Welcoming Spring…

…with some Spring flashbacks!

 

img475Laguna Beach in the early 70’s. My sister Kathy, Babushka Vera, and my mom.

img474Laguna Beach, California

img498Dear at his home in Santa Monica, California in the early 70’s

img497Forest Lawn Glendale

img861Dan and Josh in Ventura, California 1985

img939Trip to Descanso Gardens March of 1988

SIL Kelly, MIL Verna, Me, sis Kathy, my mom

nephew Timothy, niece Michelle, Katie, niece Melissa

img940Michelle, Katie, Tim, and Melissa

A Prayer in Spring

by Robert Frost

Oh, give us pleasure in the flowers to-day;
And give us not to think so far away
As the uncertain harvest; keep us here
All simply in the springing of the year.

Oh, give us pleasure in the orchard white,
Like nothing else by day, like ghosts by night;
And make us happy in the happy bees,
The swarm dilating round the perfect trees.

And make us happy in the darting bird
That suddenly above the bees is heard,
The meteor that thrusts in with needle bill,
And off a blossom in mid air stands still.

For this is love and nothing else is love,
The which it is reserved for God above
To sanctify to what far ends He will,
But which it only needs that we fulfil.

I hope Spring weather will arrive and Spring flowers bloom in your neck of the woods!

Junco

It’s time to jump to the letter J and come up with a post to share at ABC Wednesday.

I’m going with one of the most common birds that come to my feeders, the Junco.

recipe-birds 015 This species shows much geographic variation in color. Typically, male of western population (“Oregon Junco”) has black hood, chestnut mantle, white underparts with buff sides. Eastern male (“Slate-colored Junco”) is dark slate-gray on head, upper breast, flanks, and upperparts, with white lower breast and belly. Both forms have pink bill and dark gray tail with white outer tail feathers conspicuous in flight.

Dark-eyed juncos are unique sparrows that nest on or near the ground in forests. In winter, they typically form flocks and often associate with other species.

We have had a nice variety of birds come to our feeders. It seems to be different every year except for these Juncos. They are pretty consistent.

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Robins in our area do not bother with the feeders. They are content to poke on the ground and lawns. It’s always funny to watch the blue jays try to land on the feeder. They are a little too big to do it gracefully.

What are the common birds in your back yard?

Travelling Surprises…

To Chewelah 001On Friday we left the Seattle Area at 11:00 A.M. and headed east on Interstate 90 for Eastern Washington to visit our son Dan for the weekend. The road across Snoqualmie Pass was clear of snow and uneventful. As we approached the Columbia River we took notice of the lower water levels because of a crack and repairs on one of the dams upriver.

When we approached the the Quincy area we saw that the wind was really causing some dust storms and as we got closer to the area we saw this eerie sight.

To Chewelah 003The Attack of the Tumbleweeds!

To Chewelah 009The tumbleweeds crossing the interstate went on for miles. We hit so many and we noticed many trapped underneath cars and in the front grills.

To Chewelah 010It was a lot spookier than it looks in my photos. When we pulled off the interstate in Spokane we stopped so an older man could cross the road. He stopped in front of our car and pulled out the large tumble weed that was lodged in our grill. We laughed and thanked him!

We made it to Dan’s in record time and unpacked the car and then headed for dinner.

The roads from Dan’s place to the grocery store on Saturday were quiet and beautiful. I saw a rafter of wild turkeys.

P1040938It’s great to travel roads in the great open spaces.

On the way home today the only excitement we had was a snow/rain mix on the pass.

I’ll post more photos of our time at Dan’s place in the next few days now that we are back home again. Hope all is good in your corner of the world.

Winter Sunshine and Celebrations…

We had two beautiful sunshine filled days last week and one of them landed on Katie and Andrew’s Anniversary. Dear was in Orlando for a conference so Katie and I decided on a waterfront restaurant to have her anniversary dinner.

Anthony'sWe ended up at Anthony’s Home Port in Kirkland on Lake Washington.

P1040926We got a very good dose of Vitamin D sitting with the sunshine streaming through.

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P1040916Can you feel the heat?

So many people were out and about enjoying the weather that it was impossible to get out of the restaurant parking lot. We had to find a different route home because of the stream of traffic traveling along the Lake road.

On Friday we traveled east across the Cascade Mountain range to spend the weekend with our son in Eastern Washington. I’ll share our interesting travel experience in a day or two.

Lenten Hymn

 

Lord, Who Throughout These Forty Days

Lord, who throughout these forty days
For us didst fast and pray,
Teach us with Thee to mourn our sins
And close by Thee to stay.

As Thou with Satan didst contend,
And didst the victory win,
O give us strength in Thee to fight,
In Thee to conquer sin.

As Thou didst hunger bear, and thirst,
So teach us, gracious Lord,
To die to self, and chiefly live
By Thy most holy Word.

And through these days of penitence,
And through Thy passiontide,
Yea, evermore in life and death,
Jesus, with us abide.

Abide with us, that so, this life
Of suffering over past,
An Easter of unending joy
We may attain at last.

Words: Claudia F. Hernaman, Child’s Book of Praise; A Man­u­al of De­vo­tion in Sim­ple Verse, 1873.

Another Year Older…

…and I do hope wiser.

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My life started when I was little.

img817I was a real swinger.

postcardsmisc012I started out a brunette and then became a blond and then switched back to brunette.

img331Kindergarten at Montebello Gardens Primary School. This school only went to the 3rd grade at this time. Starting in the 4th grade we were bused up to Montebello (over the Rio Hondo river) to Fremont Elementary. Montebello Gardens (not a garden by any stretch of the imagination) is part of Pico Rivera. (Top Row Left with my Buster Brown “do”)

img332Mrs. Nicolaus my 1st and 2nd grade teacher was one of a handful of my teachers that I knew was 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”)

img333The majority of the children I went to school with in my primary school days were Mexican/American. Of course now the politically correct title is Hispanic. My growing up experiences were not in the era of political correctness. (Top Row right with my Buster Brown askew)

I tried to count the candles on this cake to see what birthday it was. It looks like 7 but I’m not sure. This was at our house in Montebello Gardens/Pico Rivera, 4635 Oak Street. It’s funny how the old addresses stick in my head. My sister Kathy on the right with my cousin Jim Loscutoff. On the left is my brother Fred and my sister Vera.

I know this is later than the photo above since my brother Steve is sitting in the highchair and my cousin Tanya is sitting at the table. My best guess is that this is 1960 since my brother Steve was born in December of 1959 (my 9th birthday). My cousin Valia, cousin Vera, cousin John, and cousin Walter blurred along with my brother Fred blurred.  Looks like a store bought cake for this year…

When I was in the 5th grade we moved across the river into Montebello and I was able to walk to school. During my 4th grade year I was bused. Speaking of 4th grade, I talked too much and my handwriting was messy. Funny how the criticisms stick with you all your life. My 5th grade teacher gave me the distinct impression that she did not like me at all. She made me stand up once in class to chastise me and I remember thinking in my head “I may be standing up on the outside but I’m sitting down on the inside!”  My 6th grade teacher was a gem who encouraged me with his kindness.  I worked in the cafeteria in the 6th grade and got free lunches. The cafeteria ladies were another group of adults who encouraged me.

God has brought me through these 63 years with so much tenderness and care. I’m forever grateful.

We are heading across the mountains to our son’s home for the weekend. We’ll have my birthday dinner in Chewelah. Dear will be helping Dan with some projects and I’ll see what mischief I can get into. Don’t know if I’ll be checking in to the internet until Monday. Have a great weekend!

Snoqualmie Falls

Scroll Down to the Post Below This One for Kathleen’s St. Patrick’s Day Crawl!

Tuesday was such a beautiful day that Katie and I decided to take the drive to Snoqualmie Falls. Although it was dry with clear blue skies and a few fluffy clouds we still got rained on by the falls themselves. The river was running so full and strong that the spray off the falls fell like rain anywhere close.

 

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On Tuesday evening Katie and I went out together to celebrate her and Andrew’s anniversary. Dear is in Florida until tonight so it was just the girls. We chose a waterfront restaurant because the weather was so great. I’ll share the photos from our dinner on another day.

Today was another glorious day and I even had to turn my air conditioning on in the car. I am looking forward to Dear coming home tonight. How’s the weather where you are? I hope it hasn’t turned nasty for you again…

St. Patrick’s Day Crawl

Cuisine Kathleen is having a sharing of the green party. If you’ve never visited her blog you should because she always has such yummy goodies to share and pretty tables to show. She knows what to put on a plate! For the 6th Annual St. Patrick’s Day Crawl I’m putting some goodies from the past together.  Thank you, Kathleen.

This little Belleek bowl is about the only thing I have that is Irish and worthy of St. Patrick’s Day. I found it at a thrift store for under $5.00 and thought it was a steal!

The Dear Little Shamrock

by Andrew Cherry

There’s a dear little plant that grows in Ireland.
‘Twas Saint Patrick himself sure that set it.
And the sun on his labor with pleasure did smile.
And a tear from his eyes oft-times wet it.
It grows thro’ the bog, thro’ the brake, and the mireland,
And it’s called the dear little Shamrock of Ireland.

That dear little plant still grows in our land,
Fresh and fair as the daughters of Erin,
Whose smiles can bewitch, and whose eyes can command,
In each climate they ever appear in:
For they shine thro’ the bog, thro’ the brake, and the mireland,
Just like their own dear little Shamrock of Ireland.

That dear little plant that springs from our soil,
When its three little leaves are extended,
Denotes from the stalk we together should toil,
And ourselves by ourselves be befriended.
And still thro’ the bog, thro’ the brake, and the mireland,
From one root should branch, like the Shamrock of Ireland.

shamrock ~ In the irish language, this tiny three-leaved -and, with luck, four-leaved – plant is called seamrac or semrach, the diminutive of the word for clover, seamar. Thus shamrock means, literally, “little clover,” which is just what it is.

The Dear Little Shamrock

There’s a dear little plant that grows in our Isle,
Twas Saint Patrick himself sure that set it;
And the sun on his labour with pleasure did smile,
And the dew from his eye often wet it.
It shines thro’ the bog, thro’ the brake, thro’ the mireland,
And he called it the dear little Shamrock of Ireland.

Chorus:

The dear little Samrock, the sweet little shamrock,
the dear little, sweet little Shamrock of Ireland.
That dear Ireland.

That dear little plant still grows in our land,
Fresh and fair as the daughters of Erin,
Whose smiles can bewitch, and whose eyes can command,
In each climate they ever appear in.
For they shine thro’ the bog, thro’ the brake, thro’ the mireland,
Just like their own dear little Shamrock of Ireland.

CHORUS

That dear little plant that springs from our soil,
When its three little leaves are extended,
Denotes from the stalk we togethr should toil,
And ourselves by ourselves be befriended.
And still thro’ the bog, thro’ the brake, thro’ the mireland,
From one root should branch, like the Shamrock of Ireland.

CHORUS

From 2008 at Fado an Irish Pub in downtown Seattle…

An Old Celtic Blessing

May the blessing of light be on you –
light without and light within.
May the blessed sunlight shine on you
and warm your heart
till it glows like a great peat fire.

IMGP7563I love Celtic Crosses. This one is from Graceland Cemetery in Chicago, Illinois.

 I will be making Corned Beef and Cabbage this weekend at our son’s place in Eastern Washington. Do you make it this time of year?

I is for St. Ives

When we were in England last September we traveled to St. Ives and I’m ignoring the St. and calling this Ives for my ABC Wednesday Post. Thanks to Denise Nesbitt for starting this meme and for friends in keeping it going.

St. Ives is on the West coast of Cornwall, England.

St. Ives sunny 008As I was going to Saint Ives,
I crossed the path of seven wives.
Every wife had seven sacks,
Every sack had seven cats,
Every cat had seven kittens,
Kittens, cats, sacks, wives,
How many were going to Saint Ives?

2013-09-18 St6

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St. Ives sunny 090

 

It was a nice train ride in and out of St. Ives. St. Ives draws the crowds and even in September it was wall to wall people in the narrow lanes in town.

Andrew and Katie

Today is our Katie and Andrew’s 3rd wedding anniversary. He is in Afghanistan and she is in the Seattle area. Quite far apart but close in heart.

BP03112012_194cKatie was trying to calculate how many days they’ve actually been together in these 3 short years. They’ve spent a lot of days apart because of Andrew’s service in the Marines. That’s the way it is and that’s what they signed up for. It’s good to understand that going in and then it’s good to have the support of God, family and friends to get you through.

Happy Anniversary you two. May God bring Andrew home safe and may he bless you with many years of growing together in love for each other and for God who is the architect of marriage.

HT: Jeremy Leffel Photography