Be back soon to visiting your blogs. Enjoying quality time with our family on the west side of the Cascade Mountain Range. This side of the mountains is still in Stage Two of the COVID-19 re-entry guidelines. Our town in the northeastern corner of Washington State is in Stage 3. Uploading photos has been so wonderful here in broadband dream land. See you soon!
Photo taken somewhere along highway two in Central Washington heading east towards the Cascade Mountain Range.
1. Ever played the game Farkle? Are you a risk taker? In games only or also in life?
When I asked Dear if we had ever played Farkle, he said no, he paused and then said, “Sounds like a fairy fart.” Chuckle, chuckle.
In games I’m not afraid of taking a risk but in real life I tend to cling to the sure thing. I do like an adventure but even with an adventure I need to have some control. I think that’s one of the reasons I’m not enamored with the idea of a cruise. Too much is out of my control…
2. What’s your favorite thing about your yard or whatever outdoor space you may have?
I like the fact that whatever window we look out of, we see yard, trees, plants, birds, bugs. One of my desires when we moved from our city home was to purchase a property where I wouldn’t be staring into someone’s carport when I was outside or when I was looking out a window. I wanted nice views and I’m thankful for those nice views.
3. Tell us about the most interesting building you’ve seen or been in.
Old cathedrals and churches fascinate me more than anything modern. We’ve been in several amazing Cathedrals in Great Britain. Today I’ll choose Gloucester Cathedral in England to share. Amazing architecture and details that I could take hundreds of photos of. The Cloisters in this building boggle the mind. Questions pop up like, “How did they do that?”, “How long did it take to build this?” “How has it survived all these years?” Here’s only six of those hundreds of photos!
4. In this current season of social distancing, what’s something you’ve come to realize you take for granted in more ordinary times? Do you think you’ll make a conscious effort to appreciate whatever that ‘it’ is once normal life resumes?
There is so much that we take for granted. That’s a lesson all in itself. What a carefree life we’ve been afforded for so many years! I could list many things that I hope to take a conscious effort to appreciate. Going to church and worshiping with others is one for sure. Making traveling plans with ease instead of wondering about restrictions is another. Jumping in the car and heading to a restaurant to enjoy a meal out is another.
5. Share a favorite song with a springtime flower in the lyrics somewhere.
Drew a blank with any springtime flower in the lyrics but here is Springtime from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons!
And then I came across this one which will work, too.
6. Insert your own random thought here.
Our little family here in the northeastern corner of Washington State where we’ve had very few cases of COVID-19 felt that we could be together again.
This right here is the best feeling in the world. A sweet hug and cuddle!
Thank you to Joyce for providing the questions for Wednesday Hodgepodge.
On the letter T for the A to Z Challenge and I’m choosing Tea Rooms and Tea. I hope all the Tea Rooms in Great Britain survive the COVID-19 shut down! All these photos are from our trip to England in July of 2014.
Although we passed quite a few tea rooms while we were in England I only had tea once and it wasn’t in a tea room. Oye. I will show you many lovely tea rooms that you can choose from if you travel to England. Lucy’s was in Stow on the Wold.
This one was in Broadway in the Cotswolds.
Our daily timing was way off for stopping to enjoy a cup of tea in the afternoon. By then we were usually a bit warm and needed something cooler to drink.
Love the name of this one, Mrs. T. Potts…pretty clever. It was real close to Martha’s coffee house on the main street running through Moreton in Marsh.
On our way to Banbury we saw Mrs. Brown’s Tea room.
In Bourton on the Water there were a few tea rooms to choose from.
This restaurant/tearoom was less appealing than the Small Talk Tearoom above.
If we didn’t manage to walk right past a tearoom we enjoyed seeing signs for tearooms.
We got a little closer to a proper tea experience with these delicious scones and clotted cream but the drink of choice on this morning was coffee in Hay on Wye.
On one of our last days in England I decided it was high time to have some tea so as not to totally disappoint my tea drinking readers.
It wasn’t the finest of tea services in the bar of our hotel. The scones were no where near as nice as the ones we had in Hay on Wye.
This was my tea and tea experience. One hot and the other one cold. The cold one may or may not have had some alcohol in it.
Like I mentioned at the beginning of this post I hope that the many tea rooms in Great Britain will survive the COVID-19 lock down. We are hoping that things will look good enough come September for us to keep our flight and apartment reservations for Oxford, England. We wait and we’ll see.
What is your favorite tea? Do you have a favorite Tea Room? Have you ever attempted to host a proper Tea?
Happy Birthday to me. Happy to announce I have one more year in my sixties, Lord willing.
The first four of the Bagdanov siblings. Four more were born from 1958 until 1963.
This has been true for me since 1963! Jesus is my Savior and my Lord and my allegiance will always be to Him because of what He has done for me and you. This is a good time to consider the claims of Jesus and where you stand in light of your eternity.
I’ll have a low key celebration this year.
We moved from living next door (Kenmore) to the epicenter (Kirkland) of the Coronavirus here in Washington State in 2018. On the Eastside things are not as stressed as our Western side of the state. Western Washington has larger population bases. Dear and I are in a hotel in the Spokane Valley right now that is, like many hotels, way under capacity in room occupancy. We brought our own bleach wipes to use in our room for our own peace of mind.
We need to be careful as we listen to so many on our news feeds who are just reporting speculation based on possible incidents rate. Not everyone needs to be tested. They make it sound like everyone needs to be tested. This is not the case. Too much mis-information is being fed to us and decisions are being made on this mis-information.
As of Monday all schools will be closed in Washington State. Other states are imposing closures, too.
Check on your elderly friends everyone!!
Hope you are finding peace where you are.
We enjoyed an early birthday celebration meal at Clover in Spokane close to Gonzaga College. We were delighted with the food and service and overall atmosphere. We will return!
This Pot de Creme was on the house because of my birthday. This restaurant has a bakery where they make their own biscotti and other goodies. That chocolate biscotti was so good.
I’ll leave you with this encouragement from our church in Colville:
During a time of uncertainty our prayers should increase, but our anxiety should not. God is in control, and we need to lean on Him, remembering that everything that God allows is for our good and his glory. Philippians 4:6-7 “Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication let your request be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
We would all do well to follow the admonition in James 4:8 – Cleanse your hands ye sinners!
This sinner saved by grace will continue to cleanse her hands. Thank you already for all your good thoughts on our trying times and for my birthday. I appreciate all my bloggy friends! This will be a birthday to remember for sure!
These were the only seabirds we saw on our morning at the beach.
The birds are returning here and it’s fun to see them flying about the yard and hearing their chirping.
We’re flying the coop for a couple days. See you later…
I’m glad I had my camera with me while I waited for my sister to get her one year beach parking pass at the Huntington Beach Civic Center. As a senior who lives in Huntington Beach she can purchase a year long parking pass for $75.00. What a bargain and a good way to benefit city residents who have to put up with all the incoming traffic that tourists and day trippers pose. This pass is good at the City Beach not the State Beach.
Tuesday was a good day at Bible Study Fellowship and then I had a few hours of baby sitting my dear grands. We are getting ready for some birthday celebrations here in Colville. Addy is nearing her 3rd birthday and I’m nearing my 69th birthday. One more year in my 60’s! Now we need to watch a couple episodes of Daniel the Tiger since that is the theme this year for Addy’s 3rd birthday party.
We are heading to Spokane on Thursday for a few days in the Spokane Valley. We are now getting news of a forecast of up to 3 inches of snow so we’ll be walking less outdoors and shopping more indoors. Hope to have some adventures to share.
On Christ the Solid Rock I stand, All Other Ground is Sinking Sand…
I missed the bigger waves crashing on the pylons under the pier.
We are having a snowfall event as I create this post. Quite a contrast to these beach shots. Soft puffy flakes that are melting as they hit the ground.
Have a great new week. We have a little travel planned for the end of the week.
Walking on the pier and looking South.
Looking North on the pier to Long Beach and Rancho Palos Verdes and beyond.
Another great view of Catalina Island to the West.
The last couple of days have been clean up days outside here at our country bungalow. I’ll share some photos of the work we’ve accomplished once I upload the photos. I went to Wal-Mart today and happened down the toilet paper aisle and saw that the TP buying frenzy is alive and well here in Colville. Empty shelves everywhere. Seems there was a run on dried beans, too. I got the last bag of pinto beans for the crock pot recipe I’m making tomorrow.
Hope you didn’t let your TP totally run out before this mass hysteria set in.
Be Anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. and the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6,7
A beautiful day for a walk at the Beach…
On Monday March 2nd my sister Vera and I were able to enjoy a walk to the end of the pier in Huntington Beach. It was a decent day for surfing and several surfers were taking advantage. Winter days at the beach are my favorite and this winter day afforded us great views of Catalina Island, too.
I’ve never tried to surf. Have you ever tried? When our son was at Westmont College in Santa Barbara he enjoyed some surfing. He also enjoyed some surfing in Hawaii on a vacation there. Body surfing was something both sons have enjoyed. Water skiing was the closest I ever came to surfing and that was years ago before I had children. A little snow skiing is also in my past and it will remain there.
I’ll be sharing more from Huntington Beach soon.
I’m home again and far away from the ocean. It was a good time to be in Southern California and to see four out of eight of my siblings and a few nieces and nephews. I’ll share more from Huntington Beach soon. Today is a recovery day at our country bungalow.
Here are a couple of quotes from J.C. Ryle (1816-1900) who I read about in Five Minutes in Church History and Grace Gems.
First on his conversion (1837):
Nothing I can remember to this day appeared to me so clear and distinct as my own sinfulness, Christ’s preciousness, the value of the Bible, the absolute necessity of coming out of the world, the need of being born again, and the enormous folly of the whole doctrine of baptismal regeneration. All these things seemed to flash upon me like a sunbeam, in the winter of 1837, and have stuck in my mind from that time down to this. People may account for such a change as they like, my own belief is that it is what the Bible calls conversion. Or, what the Bible calls regeneration. Before that time, I was dead in sins, and on the high road to hell. From that time, I had become alive, and have had a hope of heaven, and nothing to my mind can account for it but the free sovereign grace of God.
And this quote which is from the 1800’s but rings true to our time:
There is a common, worldly kind of Christianity in this day, which many have and think they have enough–a cheap Christianity which offends nobody, and requires no sacrifice; which costs nothing and is worth nothing. The standard of the world, and the standard of the Lord Jesus–are indeed different. They are more than different–they are flatly contradictory one to another. Never be satisfied with the world’s standard of Christianity!
Today is my 13 Year Anniversary with WordPress and with blogging.
Have a good day everyone!
The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b. 