Category Archives: Travel

O is for…

For April I’m challenging myself to an A-Z photo a day excluding Sundays and in addition to any regular posts that come to be.

Today is Thursday April 17th and the letter is O. I’m manipulating this one since it is Easter Week.

O is for Old and Older photos of Easter celebrations.

Easter in the 50’s at 4635 Oak Street in Pico Rivera.

Joshua’s first Easter in 1979 in Huntington Beach, California.

Easter on Arroyo Drive at Dzedushka’s and Babushka’s in the early 80’s.

Easter in Ventura 1986.

Easter in Yorba Linda, 1987.

Ventura 1987.

Easter in Yorba Linda, 1988.

Easter in Bothell 1989ish

All the rest of these photos are from Easters in Kenmore after 2001.

Our Russian greeting at Easter; Christ is Risen, Truly He is Risen.

 

Russian Easter Bread that we call Kulich and our Mennonite Friends call Paska.

2010

Sweet Cheese Spread for the Kulich/Paska that we call Seernaya Paska.

2011

2012

2013

The year we were in Italy just before Easter we brought home the Italian version of Easter Panettone from Milan for our Easter treat. We didn’t bake our traditional Easter bread that year.

2014-04-20 Easter day

2014 was another Panettone Easter.

2014-04-20 Easter eggs-table

2014-04-20 Easter day2

2015

We baked Kulich in 2015!

2016-03-27 easter 2016

Easter preparation day in 2016.

2016 was the daffodil year.

It was also our first year with our newest daughter-in-law.

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Easter celebrations are a priority in our heritage and in our present lives.

The Resurrection we celebrate at Easter is the climax of the story of Redemption God planned throughout all of history. We worship and serve a risen Savior in whom we have redemption. He provided the sacrifice we needed for our sins to be forgiven. Because of that forgiveness, we can live a new life in Him with hope for our future.

Colossians 1:13-14

 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Today on this year’s calendar and in Easter week we think about the Last Supper and Jesus Christ’s humility in washing His Disciples Feet. We also consider His instruction and encouragement to His Disciples on this night for what was about to happen.

God bless you with a heart to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved!

I is for…

For April I’m challenging myself to an A-Z photo a day excluding Sundays and in addition to any regular posts that come to be.

Today is Thursday April 10th and besides my Truth for Today post I’m publishing my I post.

I is for…

The Isle of Iona

This little Isle is rich in history and beauty.

The Isle of Iona is in the Hebrides. We traveled from the city of Oban on a ferry to the Isle of Mull then took a bus through the Isle of Mull to get to a small ferry crossing to the Isle of Iona. This was in May of 2006.

History of Iona

St. Columba, an Irish scholar, soldier, priest, and founder of monasteries, got into a small war over the possession of an illegally copied Psalm book. Victorious but sickened by the bloodshed, Columba left Ireland, vowing never to return. According to legend, the first bit of land out of sight of his homeland was Iona. He stopped here in 563 and established the abbey.

Columba’s monastic community flourished, and Iona became the center of Celtic Christianity. Iona missionaries spread the gospel through Scotland and North England, while scholarly monks established Iona as a center of art and learning. The Book of Kells – perhaps the finest piece of art from “Dark Ages” Europe – was probably made on Iona in the eighth century. The island was so important that it was the legendary burial place for ancient Scottish and even Scandinavian kings (including Shakespeare’s Macbeth).

Slowly the importance of Iona ebbed. Vikings massacred 68 monks in 806. Fearing more raids, the monks evacuated most of Iona’s treasures (including the Book of Kells, which is now in Dublin) to Ireland. Much later, with the Reformation, the abbey was abandoned, and most of its finely carved crosses were destroyed. In the 17th century, locals used the abbey only as a handy quarry for other building projects.

Iona’s population peaked at about 500 in the 1830’s. In the 1840’s a potato famine hit. In the 1850’s a third of the islanders emigrated to Canada and Australia. By 1900 the population was down to 210, and today it’s only around 100.

But in our generation a new religious community has given the abbey new life. The Iona community is an ecumenical gathering of men and women who seek new ways of living the Gospel in today’s world, with focus on worship, peace, and justice issues, and reconciliation.

The island is car free. While the present  abbey, nunnery, and graveyard go back to the 13th century, much of what you see today was rebuilt in the 19th century.

ht: history and other information taken from Rick Steves’ Great Britain

Purple Bliss Hodgepodge

It’s time for Wednesday Hodgepodge and Jo has the questions for us to consider.

1. What’s a lesson you’ve learned from a mistake?  

Don’t judge a book by it’s cover. I’ve made this mistake more than once. I hope I’m learning more and more to get to know a person before I give them a wrong label in my head. Talking to and getting to know someone is a better approach.

2. Do you salt food while you’re cooking or let diners add their own?  What’s a food you think must be salted? Do you like pepper? 

I do season food as I’m cooking. Avocado tastes best to me salted. Yes, I do like pepper, too.

3. What was the last gathering you attended and what did you do there? 

I’m answering these questions on Sunday. We attended church this morning. On this particular Sunday Greg and I were serving by greeting all those who came through the door for the early service. We have other ‘greeter’ responsibilities during the service. Before Sunday School we switch off with the second service greeters and we are free to attend the adult fellowship hour. During the fellowship hour we learned and discussed one of the attributes of God, Everlasting.

4. Your favorite shade of purple?

I enjoy every shade of purple and every purple flower.

What’s your favorite purple flower? 

 

One of my favorites is purple wisteria. The photos above were taken at the Japanese Gardens in Seattle.  Other favorites are lilac, clematis and hydrangeas and of course lavender.

5. Share a favorite spring travel memory. 

In April of 2004 we took our daughter on a trip to England and Scotland for her graduation gift. It was a wonderful trip and a favorite to remember. We traveled to sites with history of her literary favorites like Tolkien, Lewis, Austen, Rowling, and we threw in a little Monty Python, too. We stayed in Cheltenham, Sheffield, York, Edinburgh and London venturing out to take in nearby cities and sites.

A field of daffodils on the grounds of Chatsworth House ( Pride and Prejudice Pemberley)

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Clip clopping with coconuts at Castle Doune with Monty Python.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Speaking of purple, we have 3 graduates in our family from the University of Washington, Greg, Katie and Andrew. Primary Purple and gold are the school colors. Little did Katie know in this photo that she’d graduate from the same University as her father and then her husband, too.

Rathdrum, Idaho

On the way to our getaway in Coeur d’Alene to celebrate my birthday we made a stop in Rathdrum for our lunch. While we were in The Westwood Brewery for our meal we read some interesting history which included this church that is the oldest brick church in Idaho. After lunch we drove by the church for a photoshoot.

Settled in 1861, the City of Rathdrum is located in the Pandhandle of Northern Idaho, 12 miles northwest of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho and 25 miles east of Spokane, Washington.  In the late 1860’s, a pony express relay station was established in Rathdrum and in 1882, the first Northern Pacific rail line was laid allowing ore from the Silver Valley to be shipped by rail to the mills.

Rathdrum is one of the oldest towns in North Idaho. From the beginning, Rathdrum has been an important crossroads, the Indians referred to the area as the “Great Road of the Flatheads.” Hudson Bay and Pacific Fur trading companies traversed the Rathdrum Prairie in the early 1800’s, followed by the Jesuit missionaries in the 1840s. Originally named “Westwood” after Charles Wesley Wood, local pony express rider, rancher and land developer, the city became the County seat for Kootenai County in 1881. In 1908, electors voted the County seat to Coeur d’Alene. In the late 1800s, the city’s name was changed from Westwood to Rathdrum after Rathdroma, Ireland, the birthplace of a local businessman.

Present day Rathdrum is a thriving community of 6,500.  In spite of three major fires, the earliest in 1884 and the last in 1924, many historical buildings still stand including Saint Stanislaus Church, the oldest brick church in the state of Idaho.

I thought it was fun to have our St. Patrick’s Day meal in a town named after a town in Ireland.

The restaurant’s version of corned beef and cabbage with mashed potatoes, gravy and rye bread. Greg ordered the fish and chips. My mocktail was a March special. Blue Curacao with pineapple juice and sprite.

After lunch we drove a few miles to Coeur d’Alene stopping at UGM Thrift store before we checked into our Inn. More about our Inn in another post.

Birthday Week Hodgepodge

Put another candle on my birthday cake, I’m another year old today Friday. It looks like there are 7 candles on my birthday cake above so I’m going to say this was my 7th birthday.

Beware of the Ides of March but not Joyce’s questions for the Hodgepodge this week.

1. March 15th is known as The Ides of March, the date on which Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44 B.C….have you ever been to Rome? If so what did you love most about the city? If not, is this a place you’d like to visit? 

I have never been to Rome. Rome is not on my bucket list even though it has fascinating history associated with it. Coincidentally as I type this my youngest niece is in Rome on a school trip. Sheesh, the only school trips we had living in Southern California was a trip to Disneyland!

I have been to Italy, to Milan, and that was an Italian enough experience for me to savor.

2. ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day.’ What project/activity/improvement (of any kind) do you have going on right now to which this saying might be applied? 

Physically…

Well here we are again trying to get a lot of extra pounds off. Time will tell if this new long term effort pays off.

Spiritually…

I’ll be in the Sanctification process (becoming more like Jesus) all my days on this earth. God is faithful in this process even when I am not.

1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 ~Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.

3. Let’s do a little this or that with some Italian foods…

  • Caprese salad or Prosciutto with melon? 
  • Bruschetta or Antipasto? 
  • lasagne or ravioli?
  • bolognese or Carbonara?
  • Risotto or gnocchi? 
  • tiramisu~gelato~cannoli? 

Prosciutto with melon, bruschetta, ravioli, carbonara, gnocchi and tiramisu, thank you.

4. Of the colors red, white, and green which would I find most prevalent in your home?

I have a lot of red highlights in my kitchen.

Which one do you think is most flattering to you in terms of your wardrobe?

Red and green and white are colors suited to me as per my color chart.

Have you ever had your colors done?

Yes, many years ago and I still have my color chart. Recently I stumbled across that chart and showed it to my ‘daughters’. The fold up chart is pictured above with my colors rated from 2 – 4+. Four plus are my strongest colors with colors that are just a 2 being my weakest colors.

Is that something you’d be interested in doing? 

It was a fun experience.

5. Life would be boring without____________________?

Life would be boring without all that God has done in my life because of Jesus. All the good things in my life have come from Him. Some of those good things were hard and painful. Many were the most worthwhile experiences in my life.

James 1:16-18

16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. 17 Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. 18 In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

My birthday is Friday March 14th and my license is expiring this year so I got to go to the DMV on Monday. All their systems were down when I got there. I bummed around Wal-Mart for a while and decided to go back after an hour to see if they were online again. Hooray, they were. I just walked in and in less than 5 minutes had my license renewed for another 8 years. In two weeks I’ll see how awful my photo is this time around!

Another birthday photo from years ago.

Texas

This Monday evening we were celebrating our Sister-in-law, Mandy who had a milestone birthday in late February. We were able to assure Many that this decade she is entering is a good one.

Lana and I ordered the lamb. Everyone’s choices were delicious.

We sang and enjoyed dessert!

Strawberries Romanov for me and Lana. All the desserts were enjoyed.

It was a great treat to enjoy this celebratory meal while we were in Texas.

We give this restaurant high marks for hospitality and quality.

The Stockyards

The plan for our Monday in Texas was to visit the Fort Worth Stockyards. Steve dropped us off close to Exchange Avenue where the cattle drive would take place at 11:30 A.M. While he looked for a parking spot we moseyed over to find our spot in the crowds waiting to see the cattle drive. This happens twice a day.

 

The crowds dispersed and we poked into a few shops to see the western ware.

Everything a tourist might need to take home for a souvenir.

We started looking for a likely spot for our lunch rendezvous with our brother Leonard. He was driving out after a couple of meetings to enjoy lunch with us.

We made reservations at Hotel Drover’s 97 West Kitchen and Bar.

We had time to walk and do a little more shopping before Leonard met up with us at the restaurant.

We enjoyed the ambiance of the restaurant and had great service.

Full and satisfied with plans to eat again at dinnertime we made our way to our cars and headed back into Dallas and Flower Mound.

If you have never been we recommend the Historic Stockyards at Forth Worth for a visit. I’m glad we were able to visit on a cool day that started misty and improved for our visit.

Puzzles

While in Texas my sister and I enjoyed puzzle time. This was the first puzzle we completed and it was the first puzzle with letter codes on the back of the pieces to determine what section of the puzzle the pieces belonged in. We found it very helpful especially with the black areas.

I always appreciate a puzzle company that includes a poster.

The second puzzle we started and didn’t finish before I left Texas was a very tough one without codes and with so many similar color themes. It caused quite a lot of grumbling but still nice to find those pieces that fit together. My sister sent a photo of the almost finished puzzle she’s progressed on since I left.

It was fun to work on these puzzles with Lana.

Meanwhile here in Colville we are in mud season.

JJ enjoyed that mud.

Addy had an Irish Dance performance while we were gone and we were sent a photo of her before her performance.

On Friday the weather was good enough to do some work outside. I finally got to a couple planters, only about 5 more planters to go.

Have a great Saturday everyone!

Sunday in Dallas

After meeting up at Watermark church in Dallas for the 11:15 church service we gathered at Leonard and Mandy’s for lunch. We enjoyed chicken fajitas with all the trimmings. We had some good conversation around the table with a good recap of the sermon.

My brother Leonard and his dear wife, Mandy.

Our hostess and host and chauffeur for our days in Dallas, Lana and Steve.

Our niece, Hope. (Leonard and Mandy’s daughter)

Our nephew, Andrew. (Leonard and Mandy’s son)

We finished off the day with a stop at Half-Price Books. It was the largest Half-Price bookstore we had ever been in but we were in Texas after all, where everything is bigger!

More from Texas coming soon.

While we were traveling we had Spring weather back in our corner of the world and our grands were happy to get the bicycles out of storage.

Is Spring coming early in your corner?