Bumper Stickers

My sister Lana calls me when she sees bumper stickers that make her laugh. She just called me to read a bumper sticker on the car in front of her in traffic. It reads: “Do you follow Jesus this close?” Love it. That would make you think.

My mom is still having her ups and downs and food requests. She mentioned she’d enjoy some fried chicken. My sister Lana decided to drive to the place where my parents first experienced fried chicken to pick some up for them, Knott’s Berry Farm. She ordered the whole meal plus a Boysenberry Pie for dessert. I’m hoping to see a photo soon of them enjoying the meal. I do not need to wish any further. This photo just popped up on Facebook!!

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Katie and Andrew are enjoying their bittersweet days here before they are separated for 6 to 7 months.  They’ve planned some fun things with family and friends the rest of the week. When God puts our Andrew on your mind please pray for his safety and for the loneliness both he and Katie will be experiencing…Thank you.

The last days of August are ticking away! What do you have going?

Helping Hands…

…and open hearts that I am so thankful for.

On Sunday we were invited to a get together with dinner on Hatzic Lake in British Columbia. Anneliese and her dear husband put the invitation out for an end of summer celebration with any of us “girls” and our husbands that were available.  So thankful for their open home and hearts for hospitality!

Dear and I were the last ones to arrive after a long wait at the border crossing. Thankfully we realized just a mile from home that we had left our passports at home and turned around to retrieve them. Sheesh…that would not have been a sad discovery if we were farther up the road.

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Anneliese and her H had made preparations for us and also made sure we had everything we needed while we were there.

Such a beautiful peaceful setting to enjoy time together.

Thankful hands received all that was prepared for us to enjoy starting with appetizers.

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Bev prepared the marinade for the salmon that her husband Harv caught and then prepared on his smoker grill for us. So thankful for these generous and helpful hands that are always ready to serve us.

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Judy and her dear husband Elmer just home from a trip East brought the famous and fresh Chilliwack corn for us all to enjoy. So thankful for these hands that are always open to blessing me with a place to stay when I come to B.C.

 

Anneliese prepared several side dishes for us to enjoy with the salmon. Thankful for her generous hands.

 

 

I am so thankful for friends that speak my love language of enjoying food together and their hands that don’t tire in preparing dishes for us to enjoy.

 

IMGP0987We enjoyed the meal together after we sang “Praise God from Whom all Blessings Flow”

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Our canopy at the dinner table was a beautiful very old Walnut Tree.

We enjoyed several different trees during our time together…

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IMGP0968This is an interesting tree that has fallen over but is still producing fruit. Julie wrote a great post about it and if you click here you can read it.

Who knew this swing would be a temptation to our group?

IMGP0972Anneliese and Judy got us going enjoying the tire swing that one of the large trees supported. You can see more fun on the tire swing at Lovella’s blog post.

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The fire was lit just before we sat down to enjoy dessert that Lovella’s and Julie’s hands prepared for us.

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Lovella made a delicious Coconut Cream Pie.

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Julie made her Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake from the cookbook (gluten free, of course!) Rich and Yummy!

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Just before we left to cross the line back to the U.S. Dear and I took a short turn on the tire swing, too.

On the road back to the border we were able to enjoy a double rainbow reminding us again of God’s goodness to us.

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We had 2 long border crossing wait times this time around but it was worth the time to enjoy these cherished moments with our “Canadian Cousins”.

Swingin By…

IMGP1000…to let you know I’m working on a post to share what Dear and I were “up” to while our kids were enjoying the Sounders game against Portland last night.

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Josh and Laura celebrated their 12th anniversary with dinner, a show and capped it off with the Sounders game. We were pleased that Katie and Andrew are here safe and sound from the cross country road trip from North Carolina and could join Josh and Laura at the game with my ticket and a friend’s ticket. I’m sure Josh and Laura enjoyed the added gift for their anniversary when the Sounders won their game last night.

Today I’ll be laying low and recuperating from all the fun of our kids coming “home” and Dear and my little trip for a wonderful get together. Hope your week is starting well…

Hallelujah! What a Savior ~ Hymn

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Hallelujah! What a Savior

Man of Sorrows! what a name
For the Son of God, who came
Ruined sinners to reclaim.
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Bearing shame and scoffing rude,
In my place condemned He stood;
Sealed my pardon with His blood.
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Guilty, vile, and helpless we;
Spotless Lamb of God was He;
Full atonement! can it be?
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Lifted up was He to die;
It is finished! was His cry;
Now in Heav’n exalted high.
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

When He comes, our glorious king,
All His ransomed home to bring,
Then anew His song we’ll sing:
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Words and Music: Philip P. Bliss, 1875.

Summer is Waning…

…but we are still enjoying what’s left of it.

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Because of all our renovations at this old house we had the patio furniture cleared off the deck for the workers to set up their saws to cut the wood for the new flooring. Last weekend after using the clear path to re-furnish the house with all our furniture stored in the garage we put the patio furniture back in it’s place and were even able to have a meal on the deck with our traveling guests!

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Fun end of summer times with Josh, Laura, Lana, Steve, Dear and me! What do you serve come as you are guests of hosts with no time to fuss over a meal? Dear and I had been working all day getting the house back in order so I didn’t have time to plan a meal but had time to throw together a meal!  We had flank steak, cucumber and tomato salad and are you ready for the starch?? All I had were frozen hash browns and that’s what I cooked up and served. Yummy! I also steamed some frozen broccoli in their own steam bag.  Love the carefree company that just enjoys sitting down to food on a plate! We had ice cream for dessert and Steve ran home to bring some of Lana’s homemade cookies and banana bread to add to the ice cream.

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The hydrangeas are losing their summer brilliance.

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I like them at all stages.

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Don’t judge me but this is what’s happening with my apples this year. I do not have the energy to pick them all and make applesauce again. I’ve offered them to friends and neighbors and haven’t had a good response. I’ve been able to give away some of the pears and have offered more to neighbors.

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This handy dandy pick up and reach tool that I bought at Goodwill a few years ago is really saving my back when I pick up the fruit that has fallen and been partially eaten by crows and some nocturnal animals. I’m content this year with letting the animals glean my fruit.

We are looking forward to the arrival of Katie and Andrew on Saturday. They have a 12 hour drive from Salt Lake City to us. Dear is making his Tomato Rice soup that you can find in our latest Mennonite Girls Can Cook Celebrations cookbook for their arrival and he’s adding some Lobster and crab leg meat to the pot which will transport it to a wonderful bouillabaisse!

What are you looking forward to this weekend?

Do You Measure Up?

We thought we had measured the inside of our closet well before I headed to Ikea to buy some new storage pieces for our T.V. and a 2nd closet in the guest room.

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The T.V. stand is working perfectly and just how we planned. The storage units for the closet were another matter. I picked up this large square piece and another section that was narrower and taller to put on one end.

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Seems our measurements were 3/4 of an inch off. I knew my handy dandy Dear would figure something out or we’d just stick the tall unit in the basement. The figuring someway to squeeze it in was the more favorable option because I wanted to maximize the storage in this closet. The solution was to take the support for the upper shelf completely out. See that white upper board at the end of the closet with the hole in it that was a hanger bar?  Of course that also meant we had to take the entire upper shelf out during the process, too. We still had to partially disassemble the tall unit to get it in and then to lift the unit while it was in it’s place to tighten the screws. Are you confused yet? Too bad I didn’t YouTube the process.

Ikea storage 002It’s quite the feeling of accomplishment when you can enjoy the fruits of your labor and know you conquered assemble yourself furniture! That is one snug fit let me tell you. Oh my aching back…

I’m also quite pleased that I have some empty cubbies to add things to in the future. Have you had fun projects go south on you?

My mom and pop are doing well being left alone at night. My mom has had some tough days with her heart feeling very heavy. When I talked to my pop this past week one day he told me my brother had made homilets for them for breakfast. On Tuesday he said my sister Kathy had made something Mexican for them with beans… saucekitos or something. My family loves to document what we call “Moisiisms”.

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My mother and father have never had lobster, scallops or shrimp so my brother Steve made lobster and scallops for them last week and my sister Lana made a shrimp dish for them to try on another evening. My mother really enjoyed the lobster and left the scallops for my brother to enjoy.  I forgot to ask how she liked the shrimp. I really can’t remember having much fish growing up. Maybe once when my pop went deep sea fishing and caught Yellowtail. I do remember camping at San Clemente Beach in California when the Grunion were running and catching some and running up to the campsite to cook them fresh. The Grunion running experience was a great one for me. “The grunion are running, the grunion are running, was chanted down the beach after waiting in the dark for them to appear. You could see little silvery fish emerge from the waves onto the beach and they would start digging into the sand to lay eggs. Wow this post has really gotten away from me.

Here’s a short explanation from Cabrillo Marine Aquarium, “Spend a night sitting on Southern California’s sandy shore waiting for the “grunion run.” Grunion are small sardine-size fish of the silversides family, which are among the few species of fish that actually come ashore to lay their eggs on sandy beaches. They are found from Southern California south to Baja California and arrive at night after the high tide around the new moon and full moon. Cabrillo Beach is one of the better places to observe the fish.”

So you see if you don’t measure properly you will find your mind being random and scattered and full of fond memories of carefree days…

Here’s that Yellowtail I mentioned earlier. This was taken in our backyard in Montebello Gardens (Pico Rivera). That’s me and my brother Tim watching my pop clean the fish.

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August Notecards

For Vee’s August Notecard Party

I’m sharing some shots in the Seattle area from summers past…

August 2011 ~ Josh and Laura at a Sounders Soccer game with Seattle in the background.

2010 Kayaking in Anacortes, Washington with Dear, Josh, Laura, Andrew and Katie.

July 2009 on Lake Washington with Seattle across the lake. Laura and Katie with my niece Debbee between them.

Summer 2008 ~ Canoeing on Lake Washington with Katie. You can rent canoes and rowboats at the University of Washington Waterfront to mess around the lake. “Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing-absolutely nothing- half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats” ~ Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows

The State of Washington is filled with Lakes and Sounds and other water ways to enjoy. It’s no wonder people invest in boats in this area. We live within 2 miles of Lake Washington and one of my favorite walks is along the Sammamish River/Burke Gilman Trails a short drive away. When I’m on the water, I prefer to be able to see the shore. I’m not fond of being out in the middle of the ocean surrounded by water with no land in sight.

Hope you are still enjoying some lazy summer days. I’m hoping to get some lazy days in before summer is over! To see what we’ve been doing this summer that has been anything but lazy, you can scroll down to the post before this one to see our floor project with before and after shots (or just click here).

Before and After

Before we had the vinyl floor and this smaller area rug and our chairs still had the cloth upholstery on them.

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After with the wood floors, the larger area rug from the living room and our dining chairs recovered in leather. I should have put a less busy tablecloth on the table…

Before the new look with the kitchen cupboard open and Dear working in the kitchen.

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The new look in a new season judging from my bare feet instead of my comfy slippered feet.

This is the rug that was in the living room and is now in the dining area of our kitchen. We also gave the piano to our kids and moved a lot of stuff around.

Still the old look with yet another spot for the piano before we gave it away with the secretary in the far corner of the room. The antiqued white cabinet was still in it’s corner but we have decided to keep that piece out of the living room now.

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This is the new look with a smaller area rug we had elsewhere.  The Cabinet in the spot where the piano used to be will show in the next photos.

This is the before at this angle with the old floors.

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This is the new spot for the Secretary where the piano used to be.

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After

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That will be a wrap on the Before and Afters. It would have been good to take shots at the same angles but sometimes things just get away from you. Hope I didn’t make you dizzy or confused by the sequence. I know we will enjoy the new floors for years to come. We still have some finishing up of baseboards and closet work ongoing. It will be nice when this project is complete and we can enjoy nesting in this old house.

Still Working…

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…on some before and afters of our floors. These are just a few of the changes that I’m enjoying. I really like our new smaller TV stand and that the TV now fits tucked in nicely under the stairwell.

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The stairs to the basement are a great improvement, too. The new chocolate carpet color enhances the walls and the tile in the basement.

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I’m still working on the right angles of the new shots of the living room compared to the old looks. I’ll share more soon. WE are really happy with the roomier feeling we’re getting in the living room.

We have had some “oye” moments around here. The Ikea storage units we bought for our closet in the spare room were off by 3/4 of an inch so now we need to make some adjustments to have them fit in the closet. Little things like that make a big impact on your planning.

My mom is hanging in there and my mom and pop have decided that they don’t need one of my siblings spending the night at the apartment anymore. My siblings still come by during the day to clean and cook for my parents. My pop is doing a lot better with the situation and walks to the store now that is close by to replenish milk, etc.

Katie and Andrew have made it to Denver and will be in Salt Lake City on Tuesday. We’re hoping to see them here by Saturday.

So many bloggy friends are talking about Fall already and I’m so surprised to hear about kids starting school. Are you looking ahead to Fall or are you still enjoying the long days of summer?

On the Way…

…to Gaviota for the wedding we attended on August 10th we headed off Hwy 101 just North of Santa Barbara to pick up Josh and Laura at the Santa Barbara Airport.

IMGP0709Josh and Laura had to travel on Saturday because Josh was directing Junior Highers at Lakeside Bible Camp for the week. They arrived after 1:00 pm and we were all hungry so we headed to Goleta Beach.

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We ate at Beachside Bar-Cafe.

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We missed Andrew and Dan but enjoyed the fact that the 5 of us were able to be together.

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Caleb & Marie

We all enjoyed something different. Dear had the fish and chips and I went with the great local treat of Santa Maria Tri-Tip.

From here we stopped in Hollister for some donuts before we headed farther north along the coast for the wedding.

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Girl CousinsThe girl cousins! I had to lift this one from my niece Melissa. Somehow I missed it with my own camera! Looks like Marie didn’t make it in the shot, either.

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It was so good to be with our kids. Katie and Andrew are driving West right now from North Carolina headed for Salt Lake City to visit Andrew’s mother and sister before they finish their road trip here in Seattle. We are busy getting their room ready. Dear will finish the trim on the new bedroom door and re-install the closet doors.

We got a lot accomplished over the weekend. Dear’s closet was completed and ready to get all his clothes back upstairs from the basement. I’m busy organizing my new office upstairs in the sitting room off our master bedroom. Little by little and inch by inch everything is getting more organized and fresh around here.

August is just ticking away. What do you have going these last weeks of August.