip we met up with all the guys for dinner at the Purple Cafe.

There were 10 of us at dinner but I couldn’t get a great shot of everyone. Lana’s husband Steve, Dear, Ryan (my niece Michelle’s husband) and our son Josh joined the girls for a lovely meal out and then it was back to Lana’s for more Downton Abbey…

The guys were very accommodating to the girls this weekend and we appreciate them very much. We only had enough time to make it through 2 whole seasons and the Christmas Special from Downton Abbey. My sister Lana is the only one of us who hasn’t seen season 3 yet and we left the DVD’s with her so she can finish off the series before Season 4 starts here in the states in January.

We said our farewells and our guests headed back to the airport to fly back to Southern California. We all look forward to the next time we can be together.

We are in a foggy pattern here in the Western part of the Puget Sound that has extended up to British Columbia. We are hoping the sun can break through the fog in the next days ahead.

Vee’s Note Card Party ~ It’s Fall Y’all!

I’m heading back over the Cascades to Eastern Washington and our son Dan’s land for my one previously posted Note Card for Vee’s Party. This was taken Fall, 2012.

These next two photos are from Jolly old England from September of this year that I haven’t gotten around to posting yet.

This last one is from this past Sunday in West Seattle of our daughter Katie…

It’s been the story of my life this year but it’s fall and I haven’t pulled any fall/Thanksgiving bins out yet. Time will tell if I do. Seasonal decorating has been out the window all this year. That is O.K. It really is best for me to go with the flow and accept the events of our lives and interruptions as they come. Reminds me of that song from the 50’s that Doris Day sang…

“Que Sera, Sera
Whatever will be, will be
The future’s not ours to see
Que Sera, Sera
What will be, will be”

Hoping to get around to see all the Note Card offerings this week! Blessings…

Our First Frosty Mornings…

We have had a cold spell in the Seattle area. It’s fun to see the frosty leaves in the morning.

Clear nights have meant colder days. I love the fact that the leaves are even falling on top of the full yard waste bin. The sun crowns the yard waste bin with a lovely glow…

This is going to be a full week filled with fun gatherings. Tuesday is my Women’s Bible Study morning. We are meeting one of the Mennonite Girls and her husband in downtown Seattle on Wednesday. Thursday we have our small group here. On Friday we are heading across the line to another of the Mennonite Girls for a dinner party. Hope you all have some fun gatherings to look forward to.

In this month of the Grace Challenge I’m thankful to God for friends and gatherings that encourage and bless us. Don’t miss today’s Grace Challenge post one of our Mennonite Girls is mentioned in it!

Looking Back at Fall Scapes…

I’m busy thinking about the last few recipes I need to complete for our new cookbook. I’m also beginning to make plans for our Thanksgiving celebration.

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Our son Dan will be making the trek across the mountains over Snoqualmie Pass to join us for Thanksgiving.

We decided to invite mutual friends of Dan’s and ours for our time together. With our friends and with my sister and husband there will be 10 of us.

Josh and Laura will be celebrating with Laura’s family this year. Those of you with married kids will understand the every other year concept for holidays.

Katie and Andrew can’t travel far so they will be joining Andrew’s father and step-mom in Florida for Thanksgiving.

We have a fun get together to look forward to next week in downtown Seattle with some Canadian friends I’ll share more next week.

I made Osso Buco for the first time on Wednesday night and boy was it good. Did I just pat myself on the back? I love to order it when it’s on the menu when we eat out and decided to try it in my own kitchen. I’ll have to share the recipe on MGCC blog soon. I also bought Katie a fun little apparel item for the Marine Ball that she finally gets to attend this year. I’m mailing it tomorrow and I’ll let you know if she decides to wear it instead of returning it. I always include the receipt with my impulsive buys and have no problem if they are returned…

I’m thankful for people who understand me and my griefs and joys and my humor which needs some explanation at times. What are you thankful for and what are your Fall plans?

I’m linking with Cuisine Kathleen for Let’s Dish and hoping her power stays on in Long Island and that the Nor’easter doesn’t add any more damage where damage has been done! Praying for you Kathleen and others on the East coast!!

It’s Worth it…

…to have to rake all these leaves.

I am grateful for 4 distinct seasons. Growing up in southern California I didn’t get the joy of seasons like I do in the Pacific Northwest. The fall colors, the crisp mornings, the crunch of our first frost. These are all enjoyed by me.

We took down the patio covers so they wouldn’t be destroyed in high winds and snow later in the winter. They probably won’t go back up till next May.

While I’m typing here, Dear is out blowing all the leaves into one big pile. Our yard waste bins, 4 of them, are all full already. After the yard waste is collected tomorrow I’ll work on filling the bins back up from the big pile Dear is building right now.

This post does have something in common with Steve’s Grace Challenge post today on being thankful in your work.

What are you thankful or grateful for today?

Inspiration to Shoot…

I’m thankful today for fellow bloggers who inspire me to look at the big picture and the beauty in the details. Karen at Ocean Soul is one of those bloggers along with her co-blogger Jukavo who inspire me with their photography.

Here are some of my artsy fartsy shots from Dan’s place…

This post and the rest of my posts in the month of November will be connected to the Grace Challenge I’m participating in. Here’s a quote from my brother’s blog about grace:

“Grace may be the word that best summarizes Christianity. In English, “grace” is connected to two other important words that teach us a response to grace: Gratitude and Graciousness.

Here is how it works. First and foremost, our life, salvation and everything in between is a result of the grace of God. Every breath I take is a grace of God. I cannot be saved apart from grace. Grace emphasizes and points to God as the center. Life is all about Him. He reveals Himself to me not by force, but by grace.”

To read the whole post click here.

I want to continue being specific in my thankfulness. I’m really thankful for digital photography. Digital photography affords me failure in photo taking while at the same time giving me an incredible chance of shooting a beauty. God does the same thing for me through grace. I fail and he picks me up and He lets me try again and with His help He makes things good for me.

Hope your week has gone well. This weekend ends daylight savings. Don’t forget to fall back an hour!

Fall, Fun, Food, and the Future of Flight!

We had a very peaceful Fall day on Saturday here in the Pacific Northwest. We are still dry…breaking records with our dryness. Everyone here is trying to get out and enjoy this unseasonable weather because we know that soon enough our rain will return.

Saturday morning my sister and I headed to Country Village in Bothell to check out a Fall Craft sale and our 3 favorite shops at the village.

Fall decorations and wares were everywhere to see in the very bright sunshine.

At the craft fair our favorites were the letter blocks and we each purchased 3 sets of them. I chose Thankful, Gobble and Joy.

Joy is still packaged in the cellophane because it will probably be a gift for Christmas.

Santa was happy to see we were already thinking about Christmas.

This was another purchase at the fair at the right price.

On Saturday evening we joined Josh and Laura along with Laura’s parents for an evening at a dinner fundraiser for the Future of Flight at the Boeing campus in Everett, Washington. The event was to raise funds for the education programs that partner with local schools to promote math and science. Josh’s company Axia Home Loans in Lynwood, Washington sponsored our table.

Father and son checking out the silent auction. Josh ended up winning 3 or 4 of the items he bid on at the silent auction.

The theme of the event was “The Adventures of Amelia”. We found Amelia and took a photo with her.

We sat amongst the aircraft and engines for our dinner and live auction.

The food was surprisingly good for a big event like this one. They had the tables silent bid for our desserts. The higher bidders took all the chocolate choices early! It was another creative way to raise more money for a good cause.

I took this centerpiece lantern home with me after placing the only bid for it at our table.

On our way out there were gift bags to take home with the Airfield Bombshell Wine from the evening along with a wine opener, cork, and a signature rub from the caterer. That was a fun surprise.

Tonight I’m headed to a rivalry game between the Seattle Sounders and Portland Timbers. There have been over 66,000 tickets sold for this game so the atmosphere will be electric! The fans longtime favorite player, Roger Levesque, who retired earlier this season will be honored with the “Golden Scarf” tonight, too. I’m wondering if this will be our last game of the season in the sunshine and no rain.

Hope your weekend has gone well.

Uninvited…

…but welcomed!

This little visitor arrived in my yard and I had never seen it before. I let it know that it could come over any time if it just promised to take home the unwelcome rats that enjoy my yard, too. I hope this pretty black and white creature understood my request…

Speaking of black creatures, on Monday morning the crows were making a constant high pitched cawing noise with no stop in their intensity. I went outside to see what was up and there was a murder of crows and it looked like they were trying to commit murder on one of their own. I got a broom from the garage and walked out to the fence where one of the crows had gotten one of it’s wings stuck in the chain link. I talked nicely and took the broom and gently pushed the wing out from the link. It immediately flew away and the rest of the crows all took off and haven’t returned yet. I hope they have me on their favorites list now and go cawing somewhere else…

I looked up murder of crows and came up with some interesting information. This is pretty gruesome so you might want to stop reading here but I think this was exactly what was happening in my backyard Monday morning…

“…I do know, however, that the behaviour of ganging up on one crow (which does not necessarily have to be the weakest) is real. In Swedish, it’s called “kråkriksdag”, roughly translated as “crow parliament”. I’ve seen it happen, and it is a brutal event. There is some general squaking, but there is no clear target. Suddenly it starts and all of them jump on one crow, picking at it until it is dead, literally tearing it to pieces. They are so focused on this that you have to run straight in among them to scatter them.”

I guess I really did save the life of this crow that was stuck and defenseless.

The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b.

To honor and encourage

Category Archives: Fall