M is for Mt. Vernon…

“Mount Vernon sits at the center of Skagit County, a true slice of Pacific Northwest heaven located halfway between Seattle and Vancouver, BC. About 25 miles wide and 95 miles long, some of Washington’s most scenic and pristine landscape is found in the Upper Skagit’s North Cascades National Park. From there the land flows like the Skagit River through nutrient-rich farmland to the shores of the Salish Sea.”

In April people from around the world descend on Mount Vernon and the Skagit Valley for it’s annual Skagit Valley Tulip Festival. Here are some photos to show you why. My daughter Katie and I headed north form our house to see the blooms on Monday. We enjoyed a wonderful 70 degree day and got a little sunburned as we tiptoed through the tulips!

It’s best to wear mud boots when you go to the tulip fields!

Beautiful daffodils bloom here, too.

Later this week I’ll be posting more of my photos from our Monday in Mount Vernon!

ABC Wednesday is a weekly meme that originated with Denise Nesbitt and now others keep it rolling along.

I’m also linking up to Outdoor Wednesday hosted by Susan at A Southern Daydreamer.

Country Fun vs. City Fun

Last weekend we traveled five and a half hours to our son’s home in the northeastern corner of Washington state. We were definitely in the country. There are things that you can do in the country that you are not free to do in the city. We have fun doing those things…

We arrived with the sun shining and blue skies.

There aren’t a lot of restaurants to choose from in the country compared to the city but you can still find some real good ones. We had my birthday dinner at The Chalet in Chewelah and we all enjoyed our meals.

Early on Saturday morning the snow started falling. We weren’t expecting that.

Thankfully the snow only lasted till noon and then melted nicely. On Saturday because of the cold and snow Dear and Dan did indoor projects.

In the country you can count on early morning visitors of the 4 legged variety that aren’t dogs or cats.

They make themselves at home.

We love the wide open spaces in the country. While walking out on Dan’s land on Sunday morning it was great to hear all the different birds chirping and the creek running.

Dan is fortunate to have a huge shop where he can work away from the elements.

You can’t do this in our city but in the country we got a great bonfire going cleaning up lots of debris around the property. While we worked outside our corned beef meal was cooking away in the slow cooker. When the clean-up for the day was done my family did some shooting. It’s nice to shoot out in the open instead of in a enclosed shooting range. In the evenings we enjoyed sitting around eating and enjoying each others company.

Before we headed home on Monday morning we drove north into Colville to the National Forest Service office in town to pick up my Senior America the Beautiful lifetime pass and we got a free Military dependent pass for Katie. We joined the locals in Colville for breakfast at Zip’s.

It was fun sitting and listening to the good ole boys talking about their doings and their take on what happened to that Malaysian plane.

Our 6 hour drive home back to the city was uneventful and that’s the way we like it.

So…are you a country mouse or a city mouse or maybe a little of both?

Travelling Surprises…

On Friday we left the Seattle Area at 11:00 A.M. and headed east on Interstate 90 for Eastern Washington to visit our son Dan for the weekend. The road across Snoqualmie Pass was clear of snow and uneventful. As we approached the Columbia River we took notice of the lower water levels because of a crack and repairs on one of the dams upriver.

When we approached the the Quincy area we saw that the wind was really causing some dust storms and as we got closer to the area we saw this eerie sight.

The Attack of the Tumbleweeds!

The tumbleweeds crossing the interstate went on for miles. We hit so many and we noticed many trapped underneath cars and in the front grills.

It was a lot spookier than it looks in my photos. When we pulled off the interstate in Spokane we stopped so an older man could cross the road. He stopped in front of our car and pulled out the large tumble weed that was lodged in our grill. We laughed and thanked him!

We made it to Dan’s in record time and unpacked the car and then headed for dinner.

The roads from Dan’s place to the grocery store on Saturday were quiet and beautiful. I saw a rafter of wild turkeys.

It’s great to travel roads in the great open spaces.

On the way home today the only excitement we had was a snow/rain mix on the pass.

I’ll post more photos of our time at Dan’s place in the next few days now that we are back home again. Hope all is good in your corner of the world.

Snoqualmie Falls

Scroll Down to the Post Below This One for Kathleen’s St. Patrick’s Day Crawl!

Tuesday was such a beautiful day that Katie and I decided to take the drive to Snoqualmie Falls. Although it was dry with clear blue skies and a few fluffy clouds we still got rained on by the falls themselves. The river was running so full and strong that the spray off the falls fell like rain anywhere close.

On Tuesday evening Katie and I went out together to celebrate her and Andrew’s anniversary. Dear is in Florida until tonight so it was just the girls. We chose a waterfront restaurant because the weather was so great. I’ll share the photos from our dinner on another day.

Today was another glorious day and I even had to turn my air conditioning on in the car. I am looking forward to Dear coming home tonight. How’s the weather where you are? I hope it hasn’t turned nasty for you again…

I is for St. Ives

When we were in England last September we traveled to St. Ives and I’m ignoring the St. and calling this Ives for my ABC Wednesday Post. Thanks to Denise Nesbitt for starting this meme and for friends in keeping it going.

St. Ives is on the West coast of Cornwall, England.

As I was going to Saint Ives,
I crossed the path of seven wives.
Every wife had seven sacks,
Every sack had seven cats,
Every cat had seven kittens,
Kittens, cats, sacks, wives,
How many were going to Saint Ives?

It was a nice train ride in and out of St. Ives. St. Ives draws the crowds and even in September it was wall to wall people in the narrow lanes in town.

Repetition…

For my flashback this week I’m going back to England in 1973/1974. When we travel to England this coming July we hope to duplicate some of our visits from the 70’s.

Chalk Church Gravesend

This might be Canterbury.

Stonehenge

Windsor

Anne Hathaway’s Cottage

Maybe I’ll get tea in bed, too.

If you could travel anywhere for 2 weeks where would you choose to go?

My First Plane Ride…

In 1970 my best friend and I were able to plan a trip east to see her family and meet up with friends for a wonderful tour including Mackinac Island, New Jersey, New York City, Buffalo, Boston, Connecticut and Washington D.C. This would be the first time I took a trip that included flying in a plane. Here are my old photos from that trip.

I’m really not sure exactly where we started from and where we ended this trip. My friend Heidi and I traveled from Los Angeles. One of the spots we stayed was in Michigan at our friend Faye’s home. Faye’s dad was our pastor at Bethany Baptist in L.A. for several years. When they left L.A. they settled in Troy, Michigan. Faye and Heidi were best friends through high school. We also spent time on the lake at Peter and Ruth Leonovich’s home. Peter and Ruth took the three of us to Mackinac Island for a day.

We had loads of fun riding bikes around the island. On the way to the island there were threats of rain and I remember Pete stopping the car so the 3 of us could do sun dances instead of rain dances. Looks like it worked.

In New Jersey after we visited Heidi’s grandmother and uncles and aunts we were guests at Peter Leonovich’s brother’s home. Al and Babs treated us to wonderful meals and a trip into New York City to see the sights including the Statue of Liberty.

Somehow we also ended up in Buffalo New York with more “friends of friends” who took us to see Niagara Falls and we had the most delicious barbecued corn during a backyard barbecue that I had ever tasted.

Andy Semenchuk was our amazing tour guide to Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Washington D.C.

Boston was beautiful. I remember how shocked I was at seeing how small Plymouth Rock was.

Because we were from California we had to pose next to Junipero Serra in the National Statuary Room. Turns out the first school Dear and my two sons attended was Junipero Serra Elementary School in Ventura, California.

George Washington’s Mount Vernon

Looking back I’m so humbled at how hospitable everyone was to us. A place to lay our heads, food, sightseeing trips, and transportation everywhere we needed to go and didn’t need to go but these amazing people wanted to treat us to these sights. Thank you, thank you, to Andy Semenchuk, the Al Leonovich Family, Peter and Ruth Leonovich, and the Chechowich family. You broadened our horizons and our world view and modeled hospitality to us! I am forever grateful…

All Booked!

After very little discussion Dear and I decided that the best place to go to celebrate 40 years of marriage would have to be England. The discussion was easy, hitting the purchase button for the flights was a little more difficult but after we did it was full speed ahead to book places to stay. The first spot we chose is a self-catering cottage in a very small village in the Cotswolds. The photo above is the exterior of Fox Cottage. We will spend a leisurely 7 nights here and explore several towns and villages in the area. We’ll venture off as far as Oxford from this spot. “Self-Catering accommodation simply refers to an efficiency in which guests take care of their own meals, laundry and other needs. The accommodation provided has facilities that allows guest to cater for their own day to day needs. Self-Catering accommodation includes a suite with a fully equipped kitchen mainly for guest to prepare their own meals.”

The second spot we are going to stay for 3 nights in in Ross on Wye in Herefordshire. We chose this spot because we really want to visit Hay on Wye which is well known for Used Book Stores. Here’s what wiki says about this town “Hay-on-Wye, is a small market town and community in Powys, Wales, situated on the English border. Often described as “the town of books”, it is the National Book Town of Wales.”

On our way back to a closer proximity to London Heathrow we will re-visit the town of Henley on Thames. Dear and I stayed here in 1973 or 1974 with our Christian Rock Band. We will be staying for one night at the Red Lion that you see here on this old postcard. We hope to visit some of the villages around this area where Midsomer Murders was filmed. We will definitely visit the Argyle in town for a meal.

Our grand finale for two nights will be the Oakley Court in Windsor. Isn’t it grand? We will spend some time in the town of Windsor and if the Queen is not in residence at Windsor Castle we hope to have a tour. From Windsor we’ll make the short drive to London Heathrow and fly home.

Our actual anniversary isn’t until December but we are choosing to celebrate in England in July. The first 2 times Dear and I traveled to England together was in July of 1973 and July 0f 1974. During our trip in 1974 we were already engaged to be married with our wedding planned for December of that year. If anyone has any suggestions for places to visit in the areas of the Cotswolds, Oxford, and Southern Wales please let me know.

Hope you had a nice weekend. I know our Canadian Hockey Fans across the line enjoyed their Sunday. Congrats to Canada on winning the gold.

Cross Country

For my flashback post this week I’m posting some photos from Dear and my trip from California to the Canadian side of Niagara Falls. We made this trip in 1976. We stopped in Denver, Kansas, Illinois, Michigan and Canada in our little yellow 1976 Honda Civic.

Somewhere in Colorado on our way to Denver to visit Dear’s uncles and aunts on his mother’s side. Just as we entered the fine state of Colorado the state patrol decided we should contribute some money for the state’s economy!

Dear had 2 uncles that never married and they cared for their mother till she died. We had a good time in the kitchen and I helped Uncle Cliff make his famous Rhubarb pie. This was my first experience ever with Rhubarb. Uncle Arnold was the poet of the family and historian. We spent some time with Uncle Red (Chester) and Aunt Jeanette at their cabin and Dear helped Uncle Red saw wood. We also stopped to see my sister’s SIL’s family who had moved to Denver from Chicago, Kenneth and Lillian Semenchuk. (Upper left photo). We would stop at another of my sister’s SIL’s in Michigan.

As we continued east we went through Kansas and stopped at Dear’s Great Aunt Matilda’s. She was single all her life and never forgot anyone’s birthday. We all received cards every year while she was alive.

Our next stop was in Peoria, Illinois to visit Dear’s paternal grandmother and his uncle Harry at the family home. We visited other aunts and uncles while in Peoria but I don’t have photos. One uncle was a pig farmer and those pigs scared me. So huge! From Peoria we made a stop in Wheaton to visit our friend Andrew Semenchuk who officiated our wedding and his dear wife, Pauline. They worked for Slavic Gospel Association so we visited the offices in Wheaton.

From Chicago we drove to Michigan to my sister Kathy’s sister-in-law’s home. Peter and Ruth Leonovich were so hospitable and generous to us whenever we ended up at their home on the lake. I learned to water ski here.

We continued on our journey into Canada from Detroit with a plan to stop at a China shop in Windsor to complete my Royal Albert china set. All I had was a tea set that I purchased on one of our trips to England. We found a shop that had a good selection of seconds and we bought service for 12 in my pattern. We decided to continue on and visit the Canadian side of Niagara Falls. We also visited Niagara on the Lake. If only I had a digital camera then. I would love to visit this area again.

Have you ever visited Niagara Falls? This was my second visit. In 1970 I visited friends in Buffalo, New York and they took me to the U.S. side of Niagara Falls.

It’s good for my brain to document these trips we took so long ago. It’s amazing how far we’ve come in the world of photography since those days. When we crossed back into the U.S. from this trip we were given the 3rd degree about our camera. They would not believe we hadn’t purchased it in Canada. I gave them all the receipts for the China but they did not care about the China, all they were concerned about was the camera! Oye!

This week I’m looking forward to a visit to my hairdresser and then our tax return appointment with our accountant. It will be nice to have that behind me. How’s your week shaping up?

But the Greatest of These is Love

When God brought the Mennonite Girls Can Cook together little did we know the doors He would open for us to share His love with others and with each other. Yesterday was a day filled with examples of how powerful God’s love and purposes are and what it can do for a small circle of people and extend to the greater community and the world.

My 220 mile round trip drive up to Abbotsford and back was worth my time.

About thirty minutes into my drive I realized I had left my passport at home and was happy that I had gone to the trouble of getting an enhanced license. It worked great going into Canada and coming back. When I walked up to Lovella’s door I was greeted by Anneliese and Lovella with their cameras in hand. Of course I pulled mine out and started taking photos, too. Lovella’s table was set beautifully for us and the aroma of the food she and Anneliese had prepared set the mood for our celebration.

The 4 Chilliwack girls arrived and we sat down for our delicious meal starting off with Anneliese’s Roasted Red Pepper soup (which I forgot to take a photo of). Lovella made a quiche with fresh laid eggs from her farm and an amazing layered salad with greens, papaya, avocado, strawberries, onions cut big enough just in case we wanted to discard them and a tasty home made avocado dressing.

Lovella will be sharing the recipes soon on our blog.

We missed Bev, who is out of the country with her hubby on a business trip and our Winnipeg girls, Charlotte and Betty. I ~~borrowed~~ stole this next photo from Anneliese’s blog.

Judy made a special Valentine’s day dessert treat for us and because 2 of our girls have February birthdays she brought something special to light their desserts up!

Happy February Birthdays to Marg and Lovella!

Aren’t these desserts in a jar sweet! What a fun surprise to have them come out of Judy’s Tupperware tote and placed on Lovella’s plates and her mom’s vintage paper doilies from years ago.

The main reason we got together on this day was for a special tour of Matthew’s House in Abbotsford which was scheduled for 2:30. We’ve played a small part in making this dream come true. I will share more about Matthew’s House tomorrow. The house that love built…

We were going to meet at a restaurant for lunch before our tour. We all appreciated meeting at Lovella’s home instead where we could have a more intimate time together. Thank you Lovella for thinking of that and opening your home and table to us.

I made it to the border close to four for my trip home and had a fun chat with the U.S. Border agent. I wanted to give both the Canadian and U.S. agents I encountered this day a Gold Medal for doing their job cheerfully! I was home by six with just one nasty back up close to home. I’m always thankful for the ease of travel from my home to Canada.

The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b.

To honor and encourage

Category Archives: Travel