Finally I Walked…

…and I need to walk more.

I met my former walking buddy and we walked 6.7 miles on the river trail on Saturday morning at a 3.5 mile an hour clip. I know all that because she has a new fangled program on her phone that tells you things like that…

The weather was sunny and dry and perfect for walking in the Great Northwest. The ducks were in abundance and were really making a racket!

I’m looking to be able to walk a least 3 more times during the week. One more day of dryness has been promised to us. We’ll take it and enjoy it to the fullest. Next Saturday we hope to walk again with our third former walking buddy along as well. Time will tell. You just have to be flexible these days.

Night and Day…

  When the golden day is done,
Through the closing portal,
Child and garden, Flower and sun,
Vanish all things mortal.

As the blinding shadows fall
As the rays diminish,
Under evening’s cloak they all
Roll away and vanish.

Garden darkened, daisy shut,
Child in bed, they slumber–
Glow-worm in the hallway rut,
Mice among the lumber.

In the darkness houses shine,
Parents move the candles;
Till on all the night divine
Turns the bedroom handles.

Till at last the day begins
In the east a-breaking,
In the hedges and the whins
Sleeping birds a-waking.

In the darkness shapes of things,
Houses, trees and hedges,
Clearer grow; and sparrow’s wings
Beat on window ledges.

These shall wake the yawning maid;
She the door shall open–
Finding dew on garden glade
And the morning broken.

There my garden grows again
Green and rosy painted,
As at eve behind the pane
From my eyes it fainted.

Just as it was shut away,
Toy-like, in the even,
Here I see it glow with day
Under glowing heaven.

Every path and every plot,
Every blush of roses,
Every blue forget-me-not
Where the dew reposes,

“Up!” they cry, “the day is come
On the smiling valleys:
We have beat the morning drum;
Playmate, join your allies!”

~Robert Louis Stevenson

Joining in on Mosaic Monday with Mary at Little Red House.

City Scapes taken in San Diego, California. The Sunrise photo is taken at my house in the Seattle area.

My Hope is Built ~ Hymn

 

My Hope is Built

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly trust in Jesus’ name.

Refrain

On Christ the solid rock I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand;
All other ground is sinking sand.

When darkness seems to hide His face,
I rest on His unchanging grace.
In every high and stormy gale,
My anchor holds within the veil.

Refrain

His oath, His covenant, His blood,
Support me in the whelming flood.
When all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my hope and stay.

Refrain

When He shall come with trumpet sound,
Oh may I then in Him be found.
Dressed in His righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne.

Refrain

Words: Edward Mote, cir­ca 1834; first ap­peared in Mote’s Hymns of Praise, 1836:

One morn­ing it came in­to my mind as I went to la­bour, to write an hymn on the ‘Gra­cious Ex­per­i­ence of a Christ­ian.’ As I went up Hol­born I had the chor­us,

‘On Christ the solid Rock I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand.’

In the day I had four first vers­es com­plete, and wrote them off. On the Sab­bath fol­low­ing I met bro­ther King as I came out of Lisle Street Meet­ing…who in­formed me that his wife was ve­ry ill, and asked me to call and see her. I had an ear­ly tea, and called af­ter­wards. He said that it was his usu­al cus­tom to sing a hymn, read a por­tion, and en­gage in pray­er, be­fore he went to meet­ing. He looked for his hymn-book but could find it no­where. I said, ‘I have some vers­es in my pock­et; if he liked, we would sing them.’ We did, and his wife en­joyed them so much, that af­ter ser­vice he asked me, as a fa­vour, to leave a co­py of them for his wife. I went home, and by the fire­side com­posed the last two vers­es, wrote the whole off, and took them to sis­ter King…As these vers­es so met the dy­ing wo­man’s case, my at­ten­tion to them was the more ar­rest­ed, and I had a thou­sand print­ed for dis­tr­ibu­tion. I sent one to the Spir­it­u­al Mag­a­zine, with­out my ini­tials, which ap­peared some time af­ter this. Bro­ther Rees, of Crown Street, So­ho, brought out an edi­tion of hymns [1836], and this hymn was in it. Da­vid Den­ham in­tro­duced it [1837] with Rees’ name, and others af­ter…Your in­sert­ing this brief out­line may in fu­ture shield me from the charge of stealth, and be a vin­di­ca­tion of truth­ful­ness in my con­nect­ion with the Church of God.

Edward Mote
Let­ter to the Gos­pel Her­ald

Ht: Cyberhymnal

Are You Serious…

…about going green…really?

Have you noticed lately when you go to a motel/hotel that there is always a note that explains that the hotel is concerned about conservation and being green and would like you to use your towels etc. for more than one use? When we were in San Diego they even gave us a $5.00 credit to be used at the hotel restaurants and Starbucks in the hotel. I was happy to get the $5.00 coupon but I wasn’t thrilled with our bathroom…can you see why?

Not one towel rack in the bathroom. Where do they want me to hang my wet towel that they are giving me a $5.00 credit for? How will my wet towel dry nicely before my shower the next morning?  Do I have to come up with my own towel rack?

For this great invention, I think they should give me a $10.00 credit!

Today is Saturday. I’m headed out on a walk in our great dry sunny weather we are having! Yippee! Dear has a lot of plans that involve hauling and moving stuff. Wish me luck on my body holding up!

FFF ~ Full, Fuller, Fullness…

Time to get together and think on the good things from this past week. I’m joining in with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story our lovely hostess for Friday’s Fave Five.

1. Last Friday we were traveling home from San Diego but before we left I had a nice walk along the waterfront. It was good to walk in the sunshine and see new things.

2. On Sunday we became members of our church. It is a good step for us. Here’s a photo from our current sermon series. The series is called Desperate Days.

3. On Monday I traveled to Canada to get together with the MGCC girls to celebrate a special birthday for two of our girls! What a wonderful time we had at Harrison Hot Springs.

4. After another busy day on Tuesday I had a totally free day on Wednesday. I love days like that mixed in with my busy days. Sleeping in with no time crunch schedule is so peaceful. Being able to enjoy my coffee while reading and watching the sun rise and little birds coming to the feeder is a good way for me to start the day. Don’t worry y’all, the feeder is full again!!

5. We started up our small group again after our holiday break and it’s meeting at our house. It was good to get re-connected.

Hope you have time to consider the good things from your past week. I hope to get around and see what your favorites were. Are you throwing a Super Bowl party or going to one?

We Arrived in San Diego…

…the same evening this beauty arrived on it’s maiden voyage!

SAN DIEGO – A colossal yacht was seen cruising in San Diego Bay Wednesday evening.

The 330-foot mega-yacht Attessa 4 stopped by San Diego during its maiden voyage.

The owner, industrialist Dennis Washington, had the boat custom built to his exact specifications. Washington’s net worth is about $4 billion, according to Forbes, and the Attessa 4 has everything a discerning billionaire might want.

The ship boasts a helicopter, a speed boat, pool, hot tub, movie theater, a fully operating day spa and much more.

Forbes estimated the price tag for the nautical masterpiece at $250 million. Large as it is, the Atessa 4 doesn’t make the list of the world’s top 10 mega-yachts, all of which are more than 400 feet long.

Here’s some interesting information about the owner of the yacht.

The fun little side note to us arriving the same time the Atessa 4 arrived is knowing that a friend of ours worked on this Yacht while it was docked in British Columbia. We listened with interest on his account of his time on this yacht and it was fun to put two and two together to realize that this was the very same yacht we heard about a year before…

I was so happy to have an “off” day on Wednesday. Life is really full around here. Just the chance to hang around in my robe as long as I want in the morning is a nice respite for me. What do you like to do on your “off” days?

Sassy at Sixty!

Well I for one am thrilled that a couple more of our Mennonite Girls are joining me in the Sixties Club! We still have 4 young-uns among us that help keep us in line and in style. Eight of our Ten girls converged on Harrison Hot Springs for Judy and Marg’s party on Monday. You’ve seen photos from some of the other girls and here is my contribution to our wonderful day of laughter and celebration.

Marg and Judy made the cutest place settings for us with our personal apron patterns to lead us to our seats. Sixty jelly beans in a vintage 1952 jar with a photo of Marg and Judy were at our setting also. Here are the party guests…

Guest of honor and one of our hostesses, Judy.

 Judy with Bev.

Kathy and Lovella

Julie and Anneliese

Guest of honor Marg with me

Time for some gifts…why not it is a birthday party after all. We had to take a break from gifts to order our food.

Lovella decked me out in a fascinator she purchased for me…

The hot pools were calling out to us and if you’d like to see photos from the pools you’ll need to visit Lovella, Judy, Marg, Anneliese or Kathy’s blogs. My camera stayed under cover during this time of our afternoon.

After the pools it was time for cake! Marg made a special gluten free dessert for our dear Julie to enjoy while we had cake.

Of course we sang the Happy Birthday song in harmony for our birthday girls. They got to sing, too, since they were sharing this birthday party.

There is still a mystery afoot as to the maker of this beautiful cake. Time will reveal the truth…

I don’t know when the last time was that I had 2 desserts in one seating but hey…2 birthday girls=2 desserts…right? I knew you’d see it my way.

As the sun started setting it was time to leave the beautiful Harrison Hot Springs Resort and head back to our homes. We give permission and encourage Judy and Marg to keep celebrating this milestone birthday the rest of the year. Happy Birthday girls! I’m so happy that God brought you into my life!

Happy Trails to You…

…until we meet again.

The Roy Rogers Show (“Happy Trails”) 

Some trails are happy ones,
Others are blue.
It’s the way you ride the trail that counts,
Here’s a happy one for you.

Happy trails to you,
Until we meet again.
Happy trails to you,
Keep smilin’ until then.

Who cares about the clouds when we’re together?
Just sing a song, and bring the sunny weather.

Happy trails to you,
Til we meet again.

I grew up watching this great show on T.V. Roy Rogers and Dale Evans were lovely people. Monday I spent the day with 7 of the Mennonite Girls to celebrate Judy and Marg’s birthdays. It was a wonderful time together. I’ll be sharing more photos later of our time together. Until we meet again Girls!

Fraternal Order of Real Bearded Santas!

Did you know that there is a Fraternal Order of Real Bearded Santas? While we were touring the USS Midway Aircraft Carrier in San Diego we kept seeing Santa look a likes. Of course I had to take some photos and we found out there was a Santa Reunion just down the street.

Here’s what the website of the Fraternal Order of Real Bearded Santas had to say about their event.

“Here it is! The tradition is alive and well in San Diego this coming January 26, 27, 28 and 29 2012 as the Fraternal Order of Real Bearded Santas host the Santa Reunion XVIII / San Diego 2012! ”

Now you know…

I’m linking up with Mary at Little Red House for Mosaic Monday with my real bearded Santa mosaic!

I’ll be away from my computer all day tomorrow as I’m traveling to Canada to celebrate a milestone birthday for 2 dear friends.  I’ll be in a bathing suit for part of the time and I hope no photos of me in all my glory make it onto the world wide web…time will tell. I’ll catch up on visiting later in the week. Blessings!

I Am Anchored Safe ~ Hymn

I Am Anchored Safe

There is joy in my heart all the day,
And the song that I sing is ever new;
I have anchored my hope on the Rifted Rock,
And its clear flowing water I view.

Refrain

I am anchored, and secure,
And I dread not the stormy waves that roll,
I am anchored firm and sure,
Safely anchored on the Rock of my soul.

There is peace in my heart all the day,
For I know my Redeemer still is near;
O He tells me of rest, that shall yet be mine,
And His voice in my spirit I hear.

Refrain

There is love in my heart all the day,
And the law of the Lord is my delight;
And a mansion eternal is waiting me,
In the home that with glory is bright.

Refrain

Words: Fanny Crosby, 1875.