…from sunny Huntington Beach, California.
This was a wonderful way to start the day. Walking along the tide line in the sand was a good workout this morning with my sister Vera and my SIL Mandy. This is my second day in Southern California and I’ll have lots to share when I get back home.
This was taken a few years ago when I re-united with a good friend of mine from high school. I graduated from this high school in Southern California in 1968.
I’m flying out on the O-dark-thirty flight to John Wayne Airport in Southern California for a few days with my pop, siblings and nieces and nephews. My family is Russian and this sign that says no to Vodka is part of my upbringing, too. Russian yes, but Vodka no, growing up. Some things stay the same and some things change.
These were all places that were part of my life growing up in Pico Rivera and Montebello.
On Sundays coming home from church we sometimes stopped at 31 Flavors Ice Cream and we were able to choose 3 scoops! That’s was quite a treat for us. In junior high school Currie Ice Cream was across the street and we were able to go off campus and get lunch there if we had 35 cents for a hot dog and chips. The Garmar theater is the first walk in theater that I saw a movie in. Garduno’s was a fast food stand that was a favorite in high school where we had open campus, too, for our lunch time. Good Mexican food and pastrami.
I’ll have lots to share from my family time when I get back home. Hope everyone is doing well.
You can see more signs by clicking over to Signs Signs by Lesley!
January is a big birthday month at this old house. Our oldest son was born on January 19th and his younger brother arrived two years later on January 16th. My younger brother was born on January 22nd and my youngest niece, Hope, was born on January 25th.
I set Joshua’s birthday table around a Washington state sports theme. Since we were celebrating the night before the NFC championship game here in Seattle I added some Seattle Seahawks touches to our Seattle Sounders Soccer themed table.
The Seahawks and the Sounders have similar team colors which made it easy and fun.
Our boy was happy with the table setting, the Ribeye steaks and his special request dessert. We had such a good time celebrating Josh.
Josh and Laura gifted me these beautiful illustrated ABC verse cards at Christmas and I’ll share the verse for letter B, too.
On Tuesday you can click on over for more ABC Wednesday posts on the letter B. Thank you to Denise Nesbitt who started this meme and to the team of bloggers who manage it every week.
…to bring you the most epic ending to a football game ever! The Seahawks just came from behind and won the NFC championship game in overtime. We are going to the Superbowl for the second time in a row!! Hats off to the 12’s, Pete Carroll, Russell Wilson and the whole team.
So I’m going outside the box again with my Barn Collective post. This is a piece that my mother-in-law painted years back that I really enjoy. My mother-in-law passed away in 1997 and we have reminders of her around our home. She grew up Kansas and she was a school teacher in a one-room school house. She lived with us after my father-in-law passed away in 1985.
Head over to Rose Street Reflections for The Barn Collective #15 to see some actual barns.
I can remember driving to church on Sunday mornings with the radio tuned to a station that played a service at the Rescue Mission. This was the theme song that I remember so well being sung each week.
Fanny Crosby (1820-1915)
Sometime after [this] hymn became known I was at a service one evening and a young man told the story of his conversion. Poor and hungry, he had walked the streets for want of something better to do. He heard the singing at a mission; he went in; and before the service was concluded his heart broke in contrition.
“I was just ready to perish,” he said to me, “but that hymn, by the grace of God saved me.”
Rescue The Perishing
Rescue the perishing, care for the dying,
Snatch them in pity from sin and the grave;
Weep o’er the erring one, lift up the fallen,
Tell them of Jesus, the mighty to save.
Refrain
Rescue the perishing, care for the dying,
Jesus is merciful, Jesus will save.
Though they are slighting Him, still He is waiting,
Waiting the penitent child to receive;
Plead with them earnestly, plead with them gently;
He will forgive if they only believe.
Refrain
Down in the human heart, crushed by the tempter,
Feelings lie buried that grace can restore;
Touched by a loving heart, wakened by kindness,
Chords that were broken will vibrate once more.
Refrain
Rescue the perishing, duty demands it;
Strength for thy labor the Lord will provide;
Back to the narrow way patiently win them;
Tell the poor wand’rer a Savior has died.
Refrain
This cathedral, officially the Cathedral Church of St. Peter and St. Paul, had its beginning in 1893. The foundation stone was laid in 1907 in the presence of President Theodore Roosevelt, and the Cathedral was completed in 1990 – 83 years later – when the “final finial” was placed in the presence of President George H.W. Bush.
Built of Indiana limestone, the Cathedral is the sixth largest in the world. Its design is unique and not copied from any earlier building. The building is shaped like a cross, with a long nave – a tenth of a mile- and two shorter transepts.
The Cathedral’s architectural style is Gothic, characterized by great height and the use of pointed arches, boss stones, ribbed vaulting, large windows, and flying buttresses.
When visiting these wonderful historical sites there’s always something you miss or at least I miss. I tend to learn more about the site when I finally get ready to post about it on my blog. Although I did notice these Gargoyles, I totally missed the fact that Darth Vader was one of the Gargoyles on the Cathedral! Here’s an explanation.
In the 1980s, while the west towers were under construction, Washington National Cathedral held a decorative sculpture competition for children. Word of the competition was spread nationwide through National Geographic World Magazine. The third-place winner was Christopher Rader, with his drawing of that fearful villain, Darth Vader. The fierce head was sculpted by Jay Hall Carpenter, carved by Patrick J. Plunkett, and placed high upon the northwest tower of the Cathedral.
You would need binoculars to see it so I don’t feel too bad about totally missing it!
I guess I’ll have to visit this marvelous cathedral again. I have posts on the interior of the cathedral and the Bishop’s Garden here, here, and here.
Thank you to Beth and Sally for hosting InSPIREd Sunday.
I’m joining Weekend Reflections with these photos I took along Lake Washington in Washington State.
This past Tuesday I met up with my Senior group to walk the Burke Gilman Trail along Lake Washington. It was a beautiful sunny morning. We spotted two eagles that I’ll post later.
I’m headed into a busier than usual weekend with a birthday dinner for our son and big game. If you don’t know yet the whole state of Washington is rallying around the Seattle Seahawks as they play the Greenbay Packers on Sunday. You can’t go anywhere in this state without spotting someone sporting their Seahawks gear. Our 8 A.M. church service on Sunday will be fuller than usual so people can be home in time to prepare for the game. I’m more of a soccer fan than a football fan but I’ll join in the fun and “root root root for the home team”.
These first few photos are before shots of our pulls and knobs. I had to look in my archives to find the before photos. I was a bad blogger and I forgot to take close ups of the before shots. These pulls were nice and functional but they had too much detail on the surface that allowed crumbs and flying flour and sugar to gather in the nooks and crannies.
We decided to go with these cup pulls and knobs to match the metal on the pulls. No more nooks and crannies for food to get stuck in…
Our first project of the New Year is complete. Do you have any projects you are going to tackle this year?
Dear and I lived in California from 2006 until 2010. These are some signs from our day and weekend trips while living there.
This was our go to Mexican restaurant in Camarillo, California.
Between Santa Barbara and Santa Ynez we stopped at the Cold Spring Tavern for breakfast. I got a kick out this sign.
I saw this sign in San Francisco.
This sign was from Willow and my weekly walks in her neighborhood.
Most Saturday mornings we’d arrive at this beach and have our beach walk. We miss our walks here.
I’m linking up to Signs Signs hosted by Lesley.
All of our children were born in California and this week we will be celebrating our oldest with a dinner together on Saturday. Our second born son will be celebrating this week with his fiance who has a birthday this week, too, in Eastern Washington. Our January is full. I’ll be traveling next week to California to celebrate our niece Hope’s 7th birthday and one of my brother’s birthdays. I’ll share photos from all the fun times we manage to enjoy! Is January full or quiet for you?
The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b. 