C is for Cemeteries

Some of the places that I like to visit when we travel are cemeteries. I only enjoy very old cemeteries. Here is a sampling from several of the cemeteries I’ve visited.

Alton to Cotswolds 199St. James Church in Chipping Campden (Cotswolds) U.K. September 2013

IMGP9396Monumentale Cemetery in Milan, Italy March of 2013

IMGP7563Graceland Cemetery in Chicago, Illinois May of 2012

IMGP7117IMGP7115Riverside National Cemetery California May 2012. My Father in law is buried at this cemetery.

Arlington National Cemetery May 2011

Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta, Georgia October 2012

Ivy Lawn Cemetery in Ventura, California

Calvary Cemetery ~ Seattle June 2008

Crosses could have been an added theme for the letter C. I wouldn’t mind re-visiting some of these cemeteries. I have a goal in my head to visit a very old cemetery covered in snow…

Hope your week is going well.

I’m joining in the fun at ABC Wednesday click over to see more Letter C posts!

Tuesday Tips!

GrazieWe enjoy eating earlier these days so when we decide to eat out we try different Happy Hours around the area. Some Happy Hours are happier than others.  Last Friday we re-visited an old favorite from a few years ago and were very pleased. All of these dishes were half priced and each selection was plenty for the three of us to enjoy. Yes, three, as our daughter Katie is still with us while our Son-in-law Andrew is serving in Afghanistan. There were three meatballs on that plate before I took the photo. We were pleased with the selections that Grazie in Canyon Park offered.

P1040819This Bruschetta appetizer was great with the added ricotta and herb spread and olive tapenade. I’ll be trying to duplicate it and will post it on the Mennonite Girls Can Cook webpage. I’m thinking it will be a great dish for Super Bowl Sunday.

Speaking of Andrew if you are a praying friend of mine could you please pray that Andrew’s time in Afghanistan will not be extended? We all would appreciate it here at this old house. Originally he would be returning before April. Now we are praying he’ll be home before May.

Monday was an amazingly non-productive day at his old house. I did manage to make dinner. Can I have some applause please? Thank you. I hear our Midwest and Eastern friends will be experiencing some more nasty winter weather this week. Stay safe please! All we have in the forecast here is rain…

Our Honeymoon…

This weekend I finally got familiar with the new scanner I purchased to scan old slides that Dear took in the 70’s. At least one day a week on my blog will be devoted to a blast from the past.

I’m starting with our honeymoon which was in December of 1974.

img079After our wedding we went to my parents home and got ready to leave on our honeymoon. Our family and closest friends were there, too, and we opened gifts before we changed into our get away clothes and left for our honeymoon. Did any of you do that after your wedding or did you take off and go straight to your honeymoon from the wedding sight? We were pretty beat when we finally arrived to our first destination, the Pierpont Inn in Ventura, California.

img080The Pierpont Inn, Ventura, California. Little did we know that 10 years later we would move to Ventura.

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img084From the Pierpont we continued north along the coast of California.

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img092This little log cabin somewhere in Central California was a nice little spot to stop. I can’t find it online anymore but it was called Butterfly Trees Lodge.

img093This was Dear’s car, a 1971 Datsun 510.

img094We went as far north as San Francisco and then headed back home along the 101 highway to our apartment in West Los Angeles. We stopped in Solvang on our way home.

Back to the present…

We had a nice quiet weekend and we were able to start a couple new projects. I filled our bird feeders…finally. Dear is working on closet doors. I started the huge project of scanning old photos starting with our slides. What fun it’s been to see these old images from the 70’s. How was your weekend?

The Haven of Rest ~ Hymn

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The Haven of Rest

My soul in sad exile was out on life’s sea,
So burdened with sin and distressed,
Till I heard a sweet voice, saying,
Make Me your choice;
And I entered the Haven of Rest!

Refrain

I’ve anchored my soul in the Haven of Rest,
I’ll sail the wide seas no more;
The tempest may sweep over wild, stormy, deep,
In Jesus I’m safe evermore.

I yielded myself to His tender embrace,
In faith taking hold of the Word,
My fetters fell off, and I anchored my soul;
The Haven of Rest is my Lord.

Refrain

The song of my soul, since the Lord made me whole,
Has been the old story so blest,
Of Jesus, who’ll save whosoever will have
A home in the Haven of Rest.

Refrain

How precious the thought that we all may recline,
Like John, the belovèd so blest,
On Jesus’ strong arm, where no tempest can harm,
Secure in the Haven of Rest.

Refrain

O come to the Savior, He patiently waits
To save by His power divine;
Come, anchor your soul in the Haven of Rest,
And say, My Belovèd is mine.

Refrain

Words: Henry L. Gilmour

In the Midst of Fog…

…there are still favorites. Things to be thankful for that shine through no matter what. I’m joining Susanne at Living to Tell the Story for Friday’s Fave Five.

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1. January is a big birthday month at our house. Joshua’s birthday was on Sunday. We celebrated earlier in the month and the photo above was part of our celebration. Our Son Dan’s birthday was on the 16th and his girlfriend’s birthday was on the 15th. This year we celebrated Dan from afar while he celebrated in Eastern Washington. My brother Tim celebrated his birthday and our niece Hope will celebrate her birthday on Saturday. We love to celebrate our loved ones and that’s my first favorite this week.

icy 005Our son Dan and his girlfriend Jamie

2. My dear old pop has been having a hard time with a lot of shoulder pain and when he’s in so much pain he misses my mom even more. I was happy to see this photo of him with my niece Melissa enjoying a meal out and looking so alive and pain free. He has been feeling better and the pain with medication has been more manageable. I’m so thankful my father’s pain has been relieved.

Pop & Melissa

 

3. We’ve been in quite a foggy overcast pattern here in the Puget Sound area. The afternoons where the sun finally broke through were another favorite of mine this week.

12th man 005 4. An early morning walk with Dear on Saturday was a blessing. It’s always good to get out and get some exercise in the Winter when we tend to want to stay inside and be couch potatoes. We were treated to some Eagle sightings.

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5. Another favorite is visiting my bloggy friends each week. This week one of my favorite posts was this one from Gumbo Lily. I love seeing how other people live in different environments than my own and thrive “Day by Day”.

What were your favorites this week?

Update: I posted this last night and this morning I woke up to beautiful clear skies and amazing sunshine! Woohoo!

Full of Thoughts…

In my college years which happened to be the late 60’s and early 70’s I bought this album to keep me organized in my thoughtfulness. Appropriately the album is called…

P1040773These sweet illustrations called to me back then. Remember Holly Hobbie?

morning trail5Each month has a page with a pocket and each day of the month is in a list form for you to add birthdays, anniversaries and other events.

P1040775I cherish this old album that is worn with age and use.

It’s time for me to go through that drawer in my desk…you know the one, where you throw everything in for future organization. I have wedding invitations and birth announcements and funeral leaflets to put into the appropriate month of the year pocket. These monthly pockets are wonderful now all these years later because so much has happened and I forget more and more about when these events took place. Each month I can flip the page and not only see who’s birthday and anniversary fall in that month but what year the event took place. Everything all in one book.

How do you keep organized when it comes to birthdays and anniversaries?

ABC Wednesday ~ B is for…

Before ABC Wednesday gets too far into this round XIV of the Alphabet I’m joining in. I’m looking forward to responding to this alphabet prompt each week to spark some creativity in the middle of the week.

B is for…

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These photos were taken at Porthtowen Beach in Cornwall this past September. We were on holiday with our son and daughter in law. Click on the photo if you’d like to see a larger image. I’ll be bopping by soon to see your B’s!

Click here on ABC Wednesday XIV to join in or see more offerings. Blessings!

Remiss…

That’s an adjective that would be pinned on me if I didn’t mention the Sunday that was in Seattle!

 

Everywhere you looked in the the Puget Sound area you would see evidence of the 12th man Seahawk fans.

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The city willed the Seahawks to a torturous victory over the San Francisco Forty Niners on Sunday. That means that the Seattle Seahawks are the NFC Champions and will be going to the Super Bowl.

unnamedG5X1S3YFThis is the building that Dear works in downtown. It’s the Russell Investment Center.

Looks like we won’t be able to ignore the Super Bowl game this year. There are many years that we do. This year we might even have to host a party.

The game and after game shows and all the news about all the excitement in Seattle ended just before Downton Abbey aired last night. The hilarious thing that happened next during the opening to Downton Abbey was that they photo shopped a 12th man flag on the top of Highclere Castle and gave a shout out to Seattle fans being loud, louder, loudest! How fun is that…

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12th man downton 003The city of Seattle and all the out lying areas really come together in support of their teams like the Seahawks, the Sounders, the former Sonics.

We will go with the flow and enjoy all the hoopla that having our home team in the Super Bowl brings. Do you watch the Super Bowl? I was happy that the episode of Downton last night wasn’t as dramatic as the previous one. I’m starting to write down some of the lines from the show, too, like “We don’t all have to live off battered fish and meat pies!”

Dark and Foggy

Dear was ready for a walk on Saturday. Dear is a morning person, a very early morning person. I was able to stall him a bit so our walk could at least end in the light. We walked the same trail as Katie and I walked but we headed in the opposite direction.

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Since it was foggy and dark for half our walk I decided to leave my larger camera at home and I only took my little pocket camera. Being out so early we were able to hear a lot of birds chirping and quacking.

P1040785When Katie and I walked last Wednesday these gopher mounds weren’t here. This cracked me up because it seemed like this particular varmint didn’t appreciate the work the city had gone to in designating this spot to sit and watch the river flow.

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Rounding a bend we heard this rooster crow and announce the new day had begun. He was chasing some ducks around and trying to establish his kingship amongst the foul.

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P1040793We’ve never seen a beaver along the banks but we have seen lots of evidence of their presence.

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We always love to see eagles and we were treated to a couple eagle sightings on this morning.  I really had to zoom in with my little camera and was happy that you can tell it really was an eagle we saw.

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As we walked back to the car we heard this group of Comorants put up a fuss and fly off together. They had all been sitting in a tree together that the eagle we had spotted earlier decided to perch in.

P1040807He now had the whole tree to himself.

P1040803Beautiful reflections on the river surface always grab my attention.

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There is a different kind of beauty in the foggy overcast vistas.

 

As we continued back to our car we had one more eagle spotting. I was wondering if this was a second eagle or if it was following us along the trail.

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When we got back to our car we decided that a doughnut would be a nice treat on this cold foggy morning. Something to take back home to enjoy with our eggs. I’m happy to say that I didn’t feel guilty about that doughnut or the eggs!

Faithful Shepherd, Feed Me ~ Hymn

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Faithful Shepherd, Feed Me

Faithful Shepherd, feed me
In the pastures green;
Faithful Shepherd, lead me
Where Thy steps are seen.

Hold me fast, and guide me
In the narrow way;
So, with Thee beside me,
I shall never stray.

Daily bring me nearer
To the heav’nly shore;
Make my faith grow clearer,
May I love Thee more.

Hallow every pleasure,
Every gift and pain;
Be Thyself my treasure,
Though none else I gain.

Day by day prepare me
As Thou seest best,
Then let angels bear me
To Thy promised rest.

Words: Thomas B. Pollack, December 1868.