Give me, O Lord, a heart of grace,
A voice of joy, a shining face,
That I may show, where’er I turn,
Thy love within my soul doth burn.
Though life be sweet and joy be dear,
Be in my mind a quiet fear,
A patient strength in pain and care,
An enmity to dark despair.
A tenderness for all that stray,
With strength to help them on the way,
A cheerfulness, a heav’nly mirth
Brightening my steps along the earth.
Words: Rosa Mulholland, 1886.
Here are my five blooming blessings for Susanne’s Friday’s Fave Five!
1. I got to enjoy 5 Peony blooms from my plant this year. Last year I only had two! Peonies really delight me.
2. Dear returned safely from his business trip to France and we enjoyed a relaxed Father’s Day weekend.
3. After non-stop activity for a few months we had a very slow uneventful week and that was good as we head into a flurry of prep work to replace all of our floors by the end of July.
4. Last Saturday my sister and I went on a garden tour in a neighboring city and enjoyed lots of wrong turns and laughter. A post is still coming about that morning…
5. Lots of good talks on the phone with our grown children this week. Our daughter and son-in-law are anticipating lots of changes over the next several months and it was good to be able to listen to all the possibilities and help them in the “waiting”. We are starting to get real excited about our plans for our England trip with our oldest son and DIL. We were waiting on the Premier League “Fixtures” to be released and now we can plan in earnest. (Fixtures are the teams schedules for the coming season) Now we are hoping we can actually get some tickets for the game we want to go to. Our son Dan is doing well on the other side of the mountains and that makes us happy.
Yesterday we had a solid day of rain. We are hoping for some dry time this weekend for some of our scheduled projects. Today is the first day of summer and looking out my window it’s hard to believe that. We joke around in the northwest that summer doesn’t really start up here until July 5th! Do you have some fun summer plans?
This and that from the rest of our time in Manitoba…and of course food is involved. These events are not in any particular order.
This was the Retreat Center that we stayed in during our time in Manitoba. Our last morning there we took our coffee out on the wrap around porch.
Betty is keeping an eye on me as I trek through the tall grass and weeds over to the church next door to take a stroll through their cemetery. She was hoping I wouldn’t end up with ticks on my legs. Yikes!
Here I go…
When I got back from my trek I found most of the girls having their coffee on the porch while we waited to enjoy our breakfast. Or maybe this was after breakfast. Anyhoo I won’t say out loud on my blog what I said to make them laugh.
One thing for sure is that we did not go hungry on any day or for any meal!
We were able to make a quick stop at Betty’s home and have a little tour to see where she cooks. While we were there a storm blew through and Lovella was excited to get out into it. The reason she’s toting that hanging plant is a whole other story.
While in Betty’s community we stopped at Main Bread & Butter Co. so some of the girls could buy some famous Bothwell Squeaky Cheese. We were excited to see our book for sale on one of their displays.
Now we are all the way back to the beginning of our time in Manitoba and our first night at the Women Refreshed at the Well Retreat Center. We pretty much started with good food and ended with good food. After all…it was a cookbook signing tour.
This was Charlotte’s Cake that she made for our dessert on our first evening.
We are grateful to God for all he has done in each of our lives and the great times that we enjoy together.
It’s been good to have a large chunk of this week without any plans or appointments. The next thing on the calendar is a bridal shower on Saturday for my nephew’s future bride. Those of us up here in the PNW are happy to be able to attend a family shower without having to fly. We will be flying to the wedding in August that will be in the Santa Barbara area.
I’m experimenting with a new way to make ribs in the oven and if the recipe turns out well I’ll be sharing it on the Mennonite Girls Can Cook website on the 4th of July. Time will tell since I’m cooking it low and slow…
The Mennonite Heritage Village helps preserve the history of the Russian Mennonites.
The outdoor village takes you back to 1874 when the first Mennonites arrived in Manitoba. Over twenty historic buildings, including Mennonite homes, schools, churches, and small businesses line the village street. You can absorb the history as you walk through the village and the buildings.
This is a replica of the turn of the century General Store.
The original Klass Reimer general store was the first in the village of Steinbach back in 1884.
Lichtenau Church was built in 1930 by Mennonites who emigrated from Russia in the 1920’s.
We had an appointment at the Livery Barn Restaurant for lunch so I’ll stop here for a bit before we continue our village tour. This is Betty and her daughter Allison.
All of us chose to order the Bestje Dit enn Daut. Sample of a little this and that. All of this plus it came with a slice of rhubarb plautz. A very traditional Mennonite sampling.
Marg decided we could all sample the Cinnamon roll, too. Yummy!
Mennonites used windmills to grind grains and drain marshes throughout their history in Europe and Russia. The first windmill in Steinbach was built in 1877 by Abraham S. Friesen. A replica was built at the museum in 1972 but was destroyed by fire in 2000. Now Canada’s only operational windmill, reconstructed in 2001, is an exact replica of the 1877 windmill of Steinbach and sits in this village.
We didn’t have enough time to walk into all the buildings but I was interested in seeing the inside of one of the school buildings. This school was built in the village of Blumenhof, near Altona, in 1885.
Dear’s mother taught in a one room school house and I can imagine it was not unlike this one.
Lunch boxes or I suppose they should be called Lunch cans!
The teacher could live right in the school in an adjoining room. I think I would have preferred to have quarters elsewhere.
Old Colony Worship House
The house and barn connection and dwelling layout of this home can be traced back to Prussia/Poland, where the Mennonites settled from the 1500’s onward.
This is a Semlin which was made of sod, soil, grass and wood. These were the materials used in the first homes built by Mennonite immigrants in 1874. Although very crude, these sod buildings provided the shelter necessary for survival on the Manitoba plains. The house above and below this Semlin was a vast improvement built with oak logs and larger rooms. 
Hope you enjoyed my little tour of the Mennonite Heritage Village. Putting something together on this scale must have taken lots of hard work and volunteer hours. From what I’ve seen and experienced, Mennonites aren’t afraid of hard work. Volunteers put in hours to mow the lawns on this 40 acre site, too. It really is a great destination to visit if you travel in this area.
I have one more post to wrap up our time in Manitoba.
Hope all is well in your corner of the world.
Ht: Mennonite Heritage Village Brochure
I had no idea of the scope of the Mennonite Heritage Village in Steinbach. When we pulled up in front I still didn’t realize what was waiting to explore within and beyond the museum building. For this post I’ll just share the Center and the Museum with our signing photos and in another post I’ll share the Village and the Barn Restaurant where we enjoyed some heritage food.
The Village Centre contains the main exhibit telling the Mennonite story from the 1500s to the present.
The whole time we were in the center signing books there was a steady stream of elementary students arriving in school buses to have a tour of the center and village.
The Museum gift shop had a great collection of Mennonite books and they had our cover aprons from our first cookbook for sale in different fabric patterns.
A walk through the museum took you on a time line of the migration of the Mennonite People over the years. There were many great photos and items from Russia in the museum.
Even though I am not Mennonite these photos could have been a photo of my relatives from Russia. They look so similar to the few photos we have from our ancestors in Russia.
Kathy’s cousins came to the center and it was fun to take this photo with Kathy holding her cousin’s Draft Horse Calendar that is sold in the Heritage gift shop.
It was fun to meet Jeanine from The Baking Beauties who is actually only one baking beauty right now. She has a great Gluten Free Baking sight and you can click over to check it out. She’s in the middle in the back row.
When we were done with our signing slot we headed out the back doors of the center and I was pleasantly surprised with the sites I saw. I will share more in my next post.
We are busy now working on options for easily storing some of our larger pieces of furniture while we have all of our floors replaced. We are having it done in two stages and will be moving things in and out for the hardwood floors first and then following up with the carpeting. We are still trying to choose the color and pile we want on the carpeting. Everything you do opens up the door to more things that need to be done. Any big projects at your house?
During our short time in Winnipeg and Steinbach we had book signings in 3 different Ten Thousand Villages. Each one of the stores served food that the staff prepared from our cookbook. If you aren’t familiar with Ten Thousand Villages here is a short description of who they are.
A Fair Trade Retailer We create opportunities for artisans in developing countries to earn income by bringing their products and stories to our markets through long-term, fair trading relationships.
You might want to have something to eat before you scroll through this post. Just thought I’d give you fair warning..
At two of the stores we ended up right next to the jewelry. I ended up coming home with 4 pieces of jewelry. That was good marketing for sure.
Have you shopped in a Ten Thousand Villages store? This was the store in Steinbach. Our last 2 signings of our days in Manitoba were at 2 different Ten Thousand Villages in Winnipeg.
This time we were right across from the jewelery instead of sitting in front of the jewelery. At this store we met many people who had connections to some of our own girls. This was TTV Henderson.
A little guy was my favorite fan for sure. He was so interested in getting one of our books and being able to enjoy some of the recipes. He never left our table even when his sister next to him found toys to play with in the store. He was more interested in making sure he got a book from us.
He watched each of us intently to make sure we signed the book just right. It was so much fun to talk to him.
Our next signing would be at the larger Ten Thousand Villages in Winnipeg but before we headed there we were invited to lunch at Margaret’s home who is Charlotte’s cousin. She was working at the store the whole time we were signing and left just minutes before we did but still had a wonderful table and food ready for us at her home nearby
We had a wonderful time at Margaret’s table, thank you so much! This was the first time that I had Obst Moos (a cold fruit soup) and it was delicious. Margaret said she followed Charlotte’s recipe in our first cookbook. From here we went to our last signing in Winnipeg (TTV Plaza Dr.) where more dishes from our cookbook were served.
Genevieve made my Dear’s Tomato Rice Soup and it was delicious. I wish I would have thought to take a photo of sweet Genevieve next to the soup. By this time my head was spinning from all the fun! I still have a couple more adventures to document from the Mennonite Girls trip to Manitoba.
In the meantime my Dear is back from France and we spent a nice Father’s Day at church and brunch and then enjoying some relaxation as each of our kids called to wish him a Happy Father’s Day. We’ll celebrate next weekend with our kids who are near. On Saturday to help the hours go by before Dear came home my sister Lana and I went on a Secret Garden Tour in a neighboring city. We had a great time and I’ll be sharing about that soon, too. Hope you had a nice weekend. Spring is coming to an end. What are your plans for the last week of Spring?
words by Henry Ware, Jr. (1794-1843)
Happy the home when God is there,
And love fills every breast;
When one their wish, and one their prayer,
And one their heav’nly rest.
Happy the home where Jesus’ Name
Is sweet to every ear;
Where children early speak His fame,
And parents hold Him dear.
Happy the home where prayer is heard,
And praise each day does rise;
Where parents love the sacred Word
And all its wisdom prize.
Lord, let us in our homes agree
This blessèd peace to gain;
Unite our hearts in love to Thee,
And love to all will reign.
I’m thankful to God for my father and the father of my children and my children by marriage. Both my father and my Dear are good fathers that their children respect and honor. What a blessing it is…Happy Father’s Day Pop and Dear!
I was so impressed with this store and all they have to offer.
The store had our spot all ready for us and the staff was ready to take care of anything we needed during our 2 hour signing.
This was our first signing in Winnipeg and we were so happy to meet so many wonderful people. It was fun to be seated by the Canadian Biography section of the bookstore.
What fun to meet the Wreathmaker, Millie and her husband. I’ve visited Millie’s blog so it was great to meet her in person.
John Toews, took such good care of us while we signed books at the store!
We had a little competition with the evening book talk on 300 Years of Beer. I got a kick out of our book sharing the feature case with the Beer book.
The big thrill of the evening is when we realized that Prairie Ink Restaurant located in the bookstore was serving 3 dishes from our cookbook for the evening that we were there! Lovella’s Maple Glazed Salmon and Prawns, Charlotte’s Vegetarian Black Bean Taco Salad, and Kathy’s Chicken sliders with Pineapple Salsa!
They gave us a taste of the pineapple salsa. Delicious!
They served Charlotte’s Vegetarian Black Bean Taco Salad in a tortilla bowl.
When we were done with our signings we sat down in the restaurant to have dinner. I ordered Kathy’s Chicken Sliders with Pineapple Salsa.
A huge thank you to McNally Robinson and Prairie Ink Restaurant for giving a special welcome to our book and our recipes!
My Dear is coming home on Saturday and I’m excited. We are postponing Father’s Day celebrations to let him recuperate from his international travel. What are your plans for the weekend and Father’s Day?
On Tuesday my son called me to say that his company had an extra ticket to the U.S.A. World Cup Qualifier Game against Panama at Century Link Field. He asked me if I’d like to meet up with him and go to the game. What do you think I said!? Yes, thank you. Off I went to a hotel in Bellevue to meet up with the rest of the group. Joshua’s company had reserved a party bus to take everyone across Lake Washington to the stadium. They also had booked a private suite for the game.
Josh was able to represent well with his USA warm-up. He and I were probably the most excited of the bunch to be going to the game. Soccer is a joy for me to watch and I understand that for many it would just make you yawn. We caught the “soccer bug” after going to World Cup games in the U.S.A. in 1994.
It was a beautiful day in Seattle and as we crossed Lake Washington it was fun to see all the sail boats out in force. What fun to just let someone else do the driving.
When we got into the stadium they were handing out complimentary scarves to everyone. We were very excited to receive these!
We headed to the elevators to go up to the Suite Level. I had never been on the Suite level before.
You have to have a ticket that shows a Suite # to be admitted onto this floor.
We looked down to our usual level when we come to a game. Our Club level is pretty sweet, too.
Here it is…Suite 16. We were very happy to see we were not far off from the 50 yard line! Woohoo!
Wow…this is going to be fun and comfortable!
Food and drinks included and 2 private restrooms.
We picked our seats and hung our flag and got ready to cheer the U.S.A. to victory!
The excitement was mounting and I sat ready to enjoy it all.
This is the Centennial year for soccer in the U.S.A. Our Seattle fans are the best and unfurled these banners to celebrate 100 years of history!
#6 Brad Evans and #18 Eddie Johnson are players from our own Sounders Football Club here in Seattle. Brad Evans scored the winning goal for the U.S.A. against Jamaica and Eddie Johnson scored a goal in this game against Panama. We’re proud of our Sounders!
At Half time we took the time to take some posed photos.
What a great group of people from all over the Western States that work for our son’s company. I met folks from Arizona, Utah, California, Idaho, Denver and Washington.
I was able to spot and zoom in on the Space Needle from our suite.
Great views all around. Scoring first made for a wonderful atmosphere in the stadium and the chants “We are going to Brazil” made for a lot of excitement. It’s not a given for a country as large as the U.S.A. to qualify for the World Cup. We won this game with a 2-0 result.
When the game was over we headed down to find The Party Ride bus to take us back to the East side of Lake Washington.
We spotted the Party Ride just where they let us off. There were a lot of people who wished they could hop on that bus with us.
What a great experience for this soccer lover to enjoy with my son. If you ever have a chance to enjoy a game in a suite I would highly recommend it.
The party bus was fun, too. I got home late and was happy to know I had nothing on my calendar until noon on Wednesday. It was nice to just relax the morning after all the fun I had on Tuesday night. Thank you dear son of mine for thinking of your soccer lovin mom! You are the best!
Today is Friday and if the weather is decent I’m headed to Edmonds for their annual Art Festival. I worked hard on Thursday clearing out the free standing cabinets in our kitchen to get ready for the new floors being installed in July. I cleared out our island cabinets as we will have to remove the island completely so the floor can be replaced under it. We have prep work to do before the flooring contractor can come in so I’ll be living with the bare necessities in my kitchen. I told Dear that if I’m too limited we might just have to eat out every night!
I’ve been so sad to see the news about the fires in Colorado. I do hope things come under control soon. Hope all is well where you live.
I’m joining in with The Tablescaper for her meme called “Oh the Places I’ve Been #9” since I’m home alone this week and have time to come and visit all the participants.
Everywhere we went in Canada I was struck with this greeting “Welcome Here”. It’s not a greeting used across the board in the U.S.A. but I’d love to start using it at my house. This post is about the places were were “welcomed here” apart from our book signing locations. I’ve already shared about Charlotte’s home and our wonderful lunch there.
We were also treated to a wonderful meal at the home of Betty’s sister, Norma. What fun we had as Norma’s dear husband served us the meal she planned and prepared. (The Photo above is from our Women Refreshed at the Well Lodgings)
Jack and Norma
A lovely table set for all of us with appetizers before our main meal began.
Not only did Jack serve us but he also washed up all the dishes while we had dessert in the Sun Porch. A great example of a servant that we are all called to be…
All Eight of us tried to trick Norma into giving us the recipe for this delicious pasta dish she made but she held her ground and kept her secret…so far. Time will tell if we can replicate it!
We were going to take these great little pudding/yogurt pies home with us to have at our retreat center but it turned out that we had time enough to eat them in the Sun Porch. Delicious! Aren’t they packaged nicely? That little pouch on the side is granola.
We were so glad to be able to spend time with Betty’s sister and Jack. Thank you so much for welcoming us here! Aren’t these sisters beautiful!?
Dear called from France today and it was so good to hear his relaxed voice. Things are a little quiet at his conference since so many travelers were delayed because of air traffic strikes in France. He’s eaten some Octopus and a Risotto dish that he sent me photos of. He sees me take so many photos of food that it has rubbed off on him. Here’s a photo that he took just outside the conference center.
Marseille, France
Tuesday night I was able to do something that qualifies for my bucket list and I’ll be sharing the experience really soon with lots of photos.
I’m watching and praying for many of our blogging friends in areas of extreme weather and in areas where wildfires are raging. May lives be spared and damage minimal. Blessings and remember you are “Welcome Here” anytime…
The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b. 