Tuesday’s Treasures…

This is a treasured work of art we have that a friend painted. Here is a link to her website. The work was inspired by a small nook in the crypt of the National Cathedral in Washington D.C.

This is a collage of the actual nook on the left and our painting on the right. We owned this painting before we visited the Cathedral and it was like a treasure hunt for us to find the nook.

If you ever find yourself in Washington D.C., the National Cathedral is a must see. It’s on one of the hop on hop off trolley lines.

I’m linking up with Tom the Backroads Traveler for Tuesday’s Treasures.

We are having a Spring heat wave here in the Seattle area. We are breaking heat records for April with highs in the 80’s! We barbecued tonight and we’ve had to do a lot of watering that we don’t usually do in April. Thinking of those of you who live in the Houston area and I do hope you are above water.

Snow Geese and Barns…

When my sisters and I were in Mount Vernon, Washington to see the daffodils back in March we also were treated to a large invasion of Snow Geese. I just realized I never shared these photos and since there are some barns in the background in some of the shots I’ll link up to The Barn Collective with Tom the Backroads Traveler.

Birds of a feather flock together.

Here’s a closer view of a barn in Mount Vernon that we drove by on a different weekend.

We are getting some fine sunny weather in the Puget Sound area of Washington state. There are predictions of it hitting 80 tomorrow. We are tempted to put up our patio covers and get the patio furniture out. I had a good week of Zumba at the gym and I’m happy to say my muscles aren’t screaming at me anymore. On Saturday we worked in the yard and I got some new shrubs planted. Later my son and I had a fun evening watching the Seattle Sounders beat Philadelphia Union 2-1. It’s always more fun to win. Quote of the night from coach Zigi: “You can’t score your second one until you get your first one … It was a big weight off his shoulder.”

Hope you all have a good week and that your tax returns are mailed or electronically submitted!

How Good it is To Thank the Lord ~ Hymn

How Good It Is to Thank The Lord

How good it is to thank the Lord,
And praise to Thee, Most High, accord,
To show Thy love with morning light,
And tell Thy faithfulness each night;
Yea, good it is Thy praise to sing,
And all our sweetest music bring.

O Lord, with joy my heart expands,
Before the wonders of Thy hands;
Great works, Jehovah, Thou hast wrought,
Exceeding deep Thine every thought;
A foolish man knows not their worth,
Nor he whose mind is of the earth.

When as the grass the wicked grow,
When sinners flourish here below,
Then is there endless ruin nigh,
But Thou, O Lord, art throned on high;
Thy foes shall fall before Thy might,
The wicked shall be put to flight.

Thou, Lord, hast high exalted me
With royal strength and dignity;
With Thine anointing I am blest,
Thy grace and favor on me rest;
I thus exult o’er all my foes,
O’er all that would my cause oppose.

The righteous man shall flourish well,
And in the house of God shall dwell;
He shall be like a goodly tree,
And all his life shall fruitful be;
For righteous is the Lord and just,
He is my Rock, in Him I trust.

Words: The Psalter 1912, Music: St. Petersburg ~ Dimitri S. Bortniansky

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.

The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b.

To honor and encourage