Category Archives: Photography

Fun Monday ~ 5 & 5

Nekked Lizard is hosting Fun Monday and here’s the challenge.

FIVE PICTURES – FIVE WORDS PER PICTURE.
Any 5 (FIVE) pictures, any subject, and any 5 (FIVE) words to describe and/or explain each picture.  CAN YOU DO IT???

And here I go with my Five and Five….

“Great Minds Think A Pint”

My Walking Buddies in Washington

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!

Time for My Trifle Friends!

 

My Favorite View of Seattle

Me and my wonderful Children!

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!

For more Fun Monday visit the Nekked Lizard!

Dressed-To-A-Tea!

Generally when I go to a tea I dress up just a bit from my normal everyday style (jeans and a top) I’ll put on my black pants and try to wear something more interesting on top. I am not a hat person because a hat does not compliment me at all. My daughter Katie can wear any hat out there and look cute but not me!

 

We had tea at The Gilded Rose Manor Tea House for my mother’s 85th birthday on Saturday. I took a few photos of some pretty accessories they had around the tea room to share for “Dressed-To-A-Tea! This hat rack with the hats and boa’s was in the front entry.

 

This was something for a little girl to wear.

 

And some other pretty vintage children’s dresses.

More typically our Tea apparel is “to each his own” as you can see from the tea guests above. There are more pictures from my Mother’s birthday tea here.

This is my daughter Katie dressed for a Winter Tea with her vintage hat, gloves and pearls.

I’m hoping to be able to share a tea post with my daughter dressed for her Japanese Tea Ceremony class soon. She’s taking this class from the University of Washington and travels to a Japanese Tea-house in Seattle at the Arboretum each week for her instruction.

Visit LaTeaDah at Gracious Hospitality for more Dressed-To-A-Tea Posts.

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!

Kindly Spring Again Is Here ~ John Newton

 

Kindly Spring Again Is Here

Kindly spring again is here,
Trees and fields in bloom appear;
Hark! the birds with artless lays
Warble their Creator’s praise.

Where in winter all was snow,
Now the flowers in clusters grow;
And the corn, in green array,
Promises a harvest-day.

Lord, afford a spring to me,
Let me feel like what I see;
Speak, and by Thy gracious voice,
Make my drooping soul rejoice.

On Thy garden deign to smile,
Raise the plants, enrich the soil;
Soon Thy presence will restore
Life to what seemed dead before.

John Newton verses 1-3 Author of verse 4 is unknown

Meme ~ Defined…

Indefinite pronoun
Même as an indefinite pronoun means the same.
C’est le même. It’s the same.
Elles sont toujours les mêmes. They’re always the same.

So a Meme is something that is the same and goes around bloggy world.

Before the noun, même means same:
C’est la même chose ! It’s the same thing!
J’ai lu le même livre. I read the same book.
Il aime les mêmes programmes. He likes the same programs

So for all y’all out there who were wondering what the heck meme means I hope this clarifies. I have the lovely Katie B. to thank for setting me on the right track for this word. And here’s a treat for reading this…

 

ht: About.com for definitions

ABC Wednesday ~ L is for …

L is for London

 

Dear and I love to travel to Great Britain and spend some time in London while we travel about the Isle. This is me in February of 2003 after we took a ride on the London Eye. You can see the “Eye” in the background.

This is a shot of one of the pods across from ours.

 

You really get a wonderful view of all of London.

For more ABC Wednesday Posts on the letter L head on over 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!

Jesu, Our Hope, Our Heart’s Desire ~

 

Jesu, our Hope, our heart’s Desire,
Thy work of grace we sing;
Redeemer of the world art Thou,
Its Maker and its King.

How vast the mercy and the love,
Which laid our sins on Thee,
And led Thee to a cruel death,
To set Thy people free!

But now the bonds of death are burst;
The ransom has been paid;
And Thou art on Thy Father’s throne,
In glorious robes arrayed.

O may Thy mighty love prevail
Our sinful souls to spare!
O may we stand around Thy throne,
And see Thy glory there!

Jesu, our only Joy be Thou,
As Thou our Prize wilt be;
In Thee be all our glory now
And through eternity.

All praise to Thee Who art gone up
Triumphantly to Heav’n;
All praise to God the Father’s Name
And Holy Ghost be given.

Words: Un­known au­thor, 7th or 8th Cen­tu­ry (Je­su nos­tra re­demp­tio, Amor et de­sid­er­i­um); trans­lat­ed from La­tin to Eng­lish by John Chand­ler (Hymns of the Prim­i­tive Church, 1837) and the com­pil­ers of Hymns An­cient and Mo­dern, 1861.

ht: cyberhymnal

Sycamore Hike ~ Walking Club Totals

 

When we got to the Sycamore Canyon Campground Parking at 7:15 the gate was still locked. Hmmm see the sign that says gate open 7am – 10pm? The attendant finally arrived at 7:30 to open the gate…

 

We stayed on the main trail today and saw a few joggers and several groups of cyclists.

 

The trees are really interesting in this canyon.

 

The shrubs were blooming nicely. It was gloomy with a thick high marine layer.

 

These purple wildflowers deserved a photograph.

 

Spring is a great time to do this hike because of all the pretty blooms.

 

We even happened on some California Poppies.

 

Some of our old and new favorites. The wild fennel is an old favorite of ours. We love using fennel in cooking and the smell when we rub it between our hands is licorice wonderful. The coreopsis is such a interesting plant the way it grows on that stalk. In the Spring it’s all over the hillsides. The one downside to our hike today were the mosquitos! They were out in droves. Anyone know of an Avon distributor so I can order some Skin-so-soft?

 

This looks like a parrot to me.

 

At the end of the hike we strolled over to see the high surf.

My walking total steps for the week averaged out to 10,152.

I’m going to keep on walking. How about you?

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!

Photo Hunters ~ Glass

 

A stained glass window at St. Mary’s church in Painswick, Gloucestire, England. This church is known for its 99 Yew trees.

 

This is St. Mary’s with some of the Yew trees…

For more Photo Hunters click over to tnchick.

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!

One Misty Moisty Morning ~ Ладушки, Ладушки

On mornings like today this old Mother Goose nursery rhyme pops into my head and I say it again and say it again and say it again and again…

One misty moisty morning,
When cloudy was the weather,
I chanced to meet an old man,
Clothed all in leather.
He began to compliment
And I began to grin.
How do you do? And how do you do?
And how do you do again?

When I was a school teacher we had a training session on how important nursery rhymes were to a child’s language development and future reading skills. So take that baby on your knee and have fun with all the nursery rhymes out there. Sing them instead of just saying them. I remember bouncing my kids on my knee with this one, too.

Ride a cock horse to Banbury Cross
To see a fine lady upon a white horse
With rings on her fingers and bells on her toes
She shall have music wherever she goes

There’s also a rhyme we would repeat in Russian that goes something like this…

Ладушки, ладушки
Pat-a-cake
Clapping Song
(Russian)
Ладушки, ладушки
Где были?
У бабушки!
Что ели?
Кашку!
Что пили?
Бражку!
Кашка масленька
Бражка сладенька
Бабушка добренька!
~
The loose translation into English
Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake,
Where were you?
At granny’s!
What did you eat?
Porridge*!
What did you drink?
A little home-brewed beer**
The porridge is buttered,
The home-brewed beer is sweet,
Granny is kind!
~
The version we sang was a bit different at the end. I’ll need to talk to my mom today and update how we ended this rhyme.
~
*In Russia porridge is very famous, it can be made from wheat (millet), oatmeal, buckwheat, rice, fine-ground barley, etc.**This probably means kvas, a Russian home-brewed non-alcoholic drink, or it means that Granny gave the children some beer to try, she indulged her grandchildren. (and actually if it sits long enough Kvas turns into an alcohol drink)
~
I updated this post with photos from our trip to Banbury, England in July of 2014.
ht: Mama Lisa’s World for the Russian Rhyme.