Bloggy Friends ~FFF

My favorite blessings from blogging have been my face to face meet ups with the individuals I’ve learned about from their personal blogs. The first blogger I met and who became my walking buddy while Dear and I lived in Camarillo is Willow from Willow’s Cottage. While our friendship continued we met up with Sara from Come Away With Me at The Getty Villa. Willow and Sara already knew each other. Besides the Getty Villa we met up again for some time at the Getty Museum before I moved back to Seattle.

On one of my trips across Los Angeles to visit my folks in 2009 Cori G! from Brambleberry Cottage (formerly Gingerbread and Co.) and I set up a meeting over coffee in Orange County, California. It was a delight to meet Cori. We were able to meet up again on one of my trips back to Southern California and have a meal and stroll through a antique market in the city of Orange.

On Dear and my road trip moving back to Seattle in 2010 we met up with Sandy from Reluctant Entertainer and her husband at the Winchester Inn in Southern Oregon. It was a delight.

In July of 2010 Dear and I met the Scrabble Queen from Scrabblequeen Knits for breakfast while we were in the Sacramento area for a funeral. She gifted me with some wonderful loose tea from England!

On our sister trip to Victoria, B.C. to celebrate my 60th birthday my sisters and I were treated to wonderful time with the lovely Pondside from Life Between the Ponds.

Oh dear me…I forgot another major bloggy meet-up. Jill from Jill’s World of Research, Reaction and Millinery came to visit in my home and we attended the Lavender festival together in July of 2011. Maybe it was the home part that made me think it was a family visit instead of a bloggy visit.

We had a great day seeing beautiful lavender fields, eagles, and eaglets and a baby seagull. Sorry for the oversight dear Jill!

At a book signing in Winnepeg/Manitoba I was able to meet Millie from Wreathmaker. What a fun surprise to see her and her hubby at McNally Robinson bookstore.

Just this year on Katie and my roadtrip from Seattle to North Carolina we arranged a meeting over lunch in Kansas City, Missouri with Pam from Abiding With Love. We had a wonderful meal paid for by Pam’s husband and great conversation with Pam and her daughter.

What a blessing it has been to get to know these ladies and enjoy their thoughts and adventures and beautiful tables, tea settings, recipes, decorating, devotionals, book recommendations, etc. etc.

Judy correctly pointed out that there is another group of women that I met through blogging that have changed my life forever. This next photo is from the first time I met five of the Mennonite Girls Can Cook! This meeting was in the Spring of 2010. All ten of us would meet when we got together in British Columbia to sign the contract for our first book in the summer of 2010. These girls are a big part of my life now and they are more like family so that’s probably why I forgot that initially it was because of blogging that we came together!

These are my favorites for Susanne’s Friday’s Fave Five at Living to Tell the Story. It would be fun to meet Susanne some day!

Good Fences #10

My fence this week is from Bellefontaine Cemetery in St. Louis, Missouri. My daughter and I spent a few hours here on our road trip from Seattle to North Carolina. If you like cemeteries this really is a worthwhile one to visit with many wonderful monuments and so much interesting history.

I’m joining TexWisGirl at Run *A* Round Ranch for Good Fences.

Thank you for being a fabulous hostess!

Established 1985!

On May 3rd during our cross country road trip from Seattle to Jacksonville, N.C. Katie and I were able to spend two days in Asheville and on one of those days we toured the Biltmore House and Gardens including Antler Village and the Biltmore Winery. Our Katie was born in 1985 so we thought we’d pause at the door to the Biltmore Winery and snap a photo of Katie under the sign. The tour of the winery including a wine tasting was free.

Before it was Biltmore Winery this was Biltmore Dairy. This might be interesting for Judy at My Front Porch!

The tour was short and informative. The wine tasting was extensive and gave you a full range of what the winery has to offer.

After our long day at the Biltmore Estate we decided on finding a grocery store to purchase items for a picnic dinner in the hotel room. It was good just to put our feet up and enjoy our picnic.

So thankful for Katie and my time together on our road trip and stops along the way. Also thankful for our time together in Jacksonville, North Carolina working hard to get things set up for Andrew and Katie’s reunion and short time left there.

Back to Washington State and this old house. I’ve been able to do enough around home that I seem to have found my comfort zone again. Such a good feeling to be able to relax amidst any turmoil that comes my way.

I’m joining Mrs. Olsen for Share Your Cup Thursday #104.

The party where you share things that make you happy.

Adventures with my children and husband make me happy along with sitting down to a nice meal.

T is for Trees!

It’s time for ABC Wednesday hosted by some brilliant bloggers here and across the sea.

While I was in North Carolina helping our daughter get ready for her husband’s homecoming we took a day away from the frenzy to enjoy Airlie Garden in Wilmington. Look at these majestic trees filled with Spanish Moss in the garden.

Since we are on the letter T here are the turtles we saw this day, too.

I’m back home in Washington State now catching up with yard work and house work. It is so good to be home.

Biltmore Bass Pond and Waterfall

When we were done at the Bass Ponds we found our way back to the Biltmore House and took the bus back to the parking lot where we parked our car. We then drove to Antler Hill Village. After all our walking about the grounds and trekking through some warm trails we were really ready for some nice refreshment.

We had a great lunch at Cedric’s Tavern named after the family dog. “Named for George Vanderbilt’s beloved Saint Bernard, Cedric, this warm, relaxing tavern overlooks the village green at Antler Hill Village. The décor, ambience, and menu pay tribute to the neighborhood pubs of Britain and Ireland. Enjoy satisfying pub fare alongside robustly flavored American and global cuisine presented with Biltmore flair.”

We weren’t disappointed by the food or drink at Cedric’s.

So I’m still catching up on our Road Trip posts. I only have a couple more. I was so busy over the weekend I really didn’t have time to come up with something more current. Here we are in the last week of May. Soon the wedding month will be here and this year we actually have a wedding to attend in June. We also are getting some visitors in June. This week we will make some decisions on our main floor bathroom. We were so gung ho to have it gutted by now but here we are dragging our feet. It’s hard to decide how much to let someone else do and charge you an arm and a leg for…

What’s happening this week in your world?

Catching Up…

After being gone so long from my home I’ve been spending lots of time catching up and getting things around this old house back to normal.

We don’t have a gardening service so the first thing I addressed was our lawn and some beds and shrubs. I spent four and a half hours last Thursday and my body is still recovering from being taxed like that.

I came home to blooms that were spent and blooms that were thriving. These are the sweet rosebud azaleas I bought with a gift card from the Mennonite Girls Can Cook to purchase something to plant in memory of my mom who passed away last September 13th.

This next collage is of my older azalea plants.

Most of my rhoddys are on their way out but I’ve been able to enjoy a few blooms.

While I was gone my pink dogwood bloomed and Dear took some photos for me. This is the fullest it’s bloomed since we planted it a couple years ago. The green leafed shot is the stage it is at now.

I’m so excited that my young peony bush has over 6 buds this year. Last year we only had one.

After I mowed and watered I took this before photo of our patio. Yesterday Dear put the covers on. I’ll take more photos of the after shots when a couple more projects get done like pressure washing.

When we went to barbecue steaks yesterday our barbecue would not cooperate so Dear has some extensive cleaning and de-clogging of the poor old thing before it lights up. Plan B went into effect and we broiled the steaks inside and microwaved the corn. It all tasted good and sharing the meal with our kids was wonderful.

It’s so so good to be home again. It’s so nice that Dear gets a long weekend at home before he has to travel again next Friday to Chicago. I can’t stop thanking God for the fact that our son-in-law is home from Afghanistan. We continue throughout this Memorial weekend and beyond to be thankful for those who have served and are serving our country.

What have you been up to this weekend?

O Valiant Hearts ~ Hymn

O Valiant Hearts

O valiant hearts who to your glory came
Through dust of conflict and through battle flame;
Tranquil you lie, your knightly virtue proved,
Your memory hallowed in the land you loved.

Proudly you gathered, rank on rank, to war
As who had heard God’s message from afar;
All you had hoped for, all you had, you gave,
To save mankind—yourselves you scorned to save.

Splendid you passed, the great surrender made;
Into the light that nevermore shall fade;
Deep your contentment in that blest abode,
Who wait the last clear trumpet call of God.

Long years ago, as earth lay dark and still,
Rose a loud cry upon a lonely hill,
While in the frailty of our human clay,
Christ, our Redeemer, passed the self same way.

Still stands His cross from that dread hour to this,
Like some bright star above the dark abyss;
Still, through the veil, the Victor’s pitying eyes
Look down to bless our lesser Calvaries.

These were His servants, in His steps they trod,
Following through death the martyred Son of God:
Victor, He rose; victorious too shall rise
They who have drunk His cup of sacrifice.

O risen Lord, O Shepherd of our dead,
Whose cross has bought them and whose staff has led,
In glorious hope their proud and sorrowing land
Commits her children to Thy gracious hand.

Words: John S. Arkwright, 1917.

Memorial Day Weekend

We take time to stop and remember the sacrifices that have been made for our freedom.

This weekend we remember those who served our country and died in combat. This is the Veteran’s Memorial at the Riverside National Cemetery in Southern California.

Part of our family was able to spend some time at this cemetery in May of 2012. Dear’s father is buried here and we had never seen his grave marker.

There were many sobering monuments at this National Cemetery. The Veterans Memorial was one of them. Another sobering monument was the POW/MIA monument.

We remember that this isn’t just a long weekend and a barbecue but a significant time that has been set aside on our calendars to acknowledge that sacrifices have been made for our nation and our well being.

We do also plan to celebrate the living this weekend with a barbecue timed strategically between the rain showers! What are your plans?

Good Fences ~ Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune

This fence that runs a mile and more to the entrance of Camp Lejeune Marine Base in Jacksonville, North Carolina is filled completely full of welcome home signs before every homecoming of Marines from their deployments. I left Jacksonville before our son in law’s homecoming so I didn’t get the fence full and overflowing but you can get the idea. It brings tears to my eyes!

With Memorial Weekend coming up and the timely return of our Son-in-law we will be thinking of all that those who serve our country have endured and we will remember their sacrifice this Memorial Day more than ever. The center of this next collage is a photo of our daughter Katie and our son-in-law Andrew at homecoming on May 17th!

Happy Memorial Day Weekend to all my bloggy friends in the U.S.A.

I’m linking to Good Fences at Run Around Ranch Report.

Biltmore House Azalea Garden

These photos are from our time at the Biltmore Gardens on Saturday May 3rd.

I want to finish up my posts from Katie and my cross country trip before June. I still have a few posts from the Biltmore House and Gardens. A few of these posts are visual with no need of commentary. Remember if you visit the Biltmore to wear comfortable shoes and clothing. There are lots of trails to explore.

It’s amazing to think of all the miles we logged and all the beautiful sights we were afforded on our cross country trip.

Today I’m home again home again jiggity jig. Dear and I got home at about 11:00 P.M. on Tuesday night. Dear was off to work on Wednesday at 5:00 AM and I had my annual doctor’s visit just after 8:00 A.M. on Wednesday. On Thursday I will be mowing our overgrown lawn (mostly weeds). I’m pleased with the Spring growth that has bloomed while I was gone. I’ll have to take some photos of some things that surprised and blessed me on my return. I’ll share my sweet memorial azaleas for my dear mom that bloomed so pink and pretty.

How are things in your corner of the world?

The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b.

To honor and encourage