So we decided not to wait till November to celebrate Thanksgiving. We decided to celebrate with our Canadian cousins, our neighbors to the North.
We had a great evening with Katie, Steve and Lana. I’ll be sharing a couple new recipes soon that were a hit.
October is taking off with a whirlwind of activity around here. We have so much to be thankful for. The last 7 days have been full to the brim. Here are some favorites from that time. I’m joining with Susanne at Living to tell the Story with Friday’s Fave Five.
1. On Saturday I hit the road early for 2 book signings with the Mennonite Girls. Our first stop was in Washington very close to the Canadian border and the 2nd signing was in Vancouver, B.C. It was a great day with 6 of the other girls. We had time to chat and we met old friends and new friends. I logged in a little over 200 miles on my car that day.
2. On Sunday Josh and Laura came over for a casual meal and we had a good time of catching up.
3. On Monday Katie and I met with her wedding planner and got a lot of details sorted out. I snapped the photo of Katie in front of the post office mailing off the wedding invitations. Even though the wedding is far off 75% or more of our guests are from out of state so we want to give people time to plan their trip.
4. Tuesday night Josh and Laura picked me up for the Sounders Soccer game playing for the U.S. Cup. It was an epic night and we were so happy to win for the 3rd year in a row.
5. We’re beginning to feel more and more connected at our new church. We thank God for bringing us to this place at this time.
This weekend is Canadian Thanksgiving so I want to wish all my Canadian friends a Happy Thanksgiving. I’ve decided to make a non turkey Thanksgiving dinner tonight. We’re having a spiral cut honey baked ham, scalloped potatoes, an asparagus casserole (more details to follow) and rolls. I’m nixing the dessert this time around. There’s enough cream in the potatoes to count as dessert! OH CANADA! Be Thankful! We’re thankful for our friendly neighbors to the North!
I hate to be a broken record….but if you don’t see a comment from me on your Fave Five it means blogger won’t let me comment.
Time for Alphabe-Thursday with our great “teach” Jenny. We are on the letter Y. I happened to be at Yarrow Bay in Kirkland last week killing enjoying time while my daughter was at an appointment. Thankfully I had my camera with me and it wasn’t raining…
Yarrow Bay and Yellow Kayaks. Two for the price of one!
I even managed a shot of daughter after her appointment. Our daughter is going to be moving away across the country to North Carolina soon. Every now and then we look at her and moan a quote from My Big Fat Greek Wedding… Why Y you want to leave me???
Any of you have kids that have moved far far away from you? I’ll be around soon to see your Y’s!!
SEATTLE (Oct. 4, 2011) –” The Seattle Sounders won their third consecutive Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup title with a 2-0 win against the Chicago Fire in front of a record crowd this evening at CenturyLink Stadium in Seattle. Goals from Fredy Montero and Osvaldo Alonso helped the Sounders become the first team in 42 years to win the Open Cup three years in a row and ensured goalkeeping legend and team captain Kasey Keller ended his final season with at least one piece of silverware.”
It’s always great when the team you are cheering for wins. We were surrounded by a great group of friends last night at the game and we were not disappointed at the outcome. Here are some photos showing the highlights of the night for me.
The following sequence of photos are from the opening of the ceremonies with the Star Spangled Banner being sung and the men and women of all the military branches holding the U.S. Flag. I really enjoy this part of the night and I like to zoom in on “The few. The proud. The Marines!”
This is a retired Marine that we have season tickets by.
Our ECS section amazed the crowd with these banners that they unfurled before the first kick.
All this fun and celebration wore me out and I’m being a little slow this Wednesday. Hope you all are doing well!
Quackers the Duck ~
There is duck by the name of Quackers
Every night he eats animal crackers
He swims in a lake that’s clear and blue
But he’ll come to the shore to be with you!
Jake the Duck
Jake the Drake likes to splash in the puddle
Take him home and give him a cuddle
Quack, Quack, Quack, he will say
He’s so glad you’re here to play.
Honks the Goose
Honks the goose likes to fly away
South for the Winter he will stay
When Spring comes back, North he’ll fly
And swim in ponds and lakes nearby!
Congratulations to Elsie who won my little game. I really liked the other guesses, too.
Have a great Wednesday everyone. I’m trying to get a little energy going after a busy fun packed Tuesday. I had a great Women’s Bible Study time in the morning and ended the evening with a Sounders Soccer game where we won our 3rd straight U.S. Cup trophy. Fun times but a late night for this old gal. Blessings on your Wednesday!
My three little friends are hanging out and wondering who will be the first to interpret my little game.
Leave a comment if you’ve guessed the answer.
I will send these along to whoever guesses first.
The Mennonite Girls had a very busy Saturday with 6 Canadians traveling across the border from Canada to the U.S.A. Saturday morning. 6 Canadians plus 1 American traveling across the line to Canada Saturday afternoon and 1 American traveling back to the U.S.A. Saturday evening. Did you follow that?
First stop was at the Bellingham, Washington Barnes and Noble store. I drove north from the Seattle area to join my Canadian friends who traveled south across the border. It was a nice relaxed time of signing books and talking to old friends and new friends. One of our bloggy friends who we had never met face to face, Debora from(Whatsovever Things Are Lovely), stopped by and we had a great time chatting about blogs and adventures we’d like to have in the future. A dear friend of mine from our former church who lives in the Bellingham area stopped by to have her book signed. Such a fun surprise to see her. Kathy had 2 elderly relatives stop by. They were so sweet and it was so much fun listening to them.
Debora is standing with me behind the girls. In the lower photos in the mosaic are Kathy’s relatives and my friend Cindy.
After our time at Barnes and Noble we decided to stop at the Olive Garden in Bellingham and have some lunch before we all headed across the border to Canada. We had the all you can eat soup and salad. What a great deal for a good meal. Next stop Ten Thousand Villages in Vancouver, Canada.
This and the next mosaic are a combination of both of our book signing stops. The employees at both venues were wonderful. The new friends we met that have enjoyed cooking the recipes in our book were very encouraging. We were blessed to hear stories of courage and success in coming to a new country and thriving. We also heard of goals in the future that were an inspiration.
In this mosaic the top photo is from Ten Thousand Villages on Commercial in Vancouver and the bottom two are from Barnes and Noble in Bellingham.
While we were busy out here in the West our two Prairie Girls were signing books at the Henderson Ten Thousand Villages.
It was a full wonderful day of fun and fellowship.
The girls dropped me off at my car in Canada at a little after 7 P.M. I headed for the border and had one of my best border crossings ever. I stopped at the booth and handed the U.S. Border Agent my passport. He asked me the typical questions. When he asked me why I was in Canada I said I was at a book signing at Ten Thousand Villages. He asked me if I was an author. I told him I was one of 10. He asked me what the name of the book was. I told him Mennonite Girls Can Cook. He smiled real big and said, my wife follows you girls and has made a lot of good stuff. He then patted his Kevlar vest and said he’s put on some weight. I smiled and said, me, too. Ha! He said wait until I tell my wife…
I’m joining with Mary at Little Red House for Mosaic Monday.
I am continuing to have a problem posting comments on some blogger blogs. I’ve been working down the line on Mosaic Monday links and there are several that will not accept my comments. If you don’t see a comment from ellen b. that is probably why…so sorry.
Come, Thou almighty King,
Help us Thy Name to sing, help us to praise!
Father all glorious, o’er all victorious,
Come and reign over us, Ancient of Days!
Jesus, our Lord, arise,
Scatter our enemies, and make them fall;
Let Thine almighty aid our sure defense be made,
Souls on Thee be stayed; Lord, hear our call.
Come, Thou incarnate Word,
Gird on Thy mighty sword, our prayer attend!
Come, and Thy people bless, and give Thy Word success,
Spirit of holiness, on us descend!
Come, holy Comforter,
Thy sacred witness bear in this glad hour.
Thou Who almighty art, now rule in every heart,
And ne’er from us depart, Spirit of power!
To Thee, great One in Three,
Eternal praises be, hence, evermore.
Thy sovereign majesty may we in glory see,
And to eternity love and adore!
Words: Some sources show the author as “anonymous.” Others credit Charles Wesley, 1757. The words appeared in George Whitefield’s Collection of Hymns for Social Worship, 1757.
Music: Italian Hymn, Felice de Giardini, in The Collection of Psalm and Hymn Tunes Sung at the Chapel of the Lock Hospital, 1769. De Giardini wrote the music specifically for this hymn. Alternate tune: America, Thesaurus Musicus, 1744
In the days of the American Revolution a congregation of patriotic colonists were worshiping in their church on Long Island when the service was interrupted by the arrival of a company of Hessian troops. The captain stalked up the aisle and commanded the people to sing “God Save the King.” The organist started the tune that we call “America”; but the people, true to the cause of the American colonies and to their God, sang this hymn.
ht: Cyberhymnal
Gratitude is a very good thing. Every Friday we join Susanne at Living to Tell the Story in sharing 5 good things from our past week. Wow can you believe we are already saying goodbye to September?!
A good friend died this past Sunday. Why would I share that in my 5 good things? I’m so thankful to God that I got to know Kathy and that I learned so much from her struggles and her attitude. She knew she was going home and would be with her Savior. Her husband wrote a beautiful tribute to her on Kathy’s blog that you can read here.
As you can see from the photo above we have had some beautiful sunny days this week after some cloudy rainy days. It was nice to get out and enjoy the weather with my camera.
God worked out timing for me to be able to be part of a lot of important events in October including Kathy’s memorial service in Sacramento.
Completed projects around the house.
We decided instead of just me and Katie going to North Carolina to get her settled in base housing before Andrew returns from Afghanistan that Dear would travel with us, too. It will be great to have a man along with us while we get some basics set up for Andrew’s return.
October is as full as a pumpkin for me. How’s your October shaping up? Hope to come around soon and see what you are up to.
After all here we are at the letter X in Alphabe-Thursday. I’m sure teacher Jenny would eXcuse us if we stray a bit on this letter.
For my offering this week I went to Yarrow Bay, oh lookie a Y word for next week. I was hoping to find a huge X marks the spot.
This looked promising, an alphabet marina.
This was the only X that was to be found on my stroll through the Marina.
Sorry but the X photo is missing through the Photobucket piracy that occurred after 2011. Here are some photos I’ll use for the letter Y.
Next week I’ll show the rest of my water shots from Yarrow Bay on Lake Washington in Kirkland, Washington. Yes…that’s the same Kirkland that the Costco Kirkland products are named after.
I’ll be around to see what liberties you all took with the letter X!
The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b. 