Category Archives: personal

Oh What A Saturday ~

The whole experience yesterday had the disorienting, hallucinatory quality of a dream. What’s the word I’m looking for?

We woke up on Saturday morning and realized our modem had died in the night. Before the rest of the world woke up and we could call about getting our modem replaced we left for a hike in Sycamore Canyon. It was a great heart pumping hike and for the first time we heard some rattling noises. I was concerned it might be a rattlesnake but Dear was pretty sure it could be some kind of bird.

When we came home we called Verizon to let them know their modem died and what our options were. We were so pleased that John from Verizon arrived early in the afternoon and replaced our modem and gave us some great additional information about our T.V. options.

We had a tea in Pasadena planned for my mother’s 85th birthday. Nine of us were meeting for Tea at the Rose Tree Cottage at 4:00. When my sister Vera and mother arrived my mother was tripped up by an uneven sidewalk and landed flat on her face splitting open her forehead just above her left eye. She was bleeding quite a bit. We were all at her side and helping her get more comfortable on the ground and trying to stop the bleeding. My SIL Letty who is a nurse and the rest of us mothers realized by looking this was going to need stitches. You just learn those things over the years. We heard sirens and the paramedics arrived. My poor mother was so upset that she would miss the tea she asked the paramedics to just put a band-aide on her forehead. They were very sweet and told her they would have to do what was best for her. We also knew she’d need further tests because the split on her forehead was very deep. When the fire engine pulled up one of the firemen saw my sister Kathy and said hello Mrs. W. and gave her a kiss (we Russians greet each other with a brotherly kiss).  He’s the one in the sunglasses reassuring my mother. Our oldest sister Kathy went to the Emergency room with mom in the Paramedic’s van.

So what should the other 7 of us do…go ahead with tea or not??? Well we were going to have to pay for the tea if we enjoyed it or not so we decided to go ahead with the tea. It was really weird not having the guest of honor with us and we all felt a bit guilty my sister Kathy was missing out, too, but it was just what the circumstances handed us.  My sister Kathy gave us updates while we were at tea. When we finished tea we headed to the emergency room a block away. On the way I managed to back into a block wall and give my car bumper an owie! Sheesh! I never back into stuff…

It was finally determined my mom did not have any bleeding in her skull so after she got stitches they released her at 11:00 PM. I was happy to finally make it home and crawl into bed.

My mother is in a lot of pain. Her left eye is swollen shut. Please pray that all will go well and she will heal up soon and that the swelling and pain will subside. Thank you all for your prayers and concern for us. I really appreciate it :0)

Update on Monday night: My mother is doing a lot better! Thank you so much for your prayers!!

Out and About ~

Out and about on a cloudy day in the Northwest. The sun was out amongst the clouds and it warmed up nicely today. I got some running around done. Whole bean Costco roasted coffee for here and the South, check. New tennies for walking from the Brooks Outlet in Canyon Park, check. Brooks adrenaline are the shoes that have worked best for me and having an outlet here where I can buy them for less is fabulous. Some new 501 jeans for Dear from Fred Meyer on sale, check.

My kids are here this evening playing Rock Band. It’s fun to see them still playing nicely together. :0)

Blessings and night night!

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage unless I pay them a lot of money. I’m slowly cleaning up many posts from this time period and deleting their ugly grey and black boxes with a ransom request. Such a time consuming bother.

Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head…

 

See the wetness out this window? We have had rain in Southern California for the last couple of days and we are promised some more rain tomorrow. I find it very refreshing being a transplant from the Seattle area. I was happy to have to pull out my great Marmot raincoat!

Tomorrow we are travelling across town to Whittier for a funeral. The Aunt of my best friend from my Russian Baptist Days in L.A. died last Saturday. My friend and her cousins (whose mom died) were connected in many different ways to my family and extended family. Our Russian community is all inter-connected in hard to explain ways. So it will be a day of tears for the grief her children are feeling from saying goodbye and a day of rejoicing in knowing she is with her Savior in heaven. A day of remembering our friendships and re-connecting and seeing the kids “all grown up”. A day of looking at someone and thinking “oh my I know who you are but I can’t remember your name right now”. Does that ever happen to you?  We will sing in Russian and sing in English. We will hear messages in Russian and a message in English. We will pray in Russian and pray in English. We will gather at the church, then head to the graveside, then we will all meet together for lunch.

“Therefore in life I’ll trust in Thee,
In death I will adore;
And after death will sing Thy praise
When time shall be no more.”

Hope you all have a day filled with an awareness of the God who made this world for us to enjoy and numbers our days…

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage unless I pay them a lot of money. I’m slowly cleaning up many posts from this time period and deleting their ugly grey and black boxes with a ransom request. Such a time consuming bother.

10 Things I Love ~

Cori G! at Gingerbread Crumbs & Co. via Pam at Grey Like Snuffie is passing along a meme about 10 things you love starting with an assigned letter. She assigned me either the letter L or R to list 10 things I love. I chose to list 10 L’s I love.

 

If you’d like to play let me know and I’ll assign you a letter or two to choose from.

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage unless I pay them a lot of money. I’m slowly cleaning up many posts from this time period and deleting their ugly grey and black boxes with a ransom request. Such a time consuming bother.

A Wonderful Bloggy Face to Face!

On Tuesday I drove to Orange County for a family dinner at my parents’ apartment with my sisters, SIL’s, and nieces. Cori G. form Gingerbread Crumbs & Co. and I have been regulars on each others blogs and she happens to live in Orange County so we arranged a face to face meeting close to my parent’s apartment. We had a very short time to meet and “talk” but what a joy it was to spend this short time asking questions and sharing a little bit more of our lives in person. I was surprised how fast our time went.

 

Cori also was so sweet to bring me a gift. I’ve always loved her graphics. She’s one talented lady. I was thrilled to get some beautiful creations of hers. She also gifted me with 4 beautiful Homer Laughlin plates. Oh she knows my weakness for pretty plates!

Cori G. is a Victorian Lady at heart and she proved to me that she wears petticoats and Victorian striped stockings. How cool is that. You can see her post about these stockings at her Happy Birthday Eric Post. Cori and I look forward to getting together again…

John 13:34 ~ “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage unless I pay them a lot of money. I’m slowly cleaning up many posts from this time period and deleting their ugly grey and black boxes with a ransom request. Such a time consuming bother.

Last Full Day in Washington!

Praise God from Whom all Blessings flow I accomplished everything on my list today. The early morning skies were beautiful with the sun shining and puffy clouds filling the sky. I got to the post office and dropped off all the Christmas cards so they are on their way.  I bought myself some new walking tennies at the Brook’s outlet because my daily walks with Willow have put the miles on my old pair. My house is in a Christmas mood. I even was able to do a little cleaning up in a couple planters outside. And last but not least I baked some Loaded Chocolate Chip cookies for my kids and we’re having dinner together shortly. Tomorrow I’ll hopefully be posting something from San Francisco…

The God of All Comfort

 

2 Corinthians 1:3,4 ~ Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the Westmont Community, the faculty who lost their homes, the kids whose dorm rooms were destroyed and the whole Montecito Community who have suffered loss in the Tea Fire. Praying that the God of all comfort will comfort you.

Thanks to everyone who left comments and prayed and are praying…

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage and demanding a ransom for me to access them. I’m slowly cleaning up many of my posts where PB have added ugly black and grey boxes where my photos used to be. So frustrating!

Montecito Fire ~ Prayer Request!

Update: November 17th! Sounds like classes will resume at Westmont College Monday December 1st…

Update on Tea Fire as of 10:30 Nov. 16th!

By and large, last night was quiet and today, the fourth day of the Tea Fire, should see further recovery efforts by firefighters. So far, 1,940 acres have burned and 210 homes have been lost — 130 in the City of Santa Barbara and 80 in the County of Santa Barbara. Damage assessment is continuing

Looks like my nephew Caleb’s room was spared fire damage. Still need to assess the smoke damage.

Here’s a link to photos from Westmont from the fire. Just click here.

Update: Saturday 9/15 ~  I just received this email from my SIL whose 2 sons attend Westmont. They are preparing for taking in some of the students displaced because of the fires at Westmont. I’m sure there are more people who live in the Southern California area that will have extra students staying at their homes this weekend.

Hi,

Everyone is fine, or as fine as can be.  I’m expecting several carloads of kids to start arriving shortly.  Everyone has been moved off campus until next Wednesday as  they assess damages and decide where to move people around.  There have been broken gas lines etc. so there is no way to keep kids there and to feed them.  Caleb wanted to stay closer to campus yesterday in case he could get up to his dorm.  His section is one of the ones that burned, but he’s on the bottom floor and there is a chance some of his stuff survived.  We’ll see.  They hope to resume classes late next week, some of that will depend on facuilty…since so many lost homes.  The President is making an announcement Monday night…I guess then we will learn how long we will have houseguests for:)

We are praising God that no one was hurt.  With the speed it whipped through those neighborhoods it’s amazing everyone got to safety.  Caleb said they were expecting an earthquake drill that day so people didn’t automatically respond to the fire alarms.  He heard people calling that it was a fire, so he walked out of his room…saw the flames on the hill…went in his room to get his laptop…and by the time he got out there were already flames at the edge of campus.  He’s at the farthest end from the gym and said people were hurrying by then and when they got to the gym they already had embers landing on them and the trees around them.  Once everyone was accounted for they sealed up the gym and let the fire run through…they could watch it through the glass doors at the front of the gym.  After about 5 hours or so, the worst had passed and they let people out to get provisions from the DC of water and muffins etc.  By about 1:00 they started letting people with cars at the gym leave campus so Levi left with his girlfriend who had been there for a PE class, but Caleb opted to stay with his suitemates.  Yesterday they were figuring out who was from out of state and didn’t have anywhere to go and were dividing them up…

It was also College Preview Days, so there were extra high school students on campus…I’m sure that was pretty scary for them.  Luckily many of the homes that burned are second homes and people weren’t there.  There just aren’t very many roads out of the mountain so it’s hard to move quickly…that’s why Westmont built the firesafe gym, without a fair amount of lead time they would never have gotten all the cars off the mountain.  The worst losses were the faculty homes, some of them friends of ours.  So sad.  Several of the other buildings that burned were slated for demolition anyway, as the school is int he midst of a building program.  Caleb said most of the trees and gardens survived, and it didn’t look as bad as the news made it sound.  (Isn’t that always the way)

Thanks for all of your prayers.

Scroll down for updates…

Local

Breaking News Update -TEA FIRE

9:00 P.M. 300 + ACRES HAVE BURNED

MANDATORY EVACUATIONS:
Above Hwy 192 (East Valley Rd/Sycamore Cyn Rd.) between Cold Springs Rd and Hot Springs Rd.
Evacuation Center will be located at San Marcus High School
Tune to AM1680 and your local cable news for more information

WESTMONT COLLEGE
STUDENTS BEING EVACUATED INTO THE GYM THEY ARE SHELTERING IN PLACE.
THERE ARE REPORTS OF SPOT FIRES ON CAMPUS, STUDENTS ARE NOT THREATENED

I have 2 nephews that are students at Westmont College. They and all the students have been evacuated to the Gym which they say is fireproof. Please pray that all the students will be safe and that Westmont College is spared any further damage and that the resident halls do not burn. Please pray for all the residents of Montecito!!
Here’s an update from my SIL whose 2 sons are on campus.
Roy sent me an email…he’s on the board of directors so has been kept updated.  Evidently the gym was built as a ‘safe’ building evacuation area for this sort of thing because it is so hard to get that many people out of that area.

Here is what Roy said…

The latest I’ve heard is the following….

Students, staff and faculty who were on campus will evacuate “onsite” in the gym.  This is a safe building approved by experts and will not burn.

Noozhawk.com reports that two cars in the Page parking lot burned, and that trees by the baseball field are ablaze.  But the latest is that there is no structural damage to the campus.  Firefighters are on campus.

Keep praying!


Also you can watch live coverage at this website.http://cbs2.com/firewatch

WILD FIRE NEAR WESTMONT

At 9 p.m., an update was given to everyone sheltered in place in the gymnasium. There is no threat to the gym and air quality is improving there. Those sheltered in place seem to be doing well under the circumstances, and are now watching a movie. To our knowledge, no one has been injured on campus.

The fire has damaged several minor buildings.

Photos from Westmont College

If you have students at Westmont be encouraged that there are fire fighters on campus and that not only have they evacuated students to the gymnasium but local residents have been evacuated to the gymnasium because of it’s fire safety!!  They are in the safest building in Montecito right now…

update:

A residence hall and several classrooms were destroyed at Westmont College, a private Christian university, and about 800 students were evacuated to the school’s fireproof gymnasium, where they were out of harm’s way.

I will confirm with my brother and SIL but it sounds like Clark hall has fire damage. That is probably the residence hall being referred to above…

Late night update

November 14th, 2008

1:14am

Students who are on campus who wish to leave and have means to do so are allowed off-campus. Those leaving campus will not be allowed to return for at least 24 hours.

All faculty and staff who are currently off campus should not come to the campus unless specifically requested to do so by their supervisor.

There have been more than a dozen houses at Las Barrancas (faculty housing) destroyed in addition to the structures already mentioned.

Those wishing to extend temporary housing to those displaced by the fire should send their name, phone contact information, e-mail address, house address, and the number of individuals they can accommodate to: westmonthousinghelp@gmail.com.

WILD FIRE AT WESTMONT

November 13th, 2008

Update: 11:44 . A natural gas line has broken, forcing the fire department to shut off natural gas to the college. This has brought down our generators. We have between 1/2 hour and 4 hours of UPS left, so may not be able to post further updates through the web site.

Update: 11:36 p.m.
After consulting the Fire Department and the Red Cross, the decision has been made to continue sheltering in place at the gymnasium tonight.

The Red cross is brining 60 cots and 200 blankets to the gym.

Additional cots and blankets on campus are being brought to the gym.

There will be no classes on Friday.

….

previous messages…

Conditions on campus improved to the point where staff were able to get food from the Dining Commons and bring it to the gym, where the community is sheltered in place.

Conditions in the area may make it possible now to leave the campus for a Red Cross shelter, but that option is still being explored.
Firefighters are currently attempting to put out several fires at Clark Hall. Structures lost to or significantly damaged by fire include the Physics Building, the ‘old Math” building, Bauder Hall and the Quonset Huts.

Again, we are grateful that no one has been hurt on campus, and everyone is safely in the gymnasium and in good spirits.

Thank you for your prayers.
The emergency hotline number at 1-888-565-7911 has current information..

My nephew Caleb’s dorm sounds like it’s the dorm that has been damaged by the fire. From the photos we’ve seen looks like his room is a goner…

Here’s the latest update from the Westmont College Site:

8:00 a.m.
There are no active fires on campus, no injuries, and everyone is safe.7:21 a.m.
All students and employees are fine. We are assessing damage this morning. Updates will be posted shortly.

Wesmont has 326 students remaining in the Gym; those students with transportation have been released from campus because it is safe for them to travel on area roads.

Westmont has lost eight structures, four buildings in Clark halls (F,G,M,S), the physics building, the old math building and the two quonset huts. The later three structures were scheduled for demolition soon.

Fourteen faculty homes in Las Barrancas have burned; there is damage to trees, and wooded areas on campus, but much of the formal gardens remains intact.
Fires out. Assessing damage.

No fires remain active on or in the campus area.

My Attitude Adjustment ~

 

After my wah, wah, wah, morning rant I decided to go and see about getting an attitude adjustment. I drove 9 miles to the Pt. Mugu Area of the Pacific Ocean and stopped at 3 different beaches to take some photos. I took 88 photos which I’ll share more of later. This spot showed the most drama and power. Oh and my attitude…it improved immensely.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage demanding a ransom that I can’t afford. So frustrating as I try to clean up my posts and delete their ugly squares of black and grey off my blog posts!