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
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!
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!
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. ~ 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.
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 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
My photos are being held hostage at the Photobucket site as of July 2017.
Dear arrived last night to Seattle for two whole weeks of vacation so we have a lot of relational, family, friend, and fellowship time in store for us. My and Lana G.‘s brother Leonard and his wife Mandy arrive Sunday night to visit us all for the week. My brother Leonard is Lana’s twin and my baby brother. He’s younger than Lana by 7 minutes and me by 12 years.
If my blogging is sporadic next week you’ll know why. We are off seeing the sights, eating out, and laughing our heads off. With your head off it’s hard to post anything of importance. I wanted to show you some fun sights that we might visit. I’m sure later I’ll have some actual shots of what we did. Blessings on your week with the 4th stuck right in the middle! Oh and to my Canadian friends Happy Canada Day tomorrow!
These are the beautiful grounds of Chateau Ste Michelle, a winery very close to our home.
They offer wine tours on the hour and are a great tourist destination. There is another winery across the road called Columbia. Then next door to the Columbia Winery is the Redhook Brewery that offers tours and has a restaurant and outdoor movies in the summer. Next door to the Redhook brewery is the renowned Herbfarm Restaurant and the Willows Lodge. The restaurant serves a several course meal (different each night) paired with wines and you will probably dish out $400 per couple for the evening. Dear and I won’t be going there in this lifetime. Redhook’s a lot cheaper with sandwiches and salads, etc. 🙂
Meanwhile, back at the Chateau, you’ll see ponds and flowers and peacocks.
This is the doorway to the main entrance. If you don’t drink wine but are interested in the tour they also offer grape juice at the end of the tour of the winery.
But now let’s go to the fun neighborhood of Fremont. Close to downtown Seattle and just across the Fremont bridge from Seattle Pacific University.
This is our famous troll that lives under the Aurora bridge. It’s huge. That’s an actual VW bug that it has it’s hand over. These are 3 of my nephews posing…
Why on earth does Fremont have the largest statue in the U.S. of the worst Russian leader of all time?!
This is Kerry Park where you can see this famous view of Seattle and Elliot Bay. This was taken in the Fall. If we’d step to the left about 4 feet you could see more of downtown!
This is the Edmond’s Ferry Dock (I stole this photo from my son’s blog). We have several ferry routes around the area that you can take to the Olympic Peninsula or many of the Washington Islands. Being surrounded by water, islands, and mountains makes Seattle unique and a great adventure. So make sure you put Seattle on your list of destinations to visit before you die. Come in July or August if you want more sunshine!
Photobucket is holding all the photos of mine from this post hostage as of July 2017.
I arrived in Seattle at 6:00 P.M. Saturday night but woe is me my bag did not! I stood at that dreaded carousel for 1 hour but nothing… The little black Kirkland brand bag with my lavender ribbon tied to the handle was nowhere to be found.
My daughter was waiting patiently in the cell-phone waiting lot (yep we have a lot called the cell phone waiting lot for people who are picking up passengers!)
Finally I gave her the call to come get me. I went home without my bag, trying frantically to remember everything I had packed in that bag. Of the most concern for me was my trusty notebook/calendar that is always by my side, except when it’s in my suitcase. 🙂
My computer power cord. My card reader. Two pairs of shoes. My favorite black pants, a couple tops, some other necessary items. Not going to list those items but trust me they are darn expensive to replace. There was also a pair of Dear’s shoes and 6 of his shirts. Yikes, what an empty feeling to leave the airport without that bag. This morning at 6 am I called the Alaska Property Irregularity Desk with my Property Irregularity Receipt and inquired about my bag. The sweet lady informed me my bag decided to fly to Vancouver, B.C. It would be on the 6:30 am flight from Vancouver back to Seattle and after it goes through customs they’d deliver it to my porch. Relief and rejoicing…I hope it’s really on my porch when I get home from church!
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Father’s Day weekend was filled with time enjoying family and friends. On Saturday Ken and Heidi traveled North from Orange county and Jim and Jeanie traveled South from Central California to enjoy the day with us.
Heidi, Ken, Dear, Jim and Jeanie.
Heidi is an friend of mine from the Russian Baptist Church. We have had many traveling adventures together. She was living with Greg and me in Huntington Beach when she met Ken. I was the matron of honor in their wedding in 1978.
Jim is my cousin. His father and my father are brothers. I met Jeanie in college and we became good friends. I introduced her to Jim. They were married in 1974, eight months before us. For a few years all three of us couples lived in Huntington Beach and attended the same church.
Ellen and Dear
We have always enjoyed each others company and can laugh and cry together. This is the “front row” inside joke that got us chuckling. Jim, it’s true by the way…(call me)
The guys enjoyed talking about new digital camera capabilities, stereo high and low sounds, contractor woes, and the importance of accountability.
Still friends after all these years…
More family made their way to Camarillo yesterday and we christened the Condo pool! My sister Kathy, niece Michelle and her son Jackson came for lunch and a swim.
Jackson giving me the smile!
Enjoying the pool in Mommy’s arms.
Yippee!
Nana sitting close by…
until she’s needed!
Chicken nuggets at Great Aunties.
A lovely steamed pear and date dessert for the ladies made by niece Michelle.
My company left and I was off to pick up Dear from work.
Straight to California Grill in Camarillo to use the Father’s Day gift card from our children to their dad. Thanks Josh, Laura, Dan and Katie. Dinner was wonderful and we still have money left on the card!
Today I head North to the Seattle area for the next three weeks. We’ll be having a grand celebration over the 4th with Dear home for 2 weeks and family flying in. I’ll be posting from the North. Blessings on the rest of your weekend!
Photobucket blacked out all my photos and is holding all my photos hostage as of July 2017.
My Father (Pop) ~ Moisi Timothy Bagdanov
Pop
I am so thankful to God for how He called you and has led you all these years. I admire your hard work ethic. I admire the fact that you are always on time. You never make people wait. We were never late to church. Your contentment is admirable. Your hobbies take the back seat to anyone who needs help. What hobbies? You don’t golf, sail, cycle, surf the net. Well you do like the Price is Right and Wheel of Fortune. In your retirement years you became a missionary. Since returning from Russia where you served on your own without a mission group to help you, you’ve helped those in need around you. If anyone in your circle of aquaintances and church dies, you’re the first one they call. You have helped so many people make funeral arrangements I can’t keep up. You would give any of us your last dime. Paul’s charge to Timothy has been lived out by you.
“But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilot made the good confession, I charge you to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which God will bring about in his own time – God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.”
Here are his children, grands, and great grands.
My husband and the father of my children.
Josh & Dear
I’m so thankful to God that He called you and continues to work in your life. How many times have I said that I’m so glad I married you. Yikes, when I consider some of the people I dated, I wish I could blot out the memory. You are a man that I can admire. Your wisdom and wit have kept me from “stepping in it” so many times. You are humble where I’m haughty. You are patient where I am impulsive. You think before you speak and I speak before I think. You’re a good listener. You are a good teacher. You are the guy I want to grow really old with. Your children have learned so much from you and I think they will remember and appreciate more and more your example to them as they walk their adult lives. I love you. Your children are blessed to have you for their dad.
The photos in this post were updated because Photobucket blacked out the original photos on this post.
The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b. 
