Five Hats I’ve Worn…

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

I’m sharing five of the hats I’ve worn and continue to wear over the years. These are the earlier years before marriage.

Daughter to Moisi and Nadia Bagdanov, Russian immigrants whose families escaped out of Russia into Persia and immigrated to the U.S. after WWII.

Younger sister to Kathy, Vera and Fred.

Kathy, my mom, me in front of her, Fred and Vera. I was the baby of the family for 7 years before the siblings doubled!

Fred, my Pop, me, Kathy and Vera.

Older sister to Tim, Steve, Lana and Leonard (twins).

Student in the Montebello Unified School District. Schools I attended were Montebello Gardens, Fremont Elementary, Montebello Junior high and Montebello high school. I grew up in suburbs east of Los Angeles with many Hispanics and a fair share of Russian, Armenian and Jewish families, too. A great melting pot.

Mrs. Nicolaus my 1st and 2nd grade teacher was one of a handful of my teachers that I knew were fond of me. I was a voracious reader and she recommended that I be skipped from 2nd grade to 3rd grade. (Top Row left with my curly “do”)

Graduate: Junior high graduation with my little maternal babushka (grandmother) and High School graduation with my little babushka.

College graduate with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Home Economics and a Elementary teaching credential. On the left me and dear before we were married and on the right me and my brother Fred. We graduated the same year and from the same college.

So daughter, sister, student, graduate and number five for this week is part-time employee. All through the end of my senior year of high school and through college I worked part time to save and pay for my college education. My parents could not afford to pay for my college education.

This photo is from the parts department of Montgomery Ward in Rosemead, California. I worked here during the years I attended Cal-State Los Angeles my last 4 years of college. College was 5 years for me as I had an extra year to earn my teaching credential. My first year of college I worked as a Teacher’s Assistant in the Russian department at the University of Redlands. In my high school years I worked as an office assistant at Link-Belt in Montebello. See the huge Icthus I’m wearing? I was never shy about the fact that Jesus Christ was and is my Savior. This was also the early 70’s when the Jesus movement was going strong in Southern California.

Thanking God today for how he’s been with me all these years leading and guiding and protecting me. All the way my Savior leads me…

Fences with Flowers…

On my neighborhood walk in the Spring these are the flowers and scenes I see with different fences.

The start of my walk on this sunny morning is from the front of our home on the drive that leads out to the neighborhood. That’s our pear tree on the left at the beginning of the drive. Me and my shadow…

This is the first lilac that I pass along my route with white plastic fence sections you can buy at the big box hardware stores.

At the middle of my walk I see these beautiful rhododendrons against a wooden fence. I want to buy one of these varieties for my yard.

Tulips blooming with a wooden fence in the background across the street from the pretty rhoddies.

Home again, home again, chain link fence. This is the back of our property that happens to back up to the street. Our house is backwards where all the other houses in this neighborhood face the street we turn our back on it! We fool a lot of new delivery people. Our home was the first one in this neighborhood tract. Our old house used to be a nursery with no properties around it at all. The streets and the rest of the neighborhood were added when whoever owned this old house sold it for development.

I’m linking up with TexWisGirl for Good Fences. #108

Signs…

In waiting in the backup line at the Peace Arch Border crossing from Canada to the U.S. I snapped these photos of some signs. These signs are the obvious signs that let you know you are in the good ole U.S.A.

This next photo is a different kind of sign that lets you know you are in the U.S.A.

Long may she wave!

Linking up to signs, signs with Lesley.

In joining a gym with my Medicare Supplement Silver Sneakers option some muscles that have been happy being dormant are now screaming at me and not happy that they have been woken up out of their slumber. Hopefully this next week I will tame these beasts! Otherwise this week is going well. How’s your week?

Neighbors to the North

We found this monument close to Stanley’s in Stanley Park and I’m glad we took the time to read the inscription.

The monument was erected as a memorial to President Harding’s visit to Canada in 1923.

“What an object lesson of peace is shown today by our two countries by all the world. No grim-faced fortifications mark our frontiers. No huge battleships patrol our dividing waters. No stealthy spies lurk in our tranquil border hamlets. Only a scrap of paper recording hardly more than a simple understanding safeguards lives and property on the Great Lakes, and only humble mile posts mark the inviolable boundary line for thousands of miles through farm and forest.

Our protection is in our fraternity. Our armour is our faith, the tie that binds more firmly year by year. Ever increasing acquaintances and comradeship through interchange of citizens and the contract is not of perishable parchment, but of fair and honorable dealing which God grant shall continue for all time.

Erected by Kiwanis International in memory of a great occasion in the life of two sister nations here on July 26, 1923 Warren Gamaliel Harding twenty ninth president of the United States and first president to visit Canada.” (Erected 9-16-1925)

We were very surprised to read that Harding was the very first president to visit Canada.

Linking to Mrs. Nesbitt’s ABC Wednesday for N is for Neighboring Nations. Thank you Roger and team for administrating the meme.

I’m also linking to Tuesday’s Treasures with Tom the Backroads Traveler with this National treasure.

In the last few years I’ve enjoyed many visits to our neighbor to the North and I’m always thankful that it’s an safe border to cross without fear.

Scenes from Stanley Park

All these photos were taken on Friday March 18th in Stanley Park.

And once again I find myself with the need to de-fluff and while we were in a gift shop by the Totems in Stanley Park Dear called me over to a case to show me this…

If it wasn’t so pricey I would have bought it! I’m losing the same weight I lost before our son Dan’s wedding last year. Ha! Anybody else out there find yourself gaining, losing, and gaining again? I’m not trying to be skinny just want to have a bit of room to spare in my jeans and tops and I don’t want to go up another size! I joined a gym on Friday with my Silver Sneakers and even made it through a Zumba class. Met some nice gals who let me know about other good classes at the gym. On Monday I meet with a personal trainer for an assessment. Scary but good.

We had a productive weekend again with mowing, weeding, and moving vehicles into and around Dear’s shop. Today after church we had a birthday brunch for our son-in-law, Andrew. His birthday is on Tuesday. Josh and Laura joined us for Eggs Benedict, Hash Browns, and Fruit. For the birthday cake we had cinnamon rolls, much appreciated by Andrew. We have a quiet week coming up. Hope you all have a good Sunday and start to a new week!

Awake, My Soul, and With the Sun ~ Hymn

Thomas Ken ~ (1637-1711)

Words: Thomas Ken, Manual of Prayers for the Use of the Scholars of Winchester College, 1674.

Ken wrote this hymn at a time when the established church believed only Scripture should be sung as hymns—with an emphasis on the Psalms. Some considered it sinful and blasphemous to write new lyrics for church music, akin to adding to the Scriptures. In that atmosphere, Ken wrote this and several other hymns for the boys at Winchester College, with strict instructions that they use them only in their rooms, for private devotions. Ironically, the last stanza has come into widespread use as the Doxology, perhaps the most frequently used piece of music in public worship. At Ken’s request, the hymn was sung at his funeral, fittingly held at sunrise.

Awake, My Soul, and With the Sun

Awake, my soul, and with the sun
Thy daily stage of duty run;
Shake off dull sloth, and joyful rise,
To pay thy morning sacrifice.

Thy precious time misspent, redeem,
Each present day thy last esteem,
Improve thy talent with due care;
For the great day thyself prepare.

By influence of the Light divine
Let thy own light to others shine.
Reflect all Heaven’s propitious ways
In ardent love, and cheerful praise.

In conversation be sincere;
Keep conscience as the noontide clear;
Think how all seeing God thy ways
And all thy secret thoughts surveys.

Wake, and lift up thyself, my heart,
And with the angels bear thy part,
Who all night long unwearied sing
High praise to the eternal King.

All praise to Thee, Who safe has kept
And hast refreshed me while I slept
Grant, Lord, when I from death shall wake
I may of endless light partake.

Heav’n is, dear Lord, where’er Thou art,
O never then from me depart;
For to my soul ’tis hell to be
But for one moment void of Thee.

Lord, I my vows to Thee renew;
Disperse my sins as morning dew.
Guard my first springs of thought and will,
And with Thyself my spirit fill.

Direct, control, suggest, this day,
All I design, or do, or say,
That all my powers, with all their might,
In Thy sole glory may unite.

I would not wake nor rise again
And Heaven itself I would disdain,
Wert Thou not there to be enjoyed,
And I in hymns to be employed.

Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

So…I was very surprised to find out that there is so much more to the Doxology and that it was taken from a longer hymn called Awake My Soul and With the Sun. I’m glad to know the whole story behind this great piece probably every one of us has sung time and time again!

Five Smiles…

Here are Five things from this last week that made and make me smile. I’m sharing at Five on Friday with Amy and Friday’s Fave Five with Susanne.

On Saturday Dear and I worked for several hours in our yard with chores that needed to be done. Things like pressure washing, cleaning out gutters, weeding, and washing my car.

Smile #1 is our very clean deck after being pressure washed that is ready for the covers to go up on our patio structures soon.

Smile #2 Our pear tree in full blossom with a closeup of it’s blossoms.

Smile #3 Beautiful apple blossoms on our apple tree.

Apple Blossoms

Of all the months that fill the year,
Give April’s month to me,
For earth and sky are then so filled
With sweet variety.

The apple-blossoms’ shower of pearl
Though bent with rosier hue,
As beautiful as woman’s blush,
As evanescent too.

On every bough there is a bud,
In every bud a flower;
But scarcely bud or flower will last
Beyond the present hour.

Now comes a shower-cloud o’er the sky,
Then all again sunshine;
Then clouds again, but brightened with
The rainbow’s coloured line.

Ay, this, this is the month for me:
I could not love a scene
Where the blue sky was always blue,
The green earth always green.

(Letitia E. Landon, 1802-1838)

Smile #4 Lilac Bush getting ready to show all it’s glory.

Smile #5 Camellia’s blooming away with Azaleas getting ready.

I love Spring and I’m always renewed in my attitude and outlook during this beautiful season. More plants in the yard are waiting to show their color and I’ll share those after they are in full form.

I have to say that our hard work on Saturday gave Dear and me the groans and moans every time we had to get up or sit down or climb the stairs. Thankfully our muscles aren’t screaming at us anymore but we still know they weren’t happy with our efforts. Never the less I’ve finally been able to get back to walking most every day this week. It’s time for me to shed some of my fluff!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Signs and Fences…

The signs and fences I’m sharing today are all from Stanley Park in Vancouver, B.C. taken on Friday March 18th.

We were happy to find Stanley’s at lunch time. We were still full from our hearty breakfast but after walking about we were ready for some refreshment.

May would be another great time of year to visit Stanley Park to enjoy the Rose Gardens. I still have a post with the beautiful flowering trees we enjoyed on this day. After we had our refreshment at Stanley’s we hit the road back to the good ole U.S.A.

I’m linking up with Lesley for signs, signs and with TexWisGirl for Good Fences.

We have another few days of sunny weather here in the Seattle area and there are predictions of the temps getting close to 80 tomorrow!! I’m back in a pattern of walking which is a good thing. I finally got my Senior Sneakers membership card so I will head to a gym nearby to sign up and see how that goes…

What’s new for you?

Mennonite Girls Can Cook

M is for the Mennonite Girls Can Cook! I am one of the ten girls who have a blog we collaborate on to post a recipe a day and a devotional on Sundays. That blog is called Mennonite Girls Can Cook. We also have two published cook books, Mennonite Girls Can Cook and Mennonite Girls Can Cook Celebrations. Both of these books are available on Amazon.

Anneliese, Judy, Lovella, Kathy, Bev, Betty, Ellen, Julie, Charlotte, and Marg.

Sometimes my meme buddies think that MGCC is my blog and all the recipes are mine because of my blogger comment link that will take you straight to MGCC. If your blog has the (name/url) option to click on when I comment everything works great for memes because I can put in the url that will take you straight to my ABC Wednesday post, etc. My personal blog is The Happy Wonderer, ellen b. but blogger/google has hijacked me and will send you straight to the MGCC blog if you click on my comment name when I don’t have another option in commenting. Does that make sense? Enough of that…back to the Mennonite Girls.

In 2010 all ten of us got together for the very first time to sign the contract for our first cookbook. Nine Canadians and one American, me. The nine Canadians hail from Abbotsford, Chilliwack, Winnipeg and Steinbach.

Here we are with our first cookbook in hand. It’s easy for me to get together with the girls from British Columbia and we cherish the few times all 10 of us can be together since Betty and Charlotte are over 2200 miles away from us. Along our cookbook journey we’ve had some fun book signings at farm markets, 10,000 Villages, bookstores and more…

Barnes and Noble in Bellingham and Ten Thousand Villages in Vancouver.

We’ve also done cooking demonstrations at the West Coast Women’s Show, Lepp Farm Market, Mennonite Relief Sales and on Global T.V.

In July of 2012 we signed a contract for our second book “Celebrations” which would be released in Spring of 2013.

Since this book was first published the cover has changed.

The West Coast girls traveled to Manitoba for book signings at several locations around Winnipeg and Steinbach so Charlotte and Betty were our hostesses for this great trip. I drove up to Abbotsford, B.C. to hop on a plane with the west coast girls for this trip to Winnipeg.

I never dreamed blogging would bring this whole new world of Mennonites and Cookbooks into my life. This journey started with me contributing some recipes to the newly formed Mennonite Girls Can Cook blog that was inspired by a Paska Post on Lovella’s blog. Because the girls and I have family recipes that are very similar I was invited to be one of the contributors on the newly formed Mennonite Girls Can Cook blog even though I am not Mennonite. The ten of us remained faithful to the blog and soon a publisher came knocking at our door. Beyond publishing and blogging we have formed lifetime friendships with each other. The girls call me their adopted American cousin.

It’s not just the girls who enjoy our times together. Our husbands get to come along for the ride, too. We get together for events that have nothing to do with our cooking blog, too, but there is always good food to be eaten whenever we gather together!!

All this fun has not stopped yet because in August we will be published again with a smaller Devotional book with some recipes included.

I’m linking up to ABC Wednesday started by Mrs. Nesbitt and carried on by the masterful Roger and the ABC team. Thank you!

Totems at Stanley Park

The nine totem poles at Brockton Point are BC’s most visited tourist attraction. Because many of the original totems were carved as early as the 1880s, they have been sent to museums for preservation. The totems you see at Brockton Point today are new ones commissioned or loaned to the park between 1986 and 1992.

Luke Marston’s sculpture, Shore to Shore, stands at the site of his family’s ancestral village site X̲wáýx̲way, and celebrates Portuguese adventurer Joe Silvey (“Portuguese Joe”) as well as his first and second Coast Salish wives, Khaltinaht and Kwatleemaat. The artist Luke Marston is the great-great-grandson of Portuguese Joe and Kwatleemaat.

Joe Silvey was born and raised on Portugal’s Altantic Azores Islands, though after several adventures, Joe found himself on the Pacific, and an early pioneer of Vancouver’s Gastown.

The sculpture honours the link between Portuguese and Coast Salish First Nations cultures, marks the land’s rich heritage, and symbolizes unity for the Vancouver’s present-day diverse inhabitants. The large bronze sculpture is surrounded by engraved Portuguese stone, prominently installed in Stanley Park’s Northeast shore, overlooking downtown. You can read more about Shore to shore here.

The Skedans Mortuary Pole is a replica as the original was returned home to Haida Gwaii. In the late 1980s, the remaining totem poles were sent to various museums for preservation and the Park Board commissioned and loaned replacement totems.

In March Dear and I had an overnight trip to Vancouver B.C. and we were able to spend a few hours in Stanley Park on March 18th. We stopped at the Totems at Brockton Point for a while. You can buy an all day parking pass for $6.00 which worked well for all our stops. I’ll share our other stops at the park soon.

I’ll be linking up to Tuesday’s Treasures hosted by Tom the Backroads Traveller.

The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b.

To honor and encourage