Holy Father, in Thy Mercy ~ Hymn

Holy Father, in Thy Mercy

Holy Father, in Thy mercy,
Hear our anxious prayer.
Keep our loved ones, now far distant,
’Neath Thy care.

Jesus, Savior, let Thy presence
Be their light and guide;
Keep, oh, keep them, in their weakness,
At Thy side.

When in sorrow, when in danger,
When in loneliness,
In Thy love look down and comfort
Their distress.

May the joy of Thy salvation
Be their strength and stay;
May they love and may they praise Thee
Day by day.

Holy Spirit, let Thy teaching
Sanctify their life;
Send Thy grace, that they may conquer
In the strife.

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
God the One in Three,
Bless them, guide them, save them, keep them
Near to Thee.

Words: Isabella S. Stevenson, 1869.

The Calm Before…

…the Fireworks! Was it just me or did you feel like the fireworks were more plentiful and louder this year ? Here’s what our calm and quiet fourth looked like at this old house…

It’s good to keep the celebrations going all year long.

Got Flags?

After a few days of hot hot weather here in the Seattle area the fourth was overcast and cool. We were hoping that the sun would break through the clouds before our 4:00 P.M. party time and it did.

It makes decorating so much more fun if you enjoy it with friends and family.

Fourth of July 2013 we had the traditional eight to celebrate.

The signature drink for 2013 was shaken up by Dear and enjoyed. Steve and Lana brought a new red for the wine drinkers to enjoy.

Dear smoked pork for pulled pork sandwiches and our guests all brought sides to share.

My contribution was a trifle with strawberries and blueberries. We really do love our red, white, and blue!

How did you celebrate the “Fourth” this year or do you have some summer celebrations you are looking forward to?

And for the record…I was in bed when the fireworks were in full force loudness.

Happy Fourth of July!

My decorations are going up today and the smoker is already cooking away.

If you head over to Mennonite Girls Can Cook you will see a recipe for easy delicious Pork Loin Ribs slow roasted in the oven.

God Bless America

While the storm clouds gather far across the sea,

Let us swear allegiance to the land that’s free,

Let us all be grateful for a land so fair,

As we raise our voices in a solemn prayer.

God Bless America

Land that I love.

Stand beside her, and guide her

Through the night with the light from above.

From the mountains, to the prairies

To the oceans, white with foam.

God bless America, My own sweet home

God bless America, My own sweet home.

God bless America and God bless all who visit here!

Summer in the City

…or summer in the burbs.

Hot town, summer in the city
Back of my neck getting dirty and gritty

Been down, isn’t it a pity
Doesn’t seem to be a shadow in the city

All around, people looking half dead
Walking on the sidewalk, hotter than a match head

We finally put our patio covers up on the last day of June. That’s pretty late for us but very timely with the heat wave that has been hitting us here in the Northwest. I took these photos in the morning so things are still cooler and pleasant.

We are going to have a few friends over on the 4th of July so it was time to get the deck ready for our celebration. While it was still in the 80’s instead of 90’s I walked about the yard to take some photos of the progress on our fruit trees and bushes.

Apples are moving along nicely along with our bumper crop of pears!

The blueberries on our large established bush are starting to turn blue.

The berries on our small deck blueberry bushes in pots are looking good, too.

You know you can invite friends over with all your floors torn up and they won’t mind? It will be a memorable 4th of July celebration here. We can call it “4th of July in the rough” or “4th of July before the floors”. Besides the good food we will share together we’ll mix up a pitcher of a very relaxing beverage just in case someone stubs their toes on our rough floors!

I’m Melting…

…but my plants are thriving.

We are all about the weather…aren’t we? Today was way over my comfort zone for sure. 90 degrees in the Puget Sound area of Washington is scorching. In the meantime when I get the energy I’ll show photos that we finally put our patio covers up. I think this is a record late start for us but here’s what’s been taking up our weekend warrior hours instead…

Dear has all the vinyl and most all the particle board removed from our kitchen area in preparation for our new hardwood floors. We had to move the island around on that dolly so he could remove the boards from underneath it. Lots of hard work in these hot temperatures. We’ll be happy to have our normal temperatures back around here.

Did you have any weekend warrior projects or did you enjoy a relaxing weekend? For our neighbors to the North you still have a holiday for your Monday. Happy Canada Day to you!

If Death My Friend and Me Divide ~ Hymn

If Death My Friend and Me Divide

If death my friend and me divide,
Thou dost not, Lord, my sorrow chide,
Or frown my tears to see;
Restrained from passionate excess,
Thou bidst me mourn in calm distress
For them that rest in Thee.

I feel a strong immortal hope,
Which bears my mournful spirit up
Beneath its mountain load;
Redeemed from death, and grief, and pain,
I soon shall find my friend again
Within the arms of God.

Pass a few fleeting moments more
And death the blessing shall restore
Which death has snatched away;
For me Thou wilt the summons send,
And give me back my parted friend
In that eternal day.

Words: Charles Wesley, Short Hymns, 1762.

This One’s For the Dogs…

The last garden we visited was our other favorite of the day even though I was skeptical since it was “all about the dogs”. I was happy to see that they had areas that humans could really enjoy, too.

This first section of the garden that all of the photos above were from seem to be the area that the dogs don’t freely roam in. The next sections of the garden had some well thought out spaces that were dog and plant friendly.

I thought this was a smart way to contain these plants in a dog friendly space.

A trio of flutists were entertaining us at this garden.

Two of our children will probably end up with pets of their own in the near future. Dear and I choose not to add them to our own home. The only pets we grew up with were parakeets and pigeons. Dear’s parakeet was named Pancho. His brother’s parakeet was named Pepino. I had a pet pigeon named Green Neck. Maybe the fact that my family had a period of time where our pet pigeons had to be sacrificed for soup that I am not fond of owning my own pet but I can appreciate other people’s pets. By the way, when us kids figured out that my parents sacrificed our pigeons for the soup we would not eat that soup in protest. We grew up with the philosophy that we have dominion over creation.

How about you…do you include pets in your household?

This is the last post from our Secret Garden Tour.

Oh no, google reader quit before I transferred all my blog links. I’m going to have to do some search and rescue this weekend. Oye…

Singing in Garden #3

When we arrived to the 3rd garden we were greeted with a musician singing songs that came easy to sing along with.

This garden also had many separate areas and paths leading here and there. There were many large yard art pieces, too.

Wednesday was a very productive day for me. I was able to clear out a lot of spaces that will be re-carpeted soon. I went up and down our attic stairs many times and also downstairs to the basement where we are storing a lot of stuff since those floors will not be replaced. My back is letting me know that I’ve done enough for a while. So happy our high school hire is mowing the lawn for me as I type and sit still. This weekend Dear is planning to replace our patio french doors.

Secret Garden Tour

In mid June my sister and I went on a Secret Garden Tour in the town of Lake Forest Park in Washington State. The gardens were numbered on a map for a self guided tour. We chose to start with garden #5 and work our way down to #1 hoping to have the least crowds at each garden.

We were curious and making guesses as to what this little cottage at the end of the path might be. What a lovely surprise to look inside.

There was a little loft with a bed in it, too, that I didn’t get a photo of. It would be nice to retreat here for a quiet get-away. This next photo is the view of the main house from the little cottage.

I caught Lana photographing the same thing I was through the looking glass. There were fun quirky things in a lot of the gardens we visited.

This was one of our favorite gardens out of the five. It was so surprising to find this lush setting coming around to the back of the home.

I’ll share more of the different types of gardens we strolled through over the course of the week.

Dear has done a lot more clearing out in this old house to get ready for the floors. All the carpeting is torn out of the family room now. This coming weekend he’ll install our new patio door. We’re loading up the living room with furniture from the family room and kitchen area so he can remove the vinyl flooring soon. My living room looks like a furniture store. I’m going to look on the bright side. I will not need to vacuum or dust till all of this is over. We’ve moved from bright sunshine to dreary skies and rain. Hoping for some good weather on the weekend since the door will be removed. What’s new with you?

Sweet Marie…

On Saturday Lana, Laura and I were able to attend a bridal shower for our nephew Caleb’s bride to be, Marie. The shower was given by her aunt and cousins. Marie has a large supportive family and it was nice to meet a lot of them.

You couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day in the greater Seattle area for a shower. Marie’s side of the family hails from this area and we were happy to be able to join in the fun. Our nephew Caleb and many of our family live in Southern California. The wedding is going to take place in Southern California.

Our sweet Marie with her aunt and cousins who collaborated to host the shower.

It was fun to watch Marie open each gift.

Marie with her mom and with her great grandmother and her paternal grandmother.

Cousins on the top and Marie with both grandmother’s, her mom, and great grandmother.

We loved meeting Great Grandmother! She is a fabulous 95!

Sweet Marie! We are looking forward to seeing her walk down the aisle at the Blueberry Farm/Ranch in Southern California to be married to our nephew Caleb. Our side of the family is having a shower for Marie the later part of July in Southern California.

After the shower Lana, Laura and I headed back to our house and met up with our hubbies to head out to dinner and celebrate a belated Father’s Day meal.

Another relatively quiet week ahead for me…sigh of relief. We are narrowing down the choices for our new carpeting. We are still overwhelmed with the idea that we have to empty out the rooms that will be re-carpeted. What’s ahead for you this week?

The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b.

To honor and encourage

Holy Father, in Thy Mercy ~ Hymn