Sad Day in My Family

Today we got word that our cousin Vera Bogdanoff had died of complications from an aneurysm she had a few months ago. She was progressing well but had complications from an infection two days ago. Alex is my father’s nephew, my cousin. They were Molokan like my dad but left the Molokan church years ago to follow Christ more earnestly as did my parents. Vera was one of my relatives on my dad’s side that I could relate to and enjoy whenever I was around her. She will be missed dearly. They moved recently to Texas just before she had her aneurysm to be close to one of their daughters. My parents were just in Texas over Thanksgiving visiting my brother and his wife and they all were able to go to the convalescent home and visit her. They sang songs in Russian to her and she cried and mouthed some of the words with them. It was a sweet time.

This is a photo from 52 years ago on their wedding day. They were married in the Molokan church. It is the Molokan tradition that the groom and his extended family gather on the day of the wedding for a blessing and then go to the brides family home to pick her up (this is where the bride leaves her mother and father and clings to her husband) and go to the church for the wedding. There is always a married couple chosen to be the bride and grooms chaperons/escorts (best man and maid of honor type deal) My cousin Alex is in the middle of this photo flanked by my Uncle Bill and Aunt Nora who were his chaperons. I’m the littlest one on the front row with the coat on surrounded by my siblings and cousins. My dad and mom are next to my Aunt Nora in the back. Molokans still dress like this for church, weddings, and funerals.

My parents will be flying to the Dallas area for the funeral. We know that Vera is with her Savior and rejoicing. We are praying for her 2 daughters and son-in-laws, grandchildren and her husband, my cousin Alex who will miss her dearly.

Photobucket has blacked out all my photos I was storing on their site and they are holding them hostage. I am working on updating my more than 4000 posts.

New Presentation Up till December 26th!

UPDATE: I encountered technical difficulites with the new header so I had to call Lana G! and she did this for me…Thanks Lana!!

Hello y’all I decided to change my presentation for the month of December. I’ll be going back to my other presentation on December 26th! I love Christmas time…

“Bless, O God, the little things

This Christmastide…

All the little wild things

That live outside.

Little cold Robins and Rabbits in the snow…

Give them good faring, A warm place to go.

Bless the little things who in

The forest abide

He, too, was just a little one

At Chirstmastide.

ht: Christmas Issue, Ideals, 1964

Life in the Northwest ~

Life for me in the Northwest is very different from Southern California. In Southern California it is a lot simpler. I have myself and Dear to take care of and a very compact one bedroom condo. No yard, no plants, no children. I will be in the Northwest with my children and my house and yard until New Year’s Day! I will miss Dear and our companionship for 25 days! Yikes. I will be quite busy here though. Already this Monday morning I have a second load of wash in. The dishwasher is running. I have my list of last minute items to buy for Dear to take back to California before his 6 PM flight today. All of this happened before dawn. I was able to step outside and take the picture of this glorious sky that God created for us to enjoy this morning.

Before Dear returns to Washington on December 21st I hope to have finally memorized the following verses that have given my brain such a workout! Good ole Apostle Paul and his run on sentences. This section that I was suppose to memorize for my Bible Study in Southern California has been the most difficult for me, but I am determined to get my brain to remember it. I dare you to memorize it too….

II Peter 1:2-4 (ESV)

“May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.”

Have a wonderful Monday, I’m off and running….

Happy Birthday Dear ~ September 9th!

Happy Birthday Dear!

It’s been so wonderful spending so many birthdays with you. We all wish we could celebrate in person with you today. You are a wonderful husband to me and a great example to your children.

Here are some hats that Dear wears.

Husband, Father, Brother, Uncle, Pharmacist, Provider, Musician, Teacher, Mechanic, Painter, Carpenter, Scholar, Science Fiction Buff, Welder, Brewer, Listener, Servant, Plumber, Electrician, Builder, Great Friend!

Before Dear became a Pharmacist at the ripe old age of 39 he worked in a gravel pit in one of these…

Praying for God to continue to richly bless you and to give us many more years to celebrate together!

Happy 6th Anniversary Josh and Laura ~ August 25, 2001

Our first-born son Josh and his lovely wife Laura are celebrating their 6th anniversary. We couldn’t have asked for a lovelier daughter in law. They make such a wonderful team. How we thank God for his goodness to them and to us in bringing them together. We love you two. Blessings on many more years growing together in the Lord!

Photo Credit: Jeremy Leffel Photography

Saturday Morning in Camarillo

I woke up at 6:00 AM (woohoo! that’s sleeping in for me) and I looked around for Dear. Here he was outside in front of our little condo washing the neighbor’s car. Our condo units do not have water spigots anywhere but Dear figured out how to get around that and installed his own in the water heater closet on our front porch. Not many of the neighbors have this figured out yet so they have no access to a hose to wash their cars. I love to see Dear using his gift of service. What a guy!

When he got done with the cars we headed over to our developments lap pool to swim some laps. We were really ambitious and thought we’d do 30 minutes worth. After 2 minutes we were sucking air and wondering where our youthful fitness had gone. To our credit we lasted 15 minutes and decided golly if we could just do 15 minutes a day we’d be in great shape in a month! Dear and I had that huge pool all to ourselves. So… cars washed, laps swum, shower and breakfast and here it is 9:00 AM already!

Eight Random Things Meme

Guide lines: List eight random things or habits about yourself. At the end of your post, select eight people to follow suit

Susanna Rose from Mommy, Inc. has tagged me for a meme. Something I learned from her meme is that she is named after Susanna Wesley and she puts marshmallows in her tea! Here we go then….

1. If someone offered me a free trip anywhere I’d go to The British Isles again and again….

2. I was raised Semi-Kosher. We did not eat pork or shell fish and even avoided butchers who used the same knives to cut beef and pork. I’ve seen the light and read Peter’s vision in Acts 10, so I can really enjoy BLT’s now.

3. I really enjoy soccer (World Cup 2004 post coming soon). I like to watch World Cup Soccer Games live so I’ll get up at the crack of dawn to do that.

4. All my children are adults now, 2 sons and a daughter. My oldest son is married. They all live in Washington State. Dear and I are in California where Dear is working right now but we would both love to be back in Washington State.

5. We own 3 Toyotas. The 1992 Corolla has 240,000 miles, the 1999 Camry has 125,000 miles and the 2007 Camry has 7500 miles. They are all original to us. We run them into the ground before we give them up.

6. I’ve developed this new habit/hobby called blogging. Since I’ve started blogging curious people have come out of the woodwork wondering what I do all day or how many hours I spend blogging.

7. I sat in the press box at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles with Elton John’s mother and a few others during his concert there in 1975. All I can say is that it was so darn loud I couldn’t see straight. I tried stuffing T.P. in my ears but it didn’t help. I was used to loud music but I’m saying this was over the top hurt your ears and head loud! I’m not sure the bragging rights are worth it especially since the only thing I remember about it was his mother and my poor ears…

8. I have a habit of conversing in song lyrics at times. So if I leave a comment on your blog that sounds vaguely familiar and lyrical you’ll know what I’m up. You should know though if someone does that you’ve got a friend. So if you need a commenter you just call, call out my name, and you know wherever I am I’ll come runnin to comment again…

Oh my who to tag? As I always say ignore this if you’d like and if you play give me a holler so I can read your randomness!

High School Meme ~ Memories

Montebello High School is located in the San Gabriel Valley approximately 8 miles east of Downtown Los Angeles. Its famous alumni include tennis champion Jack Kramer, baseball great Bobby Knopp, basketball player and coach Jerry Pimm, Nobel Prize winner Bruce Merrifield, actors Edward James Olmos and Jack Larson, and California Democrat Party Chairman Art Torres.

I saw this meme over at Fiddledeedee. Dee Dee got it from another blogger. You know how that goes. Since High School was 39 years ago I’ll see how my memory is holding up. Yikes did I say 39 years ago…2007 minus 1968 = 39, Ouch! Have fun at your 20th year reunion (oops I mean 30th!) Dee Dee!

1. Who was your best friend? My best friend in Junior High and High School was Judy T. and Nanc M. (I want to respect their privacy so no last name even though they’re married).

2. Did you play any sports? I did enjoy sports. I was part of G.A.A. (Girls Athletic Association). I didn’t play any organized sports on an actual team, just in Phys Ed.

3. What kind of car did you drive? I drove whatever second hand car was available. I didn’t have my own old jalopy till college.

4. It’s Friday night. Where were you? Football games, basketball games, or baseball games. I was a Song-Leader part of the Pep Squad so I attended most every sporting event and cheered and danced away! I lost about 5 lbs. (water weight) every Friday night!

5. Were you a party animal? No, I really didn’t see the point of parties.

6. Were you considered a flirt? Not typically. I did get along with boys and sometimes better than I got along with girls.

7. Were you in the band, orchestra or choir? Cheer Squad was my gig. I was part of the Russian Baptist Youth Choir.

8. Were you a nerd? Nope, not smart enough to be a nerd!

9. Were you ever suspended or expelled? Never!

10. Can you sing the fight song? “Long ago she rose and stood, Montebello dear old high, Mid the sunlight’s golden flood, Montebello dear old high, Where the blue and gold flag flies, sheltering splendid enterprise, neath California’s summer skies, Montebello dear old high.” That doesn’t sound to fight songish. I think the fight song was more along the lines of “On Montebello, on Montebello, Fight on for your team da da da da da da da…..

11. Who was your favorite teacher? Mrs. Sawyer ~ English

12. What was your school mascot? Ollie the Oiler

13. Did you go to the Prom? We had a Junior/Senior Prom. I went to the prom in my junior year but not my senior year. Our prom was at the now demolished Ambassador Hotel (where Bobby Kennedy was assasinated). My date took me to the Coconut Grove for the pre-prom dinner and show and we saw the Righteous Brothers.

14. If you could go back, would you? No way, no how, well…maybe just to set the things right.

15. What do you remember most about graduation? The tiring all night party at a bowling alley and the senior trip I took with my best buddies right after graduation.

16. Where were you on Senior Skip Day? We did not have a senior skip day.

17. Did you have a job your senior year? Yes, I worked for Link-Belt as an office assistant. I got off school half-day because I had enough credits.

18. Where did you go most often for lunch? Cafeteria with my sack lunch that my mom made for me every day.

19. Have you gained weight since then? Mercy, mercy me! Yes, anywhere between 10 – 60 with pregnancies, etc. Right now I weigh 26 more pounds than I did in High School. I’d like to get that down to 20.

20. What did you do after graduation? I attended University of Redlands and then Cal-State Los Angeles, both in Southern California. I graduated with a degree in Home Economics and a k-8 teaching credential.

21. What year did you graduate? I graduated from high school in 1968.

22. Who was your Senior Prom Date? Senior year no one, Junior year with Adam M.

23. Are you going/did you go to your 10 year reunion? I went to my 10 year and my 30 year. There weren’t enough of my old buddies at the 30 year reunion :(. I was happy to see the few that were there.

Please feel free to play along! Then let me know if you do…

Ellen B ~ My Childhood Home ~ 4635 Oak Street

Ellen b. ~ 7 years old.

My parents immigrated to the US in the late forties and just after I was born settled in Pico Rivera, California for several years. The neighborhood I grew up in was called “The Jardines” Spanish for “The Gardens”. Let me tell you it was hardly a garden! We were a minority where I grew up. Most of my neighbors were Hispanic. My childhood was filled with neighborhood experiences, hide and seek in the street with the neighborhood kids, marbles, jacks. We didn’t spend a lot of time inside. The only books my home had in it were Encyclopedia Britannica that my parents were conned into buying by a door to door salesman promising us all a good education. We also had a Bible.

My childhood spanned the 50’s and 60’s. You can see the great 50’s furniture and accessories! Don’t miss the venetian blinds. We had a narrow long hall that we liked to run and slide down and we also would jimmy up the walls. One night before Easter Sunday I ran and slid down that hall and jammed my toes into the wall at the end. I had to wear one slipper to church because my toe swelled up. Talk about embarrasing being all dressed up in my Spring best with a slipper on!

One of my all time best family memories in this house was coming home from church on Sundays with bags of sunflower seeds from the sunflower seed cart across the street from our church. We’d sit around shelling and eating those seeds while we watched T.V. Ed Sullivan Show was a standard. I could go on and on but I’m going to spare you and save more for future posts.

If you want to read more about Childhood Homes go around the corner to Owlhaven…

My photos are being held hostage at the Photobucket site as of July 2017.

Safe and Sound In Southern California!

Katie and I arrived safe and sound today. The trip was easier than we expected. Thank you to those of you who were praying that my feet and legs wouldn’t cramp. God answered your prayers! Not one cramp in the 20 hours of driving. Of all the books on cd that we took our #1 favorite was Jeeves and the Song of Songs by P. G. Wodehouse. Funny and very entertaining. We enjoyed one of the Barchester Chronicles and Book 5 of Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. Today we listened to Meet Me at the Morgue which was an entertaining murder mystery. We wouldn’t recommend The Vicar of Wakefield, for us it was horribly dull!

Katie took this at the border of Oregon and California.

Katie being creative…

There is a story to this mountain range. Yes, what you see is a mountain range. The smallest mountain range in the World! Dear’s Mother Verna is buried in a cemetery with these mountains in the background. Our photo is from I-5 which is the opposite view from the one below.

Yuba City’s Sutter Buttes

Sutter Buttes Yuba City’s western horizon is dominated by the Sutter Buttes, renowned for being the “Smallest Mountain Range in the World.”

The range is actually circular with a diameter of 10 miles and covers an area of about 75 square miles. The mountains are the remnants of a volcano that has been dormant for over a million years. South Butte, the highest peak is 2,117 feet above sea level. North Butte is 1,863 feet and West Butte is 1,685 feet above sea level.

Before modern levees and dams were built to contain the rivers, winter storms and spring run-off frequently turned the Sacramento Valley into an inland sea making the Sutter Buttes an island refuge for Indians, settlers and wildlife.

The Buttes have had many names over the years. The Maidu Indians called them “Histum Yani” which translates as, “Middle Mountains of the Valley” or “Spirit Mountain” … depending on the source. According to Maidu legend, after death, the spirits of their people rest in the Buttes.

Gabriel Moraga, a Spaniard trying to locate possible mission sites, was the first European to see the Sutter Buttes in 1806. Another Spaniard, Luis Arguello, led an expedition in 1817 to explore Northern California by water. He called the Buttes “Los Picachos” or the peaks. He also named the Feather River “El Rio de la Plumas”, because he saw many feathers of wild fowl floating on the water.

Other names for the Buttes were “Marysville Buttes”, “Sacramento Buttes”, and “Los Tres Picos.” They were finally named the “Sutter Buttes” in 1949.

Today, most of the Sutter Buttes is private land and not open to the public. However, you can drive through and around the Buttes. It is a beautiful drive any time of the year! Each year, in the spring, over 1,000 cyclists converge to “Bike Around the Buttes” an event sponsored by the Diabetes Society of Yuba Sutter.

If you want to experience the Buttes up close, organized group tour hikes are available. You can also play golf in the Buttes at South Ridge Golf Course, but watch out for the infamous 16th hole!

http://www.syix.com/yubacity/sutterbuttes.html