Category Archives: Travel

A Prairie Favorite…

…McNally Robinson Bookstore!

IMG_4283

I was so impressed with this store and all they have to offer.

IMGP6288

The store had our spot all ready for us and the staff was ready to take care of anything we needed during our 2 hour signing.IMGP0163

IMGP0167

This was our first signing in Winnipeg and we were so happy to meet so many wonderful people. It was fun to be seated by the Canadian Biography section of the bookstore.

IMGP0166

IMGP0168

What fun to meet the Wreathmaker, Millie and her husband. I’ve visited Millie’s blog so it was great to meet her in person.

 John Toews, took such good care of us while we signed books at the store!

IMGP0165

We had a little competition with the evening book talk on 300 Years of Beer. I got a kick out of our book sharing the feature case with the Beer book.

IMGP0174

The big thrill of the evening is when we realized that Prairie Ink Restaurant located in the bookstore was serving 3 dishes from our cookbook for the evening that we were there! Lovella’s Maple Glazed Salmon and Prawns, Charlotte’s Vegetarian Black Bean Taco Salad, and Kathy’s Chicken sliders with Pineapple Salsa!

They gave us a taste of the pineapple salsa. Delicious!

They served Charlotte’s Vegetarian Black Bean Taco Salad in a tortilla bowl.

P1040126

When we were done with our signings we sat down in the restaurant to have dinner. I ordered Kathy’s Chicken Sliders with Pineapple Salsa.

A huge thank you to McNally Robinson and Prairie Ink Restaurant for giving a special welcome to our book and our recipes!

My Dear is coming home on Saturday and I’m excited. We are postponing Father’s Day celebrations to let him recuperate from his international travel. What are your plans for the weekend and Father’s Day?

Refreshed…

What a difference a good 8 hours of sleep makes. Monday was such a contrast to Sunday in body and mind. While we were in Winnipeg and Steinbach we were able to stay at Women Refreshed at the Well. The retreat center is the vision of the owner Joy who lives up to her name.

IMGP0144

Oh here I am getting ahead of myself. I’m showing you the inside common living space before I even show you the front door but it’s hard to take a photo of the front door when you are toting in your luggage to get settled in…

 

It was a very welcoming door and the view as the door opened was just as welcoming.

IMGP0305

We entered and met the owner Joy and were shown our rooms. Four of the rooms were decorated for each of the seasons.

IMGP0143

My room was Spring which I enjoyed.

IMGP0145

Marg was assigned to Summer and it suited her well.

IMGP0151

Bev had the Autumn room and again I think it was just right for her.

IMGP0148

Judy embraced her Winter room and even modeled her winter halo for us!

IMGP0146

Lovella was assigned the Restore room with the ensuite. I think it was perfect for her.

I’m sad to say I did not take a photo of the Chapel where our Betty slept next door to me.

IMGP0150

You can see into Betty’s room on this shot upstairs at the end of the hall through the door with what looks like blue walls..

 

We had some great prairie views from the windows at the retreat.

 

IMGP0160

Kathy and Marg relaxed quickly and then kept us all giggling for different reasons throughout our time in the Prairies.

 

We were all thankful to Joy and the refreshment we were able to enjoy at her retreat center. I’ll be sharing more in another post about the wonderful food we were served, too.

I’ve been paying close attention to the Air Traffic Control strikes that are scheduled in France. Dear is traveling there as we speak and we are waiting to see if his flight might be cancelled into Marseille. Update: Dear is in Marseille. Many other conference participants were delayed in getting to the meeting so sessions this morning had to be cancelled. Maybe with his extra time he’ll be able to take some photos of the area. Time will tell.

In the meantime I’m working on emptying out some cabinets as we are getting ready for new floors to go in this old house and we have to move cabinets out of the spaces where the floors will be going in…

What’s going on in your neck of the woods as we approach Father’s Day weekend?

Traveling With Girls…

What a fun way to travel. We had a very girly time everywhere we went. Once in a while a great guy would pop in either cooking for us, organizing something for us, taking photos for us, or getting his book signed by us. We know there are lots of guys out there that love to cook and do it well!

I’ve never flown in Canada before and I enjoyed the laid back security and fun flight attendants on Westjet.

Winnepeg 21

We are approaching summer fast and furious but there still is a lot of snow capped mountains in the Cascade Mountain Range. I was happy to get a glimpse of the Mighty Columbia River that flows close to where our son lives in Eastern Washington. He might have even been fishing in that river the day I flew by…

Winnepeg 2

I found out real quick that for Canadians Tim Horton’s is the place to stop for a coffee and snack. We girls really made a statement early on in our traveling as 4 out of the 6 of us ended up at the wrong gate in Calgary. When we finally realized it was boarding time and nothing was happening we found out our plane had boarded everyone but the 4 of us at a different gate and we high tailed it hoping they wouldn’t leave us behind! Oye! The gate agents said “you must be the Mennonite Girls Can Cook” didn’t you hear our pages for you? We laughed and said we hadn’t heard anything on the loud speakers in the wing we were sitting in. Onward and upward we went…

Winnepeg1

After we arrived in Winnipeg Betty, her daughter Alison, and Charlotte met us to take us to our first stop. We arrived at Charlotte’s home for a wonderful meal. Charlotte’s husband Tony made us his special Campers’ Stew from page 145 in our new cookbook. Delicious! We enjoyed all the lilacs that were in bloom in Winnipeg and Steinbach and we also saw lots of rhubarb plants. This one is Charlotte’s. From lunch we would head off to our lodgings for our nights in Manitoba. I’ll share about that soon.

Today Dear is at the airport waiting for the first leg of his flight to Marseille. I hope he’s at the right gate. He just called to say that they have been alerted about an impending strike at all French airports. Double oye! Now he’ll be checking at the airport in Chicago and London to see if he should continue on or book a flight right back home. Shhhh…don’t tell but I’m really hoping he has to turn around and come home…

More Questions Than Answers…

What’s behind door number 12?

Aren’t you curious to know what lies behind doors like these?

Sometimes in life there are events that cause many questions and few answers. For many of us it’s hard not to have the answer to a problem. At times like these we have to exhibit the faith and trust we are called to. When an answer comes it might not be an easy one to live with but again we live by faith not by sight. I’m a tap your foot kind of person who wants to know what to do and just do it. I’m learning sometimes better than other times to just be still and know that God is sovereign and does things as He wills. As I read the Bible and recall my own history I’m amazed again that the God of the universe was always there and is still here doing what He will for His ultimate purpose. He has never left us or forsaken us no matter how hard or good our situations have been.

So the theme of this post is I don’t understand everything but I’m learning to love the one who knows and holds me and sends me off to do what He wants me to do.

I’m posting random shots today that cause me to wonder and to marvel and have no clear theme. This whole post has no clear theme.


St. Giorgios Parish Church in Varenna, Italay. A small basilica with a nave and 2 aisles, consecrated in 1313. 14th and 15th century frescoes and polyptychs (paintings divided in sections or panels)  in the church were painted by Como based artists. I’m amazed these have been preserved over the years. That’s a lot of years…

Now come with me down another rabbit trail closer to home. It’s time for me to get my Red, White and Blue bin down from the attic. We are moving into the Patriotic season at this old house with Memorial Day Weekend, Flag Day, and the 4th of July coming soon.

The little twist to these events is the fact that we are waiting for the scheduling of our next big project at this old house. We are finally going to start on the floors that needed replacing when we moved in over 12 years ago. We’ve chosen the materials for the first phase of the project. Adding wood floors where vinyl and carpet exist and lots of furniture exists is a mind boggling task. Where do we put everything while the floors are being done? OYE! The second phase will be replacing carpeting (which we haven’t chosen) in the 3 bedrooms, the living room, and stairs which again will mean moving all the furniture around or out. Double Oye!

Thank you for making it through my deep and not so deep thoughts. That’s life isn’t it? The random and mundane along with the amazing and mind boggling events that swirl around us.

What’s swirling around your head or place?

Notecard Party May

I’m posting some old photos from previous posts on my blog for Vee’s Notecard Party. They are all from previous trips we took to Great Britain in 2002, 2004, and 2006.

This was taken at the Hailes Abbey (a 13th century Cistercian Abbey) near Winchcombe, Gloucester, England.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 ~ “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.”

This photo is from Magdalene College in Oxford, England.

Yorkminster in York, England. Photo taken from stairwell in the minster. The roofing material is sheets of lead.

Hollows Farm in the Borrowdale Valley, Lake District, England.

All of these photos were taken before I had a digital camera. I didn’t turn off the date stamp on some of them, either. Oh how I’m looking forward to our return trip to Great Britain in September with my digital camera.

The middle of May already. Do you have plans for Memorial Day Weekend? We are hanging out at home as Dear leaves for a conference the following week to Chicago. I’m staying home for that conference…

Dear’s Side of the Family

The days here at home are short for me before I take off to Canada for our book launch so I’m going to try to capture the beauty of our time celebrating with family and friends in Southern California in my next few posts. There will be a lot of photos because a lot happened and a lot of people were together that aren’t together very often. So get your scrolling finger ready!

They arrived in waves to John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana on Thursday. Katie had to fly into LAX and I’m happy to report that the freeways proved smooth sailing for my drive to pick her up. We arranged a meeting at the hotel to get together with Dear’s only brother’s family. The only one who was missing was our oldest niece Jenna who lives in New York with her husband and grandniece.

The restaurant at the hotel was very dark so you’ll have to excuse my photos!

We had such a good time together catching up and laughing. It was good to hug and console My SIL Christina as her mother Virginia Wicks just passed away at age 92. Chris shared some things she has come across while she and one of her brothers have been sorting through Virginia’s papers. You can read about the amazing roll Virginia played as a publicist and in the jazz world in particular by clicking here and  here. She was also one of the Goldwyn Girls and was featured on one of the covers of Look magazine in 1954.

Our beautiful nieces and sweet grandniece and more shots of our families together in the past year…

Happy to be Home Again…

No matter how much fun it is to go away and enjoy family and friends it’s always good to come home again.

Josh, Laura and I flew back to Washington from John Wayne Airport today and it is so good to be home again. We came home to sunshine and clear views. I’ll be sharing all about the celebrations we enjoyed while we were in California soon. In the meantime the lawn needs mowing and I need to catch up with the laundry. What’s happening at your house?

Galleria Vittorio Emmanuele

We are praying for all the victims of the explosions at the Boston Marathon. I can’t imagine what all these families are going through right now. Hats off to the first responders and the people of Boston who were so ready to help. May God comfort the suffering.

I’m winding down on my Milan posts and today I’ll share shots of the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele which is named after the first King of the Kingdom of Italy and the oldest mall in Italy.

I didn’t go for the twirl on the Bull but I enjoyed watching others twirl on their heels.

I guess I’m not a design shopper as I didn’t feel tempted to go into any of the shops.

No shopping in the oldest galleria but I really enjoyed all the old Architecture and details in the Galleria.

The country we will be visiting with our oldest and his lovely lady is England. Josh and Laura have never been there and it will be fun exploring some old sights with them and discovering some new ones while we celebrate Dear turning 60. 2013 is fast becoming a major travel year for us between Dear’s conferences, family events, and the Mennonite Girls book launches. Praying already for God to go before us.

Psalm 121:8

The Message (MSG)

7-8 God guards you from every evil,
he guards your very life.
He guards you when you leave and when you return,
he guards you now, he guards you always.

More Monumentale…

The entrance to Monumentale Cemetery in Milan is as grand as the rest of the grounds. This cemetery is filled with both contemporary and classical sculptures. We were struck with how massive many of the sculptures are.

This monument reminded me so much of a story from the Old Testament. Anyone out there want to guess which one?

This cemetery would need several hours to fully take in. I will soon share the last part of the cemetery we visited including the Hall of Fame.

Hope your week is going well. So far so good here. I was happy that the constant rain from the weekend has seemed to cease. The exciting news this week is that our new cookbook, Celebrations, is in the hands of some at Menno Press. The 10 of us are excitedly and anxiously waiting for our copy to arrive!

Blessings…

Over the Top…

Monumentale Cemetery in Milan, Italy is hands down the most over the top cemetery I’ve been to yet. I’m breaking down the photos I show into categories. I’ve already shown you a few like the last supper sculpture. This post will be all about angels…

In general I feel angels are depicted too mellow and sweet. I like this one for it’s more rugged style and many more of the sculptures we saw at this cemetery.

Looking at all these statues reminds me of the Amy Grant Song from a few years ago, Angels Watching Over Me.

Got his angels watching over me, every move I make,

Angels watching over me!

Angels watching over me, every step I take,

Angels watching over me!

Now from the past to the present…

Lovella from Mennonite Girls Can Cook and What Matters Most along with her dear husband were camping for one night in our neck of the woods on their way home from Cannon Beach so we were able to get together for breakfast at this old house on Sunday morning. What a fun treat to have them in our home for the first time. I did not take one photo. Can you believe that!? I guess I was just too excited. We had blintzes with fruit topping, bacon, sausages, coffee, and fresh orange juice with maybe some champagne in it. I’m not telling.  Here’s a photo of what the table looked like after the fact…

I have a couple of weeks of quiet on my calendar. The end of April really heats up into May. Hope your week ahead is a good one. Blessings.

Oh and while I’m thinking of it head over to our MGCC blog on Monday to get the recipe for Aebleskivers!