G is for Guard Dog…

On a recent walk Dear saw this Guard Dog on the porch of a house and alerted me so I could take a photo. Now this is a great guard dog that never needs feeding or walking. I think the chain is a good touch!

We are busy at this old house getting all our records together for our yearly gutting by the IRS. I might be slow in getting around because my left hand and wrist are giving me gnawing pain. I’ve lost my grip. I hope I don’t have to go under the knife to get things repaired. I’m visiting my General Practitioner today to get some good advice on how I should go forward.

I’m linking up to ABC Wednesday started by Mrs. Nesbitt and carried on by a GREAT team of bloggers!

Walking Mosaics

The Sammamish River trail is an easy river walk on a mostly level surface. We had a few obstacles because of recent weather.

Our Juanita Bay walk was clear and easy as was our next walk on the Centennial Trail.

Our walk at St. Edward State Park was more of a hike and one where you needed to watch your step.

On this winter day walk we had to dodge mud from recent rains and you always have to watch out for roots.

Linking up with Maggie at Normandy Life for Mosaic Monday.

Here in the U.S.A. Monday is President’s Day, a federal holiday. Banks and Post Offices and schools are closed. This is a busy week coming up for us with a visit to the Tax Man, the hair dresser and we are facing a winter drive across the Cascade Mountain range. Here’s hoping and praying that our travels will be safe with no swerving or slipping and sliding! Also hoping the IRS is kind to our pocket book. I have full confidence in my hairdresser so no worries with that appointment. What are you facing this week?

The Blood Will Never Lose Its Power ~ Hymn

The Blood Will Never Lose It’s Power

The blood that Jesus once shed for me,
As my Redeemer, upon the tree;
The blood that setteth the prisoner free,
Will never lose its power.

Refrain

It will never lose its pow’r,
It will never lose its pow’r;
The blood that cleanses from all sin
Will never lose its power.

It gives us access to God on high,
From far off places it brings us nigh;
To precious blessings that never die,
It will never lose its power.

Refrain

It is a shelter for rich and poor,
It is to Heaven the open door;
The sinner’s merit forevermore,
It will never lose its power.

Refrain

And when with all the blood washed throng
We sing in glory redemption’s song;
We’ll pass the glorious truth along,
It has never lost its power.

Refrain

Words: Civilla D. Martin, 1912.

InSPIREd Sunday

Saint Edward Seminary (sometimes “Saint Edward’s Seminary”) was an institution for developing Catholic priests in the US state of Washington. Dedicated to Saint Edward the Confessor and located in the city of Kenmore, it operated for 46 years before closing in 1976. The seminary and most of its grounds now constitute Saint Edward State Park. The seminary was located on a 366 acres (148 ha; 0.572 sq mi) property purchased in the late 1920s. Building plans were scaled back in 1929 due to the Great Depression. In 1931, the seminary opened as a minor seminary; it became a major (college level) seminary in 1935. In 1958, Saint Thomas the Apostle Seminary opened as a major seminary on 50 acres of the site and St. Edward continued as a minor seminary. The Catholic Archdiocese of Seattle closed St. Edward in 1976 and sold it to the State of Washington in 1977. It became Saint Edward State Park in 1978.

On Tuesday Dear and I drove to St. Edward State Park to hike the North trail. There are several trails that take you down to the shores of Lake Washington. After getting down to Lake Washington we hiked the Seminary trail back up to the parking lot.

This is the Royal Arms of St. Edward the Confessor. I zoomed in on the bell tower to get a closer look. There are plans in the making for restoring the Seminary into a hotel.

I’ll add one photo from the North Trail that we hiked, too.

Psalm 96: 11-13 (ESV)

Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice;
    let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
let the field exult, and everything in it!
Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy
before the Lord, for he comes,
    for he comes to judge the earth.
He will judge the world in righteousness,
    and the peoples in his faithfulness.

I’m linking up to InSPIREd Sunday with Beth and Sally.

We are having a nice low key weekend. Some light rain has returned. No great walks today. I did clean out my closet with a few bags filled to go to Goodwill. Feels good to reassess the things that are cluttering my closet and thus my mind. Hope all is well in your corner. Do you get a long weekend?

Crystal Cove State Park

These are some of the cottages that can be rented. Quite a nice location.

Crystal Cove is a California State Park and the Cottages on the beach can be rented through the Park system. There’s information at this link.

California beaches in January can be very dramatic. Winter is the time of year I really enjoy the beaches.

My sister Vera and I walked along the shore while we waited to be buzzed for our meal. There is a restaurant on the beach in the State Park called The Beachcomber. The food and service was real good. My post about the restaurant is here.

These photos were taken on January 21st. Back here in Western Washington the news of the day is all about mudslides. Our hills have been saturated first with melting snow and now with a significant rain fall. Several roads had to be closed this week because of mudslides. Our major east/west interstate 90 in Issaquah was shut down on the west side this Thursday after mud and debris came across the west bound lanes. Glad I wasn’t there. No one was hurt thankfully. We are getting a little dry spell between the storms which is very helpful!

Hope all is well in your neck of the woods.

I’m linking up to Saturday’s Critters at Viewing Nature with Eileen.

Walking Five…

…not the walking dead.

Last Friday Dear and I ventured out to the Sammamish River Trail for a walk. We walked until the raindrops were hitting us in the face. With our walk by the end of the day my fitbit registered 13,858 steps. Here’s a trail photo.

Saturday morning we walked on boardwalks and walkways at Juanita Bay Park. At the end of this day I had 13,372 steps. Here’s a photo from Juanita Bay.

On Monday we walked part of the Centennial Trail in Snohomish. It was sunny. I registered 13,113 steps by the end of the day.

On Tuesday we walk/hiked the North Trail at St. Edward State park. It was more of a huff and puff walk. By the end of Tuesday I had 12,130. I thought I should have gotten double credit in steps for this hike.

On Wednesday the rains returned with a vengeance so we ventured out from home when there was a slight break in the precipitation. Hoodies up! At the end of Wednesday I registered 12,614 steps.

I’m hoping to keep up with over 10,000 steps every day. I’m also hoping to drop a few pounds. This will be a slow process as I’m not counting calories just increasing my activity. Time will tell if this might work long term for controlling weight gain.

1. Thankful that Dear and I can walk in safe places. 2. Thankful we can still move in this way. We have aches and pains but not debilitating. 3. Thankful for the beauty of God’s creation that we see on our walks. 4. Thankful for some sunshiny days between the rainy days. 5. Thankful for time together to talk and to laugh and to see new things none of which drain the pocketbook.

Linking up to Five on Friday with Amy at Love Made My Home and Friday’s Fave Five with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story.

A Grand Hodgepodge…

1. What do/did you call your grandparents? If it’s something unusual tell us the story behind the name. If you’re a grandparent what do your grands call you? Who chose your moniker?

I called my grandparents babushka and dzedushka growing up. My parents both were born in Russia. Their families escaped separately into Iran and my mom and dad met in a village outside of Tehran and were married there and then immigrated to the U.S. after WWII. Most of their family members immigrated after them. My maternal grandfather/dzedushka died in Iran. The top photo is of me with my maternal grandmother, babushka Vera, on my wedding day. The next photo is of my paternal grandparents, dzedushka Timofei and babushka Marfunia Bogdanoff. We were a lot closer to my maternal grandmother than my paternal grandparents.

2. Ever taken a road trip along the California Coast? If so what was the highlight of your trek? If not, any desire to do so? If you were to take a trip along the California Coast what’s one attraction you’d have on your must-see list?

Dear and I were born and raised in Southern California. Greg was raised a stones throw from Santa Monica and Venice Beach. Why yes we have taken some road trips along the coast of California. On the first night of our honeymoon we stopped in Ventura and then traveled north making stops in Solvang, Carmel, Monterey and San Francisco.

In 1985 we took a bicycle trip with 2 other couples starting in wine country and to the coast at Mendocino and south to Russian river. This is all north of San Francisco.

Since then we have made trips from Camarillo to the Central Coast of California staying in Pismo Beach.

We lived close to the coast in Huntington Beach (1975-1984), Ventura (1984-1988) and Camarillo (2006-2010) during our married life. The photo below of Josh and Dan at the beach is in Ventura 1986.

I would have to break up the coast of California in sections and pick a favorite in each section. The coast of California is very long and varied. North of San Francisco I’d say Mendocino, but inland of course you have wine country Napa and Sonoma. So maybe a combo trip that takes in Napa/Sonoma/Mendocino. San Francisco is a stand alone city to visit. South of San Francisco I’d say Monterey, Pismo Beach or San Luis Obispo, this is also an area with lots of wineries inland from the coast. Farther south Santa Barbara is a stand alone destination. South of Santa Barbara is Malibu and Santa Monica. I’d skip the next several miles south until you get to Huntington Beach. Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, Corona Del Mar and Laguna Beach are all doable together. Lastly I’d do La Jolla and San Diego together. Besides beaches and wineries there are several California Missions along the coastal areas of California.

In January our whole family was in California for a wedding on the coast north of Santa Barbara. I stayed on in California after my family traveled back home and enjoyed a couple days on the beach in Huntington and Crystal Cove.

I’d like to add a northern coastal trip in California some day. From Mendocino up to Oregon.

3. What are three things you don’t know how to do?

Fly, Scuba Dive and Figure Skate.

4. Tom Peters is quoted as saying, ‘Celebrate what you want to see more of.‘ If that’s true what will you celebrate and more importantly, how will you celebrate?

Right now we are celebrating getting past 10,000 steps with our fitbit keeping us informed and motivated being connected with family members on fitbit, too. I want to see more of this kind of movement in my life and I want to achieve those steps out in nature as much as possible.

5. Thursday (February 16) is National Almond Day. Do you like almonds? Which would you prefer-an Almond Joy or a macaron? What’s something you make that calls for almonds?

Almond Joy! My famous cheesecake recipe calls for almond extract.

6. What does Saturday morning look like at your house?

These days Saturday morning looks like any morning since Dear has been unemployed for 8 months. Last Saturday morning we went for a walk at a local bay park. Hopefully a morning walk will be a habit on Saturday mornings before we have a doughnut!

7. Share with us a favorite book you’ve read this winter.

The Great Reckoning by Louise Penny. The latest Chief Inspector Gamache novel.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

We are in count down mode for the arrival of our first grandchild a little girl who is already named, Addyson, Addy. We are going to be traveling to northeast Washington for an open house/baby shower for our kids next week. We are hoping for a good travel day across the Cascade mountain range there and back again. While at Dan and Jamie’s, Dear will be painting Addy’s nursery and a dresser they will be using for Addy’s things. Dear’s first job was painting with his father. He’s very good. As soon as we hear that Jamie is in labor later in March we will hit the road again and travel east to catch a very early glimpse of our first grandchild. Not sure what we want to be called. Maybe I’ll stick to my roots and have her call me baba/babushka. Maybe Dear will be called Papa. Time will tell.

Linking up to Wednesday Hodgepodge with Joyce From This Side of the Pond. Thanks for the questions Joyce.

Happy Valentine’s Day

We invited Josh and Laura over for an early Valentine’s Day meal. (We also invited Katie and Andrew but they were booked solid for Sunday and Tuesday) This happened on Sunday late afternoon. At first I set the table with these plates but then decided the main course would be served better in a bowl.

Dear and I tackled Julia Child’s Boeuf Bourguignon buying all the ingredients on Saturday and starting some of the steps then and finishing it on Sunday.

This one is a bit blurry, so here’s another one.

This meal deserves lots of photos since the process was more complicated than it needed to be. I love Julia but her editors could have made the instructions easier and more precise. The final product was delicious and we’ll make it again with just a few adjustments.

One of the steps was preparing these lovely pearl onions and then adding mushrooms cooking them to their delicious state and then adding them to the beef that had cooked for a few hours.

On Saturday we picked up several meaty soup bones and per Jacque and Julia’s instructions (a little vague) we made our own beef stock after roasting these bones topped with these vegetables. The steps after the roasting were the really vague part but we used our own skills to pull it off and the stock was delicious and ready for our Sunday Boeuf Bourguignon creation which is simpler to just call beef stew. Everything came together nicely even though we laughed and scratched our heads about some of the instructions, reading them out loud to each other several times. Besides Julia’s 2 classic cookbooks we have a cookbook called Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home (Jacques Pepin). This cookbook also has the stew recipe in it so we were flipping back and forth between the two books.

It was a fun thing to do together. I got the idea for cooking a Valentines meal with your love instead of going out from a blog post and I forget who is the one who suggested this. If it was you, please let me know. The suggestion was to pick something you had never tried cooking before. There were only a couple times we stepped on each other’s toes.

When we got the text saying Josh and Laura could join us on Sunday I realized I was so wrapped up with Julia I forgot about dessert so before church we stopped by the store to buy a chocolate cake mix and raspberries. It was my plan to make these small heart shaped cakes but there was enough batter left to make this medium heart shaped cake, too.

This medium sized cake with pink pearls went home with Josh and Laura so that Laura could take it to work and share it with her co-workers. It was devoured and enjoyed.

I served the little heart shaped cakes on a bed of raspberry coulis (sauce) for the four of us.

I forgot to take a photo of the four of us while we enjoyed our meal so I’ll add this photo of Josh and Laura taken another time and in another place.

And in the “spirit” of selfies I’ll add this one of Dear and me taken yesterday with our shades on, too.

Our evening together was so enjoyable and it was good to get caught up on some current details of our lives. After dinner and dessert we watched a couple episodes of Hunted together. It was new to all of us but Josh and we all enjoyed it. I may or may not have watched a few more episodes after Josh and Laura headed home. It’s a little disconcerting learning how much of all of our lives can be found out if someone with skills wants to find out. Big brother really is watching us.

I’ll leave you with a couple sentiments and a solid truth for this and every day, not just Valentine’s Day!

The upper sign was a gift from Josh and Laura for our anniversary one year. The heart has part of the solid truth you can depend on. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16 (KJV)

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone. Hug your loved ones and tell them you love them!

Snoqualmie Falls

Dear, my sister Vera and I drove to Snoqualmie Falls on Saturday January 28th. The falls weren’t at their fullest on this trip.

On this day we decided to hike down to the bottom of the falls. Our first time to do this.

It was nice to have a different view.

The river was fast and furious and frothy!

After our hike down the trail and the harder hike up again we decided a nice cold brew and good meal were the next thing to enjoy.

Linking up with ABC Wednesday, F is for Snoqualmie Falls. Thank you Mrs. Nesbitt, Roger and the friendly ABC team.

Flashing back to Sunday evening and our early Valentine’s day celebration with our kids Josh and Laura. I’ll share more tomorrow. Happy Valentine’s Day ABCers!

Saturdays Past

It’s already been 3 weeks ago that I was on the beach at Crystal Cove having brunch with my sister. I still need to share the photos of the lovely beach and the history of the state park where this restaurant is located…right on the beach. The food was very good!

I took this photo just out front of the restaurant. After you are shuttled across the highway (for $1.50) from the parking lot to the beach side of PCH (Pacific Coast Hiway) which costs $15.00 to park, you can put your name in at the restaurant and they give you a buzzer to let you know when they can seat you. This is a very popular place to enjoy a meal so the wait can be long. In the meantime you can explore the beach and walk along the sand until you are buzzed. If you eat at the restaurant you can show your paid receipt and your parking is free for up to 3 hours. There is a tunnel that goes under PCH if you’d like to walk to the beach side of PCH and get to the beach and restaurant on foot instead of the shuttle. On this day we took the shuttle across because the tunnel was closed due to the heavy rains and runoff that was flooding the tunnel. When we were done with brunch and exploring and ready to go back to the parking lot the tunnel was open with cautions of some running water. We chose to walk the tunnel back. Crystal Cove is a California State Park.

The tunnel was decorated with several murals that were painted by boy scout troops and others. There are hiking trails where you can come across these plants pictured in the mural above.

These two were my favorites. “Protect what you see and what you Don’t see” and the lower one that showed Splash Zone, High Tide, Mid Tide, Low Tide and Sub Tidal.

Linking up to Mosaic Monday with Maggie at Normandy Life.

Also linking up to Monday Mural with Oakland Daily Photo.

Now to the present…Dear and I did some walking on Friday and Saturday morning. We walked a river trail and then at a nearby park on a bay. We hope to make it a habit to walk more. Sunday evening we are having Josh and Laura over for an early Valentine’s Day meal. Dear and I have been cooking for a couple days now trying to recreate Julia Child’s Boeuf Bourguignon. I hope I remember to take some photos of the finished product. Hope you all had a nice weekend. The sun is shining nicely here right now!

The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b.

To honor and encourage

G is for Guard Dog…

Walking Mosaics

The Blood Will Never Lose Its Power ~ Hymn

InSPIREd Sunday

Crystal Cove State Park

Walking Five…

A Grand Hodgepodge…

Happy Valentine’s Day

Snoqualmie Falls

Saturdays Past