Category Archives: History

TT #25 ~ 13 Big Years in my 57!

 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. 

 

For more TT click here.

 

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.

Olivas Adobe ~ Ventura, California

Since I have 13 photos in my collages on this post I decided to make this  my 23rd Thursday Thirteen entry.

The restored 1847 Adobe home of Raymundo Olivas stands as a monument to the rancho period of California’s history.

Born in 1809 in Los Angeles, Raymundo was the seventh child of a poor family. He joined the Mexican Army in California at the age of 16 and was assigned to the Presidio (fort) of Santa Barbara as a Lancer (cavalryman). He met his wife in Santa Barbara was married in 1832 and had 21 children -8 girls and 13 boys!

In return for his service to the State, Raymundo Olivas and his friend, Felipe Lorenzana, were granted 4,670 acres by the Mexican Governor Juan B. Alvarado. Raymundo began ranching his land in 1847. He started building this adobe home in 1847 with Chumash Indians providing the labor. The main house for the Rancho San Miguel was one of the few two story haciendas in Southern California and one of the most impressive homes in the Santa Clara River Valley.

For many years the Rancho prospered but droughts in the 1860’s and the death of Raymundo in 1879 was the beginning of the end for the Olivos fortune. The house was sold in 1899. After passing through many hands the Adobe was purchased by yeast king Major “Max” Fleischmann who restored the building in 1927 and built the distinctive bell archway. Upon Fleischmann’s death, the adobe was given to the city of Ventura and it opened as a museum in July, 1972

I’m going to go back and visit the grounds later in the Spring to visit the 100 year old fuchsias in the front yard and the 140-year old grapevine that can trace its roots to the days of Fray Junipero Serra and the missions.

I got the history information from the Historical Park brochure. They have a web site here.

For more Thursday Thirteen posts click here.

Sky Watch Friday ~

This was taken at the City Hall in the City of Ventura. This is Fray Junipero Serra who founded the Mission San Buenaventura. If you are interested in seeing more photos from the Mission he founded click here. The sky was clear and blue on this Saturday.

This great looking tree was kitty corner from the Statue and I liked how the sky looked through the branches.

This is the tree. I’ll need to do some research to see what kind of tree it is.

For more Sky Watch Photos click here.

TT #22 ~ Mission San Buenaventura 1782

   On President’s Day I drove up to Ventura to do some thrift store shopping and I took a side trip to the Mission by the Sea. Here are 13 or more Photos from the mission. There are 21 California Missions and this Mission was the 9th Mission founded.

 

The founding of San Buenaventura Mission was foreshadowed well over two centuries ago on the Spanish isle of Mallorca, when a devout Franciscan priest, who was a brilliant scholar and professor of theology, earnestly prayed that he might be permitted to forsake his comfortable circumstances to take up the Lord’s work among the aborigines in the New World. The hoped-for answer to his prayers came on Palm Sunday, March 30, 1749.

Thirty-three years and one day later the zealous priest, Fray Junipero Serra- who had been subjected to painful sufferings and several brushes with death during his missionary ministry – raised the Cross at “la playa de la canal de Santa Barbara” (the beach of the Santa Barbara Channel) on Easter Morning, March 31, 1782. Assisted by Padre Pedro Benito Cambon, he celebrated a High Mass, preached on the Resurrection, and dedicated a Mission to San Buenaventura (St. Bonaventure). It had been planned as the third in the chain of twenty-one Missions founded by Padre Serra but was destined to be the ninth and last founded during his lifetime, and one of six he personally dedicated.

The Department of the Interior certified this Mission as a Historic Building and gave it permanent reference in the Library of Congress.

The front door to the Mission Chapel and Fray Junipero Serra

An antique confessional and other artifacts in the mission museum

 

 

The mission grounds and side door to the chapel

Inside the chapel

More photos from the grounds…

The Wooden Bell

San Buenaventura was the only mission to have wooden bells…

For more Thursday Thirteen click here.

ht: Information from Mission Brochure

Monday Walk in Whittier

I drove Southeast through Ventura County into Los Angeles County to the suburb of Whittier, east of Los Angeles to visit my sister Kathy. Whittier is home to Whittier College, Richard Nixon’s alma mater. He majored in History. We decided to combine a nice healthy walk up the hills and down in the older beautiful neighborhoods of Whittier so we could then have a guilt free nice lunch as a reward.  Kathy chose the Crepes and Grapes Cafe on Greenleaf Ave. in Uptown Whittier. I have a few photos of our time. The first photo is of the great Avocado tree that keeps me well stocked by Kathy when the avocados are in abundance. Then we walked along such wonderful canopied streets and we saw some beautiful blossoms. The last photo is of my yummy crepe. This was a build your own crepe for $6.95. I chose turkey, red onion, tomato, green pepper and a ginger lime sauce on the side. Kathy chose a white sauce, chicken, spinach, tomato, and Jack cheese. Duhlicious!

This is my sister Kathy with her grandson Jackson. She is my oldest sister, a wonderful friend and Godly woman. Thanks Kathy, that was fun…

Thursday Thirteen #18 ~ Oldest Operating McDonald’s

Welcome to my Thursday Thirteen. On January 15th I stopped by this McDonald’s to take some photos and gather at least 13 facts about the oldest-operating McDonald’s. I don’t have the facts numbered but I’m sure there are at least 13! Enjoy…

Roger Williams co-owner of the McDonald’s Restaurant at Lakewood and Florence Blvd., stands by the 64-foot neon sign that may be the only one left of its kind in the United States. William and Bud Landon opened the McDonald’s in 1953, and the business still remains under the original franchise agreement with the McDonald brothers.

The 1953 McDonald’s restaurant at 10207 Lakewood Blvd. (at Florence Ave.) is the oldest operating McDonald’s.

It was listed on the National Trust for Historic Preservations 1994 list of the 11 Most Endangered Historic Places.

It was one of the first restaurants franchised by Dick and Mac McDonald, prior to the involvement of Ray Kroc in the company, and it still has the original “Golden arches” and a 60-foot animated neon “Speedee” sign.

For more Thursday Thirteen click here.