Category Archives: personal

Come to Seattle ~ A Little Tour

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.

First Time For Everything…

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!

http://www.mouseplanet.com/lani/carousel.jpg

http://day-planner.daytimer.com/content/images/shop/prod_images/dir3/w34463f.jpg

Fellowship ~ Food ~ Family ~ Friends ~ Fun

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.

Father’s Day 2007 ~ Tribute to Two Men I Love

 

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.

Blogging 101 Carnival ~ Inquiring Minds Want to Know

Chili a.k.a. Chilihead is sponsoring a blogging carnival and I’m diving in…

1.  How did you start blogging?

I used to send weekly emails to my family and friends of quotes, prayers, encouragements, etc. My brother Steve started a blog and there were several blogs I’d visit daily. Steve kept telling me that I needed to start a blog because basically what I was doing via email was a blog. One day when we were together he pulled out his computer and said “We’re starting a blog for you right now.” He set me up with wordpress helped me through some glitches that I have with technology and the rest is history. Here’s a picture I took of my brother setting up my blog back in March of ’07.

2. Did you intend to be a blog w/a following? If so, how did you go about it?

It wasn’t my intention to have “a following”. I still wanted to search and find encouraging things to post. I wanted some way to also catalog my new life away from my adult children and best friends in Seattle. This vehicle has given me that. I believe I have the gift of encouragement and it comes very naturally to me. I’ve always been a card and letter sender. I am a commenter because that’s what I like to do. Through some of my comments I have made blogging buddies that check my blog.

3. What do you hope to achieve or accomplish with your blog? Have you been successful? If not, do you have a plan to achieve those goals?

I want to continue to post things that are encouraging. I would like to continue growing in my walk with Christ. I want to learn more and share what is the “truth” and is honoring to my King.

I hope to keep my brain working hard. I want any motivation to be a continued learner. Blogging is accountability for me in this aspect of my life desire.

4. Has the focus of your blog changed since you started blogging? How?

The thing that has changed for me is that as I find more blogs I enjoy, I participate in some of the weekly blogging events.

5. What do you know now that you wish you’d known when you started?

To have a shorter http:, I get tired of typing https://happywonderer.wordpress.com/ into the blogger sites. WordPress and typepad and some others store my info…that’s really nice for avid commenters. Some sites seem to punish you for not being one of their own! 🙂

6. Do you make money with your blog?

No, I do not make money with my blog but I save a lot of money because I’m not out shopping as much as I used to be…

7. Does your immediate or extended family know about your blog? If so, do they read it? If not, why?

Yes. Some do, some don’t. For some it’s hard to keep up with my daily postings. Some like to keep up with what I’m doing in Southern California now that I’m not living full-time in Seattle. Some read it but they don’t leave comments.

A few of my immediate and extended family have blogs. The more serious bloggers are my sister Lana at Above the Clouds and my brother Steve at The Temple. My son and daughter have a blog but their posts are few and far between…

8. What two pieces of advice would you give to a new blogger?

Check out a variety of hosting sites before you choose one.

Consider whether some controversies that won’t be settled on this earth should become the focus of your blog. You might get more than you bargained for…

You can go to Don’t Try This at Home and see what other bloggers are saying…

My updated suggestion is that you do not store your photos at Photobucket. They are now holding all my photos hostage as of July 2017.

Show and Tell Fridays ~ Pigeons

 Time for show and Tell Friday ~

 

It’s hard to see but that’s me with the pigeon on my head. My sister Kathy is behind me and then my dad and my sister Vera are to the right. Love the dresses, shoes and socks! Also before I get to the point of this post (the pigeon) I’d like you to notice the clothesline behind us with all the clothespins on it. Yep…we used to hang our laundry on those lines and I had to get my first stitches from falling off a chair and hitting a porch while hanging laundry. But about the Pigeon…if you are an animal activist or are very sensitive don’t read the rest of this post. Consider yourself warned!!!

We were on the poor side growing up. Until my dad landed a good Carpenters job and was a member of the Carpenter’s Union he worked piece jobs, etc. He went to work everyday but sometimes the money got real scarce. My mother did not work outside the home. For some crazy reason my dad also decided to raise pigeons. We had a pigeon coupe in our backyard. Lovely, “rats with wings” is what we call them now. Back then we loved those pigeons and we all picked one to be our pet. There were 4 of us kids during this time, the next 4 hadn’t arrived yet. Anyway…my pet pigeon was named Green Neck. Not hard to guess why I came up with that name. One day when my mom didn’t know what she’d be able to cook for dinner my parents decided to kill some pigeons and make pigeon soup. THEY PICKED GREEN NECK to be one of the victims! I can’t begin to tell you how upsetting this was. (It did not traumatize me for life, I can chuckle about it now) The 4 of us kids had a “we will not eat that soup strike.” There was solidarity on this strike. I know there was no way I was gonna eat Green Neck even if it meant going to bed hungry…

First Name, First Letter, Meme

Saw this meme over at Karen’s  Simply A musing blog. She double-dared anyone to try it, so what’s a dare-devil to do…   Now that you’ve read this, consider yourself double-dared, too! The game is SCATTERGORIES…it’s harder than it looks! Here are the rules: Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the following. They MUST be real places, names, things…NOTHING made up! If you can’t think of anything, skip it. Try to use different answers if the person before you had the same 1st initial. You CAN’T use your name for the boy/girl name question.

Your Name: ~ Ellen
1. Famous Singer/Band: ~ Enya
2. 4 letter word: ~ Easy
3. Street: ~ Elm
4. Color: ~ Ecru
5. Gifts/Presents: ~ Earrings
6. Vehicle: ~  Explorer
7. Things in a Souvenir Shop: ~ Ewer, Extinguisher, Exotic items, Exit sign, Emblems (Okay I went overboard with this one)
8. Boy Name: ~ Earl
9. Girl Name: ~ Elizabeth
10. Movie Title: ~ Escape from Alcatraz
11. Drink: ~ Elderberry Wine
12. Occupation: ~ Engineer
13. Celebrity: ~ Dale Evans
14. Magazine: ~ Easy Home Cooking
15. U.S. City: ~ Englewood
16. Pro Sports Teams: ~ Evesham United
17. Reason for Being Late for Work: ~ Emotional meltdown
18. Something You Throw Away: ~ Egg shells
19. Things You Shout: ~ Enuf!
20. Cartoon Character: ~ Elmer Fudd

http://www.letterlane.com/LetterKids/Emily.GIF

Letters to an American Lady ~ C.S. Lewis ~ Quote

This quote comes from Letters to an American Lady ~by C.S. Lewis

Another thing that annoys me is when people say “Why did you give that man money? He’ll probably go and drink it.” My reply is “But if I’d kept [it] I should probably have drunk it.

This really convicted me because I’ve used this excuse not to be generous with beggars, homeless, needy people. What am I wasting my money on (the money I’m guarding and protecting from people like them)? Teach me Lord and let me be generous with your money. Forgive me for my arrogance and selfishness. Let me trust that you will lead me to give where and when and to whom you want. Let me respond to your leading.

http://images.scotsman.com/2006/05/02/begging.jpg

 

 

The Long Weekend ~ Dears Home ~ Washington

As of July 2017 Photobucket has blacked out all my photos and is holding them hostage on their site.

This has been a weekend filled with hard work, heart to heart talks, revelations, and family togetherness since Dear has been in Washington for the long weekend. My husband whom we call Dear has been working full-time in Southern California since March of 2006. He comes home to Washington on holidays and vacations. We love our home and life in Washington so we’ve been living in a sort of denial that Dear is living full-time in California. I’ve been dividing my time between Washington and California (still the denial issue). This split time brought pain and comfort to myself and Dear. He’s been able to feel through our oneness that he still has input and physical touch through me with his children. The pain comes from our separation from one another and then the pain of separation from my children. Well on May 3, 2007 the Lord told me clearly that this dance between Washington and California needed to come to an end. Starting mid July, I will be living full-time with Dear in Southern California. The Lord clearly impressed on me that He is fully capable of caring for my children when I am absent in body. He has arms long enough to reach and care for them. This weekend we informed our youngest, the daughter (she’s 21 years old) that I would be taking my car, more stuff, and myself to California on July 14th-ish. Our boys and daughter in law were informed earlier. Dear wanted to tell our daughter so she was informed this weekend while her dad was here spending quality time with her. So pray for us in our transition that God would continue to grow us up in Him. Here are some photos of our labor and  love as the weekend begins…

Dear and I started off with the breakfast of champions donuts and eggs before any of the adult children were up. (The bearclaw donut was my whole WW point allowance for sure) Really though, I’m thinking we worked it all off with the big yard to clean up. 🙂 Hoping, hoping…

To the yard that needed some major work… Dear does the weed wacking

and I do the mowing. This is my new mower that goes on with the turn of a key!

We make a fine team.

Next Dear moved on to pressure washing the walkways…

and the deck. Nice to have all the dirt and mold and moss washed away.

After all the hard work was done, Dear, Katie and I went out to eat to the Blu Water Grill in Kirkland. (If you read my sister Lana’s blog, Above the Clouds, you’ll remember the beautiful photos she posted from this restaurant last week).

I tried to duplicate her photos to no avail….

but you can imagine the ambiance.

Katie and Ellen on our way home for a quiet evening, another shot of Lake Washington in Kirkland. Hope you all had a wonderful weekend. Dear and I leave today to California. I’ll be posting from there through June 23rd. Blessings!

Happy Birthday Pop ~ 84 Years Young!

This photo is from 1974 so my pop is only 51 here.

I am so thankful to God for my father, Moisi (Moses) Timothy Bagdanov because…

He loves the Lord wholeheartedly.

He has paid the cost to follow Christ with joy.

He gave up retirement and his home to be a missionary to his hometown village in Russia.

He seeks reconciliation no matter what it costs him.

He loves and sacrifices for his family.

He loves my mother as Christ loves the church.

He calls a cellular phone a cellkular phone. 🙂

He still cares for the fatherless and those who have no one else to help them.

He is a faithful man.

He loves jigsaw puzzles.

He loves me.

Update: I just have to add two more Moisiisms to the list from September 2001. Yes I’m trying to keep a running list. Hey, brothers, sisters, nieces etc.  If you can think of your favorite Moisiisms add them in the comments! 🙂

“Michelle [his granddaughter] got 3 crackpots for wedding gifts”

“Fireman is outside checking the hydrogens”