Refresh

What do you find that refreshes you each day?

I know from experience that it’s good for me to start each day thanking God and expressing my gratitude to Him for the new day.

I also know a little exercise each day is refreshing, too. I’m wondering what is going to kick start me into my habit of walking which has fallen by the wayside the last few years. I don’t want to be that American that Yeats speaks about who doesn’t walk in the winter because it’s too cold or walk in the summer because it’s too hot. Maybe each morning after I talk to God and express my gratitude I’ll start asking for Him to help me put one foot in front of the other and walk a mile or two.

Do you walk regularly and what helps you get out the door?

Nests

Not only has our nest seen some upheaval but the nest a little bird built in one of our arborvitae was upturned by something. So sad for the bird. Our upheaval will have a good result.

Our floors are stripped down to the car decking in our kitchen area.

On Thursday our wood flooring will be delivered. On Friday we’ll move the refrigerator to our living room and the island to our deck. On Saturday major prep work will be done and then next Tuesday the new floors are scheduled to go in over a 3 day period. Then we’ll move everything back in place on the wood floor areas before we have to move everything out of our bedrooms for the new carpeting. August is really going to be a lovely month of new calm with everything back in place on new floors!

So that’s life isn’t it? The calm, the storm, the recovery and on it goes…

What stage are you in?

She Scores…

My trips to my favorite Goodwill store in the area have been very infrequent the last couple of years. Lately I need to have something specific that I’m looking for to hit the thrifts or be right in the neighborhood doing something else. This last week I was looking for a book by a certain author and saw this in the collectibles section.

This is Lomonosov Golden Garden china made in Russia.

I bought these pieces for $29.95. When I looked online for prices just the cup and saucer was going for $75.00.

I need another tea set like a hole in the head but since this was a Russian set I wanted it. I am going to release one of my other sets for this one. I figure that’s a good trade off.

We had a productive weekend at this old house. I’m looking forward to a week where I’ll not be confused on what day it is. Holidays in the middle of the week throw my day compass off.

I’m joining in with Mary at Little Red House for her weekly meme, Mosaic Monday.

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…

The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b.

To honor and encourage