Category Archives: personal

Walk About the Yard

I’m in the Seattle area spending 6 weeks at my home here. I took a stroll about the yard to see what was blooming and growing.

 

We’ve got some wild blackberry blossoms, our apples and pears are maturing, the hydrangea is promising a few blooms, the lavender is in it’s glory and the blueberries are still green but plumping up.

I’m still getting my bearings here in my house. I decided to tackle a few rooms at a time for cleaning and organizing. On Tuesday I deep cleaned the kitchen and dusted the living room. Yesterday I got everything presentable except for my Master Bedroom. We’re having 16 for the 4th and I wanted the main living areas clean. Saturday I’ll tackle my bedroom, it’s on the 3rd floor all by itself so I felt fine leaving it till last and after our company on the 4th. Dear goes back to California on Sunday and then he flies back up to Seattle for the first two weeks in August. I’ll be able to get a lot of weeding in while he’s gone.

A very happy 4th to all you in the U.S.A.  and a very happy Friday to my friends in other parts of the world. My flag waving post for the 4th is just below this so scroll on down if you’d like…

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 Sweet Niece and Me and Vitiligo

 

I love this photo of my sweet little niece with her Aunty ellen b. Look at her great eyebrows. After we left Dallas she cut two bottom teeth within the week. She’s just 3-1/2 months old. Before we left for Dallas I had my first ever trip to the dermatologist because my face was discoloring. I thought I was getting brown spots. At my visit the dermatologist discovered that I’m not getting brown spots but instead I’m losing the pigment in my skin, a condition called Vitiligo. It’s the same condition that Michael Jackson has. I’m not wearing any cover-up in the photo above so you can see my loss of pigment especially next to my dear niece’s perfect baby skin. So from now on if I post any photos of myself out walking you’ll see me with my Dallas souvenir on…

 

Here I am last Saturday at Emma Wood State Beach with my new UPF50+ hat with a 3″ rim. The areas of my skin that are losing pigment are very sensitive to the sun so I need to add extra protection. A sunblock with helioplex broad spectrum uva-uvb and avobenzone 3% are highly recommended for protection. I’m using a Neutrogena product that has both of these ingredients in it. The only downside to this condition for me besides my vanity, is the fact that I don’t wear hats well and then the added condition of bad dented hair from the hat after my walks!

Between my back issues and my face issues I was happy to have memorized ~ 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 ~”Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

Have a wonderful day y’all and keep on walking. I’ve had a good week of walking and I’ll be posting my average steps every Monday from now on.

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!

Saturday at Lowe’s and Beyond

Well what do you do when you are still recovering from lower back pain issues and can’t take your usual long beach walk or long canyon hike? You go with the hubby to one of his favorite spots and take the opportunity to walk and stretch and keep your muscles from painful stiffness.

 

BUT while he is busy looking at tools you escape to the garden department and pretend you’re in an English Garden and take these photos.

 

 

 

 

Then since you are already in Ventura why not have Second Breakfast at your favorite Ventura breakfast spot Allison’s Country Cafe?!

 On the way home we stopped at the Friends of the Library in Camarillo to shop for some bargain books. Here are my two finds for the day.

 

Both of these books have such wonderful illustrations. Dear bought 3 Audel Carpenter’s and Builder’s Library books.

Here’s something for April from Shakespeare and The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady.

“Oh; how this spring of love resembleth
The uncertain glory of an April day!
Which now shows all the beauty of the sun
And by and bye a cloud takes all away.”

Two Gentlemen of Verona ~ Shakespeare

Hope you are having a lovely weekend…

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!

April Flowers

Praise God from whom all blessings flow, I woke up this morning and my spasms are gone. All I have now is a stiff, weak back that I will carefully and slowly exercise back. Taking a step at a time. Thank you so much for all your prayers for me. Your phone calls and your emails were an encouragement, too. Have a wonderful day!

Psalm 30:2 “O Lord my God, I called to you for help and you have healed me.”

 

April is a rainbow month,
Of sudden springtime showers.
Bright with golden daffodils
and lots of pretty flowers.

Have You Ever Meme ~

I saw this over at Susanne’s and decided to play along…

Susanne’s was a meme for a busy day. Mine is a meme for a laid up day. I’m still in bed with back pain and so between memorizing, blogging and reading, I’m calling on God so I don’t lose heart.  2 Corinthians 4:16-17 “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal”

A view from my jail room while I’m recovering…

Lousy photo yes, but it was fun taking a picture. I’m suffering a bit from picture taking withdrawal.

So now to the temporary things of this earth that I’ve seen and done…

Have you ever:

-Gone on a blind date no
-Skipped school yes
-Watched someone die yes
-Been to Canada yes to British Columbia, and to Ontario from Detroit.
-Been to Mexico Yes, but not to a resort. Tijuana and Tecate to buy tile…

-Been to Florida No
-Been on a plane Yes
– Been lost  yes but not for long
-Been on the opposite side of the country yes
-Been to the capital of your country yes

-Swam in the ocean or waded Yes, in the Pacific and the Atlantic
-Cried yourself to sleep yes
– Played cops and robber Yes, and cowboys and Indians.
-Recently colored with crayons Not recently
– Sang Karaoke Yes

– Paid for a meal with coins only? probably
– Done something you told yourself you wouldn’t? Yes
– Made prank phone calls Yes, so very embarrassing…
– Laughed until some kind of beverage came out of your nose unfortunately yes
– Caught a snowflake on your tongue Yes after we moved to Washington state.

– Danced in the rain Yes, in Washington probably after a goal or a touchdown. 🙂
– Written a letter to Santa Claus no, not that I can recall.
– Been kissed under the mistletoe yes
-Watched the sunrise with someone you care about Yes
– Blown bubbles Absolutely

– Gone ice-skating Yes, but not successfully
– Been skinny dipping outdoors Yes in the dark in a hot tub with nobody looking (I hope)
-Been out of North America Yes, Great Britain.
-Been in detention Yes, room 208 at Montebello Junior High.
-Regreted something you blogged  probably…

I won’t tag anyone but if you do it let me know so that I can come and read!

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!

Goodbye Brita ~ Hello Reverse Osmosis

We are so excited around our little condo because we get to say goodbye to this

and say hello to this

Soon we’ll be getting the water we want to drink right from this faucet. On Saturday Dear installed this unit under our sink

 

Once the tank fills 3 times and we empty it three times we’re set to go with good drinking water. We will probably only have to change the filter once a year for the two of us here in the condo. If we used 10 gallons a day we’d have to replace the filter twice a year. It takes up a lot of room under the sink but it is well worth it. Our water here in Ventura county tastes bad and it is very hard. So tomorrow morning it’s water right out of my new tap for my pot of coffee!

Update: I had my first glass of water from this new reverse osmosis tap and I am so pleased. It is very good, indeed!!

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!

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

ABC Wednesday ~ K is for

 K is for Katie

 

K is for our Katie. Katherine on her birth certificate.

 

Our Katie has an amazing amount of knowledge stored in her brain and I will show you some photos that might explain where some of that knowledge comes from.

 

At a very young age if Katie went missing this is where you would find her.

 

She was most drawn to books with words, not picture books. We had a few old school reading books and these are the ones she’d pull off the shelf and carefully go through.

 

As you can see she did not have a shortage of toys but she always seemed to go for the books.

 

We didn’t realize how well she could read until a trip to Meadowdale Beach Park with our friends the Spiro’s. Jody was walking hand in hand with Katie when they came to the tunnel under the railroad tracks that took you to the beach side of the park. As they approached this tunnel with this sign Katie said quite clearly to  my friend Jody, “Caution Low Head Clearance”

 

We realized then that we had a little 4 year old who definitely knew how to read. Who knows how much she was reading without us knowing before this experience.

Well this is all about Katie so for my last photo to throw in another “K” word, here’s Katie in a Kilt that I bought in Scotland in 1973! It fit me once too 🙂

For more ABC Wednesday take a trip across the pond to Mrs. Nesbitt’s.

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!

Our Time in Washington ~

 

While we’ve been in Washington (me for 2 weeks, Dear for 1 week), Dear has been gutting our basement. We need to take care of some water issues and do some structural strengthening. Today is the day for a very heavy steel beam to replace a wooden beam. Anyone free at 2:30 for some heavy lifting.

 

After all that hard work we want to eat hearty. We try to get everyone together to enjoy a meal. Yesterday I went to the meat market and they helped me pick out some very marbled meat to fulfill the workers cravings. Steak, baked potatoes, steamed cauliflower, salad with Persian dressing and sour dough bread. The meat was very tender and broiled to perfection by Dear. My dishwasher has been filled and emptied a lot.

 

At the end of some of my days here I’ve enjoyed views like this one from my bedroom windows.

Have a great Saturday. I’m meeting my walking buddies at 9:00 for our walk on the trail. I’ll post my average steps later for Lovella’s walking club.

*No walking post today. The walking club is taking the week off so we will resume next week. I did walk this week with two over 17,000 step days, a couple 6800 step days a 8646 step day and a 12,595 step day. So my average for the week was 11,532 steps. See y’all walking buddies again next week.

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

The Wind in the Willows ~ Grahame

road to Henly day11 142

I read this the first night in Washington from California and in a way it spoke to my situation in life right now…

From the Wind in the Willows ~ by Kenneth Grahame

“The weary Mole also was glad to turn in without delay, and soon had his head on his pillow, in great joy and contentment. But ere he closed his eyes he let them wander round his old room, mellow in the glow of the firelight that played or rested on familiar and friendly things which had long been unconsciously a part of him, and now smilingly received him back, without rancour. He was now in just the frame of mind that the tactful Rat had quietly worked to bring about in him. He saw clearly how plain and simple – how narrow, even – it all was; but clearly, too, how much it all meant to him, and the special value of some such anchorage in one’s existence. He did not at all want to abandon the new life and its splendid spaces, to turn back on sun and air and all they offered him and creep home and stay there; the upper world was all too strong, it called to him still, even down there, and he knew he must return to the larger stage. But it was good to think he had this to come back to, this place which was all his own, these things which were so glad to see him again and could always be counted upon for the same simple welcome.”

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