Mosaic Monday ~ Rhododendron Bushes

 

These are photos of our two large rhododendron bushes in our back yard. I think they really need to be pruned but I need to call someone over to show me how to do that without killing them off!

Coast Rhododendron
Rhododendron macrophyllum

In 1892, before they had the right to vote, Washington women selected the coast rhododendron as the state flower. They wanted an official flower to enter in a floral exhibit at the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago. Six flowers were considered, but the final decision was narrowed to clover and the “rhodie,” and voting booths were set up for ladies throughout the state. When the ballots were counted, the rhododendron had been chosen as the Washington state flower.

For more Mosaics please visit Mary at Little Red House.

Trusting and Hoping ~ Hymn

Trusting and Hoping

I am rejoicing, trusting and hoping;
Looking to Jesus, Savior divine;
He is my refuge; softly He whispers,
I have redeemed thee, child, thou art Mine.

Refrain

I am rejoicing, ever rejoicing,
Trusting and hoping all the day long;
Looking to Jesus, only to Jesus;
He is my refuge, comfort and song.

I am rejoicing, trusting and hoping;
He is my Savior; what shall I fear?
He like a shepherd leadeth me gently,
Close by the waters flowing so clear.

Refrain

I am rejoicing, trusting and hoping;
Into the mansions waiting above,
Clothed in His brightness, He will receive me,
Heir to His kingdom, child of His love.

Refrain

Words: Fanny Crosby, 1889.

A Glorious Day in the Northwest!

 

Just had to share and to document the sunniest warmest day in the Northwest so far this year!

Might as well confess that I broke my lawnmower today, too. Not so much the whole thing but I managed to bend the blade so that it needs to be replaced. I would suggest that you do not try to mow a rock!

Tonight while I’m watching Major League Soccer my Canadian cousins will be watching the Stanley Cup Finals. I’ll check to see if the Canucks are ahead at the Sounders halftime. Go Sounders! Go Canucks!

Julia Child’s Kitchen

 

From the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, Julia Child’s Kitchen, 2001.

“In it we receive our friends, we cook and dine, we teach and experiment. It is certainly the most loved and most used room in the house.” ~ Julia Child.

Just a friendly reminder that my cookbook giveaway ends this evening at 6:00 Pacific Time.

Photobucket replaced all my photos with blurred out versions and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

FFF ~ June Already!

Time again for Friday’s Fave Five hosted by Susanne at Living to Tell the Story. When you get to my age it’s good to consider and document good things before they leave your mind forever…

We spent time remembering what Memorial Day Weekend is all about. When you have a loved one serving in the military it impacts you in a more personal way for sure.

Here are my Five Favorites…

 

1. On Sunday Josh and Laura joined us for smoked ribs, barbecued corn, beans and cornbread. For dessert we enjoyed angel food cake with pudding and fruit. We had a good time together eating and then discussing a book we had read that’s causing quite a stir in the Christian community.

 

2. On Monday Memorial Day Katie and I went to Sunset Hills Memorial Park and we were happy to catch a great Memorial Day Service with bagpipes, flag ceremonies, a flyover, and a traveling museum of military memorabilia. We enjoyed this framed artwork…

 

3. Our Rhoddies are blooming brightly!

 

4. My hairdresser talked about a dish drying mat and I found them at Bed Bath and Beyond. It really works great. It absorbs a lot of water and then dries well and hangs up to be stored.

 

 

5. I was happy to get a call from the doctor’s office to tell me everything looked fine from my procedure last Friday and I won’t have to do that again for 7 years! Yippee!

Hope all is well with you and I hope y’all noticed I only mentioned food once this week. If you haven’t entered my cookbook giveaway make sure to scroll down and check it out. The contest ends 6:00 P.M. Pacific Time on Saturday.

Photobucket replaced all my photos with blurred out versions and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

Memorial Day Table…

If you are looking for my cookbook giveaway click here.

I finally set my table last Friday for Memorial Weekend. Visit Susan at Between Naps on the Porch to see more tables set in so many different colors and styles. Then before you leave feel free to click on the link above and enter my Mennonite Girls Can Cook Cookbook Giveaway!

 

Welcome to June. Have a wonderful end of a short week and weekend everyone. Don’t forget about my giveaway.

Photobucket replaced all my photos with blurred out versions and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

By Gum by Golly…

*** If you are looking for my cookbook GIVEAWAY click here.

 

We are on the letter G! It’s time to share your choices and link up with our hostess and teacher Jenny for Alphabe-Thursday.

My choice for G is a Guinness in Georgetown.

A really good bartender is hard to find. I think we discovered the best bartender East of the Cascades on our recent trip to Washington D.C. There are plenty that will mix up a drink for you or pour you a beer and plop it in front of you with hardly a smile but then there’s the rare one who has panache. Someone who adds style and good conversation to his art.

 

We were on the Tour Trolley going through Georgetown when our guide directed our attention to Martin’s Tavern. We knew we’d be jumping off the trolley and strolling back to the Tavern because of it’s historical significance or because we really wanted a beer, you decide. We sat at the bar instead of a table and we were so pleased we did.

 

As luck would have it we got to meet Damon the bartender this afternoon.

 

Not only was he a great bartender but he was a good sport and posed for a photo for my blog.

 

I ordered a Guinness and look what I got…A Guinness, but not just any Guinness on draught. Take a closer look y’all and check out the head on my Guinness. Do you see what I see? Do you see the genuine Irish Shamrock?

 

I was so thirsty I almost missed it but Dear pointed it out to me and then I didn’t want to drink it but I just wanted to enjoy it. Did I tell you I’m very visual? This was the very first time a Guinness was served to me with the bartender taking the added time to design a Shamrock on it’s head.

Thank you Damon! We are sincere in saying you are one of the best bartenders we have ever chatted with. You made our Georgetown experience at Billy Martin’s very memorable! You really impressed Dear because of your classic knowledge of spirits and beer and especially the fact that you know what a Martini isn’t.

Now for you history buffs who might not enjoy booze, here’s some interesting history associated with Billy Martin’s!

There are several tables at Martin’s that boast being a president’s favorite, from Harry Truman to George W. Bush.

Booth #1 “The Rumble Seat”;

After mass at Holy Trinity in the 1950’s JFK sat in this booth reading the paper and having brunch on Sundays.

Booth #3 – The Kennedy Booth – a.k.a. The Proposal Booth

JFK and Jackie frequently dined in Booth #3. On Wednesday, June 24, 1953, having returned from covering the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth for the Washington Times Herald, Jacqueline Bouvier accepted John Kennedy’s proposal of marriage. The next day customers and staff excitedly talked about “that nice young Kennedy senator” proposing to his girlfriend the night before in their booth. Since that day, Booth #3 is known as “the proposal booth”.

Booth #6 – The Truman Booth

Harry Truman, his wife Bess and daughter Margaret sat here for many dinners when Margaret was a student at George Washington University in 1942 and he was a senator from Missouri. Margaret Truman wrote 14 mystery novels set in Washington D.C. and many of her novels included Martin’s Tavern. Murder in Georgetown, pg. 58 -“She seemed anxious to comply and they arranged to meet at seven at Martin’s Tavern.”

 

If you find yourself in Georgetown make sure and visit Billy Martin’s Tavern and say hi to Damon for us!

Here’s another G you shouldn’t miss…I’m having a Giveaway on my blog. Enter to win our MGCC cookbook with all the girls signatures!

Photobucket replaced all my photos with blurred out versions and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

Just Because…

….it’s June and the sun came out for a few minutes, and the Mennonite Girls Can Cook now have a page on Facebook, and because I promised, I’m having a Mennonite Girls Can Cook giveaway. The cookbook I’m going to give away is signed by all the girls! Leave a comment telling me something about yourself and what region of the U.S. or Canada you are from. Yes…my giveaway is limited to the U.S.A. and Canada. Make sure you leave a blog address or a good email address so I can contact you if you win.

 

 

 

The giveaway book was signed after we had a lovely meal at Lovella and her wonderful husband’s shop in May to celebrate the release of the book.

 

The following day we did book signings at Lepp Farm Market and Winks in Chilliwack.

Make sure you find us on Facebook and click on LIKE!

Comments will close Saturday at 6:00 P.M.  Pacific Time. I will announce the winner on Monday June 6th!

Photobucket replaced all my photos with blurred out versions and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

Washington National Cathedral ~ Some Details…

The Cathedral, officially the Cathedral Church of St. Peter and St. Paul, is amazing and has so many wonderful architectural details.

 

 

 

A crucifixion scene is high overhead on the rood beam (“rood” is an old word meaning cross or crucifix).

 

The sculpture on the Canterbury Pulpit depicts people and scenes relating to the translation of the Bible into English. Stones for the pulpit came from Canterbury Cathedral in England.

 

At the east end of the Cathedral nave is the HIGH ALTAR. One hundred and ten figures of men and women exemplifying the highest ideals of Christianity surround the central figure of Christ in Majesty, completing the iconographic story with the redemption of humankind through Jesus Christ.

 

 

There were several beautiful ornate iron gates throughout the Cathedral.

 

 

16th-Century tapestries tell the story of David and Goliath. There were several of these tapestries in St. Mary’s Chapel.

 

 

 

In the lower level (crypt) of the Cathedral are several chapels with new Testament imagery.

 

I’m pretty sure this is from the Bethlehem Chapel. The Cathedral’s foundation stone was placed on this site under what later became the altar of the Bethlehem Chapel. In 1912 this became the first part of the Cathedral to be completed, and a service has been held here every day since.

 

 

This is from the Chapel of St. Joseph of Arimathea. The mural tells the story of Jesus’ entombment following the crucifixion. This chapel and the Resurrection Chapel are primarily built in the Romanesque (or Norman) style of architecture featuring rounded arches and a heavier “feel” than the Gothic architecture. The use of this style here imitates the medieval custom of building a Gothic Cathedral over the crypt of an earlier, Romanesque one.

 

The Resurrection Chapel is decorated with colorful mosaics, portraying the appearances of Jesus after his resurrection.

 

Behind this iron gate is Helen Keller’s tomb

 

 

The tiny chapel of the Good Shepherd

 

 

 

While in the Crypt Dear and I were on a quest to find a special little nook. Several years ago we purchased a beautiful painting by our friend Patty Forte Linna that hangs in our living room. This next photo is our painting by Patty.

 

Patty was inspired to paint this from her visit to the Washington National Cathedral and seeing this special little area in the Crypt.  Dear spotted the area and pulled me aside to show me. This next photo was Patty’s inspiration.

 

Here they are side by side…

 

If you ever get the chance to visit Washington D.C. do not miss this beautiful Cathedral.

Photobucket replaced all my photos with blurred out versions and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

A Day to Remember ~ Arlington National Cemetery

 

Remembering those who sacrificed for our country and praying for those who are serving our country now in harms way.

 

“Arlington, this place of so many memories, is a fitting place for some remembering. So many wonderful men and women rest here, men and women who led colorful, vivid, and passionate lives.” ~ Ronald Reagan

 

“All of these men were different, but they shared this in common: They loved America very much. There was nothing they wouldn’t do for her. And they loved with the sureness of the young. It’s hard not to think of the young in a place like this, for it’s the young who do the fighting and dying when a peace fails and a war begins.” ~ President Ronald Reagan

 

 

 

“Today is the day we put aside to remember fallen heroes and to pray that no heroes will ever have to die for us again. It’s a day of thanks for the valor of others, a day to remember the splendor of America and those of her children who rest in this cemetery and others. It’s a day to be with the family and remember.” President Ronald Reagan

This next photo is not from the Arlington National Cemetery but one I took at a traveling replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in D.C.

 

“The monument was created as a service to those who might never travel to the nation’s capital to experience the Vietnam Veterans Memorial firsthand,” said Donna Wagner, director of Dignity Memorial providers in Seattle. “Our replica offers visitors a chance for healing and reflections, and we are very pleased to be able to share it with the community.”  ~ Donna Wagner

Another quote from President Ronald Reagan ~ May 25, 2009

“I know that many veterans of Vietnam will gather today, some of them perhaps by the wall. And they’re still helping each other on. They were quite a group, the boys of Vietnam — boys who fought a terrible and vicious war without enough support from home, boys who were dodging bullets while we debated the efficacy of the battle. It was often our poor who fought in that war; it was the unpampered boys of the working class who picked up the rifles and went on the march. They learned not to rely on us; they learned to rely on each other. And they were special in another way: They chose to be faithful. They chose to reject the fashionable skepticism of their time. They chose to believe and answer the call of duty. They had the wild, wild courage of youth. They seized certainty from the heart of an ambivalent age; they stood for something.

And we owe them something, those boys. We owe them first a promise: That just as they did not forget their missing comrades, neither, ever, will we. And there are other promises. We must always remember that peace is a fragile thing that needs constant vigilance. We owe them a promise to look at the world with a steady gaze and, perhaps, a resigned toughness, knowing that we have adversaries in the world and challenges and the only way to meet them and maintain the peace is by staying strong.” ~ Ronald Reagan

 

 

 

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Prayers are always in our hearts and minds for our Son-in-law Andrew serving with the Marines!

We’re flying the flags for you Andrew!

Semper Fi!

Photobucket replaced all my photos with blurred out versions and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.