Category Archives: Seattle

ABC Wednesday ~ D is for…

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 first ABC Wednesday and the letter is D today.

So many choices, I think I’ll share daffodils, dogwood and doors.

 

This photo was taken in England in April 2004.

 

This Dogwood tree is in a garden on Queen Anne Hill in Seattle, Washington, just uphill from Kerry Park. The photo was taken in July of 2007.

 

The photos in this collage were taken in Oxford~England, York, Edinburgh ~ Scotland, South Kensington and the bottom middle one if taken at Ste Michelle Winery in Woodinville, Washington.

To view more ABC Wednesday participants click here.

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.

Recipe Round Up ~ Snackalicious Super Dishes

Recipe_round_up SupersnacksmallJust in time for this year’s Super Bowl on February 3rd, Pensieve is hosting Snackalicious Super Dishes and Rebecca Writes’ January’s Recipe Round Up in one lip-smacking, crowd-pleasing carnival and YOU’RE invited!

Here’s my contribution. A wonderful Chili from one of my favorite cookbooks!

 

Mount Rainier Chili (serves twelve to fourteen)

Ingredients:

1 pound Great Northern white beans, rinsed and picked over
2 pounds boneless chicken breasts
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 cups onion, chopeed
4 medium garlic cloves, minced
2 – 4 ounce cans chopped mild green chiles
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1- 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano, crushed
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
8 cups chicken stock
1  12oz. can beer
3 cups Monterey Jack cheese, shredded and divided

sour cream
salsa
fresh cilantro leaves chopped

Soaking time overnight. Place bean in a large, heavy pot. Add enough cold water to cover by at least 3 inches. Cover and soak overnight.

Place chicken in a large, heavy saucepan. Add cold water to cover and bring to a simmer. Cook until just tender, about 15 minutes. Drain and cool. Remove skin and cut chicken into cubes.

Drain beans into large colander. Heat oil in same pot. Add onions and saute over medium-low heat until translucent, about 10 minutes. Stir in garlic, green chiles, cumin, oregano, cloves and cayenne. Saute 2 minutes. Add beans and stock. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until beans are very tender, stirring occasionally, about 3 to 4 hours. Add additional water if necessary. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and bring to a simmer before continuing.) Add chicken, beer and 1 cup of cheese. Stir until cheese melts. Ladle chili into bowls. Serve with remaining cheese, sour cream, salsa and cilantro leaves to sprinkle on top.

This is a wonderful white chili from one of my favorite cookbooks from the Junior League of Seattle, Simply Classic. I recommend this cookbook highly because every recipe I have made from the book has been wonderful.

To see more recipes head over to Pensieve’s here.

Walking the Burke Gilman with My Friends

Today will be my last 6 mile walk with my buddies for a few months. I leave the Seattle Area for Southern California on New Year’s Day. Every Saturday for several years now we walk rain or shine or snow 6 miles on the trail. Usually 9am to 11 am. Of course when I’m in Cali the walk is with 2 instead of 3…

 

Don’t they look lonely without me??

 

We walk by Wayne Golf Course in Bothell. It’s a little under water from all our rain.

And when we are this old we hope to still be walking together on the trail.

I’ll miss you my friends. God knows the desires of our hearts and He is good to us. Blessings on the trail without me….

Ecclesiastes 4: 9-12 ~“Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him – a threefold cord is not quickly broken.”
Photobucket has blacked out all my photos and is holding them hostage. I’m slowly cleaning up my posts to remove the ugly black and grey blocks that photobucket has inserted instead of my photos.

Fun Monday ~ The Story of Your Home and Road…

We live in a neighborhood in Washington State northeast of the city of Seattle. We are surrounded by new homes. Our home is the original home that was here by itself surrounded by trees and fields. It was part of  a nursery. The owners of this home finally sold all the property around it to a developer who built many homes on small parcels. There used to be a dirt road access to our home from the main busy road. New roads were built when the neighborhood was developed and access to our home is more convoluted. We moved into this house in 1998.

 

These 4 photos are the road that comes to the back side of our house and then the drive you have to come up to get to the front side of our home.  You could say we are the “sticks out like a sore thumb” house in the neighborhood. One of the major attractions we had to this old house was the detached garage/shop/barn. We have lots of  extra junk and cars (projects and hobbies) that fit in this extra space nicely. Our chain link fence is another thing that is different than all the new wooden fences in the neighborhood!

 

We’ve made several improvements to this old house but are now reconsidering what we want to do. We have put new siding on 1/3 of the home so the front and one side of the home are different than the back of the house.

 

This is the front of our house that you can’t see from the street. You can see the new siding we’ve added here. We are now seriously considering the idea of demolishing the house and rebuilding on this property. We have some heating challenges because of how old the house is and the way things were added on over the years. We also have very uneven floors and some flooding issues when we get big storms. We can only make a wild guess as to when the original part of the house was built. We tend to think it was in the ’60’s. But it wouldn’t surprise us if the original little section of the house that’s been added on to over the years is a lot older than that. The last addition that there are county records on shows the ’70’s.

 

I decided to add this photo taken from the inside of my house looking out my stairwell window. A pretty view of my neighbor’s Maple tree in the late fall (all her leaves land in my yard!) 🙂

Head over to Kitten’s homeschool on Monday to see more Fun Monday participants.

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.

Christmas Tour at Chateau Ste Michelle ~ 2007

A wonderful place to visit if you travel to the Seattle area is Chateau Ste Michelle in Woodinville. We enjoy the beautful grounds. The summer concerts on the lawn here are exceptional. Their wine has gotten lots of acclaim. We are part of their wine club and we get 2 bottles of wine 4 times a year. I enjoy going to pick up the wine especially at Christmas when everything is decorated so nicely. Enjoy my little tour….

 

 

Have a wonderful Saturday everyone. Hope you have some peaceful moments.

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.

December 6, 1974 ~ 33 Years later

Today is our 33rd Wedding Anniversary!

December – When December’s snows fall fast, marry and your love will last.

Here are 33 things about Dear and Myself since we’ve been married…

1. Dear was 21 and I was 23 when we got married.

2. My engagement ring was an opal ring. We had matching wedding bands. When I was pregnant with our third (Katie) Dear bought me my first diamond ring.

 

3. We honeymooned up the coast of California .

4. Our first home was a 1 bedroom apartment in West Los Angeles.

5. We bought our first house in Huntington Beach in 1975 for $45,000. We lived in Huntington Beach until 1984.

6. In 1977 we took a road-trip to visit extended family and to see some sights. We first stopped in Denver to see Dear’s mothers side of the family. Then we went to Peoria, Illinois to meet Dear’s fathers side of the family. We headed north to the Detroit area. We took a ferry to Canada and headed to Toronto where we found my china from England and added to my set so we would have 12 place settings. Then we headed to the Canadian side of Niagara Falls. Fun carefree times in a little yellow 1976 Honda Civic.

7. We have three children. Josh was born on Friday, January 19, 1979. Dan was born on Friday, January 16, 1981. Katie was born on Friday, December 27, 1985. (Katie came early she was due in January also!) “Friday’s child is loving and giving”

8. Dear’s professions while we’ve been married were, a Painting Contractor, a Conveyorman at Cal-Mat, A Loader/Operator at Cal-Mat, A hospital Pharmacist, Professional Services at a Biotech company, Medical Information at a Biotech Company.

9. My professions since we’ve been married were, a File Clerk, an Elementary School Teacher, a SAHM, a Playground Teacher, House Cleaning business, Substitute Teacher, SAHM, and now I’m a SAH wife…

10. Churches we attended the last 33 years earliest to present: Grace Community Church in Panorama City, Huntington Beach Evangelical Free Church, Bible Fellowship Church in Ventura, Sunrise Christian Fellowship in Seattle, and Evangelical Free Church Conejo Valley.

11. We took our first 2 camping trips with our boys and some of their cousins before Katie was born. We camped at Refugio State Beach, north of Santa Barbara. Fun times in a tent in 1983 and 1984!

12. While living in Ventura we met our good buddies the Spiros who are like family to us.  Dr. Spiro delivered our daughter Katie in Ventura while he was doing his residency. Their 3 daughters and our 3 kids got along well and are still great friends. After the residency they moved to Washington where Dave joined a family practice. When we moved to Washington for Pharmacy school they adopted us into their family since we were so far from ours. We share many holidays together.

13. Dear’s Father Rex died in 1985 a couple months before our daughter Katie was born.

14. In 1986 we went on a bicycle touring trip in the Wine Country with our friends Dave and Jody and we met our dear friends Bob and Jan for the first time on this trip. (Geyserville to Mendocino, down the coast to Gualala and inland to Monte Rio then back to Geiserville) Oh the tales we can tell. We did not have a support vehicle.

15. We moved to the state of Washington in 1988 so that Dear could attend the University of Washington and then apply to Pharmacy School there.

16. While Dear attended the University of Washington the Husky football team had some glory years and we were able to get student season tickets along with tickets to a Rose Bowl game where the Huskies beat Michigan in 1992.

17. While in Washington Dear’s mother Verna lived with us for 9 years.

18. Our first home in Washington was a 4600 square foot home where we finished a 650 square foot self contained apartment in the daylight basement for Dear’s mother.

19. After moving to Washington in 1988 we made several road trips to California. I was tempted to write a book about driving I-5 from border to border.

20. I started a home cleaning business while Dear was in school full-time. I’ve cleaned a lot of toilets!

21. In 1994 we took the family to Los Angeles and San Jose to experience the World Cup. This was a wonderful experience especially for Josh and Dan (and ELLEN, too)

22. In 1996 we gave our home back to the bank when a serious landslide came right to our foundation and threatened the stability of the home. The costs for shoring up and saving the home ended up being more than we could ever afford. We lost all of our California equity and started over by first renting homes till we were able to purchase a home again. Moving yearly with all of our stuff and all of my MIL’s stuff was quite the challenge.

23. Dear’s Mother Verna died in 1997.

24. One of our memorable family trips was to Hawaii in 1997 after Josh graduated from high school.

25. We rented 3 different homes in 3 years after giving our house back to the bank. We bought our 3rd rental house when they tried to sell it out from under us after only being in the house for a month. We couldn’t face the trauma of moving all our stuff again in such a short time. We didn’t think a bank would give us a loan after we had given a house back to the bank. God intervened for us and the bank did not fault us in their records for defaulting on our loan.

26. Our son Josh was married to Laura on August 25, 2001. We had some wonderful days celebrating with family and friends.

27. Dear and I have had some great trips since our kids have become adults. Our favorites are our trips to London in 2003, Great Britain with our daughter in 2004 and a Walking tour of Great Britain with our best friends in 2006.

28. We took a few trips to Chicago area before and during our daughter Katie’s 3 semesters at Wheaton College.

29. Cars we’ve owned while married: ’71 Datsun, ’70 Volkswagon, ’75 Courier Pick up, ’76 Honda, Buick Station Wagon, ’81 Honda, ’84 Nissan Pick-up, ’86 Toyota van, ’92 Toyota Corolla Wagon, ’74 GMC pick-up, ’99 Camry, ’73 Chevy Pick-up. ’07 Camry.

30. I’m the sports fan in the family and Dear is gracious to put up with me since he is not a big fan of watching sports.

31. Dear is the handiest guy to have around. He has always tackled any hard job around the house and completed it well. He’s an electrician, a plumber, a carpenter, a mechanic, a painter. He’s helped other people out with their projects, too.

32. Dear is a learner and is blessed with lots of knowledge. He is a very wise man and he’s a great teacher.

33. We made a pact when we got married that whoever decided to make the stupid choice to leave, the other of us would shoot them in the back with our 357 Magnum as they walked out the door! We always said to each other and to others that death would be easier to deal with than divorce. Harsh, yes, but after 33 years neither of us has ever thought about walking away from this marriage.

Whew! That wasn’t easy. Thank you Lord for 33 years of mercy and grace in our marriage. And thank you for so many blessings we have received all from your hand. We are especially thankful for a family that loves you and loves us and for dear friends who do the same.

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.

Washington Floods!

Oh my, oh my. I’ve been working all day with water problems. We do not have it as bad as our friends the Terreson’s. Here’s a picture of the water on their street today coming into their basement! We were there with you in 1996 filling sand bags and putting them at your garage doors. We’re hoping for the best for you dear Terreson’s!

 

I’ve been working on our basement too. After shop-vacuming up over 16 gallons of water I decided to just pull up the carpeting and padding because there was no way I’d be able to dry that carpet and padding without the tell tale mildew smell lingering forever. So here’s a photo of where carpeting used to be. You can still see the wet cement. Dan came home early from work to help me and Katie helped when she came home from school. I will not be driving anywhere for the next day or two as so many roads are flooded and closed. Dear is feeling bad being in California where it’s sunny and warm and not being here to help us…

 

The last time we had flooding this bad we were declared a disastor area. We lost our home because the damage from the flooding. A landslide behind our home compromised our foundation and the fix was going to be so costly that we’d never be able to afford it. (100’s of thousands of dollars) We gave our dream home back to the bank! We do not live on a slope this time around and we are happy about that. We will probably replace our carpeting in the basement with ceramic tile.

This is the slope in the back of the home we gave back to the bank in 1996!

This is from todays storms…

Keep us in your prayers bloggy friends. Counting it all joy….

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.

Our First Snow of the Season

Here’s what’s happening at my house…

 

Landscape in Snow

 

Snowflakes are drifting from heaven
That frost the landscape today;
Myriad scenes of real enchantment
Border long stretches of highway.

 

Cozy house are wood blocked in white
While woodsmoke ascends like prayer;
The rugged hills wear lacy shawls
As if in an etching rare.

Old red barns are now magical,
Tall, bare oaks stand in filigree;
Pines and hemlocks wearing fine lace
Are, oh, so beautiful to see.

Cold streams are shining ribbons
Beneath a pewter-gray sky,
And the countryside is inspiring
Now that Christmas snowflakes fly!

(Earle J. Grant)

 

Oh boy does my apple tree need pruning!

We’re all snug and warm inside by the fire enjoying the snow as the flakes pile higher!

Blessings…

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.

Over the River and Through the Woods!

Over the River and
Through the Woods

 

Over the river and thru the wood,
To grandfather’s house we go;
The horse knows the way
To carry the sleigh,
Thru the white and drifted snow, oh!
Over the river and thru the wood,
Oh, how the wind does blow!
It stings the toes,
And bites the nose,
As over the ground we go.

 

Over the river and thru the wood,
To have a first-rate play;
Oh, hear the bell ring,
“Ting-a-ling-ling!”
Hurrah for Thanksgiving Day-ay!
Over the river and thru the wood,
Trot fast my dapple gray!
Spring over the ground,
Like a hunting hound!
For this is Thanksgiving Day.

 

To all my blogging friends in the U.S.A. a very Happy Thanksgiving Day to you. For those of you outside the U.S. blessings on the rest of your week! We are headed over the freeways and through the streeted woods to our dear friends for a large gathering of family, food, fun, and fellowship. We’ll be rolling home stuffed to the gills later this evening.