Ode to Emma Wood…

Here’s a photo of Dear and me at Emma Wood State Beach this morning at Sunrise. We love this early morning walk and we’re going to miss it.

Ode To Emma Wood (Think “Harriet” from So I Married An Axe Murderer”)

Emma sweet Emma

You thrilled us each week

We hardly could speak

We listened to waves crashing near

Emma Sweet Emma

We’ll miss being here

Each week of the year

To see all your Tides High and Low

Your waves crash on shore

The pelicans soar

The Godwits and Sanderlings dig

Emma Sweet Emma…

Hope your Saturday is going well…

Oops!

So I called to schedule our triple phone/T.V./Internet service to be disconnected on March 1st. Wouldn’t you know while I was on the phone with the first technician, she inadvertently cancelled my service immediately which also cut my phone call off to her. She never called back to explain or apologize or anything. When I called back the 2nd technician I got was really efficient and worked through all the red tape to get my service reconnected until March 1st. All that to say I was without internet service most of the day and I haven’t been able to get around to your blogs… Sheesh! But here’s something to make me smile…

FFF & Finding Beauty

Susanne at Living to Tell the Story is the hostess of Friday’s Fave Five and Claudia at Dippity Road is the hostess of Finding Beauty.

Looking back over this last week and finding favorites and beauty.

Enjoying getting together with friends and family has been the theme of my last days in Southern California.

This is one of my family’s favorite spots for breakfast. My sisters and some of my nieces and great niece and nephew were there.

My grand niece with her Auntie.

So for the 5 Favorites…

Dinner with Dear on Valentine’s Day

A walk with Willow

 

Dinner with Family at my mom and dad’s

A Pot of Earl Grey with Willow

Breakfast with Family

and

Bonus #6 starting a 40 day devotional for Lent on Wisdom

My oldest sister Kathy’s family

The sisters minus Lana…poor Lana had to be in Hawaii instead of with us :0)

 

How Much Fun Can We Pack Into 12 Days?

The answer seems to be a lot. Not surprisingly most of the fun is centered around food.

On Tuesday night the ladies, Avery, Jackson and my dad had dinner together at Mom and Pop’s. It was good to get together. Avery is 5 months old already. Wednesday I met Willow for a pot of Earl Grey at All Things Tea in Camarillo.  I ate a Cranberry Shortbread cookie, too. Wednesday night Dear and I ate at El Tecolote, one of our favorites in Camarillo. Thursday morning I’m meeting some of my sisters and nieces for breakfast and I’ll get to see Jackson and Avery again!

Don’t worry Avery, I’m sure someone will step in and there will be lots of fun things to do without me.

I’ve been busy getting the oil changed in vehicles, shutting services down, booking hotels for our trip up to Seattle, etc.

 

Need Pruning?

…My apple tree really did after 2-3 years of neglect.

As usual…I hope I didn’t kill it. I was pretty wiped out after clipping and sawing. It really helps to have the right tool but that doesn’t mean your neck won’t get tired of looking up! I also lost my grip after all that squeezing!

I left the huge pile of branches for when I get back to Seattle the beginning of March. I’ll have to cut them down to size for the yard waste bin.

John 15:1-2 (English Standard Version)

John 15

I Am the True Vine

1“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.

I’ll Miss You…

In February of 2008 Willow and I met face to face for the first time and here’s what I wrote about that day…

God is so good to me. He gave me two desires of my heart today! I’ve said over and over again how sweet it would be to meet one of my bloggy friends and how I’d love to have a walking buddy in Southern California after I left my walking buddies in Seattle, Washington. Today Willow and I met and had a walk and plan to walk on a regular basis, keeping each other accountable. How sweet it is! We found each other through other blogs and realized we both live in the same city. We’re in the same stage of life and have a lot in common. Willow shared how she had been praying for someone to walk with. Check out her blog, she has very exciting news today! She became a grandmother!

That was 2 years ago and so that grandson just celebrated his 2nd birthday.

We’ve had lots of fun walking adventures and a some great tea adventures. I’m going to miss my walking, blogging, drinking tea, knitting friend!

I’m also going to miss Dear and my Saturday morning walks at Emma Wood. On many of those Saturdays we’d have breakfast at Allison’s in Ventura and I’m going to miss that place, too.

 

Another Saturday morning favorite with Dear is this hike off Sycamore Canyon up the Scenic Trail.

I’ll miss the great cooking days with my family here in Southern California and

our fun tea times…and

our breakfast rendezvous at Julienne in San Marino.

I’ll miss our bloggy adventures with Willow and Sara at the Getty Properties and…

being able to meet up with Cori G. another blogging friend.
I’m going to miss our Saturdays with Tim and Letty…

I’ll miss being close to my parents…

I’ve been blessed both in Southern California and the Seattle area with good friends, loving family, great churches and wonderful adventures.

The Lord gives and the Lord takes away…Blessed be the Name of the Lord!

 

Blue Monday ~ Blessing or a Curse?

For Blue Monday I wanted to share some good advice from Proverbs in the Old Testament. Visit Sally to see more Blues…

I love this little water color sketch I bought for my daughter years ago from Goodwill with this verse on it. We still get a big kick out of it. Kindness can be shown in very creative ways like understanding the difference between “morning people” and “night people”.

Have a great week!

 

Happy Valentine’s Day Hymn ~ True Love…

 

Valentine’s Day comes and goes, nothing compares to this kind of love…

O the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus

– Samuel Francis (1834 – 1925)

O the deep, deep love of Jesus
Vast, unmeasured, boundless, free!
Rolling as a mighty ocean
In its fullness over me.
Underneath me, all around me,
Is the current of His love
Leading onward leading homeward,
To Thy glorious rest above

O the deep, deep love of Jesus
Spread His praise from shore to shore.
How he loveth ever loveth
changeth never, nevermore.

How He watcheth o’er His loved ones,
Died to call them all His own;
How for them He intercedeth,
Watcheth o’er them from the throne!

O the deep, deep love of Jesus
Love of ev’ry, love the best!
‘Tis an ocean vast of blessing,
‘Tis a haven sweet of rest.

O the deep, deep love of Jesus
‘Tis a heav’n of heav’ns to me;
And it lifts me up to glory,
For it lifts me, Lord, to Thee!

 

Hope you know you are loved today and I hope you can extend that love to others…

Round Robin Photo Challenge ~ Childhood Memories

It’s time for another visit to the Robins for a photo challenge. This time the theme is Childhood Memories. I do not have any keepsakes from my early childhood. No dolls, no trinkets, no toys, no stuffed animals. I do have lots of memories, though. Some of those are fading as I grow older so these challenges are good for me to get the ole brainwaves working.

I was born in East Los Angeles. My parents were Russian Immigrants. We moved East to Montebello Gardens when I was 1. While we lived on Oak Street in Montebello Gardens (Pico Rivera) my 3 older siblings and I would walk to the Montebello library to check out books. We’d head to Whittier Blvd. and have to cross this bridge over the Rio Hondo River to get to the library. It was approximately 2 miles each way. The library was located at Montebello Park.

The library was located at Montebello Park.  I spent many happy hours looking at all those books and trying to choose just 4. Reading is one of my favorite childhood memories. I loved to look at and hold a book in my hands and read it. When the bookmobile came to my elementary school I would shake with anticipation for my turn to go into the mobile library and decide on what books to borrow.

We moved from Montebello Gardens across the river to Montebello when I was in 5th grade. This is our house on Los Angeles Ave. When we lived here until 1971.

This was my high school. Montebello High home of the Montebello Oilers. There are lots of fences around the school now so they can lock down the school. How sad is that?! That’s a reality of our times. No fences in the 60’s!

The football field that I spent most Friday nights at during football season in high school. I’m on the right standing.

To see more Childhood Memories visit the Round Robin Photo Challenge Blog and click away!