There and Back Again…

Yesterday I put a dress on (gasp!) and grabbed my passport and headed to Chilliwack B.C. to attend a tea planned in honor of our own dear Kathy of the Mennonite Girls Can Cook. Kathy’s Mother-in-law Eileen invited us all to her lovely home and treated us to a very special time. What a wonderful example to all of us girls Eileen is as she chose to bless her daughter-in-law in this special way!

We missed our Manitoba girls, Betty and Charlotte!

Every detail was well thought out and chosen. Beautiful china, silver and 100 year old crystal goblets graced the beautiful table.

After we gathered Eileen shared some thoughts about Kathy using the letters of her name to describe some of Kathy’s attributes. Kind, active, thoughtful, honest, and youthful were just some of the words to describe Kathy. We raised our beautiful glasses to toast our dear friend.

Have you ever seen or enjoyed one of these sandwich loaves? This was my first and I was in awe!

I set aside my de-fluffing regiment on this day because it truly was a day for feasting not fasting!

We found our spots at the table and Eileen offered a blessing on our food and time together. Before we filled our plates for our main course Kathy’s father-in-law, who was our gracious butler for the afternoon, served us our soup course which was a lovely cold Raspberry soup…delicious and refreshing. After we filled our plates and enjoyed our main course there was a light and fluffy Pavlova with strawberries for dessert. Did I mention feasting not fasting?

Kathy is in the center of the collage and her mother-in-law Eileen is above her. Lovella, Eileen, Anneliese, Judy, Kathy, Bev, Marg, Ellen and Julie.

We all reflected on how nice it was to be served in such a special way. It was a wonderful time of catching up with each other. A great time of witnessing Bill and Eileen working together as a couple to help and honor each other and to be a great example of hospitality in action. We were all blessed and our cups were filled to overflowing.

I wanted to share this post before I’m in full swing wedding mode! Prayers appreciated for the blessed event coming up!

 

Wondering…

The name I chose for my blog waaaayyyy back in 2007 is The Happy Wonderer.

Wonder:

noun  1. a feeling of surprise mingled with admiration, caused by something beautiful, unexpected, unfamiliar, or inexplicable.

verb 1. desire or be curious to know something. 2. feel admiration and amazement; marvel.

Wonder is something I experience a lot in both the noun form and verb form. I’m happy to be a Wonderer.

Right now I’m wondering how everything will fit together for the upcoming wedding in just 11 day! We are waiting for the good times we’ll have with friends and family around this wonderful event.

Waiting for good meals and time together out on our deck after the wedding when company from hither and yon will linger on.

Soon this view is going to change as we are into another project at this old house to give us a little more privacy when we are on the deck. It won’t be until after the wedding that I’ll be able to share the photos of the latest do it yourself project!

Linking up with ABC Wednesday which was started by Mrs. Nesbitt and carried on by Roger and the ABC team! Thank you.

W is for wonder, wonderer, wondering, wonderful, waiting, and the wedding. Oh I should have showed you the Western boots that will play a huge part in the wedding, too.

Flag Day Barns

Before I show you my barns for this week I just wanted to wish everyone in the U.S. of A. a very happy Flag Day! We are flying our flags in a nice breeze here in the Seattle area today!

The photos of the barns this week were taken in April when we were at our son’s home in Eastern Washington. This was a nice fresh barn type structure for horses in Chewelah, Washington. The next photo was down the road a bit and not so fresh!

I’m linking up with The Barn Collective started by Amy and hosted now by Tom The Backroads Traveller.

O Perfect Love ~ Hymn

O Perfect Love

O perfect Love, all human thought transcending,
Lowly we kneel in prayer before Thy throne,
That theirs may be the love which knows no ending,
Whom Thou forevermore dost join in one.

O perfect Life, be Thou their full assurance,
Of tender charity and steadfast faith,
Of patient hope and quiet, brave endurance,
With childlike trust that fears nor pain nor death.

Grant them the joy which brightens earthly sorrow;
Grant them the peace which calms all earthly strife,
And to life’s day the glorious unknown morrow
That dawns upon eternal love and life.

Hear us, O Father, gracious and forgiving,
Through Jesus Christ, Thy coeternal Word,
Who, with the Holy Ghost, by all things living
Now and to endless ages art adored.

Words: Dorothy F. Gurney, 1883.

Before and After

This is what the front of our house looked like when we moved in way back in October of 1998. This photo is from March of 2000. This next photo was taken this week and shows the changes we’ve made. I’ll be posting the different sides of the house and how they looked before and what we’ve done over the last fifteen years to update this old house.

Same door, new windows, and new siding. The planter is filled with new plants, too. I’ll be showing the process of Dear working around the house little by little to make more improvements over the years.

This part of our front walk used to lead to a porch that we enclosed to make a family room instead.

This was what the front walk and porch looked like before we enclosed the area.

The other side of the porch before we enclosed it.

This is what it looks like today.

The process of enclosing the porch/deck.

When we first moved we had signed a one year lease to rent and a month after we moved in the owner said he had to put the home on the market to sell it. We were tired of moving (long story) so we made an offer to buy the property and the rest is history.

I’m beginning to feel the “squeeze” of things I need to organize in my brain for the upcoming wedding and hosting some out of town family here at this old house. Posting and visiting might be a little random. I will be participating less in weekly memes until Julyish!

We are cooling down today in the Seattle area. That makes it nicer to work outside. My relaxing time these days is sitting with my feet up watching Women’s World Cup Soccer games. Watching soccer is my “happy place”.

Banana Coffee Cake

Click on over to Mennonite Girls Can Cook to get my recipe for this Banana Coffee Cake! My family says it’s moist and delicious. It’s also a great recipe for using up that one ripe banana that is left from the bunch!

Here’s what losing fifteen pounds looks like on my face. The photo on the left is from April 18th and the photo on the right is from June 3rd. I’ve kind of hit a wall at this point but am happy with what I have been able to de-fluff before the wedding coming up in just seventeen days!

Today Dear and I are working outside again. He has a small section of the siding to finish painting and then we are going to clean up the planter on that side of the house and level out an area to store our trash cans out of sight. I have lots of before and afters to share in the future!

It’s cooling off a little today in the Seattle area. How goes it in your neck of the woods?

 

V is for Vistas…

The Columbia River in Washington State from the Vantage Bridge pictured below.

To Chewelah 002

When driving to our son’s home in Eastern Washington we have to cross this bridge. It’s always an amazing view to look up and down the mighty Columbia river from this vantage point. We’ll be crossing this bridge twice more at the end of June for our son’s wedding.

The Columbia River north of Kettle Falls and close to the Canadian Border.

Linking to ABC Wednesday begun by Mrs. Nesbitt and carried on by Roger and the ABC team!

We are plugging away at this old house. Our siding project is nearly completed and I will show some before and after photos sometime. Not promising anything before the wedding we are preparing for this month! It has been hot for us here in the Pacific Northwest. Lots of watering has to be done instead of our usual rain watering. Windows open all through the night. How goes it in your corner of the world?

Barns ~ Eastern Washington

We saw a good number of barns on our trip to visit our son in Eastern Washington in April and in May. This is one of them.

Tom at The Backroads Traveller is generously hosting Barn Collective which was started by Amy at Rose Street Reflections.

This meme runs from  6PM Central time on Sunday through Wednesday each week. You can post photos of barns, silos, sheds, or any interesting farm like structure.

We have worked hard at this old house this first weekend of June. Our deck is washed down and the patio furniture was cleaned after living in the garage loft all fall and winter. Dear has continued working on the siding on the back side of the house and is getting close to finishing. I was able to pot some plants for the deck, too.

We have had our windows open all weekend with our hot for the Pacific Northwest weather. I managed to watch some Women’s World Cup Soccer, too. How was your weekend?

 

How Happy Are Thy Servants, Lord – Hymn

How Happy Are Thy Servants, Lord

How happy are Thy servants, Lord,
Who thus remember Thee!
What tongue can tell our sweet accord,
Our perfect harmony?

Who Thy mysterious supper share,
Here at Thy table fed,
Many, and yet but one we are,
One undivided bread.

One with the living bread divine
Which now by faith we eat,
Our hearts and minds and spirits join,
And all in Jesus meet.

So dear the tie where souls agree
In Jesus’ dying love!
Then only can it closer be,
When all are joined above.

Words: Charles Wesley, 1745.

We Survived!

Dear has been off of work for one week and we have survived nicely.

On Wednesday of last week we went downtown for Dear to drop off some donuts to his former workmates and I took care of some business. We decided since we were downtown and paying for parking we’d enjoy a meal at one of the Seattle iconic steak houses, Metropolitan Grill. Our lunch was delicious!

We have been working hard outdoors with some real nice weather. Dear re-stained the shingles on the patio side of our house and when he was done we were able to finally put the patio covers up!

We hauled out all the patio furniture. We are going to enjoy the shade those covers offer for the hot weekend we are promised. Soon I’ll share some of the details I’ve been adding to our patio deck!

How are things shaping up at your place?