Singing My Heart Out…

When we can’t see her in person and are 6 hours away my eyes light up when I see the little green light on my phone saying you’ve got a message. Our daughter-in-law is good at sending us photo updates of little Addy May. Thank you dear Jamie!

Our two girls from across the state staying warm in their icy cold conditions.

Here she is just chillin in the kitchen while mama gets something done. Dan and Jamie are going to have to make a more secure play area for her since just this week she’s learned to use her play toys to climb up onto the couch and be able to escape her cordoned off play area.

What does all of this have to do with singing?

I’ve been singing all my life and it’s an important part of my life. My love for singing started in church. In my father’s Molokan church growing up into my teens singing was acapella. There were no instruments in the church and the songs were mostly from the Psalms in the Old Testament portion of the Bible. My father was a “songleader” in this church. For Easter and Christmas we would visit my maternal grandmother’s Russian Baptist Church where we enjoyed singing with piano and organ. In junior high school choir was one of my classes and I was introduced to notes and music. After my father attended the Billy Graham Crusade in Los Angles in 1963 he started a new life of following Christ as his Savior and we eventually left the Molokan Church. We started attending my maternal grandmother’s church. At the Baptist church my sisters and I were part of the youth choir which eventually worked on recording tapes of Russian hymns for Far East Broadcasting and Slavic Gospel Association to be broadcast into the Soviet Union over radio waves. During my high school years our youth choir went out every Christmas Eve to carol in Russian and English at old folks homes. We’d choose the homes where folks from the Russian churches were housed. There was one apartment building a couple doors down from Bethany Baptist Church in Los Angeles where several of our widowed grandmothers lived in separate apartments next door to each other. We’d always start our caroling there. I have to add that in my junior high and high school years I memorized and sang along with the Beatles and Leslie Gore and with whatever other group was popular. I was a “songleader” in high school. We were part of the cheer squad at sporting events and mostly yelled chants while performing routines with pom poms. “Push em back, push em back, waaaaay back. LOL!

In my college years our Los Angeles Russian Choir added some Russian voices from around the state of California and we recorded an album in a professional studio. During this time we met a studio musician who directed a Christian singing ensemble that toured the states and Great Britain. My best friend at the time auditioned for his group. She was added and toured England with them in the summer of 1972. I met the members of Tom Keene and the Contemporaries before they left for England and when they returned an alto left and I auditioned and joined the group in fall of 1972. Dear, his brother and sister in law were part of the Contemporaries. Dear and I started dating. We performed most every Sunday evening at a different church in the greater Los Angles area singing and giving our testimonies. We had weekly practices. Dear and my relationship grew and we got married after our second tour of Great Britain.

This was a newspaper article from a British paper about our group touring and singing in local schools.

Chalk church in Gravesend

All this talk about singing was inspired by the fact that today Laura bought tickets for me, my sister Lana and Katie to attend The Sound of Music sing along at the 5th Avenue in Seattle. The four of us are meeting for lunch and then popping into the theater for what I’m sure will be a fun time of singing our hearts out! Have you ever attended one of these sing along events?

Looking forward to spending a few hours with these girls. Wish our girls from across the mountains could be with us.

My semi professional singing days are well over and now my favorite times to sing are still in church and to little Addy May. I sing nursery rhymes and other songs to her. She doesn’t care that my voice cracks and I don’t stay on key or…if I make up the words! Looking forward to when she can sing along with me!

Till next time, The hills are alive…

Kitchen Counters and Backsplash

Our kitchen counters before were Formica with an oak trim. The backsplash was a white square tile with a few decorative tiles above our black range top. Our sink was cream colored and slightly oval. The cabinets show up a little too yellow/green in some of the above photos. The actual colors are more true in the following photos.

First order of business was removing all the old tile. The walls where the tile pulled off more than was desired were repaired and then given a primer coat of paint.

The night before the installers were to arrive with the new quartz counters, Dear pulled off the old counters and hauled them out of the house.

The installers came and made quick work of installing the counters plus our new stove top and stainless sink. After a day of letting the counter adhesive dry, Dear started in on installing the subway tile backsplash. We chose a grey grout and a 1/16th inch spacers  between the tiles. In the end because the subway tiles we chose were slightly beveled the grout looks to be closer to 1/8 inch. We like it.

A double stainless oven could be in our future, wink, wink.

Now here’s a real blast from the past showing this same kitchen in the year 2000! These counters weren’t new when we moved into this old house in 1998 so they got plenty of wear and tear and were ready to go. I never liked how dark the cabinets were and the effect they had on the whole kitchen/eating area and was happy when Dear painted them later and added the white square backsplash instead of blue wallpaper. The old black double oven was replaced with a new black double oven later in the 2000’s. Too bad I didn’t choose a stainless one when we replaced this old one. Sigh…

Here’s Dear and me in 2017 standing right where Dan was standing back in the year 2000 with his choo choo train cake.

I am thankful for our new quartz counter tops and subway backsplash. They brighten up our kitchen even more.

So my promise to show the before and after has now been kept. I’m starting off the New Year right. Hope all is well and you are warm and cozy in your neck of the woods.

If Only I Knew Hodgepodge

Happy New Year from Seattle! The Space Needle is getting a face lift/renovation. They are saying there will be a glass see through observation floor. too. Here are this weeks questions for Wednesday Hodgepodge.

1. It’s that time of year again…time for Lake Superior University to present a list of words (or phrases) they’d like to see banished (for over-use, mis-use, or genera uselessness) in 2018. You can read more about the decision making process and word meaning here, but this year’s top vote getters are-

unpack, dish (as in dish out the latest rumor), pre-owned, onboarding/offboarding, nothingburger, let that sink in, let me ask you this, impactful, Cofefe, drill down, fake news, hot water heater (hot water doesn’t need to be heated), and gig economy

Which of these words/phrases would you most like to see banished from everyday speech and why? Is there a word not on the list you’d like to add?

I’ve not heard some of these words or phrases. I’m not tired of any of these…yet. I’ve not been following a lot of news these days. I had to look up some of them to see what they mean.

2. What’s something you need to get rid of in the new year?

Stuff…lots of stuff. But what stuff? What stuff will I miss when I move if I get rid of it? What stuff will just be a bother to move? What stuff is junk and what stuff is keepsake worthy?

3. Where do you feel stuck?

See question #2.

4. January is National Soup Month. When did you last have a bowl of soup? Was it made from scratch or from a can? Your favorite canned soup? Your favorite soup to make from scratch on a cold winter’s day?

I had a delicious bowl of Dear’s Tomato Rice Soup on Christmas Eve, made from scratch. Dear makes that soup. The soup I like to make from scratch is Borsch (Borscht) or Spinach Borsch or Lopsha (all soups from my Russian Heritage). The photo above is of my Borsch. My favorite canned soup is Cream of Mushroom to use it as an addition in other recipes.

When someone has a sore throat or a cold at this old house we like to get Hot and Sour Soup from a local Chinese take-out. It a nice spicy burn going down and clears the sinuses!

5. Tell us one thing you’re looking forward to in 2018.

Knowing what property we will be moving into would be very helpful to my dilemma in question #2.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

My favorite word for 2017 is Grandmother/Baba. This little one awarded me that title by being formed by God and born to our son and daughter-in-law. Thank you God and Father for this sweet gift.

I’ll be linking up to Wednesday Hodgepodge with Joyce From This Side of the Pond. She asks the questions and we provide the answers.

Hope 2018 is starting off well for you!

Looking Back at 2017

This is one of those posts that is for my own brain to keep this past year in a kind of order. These collages are prompts for my memory.

January is the only month I’m giving a full collage to because it was filled with family events in California. Joe and Hannah’s wedding at an orchid farm in Goleta, a family baby shower for Jamie and Addy, the Getty Museum, the funeral of a best friend’s mom where I was reunited with lots of old friends and beach time with family. Vera visited the Pacific Northwest and we went to Snoqualmie Falls and the Chihuly Glass Museum.

Dear and I took some short and long road trips and had some nice walks.

Family times in Colville and in Seattle throughout the year before and after Addy was born.

Josh and Laura

Katie and Andrew

Dan and Jamie and now Dan, Jamie and Addy.

Addy May

Uncle Josh and Addy

Addy May

Mommy, Daddy and Addy

Auntie Katie and Uncle Andrew with Addy

Auntie Laura with Addy.

Gramps and Addy

Gramps, Baba and Addy

Baba and Addy

May in California for Pop’s 94th birthday, Washington tulips, cherry blossoms, Japanese Garden, Magnuson Park, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, summer visits from nieces and nephews and sisters, birthday parties, fall colors.

I’ve had some thoughts about the New Year but nothing that is worthy of sharing yet. Our first day of the New Year was slow for me and as usual Dear was busy working on our master bath remodel while I watched the Rose Parade. After the parade I tried out a new salsa recipe to post later this month and then I watched the Rose Bowl game. That game was one of the best bowl games I’ve seen in years. Hope you had a good day.

I’m experimenting and seeing if I can close comments on this post.

 

Goodbye and Hello…

We had a wonderful finale to 2017 this morning with brunch at Palisade in Seattle. Josh and Laura treated us to a belated anniversary celebration.

Such a cold beautiful day with the sun shining…hello.

The Space Needle is being remodeled right now and it will be fun to see the results from that. We saw Mt. Rainier to the south and the Olympics to the west.

The only thing that would have made the very last day of 2017 better is if we could have had cuddles with Addy and a hug from her mommy and daddy. They were busy snowplowing their driveway so they could get out for New Year’s Eve festivities!

We welcome 2018 with hope and are excited to see all that it holds for us.

Happy New Year to all my blogging friends and those of you who visit my blog throughout the year. I appreciate you all and the comments and encouragement you leave for me.

Again the Rounded Year ~ Hymn

Again the Rounded Year

Again the rounded year has brought
Its bloom and harvest glory,
And every smiling Sabbath taught
To us the Gospel story.
Again our voices join in song,
And bring their glad thanksgiving,
To Thee, to whom all years belong,
To Thee, the Ever-Living.

We meet with gladness on each lip,
And kindly warmth of greeting,
And, in Thy boundless fellowship,
Each heart to heart is beating.
And for this day, and for this hour,
We bring our glad thanksgiving,
To Thee, the ever gracious Power,
To Thee, the Ever-Living.

How oft has lighted every brow
To see Thy love upspringing!
And some who joined our songs, are now
Amid the angels singing.
But friends below and friends above
Unite in glad thanksgiving
To Thee, whom all the children love,
To Thee, the Ever-Living.

Thy power in prayer we oft have felt,
Thy sympathy most tender,
And seemed to see, as we have knelt,
Thy face in veilèd splendor.
For all these joys of Paradise,
We bring our glad thanksgiving,
To Thee, who every good supplies,
To Thee, the Ever-Living.

So may we join from year to year,
Thy goodness ever singing,
And, after faithful service, hear
The bells of glory ringing.
Then, safe with Thee, again we’ll raise
Our voices in thanksgiving
To Thee, in more exalted praise
To Thee, the Ever-Living.

Words: Hezekiah Butterworth

To wrest the power of death from Satan’s hand, God sent Christ into the world. If you have a greater weapon than your enemy, then his weapon is useless. You can’t fight a machine gun with a bow and arrow. Satan’s weapon is death, but eternal life is God’s weapon, and with it Jesus destroyed death.

How was He able to do it? He rose again, proving He had conquered death. That’s why He said, “Because I live, you shall live also” (John 14:19). His resurrection provides the believer with eternal life. ~John MacArthur (Drawing Near Daily Devotional)

Saturday’s Critters

When we took a quick overnight trip to La Conner for an anniversary celebration on December 11th-12th we happened upon this field of Snow Geese in the Skagit Valley. They really were a noisy flock!

I’ll be linking up with Eileen for Saturday’s Critters. Thank you, Eileen, for being such a gracious hostess.

The last Saturday of 2017 and I’m recovering from boxing up all the Christmas decor and putting it back in the attic and vacuuming up all the needles from the tree.  Saturday evening our daughter and son-in-law will be hosting a small dinner party here to celebrate Katie’s birthday. Are your Christmas decorations still up? Will you be going out for New Year’s Eve celebrations? We’ll be fast asleep before the ball drops on New Year’s Eve.

Our White Christmas 2017

On Christmas Eve the table was set for four of us to enjoy Dear’s Tomato Rice Soup and Pesto Tortellini after our services at church. Katie and Andrew texted us and reported that it was snowing and they were on their way. We enjoyed one “Christmas” movie together and Dear and I went up to bed while Katie and Andrew watched White Christmas together. It was Andrew’s first time to see it and judging from the laughter we heard, it was a hit. Later in the night Josh and Laura arrived on the snow covered streets like Santa, loaded with gifts for under the tree. The kids found their guestrooms and fell fast asleep. While visions of sugar plums danced in our heads the snow continued to fall.

We woke up to a very white Christmas! The prompt that tells everyone it’s time to get out of bed and open stockings is “It’s the Thought” cd by Twila Paris.  After we opened our Santa stocking stash, had Dear’s Swedish pancakes (a must on Christmas morning), then opened gifts (the order is important), we braved a walk in the snow after we all found the right footwear, coats and scarves.

Katie and Andrew even found some Pokemon Go whatevers in our neighborhood.

The younger set tried sliding along the icy streets and got some nice distance. I walked like a penguin to keep from falling.

A winter wonderland selfie. Dear loaded the dishwasher and washed the non-dishwasher breakfast dishes while the rest of us walked. He’s a keeper.

After the walk the table got a little tweak to it for Christmas dinner. The roast was in the oven wafting it’s great aromas to whet our appetites for dinner.

Josh thought to take this photo of Dear and me while we waited for the roast to rest.

Prime Rib and Yorkshire Pudding has become our Christmas dinner tradition. We’ve gone from mashed potatoes to roasted vegetables over the years. We were all quite satisfied after our meal.

Laura managed a selfie of all of us in front of the tree.

Our twentieth and last Christmas in this Old House was blessed from above and we thank God for His love.

We also were very thankful to get the two texts telling us each car filled with our best gifts had made it home safely on the snow and ice covered streets. The hardest part of their trip was getting out of our neighborhood.

In her Santa photos, Addy seems to be tolerating Santa but has her elbow positioned ready to jab him if need be and make an escape. She’s just not going to fully tuck in with this stranger.

Throughout the day we enjoyed videos, photos and texts from Dan, Jamie and Addy showing us what was going on for Addy’s First Christmas.

This was their Christmas Card this year. This was taken back in November. They had a white Christmas, too, only they got 14 inches to our 4 inches! All our snow is melted because of rain today but Addy’s house is still getting snow!

Josh and Laura sent her that onesie and the activity center.  The videos were of her opening the gifts she received from her Baba, Gramps, Aunties and Uncles. She’s quite a pro at tearing off wrapping and discarding it for what’s inside. We were all smiles and chuckles as we watched the videos over and over again.

Someone is all smiles for her first white Christmas! Baba bought her that snow suit before she was born. So so thankful for technology that allows us to experience something from across the state or the world.

We also received many photos and a video of my extended family in Southern California celebrating with my dear old Pop. Here’s one of the photos with the back of my Pop’s head and many of his kids, grandkids, and great grandkids.  Wish I knew how to share the text video of them singing Joy to the World at the dinner table. Did you know Joy to the World really wasn’t written as a Christmas song? That’s another story…(hint, think 2nd Coming). One more photo with the front of my Pop (almost 95) and three great grands that were at the Christmas Eve gathering. Ellie was born on Christmas Eve two years ago! Jackson is now a teenager and Avery is not far behind. We’re exited for our little Addy to meet these cousins once removed for the first time.

One more Christmas for the record books or record blog. I’m working on a 20 year recap of Christmases at this old house for history sake.

Thank you for stopping by during these last days of 2017.

A Birthday and a Treat…

Happy Birthday to our dear daughter Katie. So thankful that God surprised us with a little girl.

The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
 the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

Click over to the Mennonite Girls Can Cook blog to get the easy recipe for this tasty appetizer. A good addition to your New Year’s Eve festivities or game day.