Happy Halloween Everyone!

Our sweet little niece in her Pooh outfit. Oh how I’d love to kiss those cheeks!!

I really enjoy when little trick or treaters come to my door and I can ooh and aah and give them some candy.

My daughter and a co-worker created this Cinderella Carriage Pumpkin for a No carve pumpkin contest.

I really love the creativity of this Pumpkin carriage! Here’s my daughter and her boyfriend with their Halloween Party Costumes.

Princess Leia and Hans Solo!

Happy Halloween! Don’t forget to turn your clocks back tonight!!

Friday’s Fave Five ~ You Can Go Home Again…

It’s time to pick your favorites from this past week! Thanks to Susanne at Living to Tell the Story for hosting this great exercise.

Here’s some of highlights from this past week.

I never thought I was a morning person but the older I’ve gotten the more I’ve enjoyed early morning and seeing the Sunrise. I’ve been out with Dear at dawn and by myself at dawn this week and it really is a glorious time of the day…

It was very cool to go to the Camarillo Ranch House on Sunday for the celebration of Adolfo Camarillo’s 145th birthday and see these famous Camarillo White horses.

During the celebration they had the great old Victorian house open for tours. I enjoy walking through and seeing the architecture and period pieces in all the rooms. I’d love a breakfast room like this…heck, I’d love a formal dining room like this. There is a very grand dining room just next to this room.

So you know the saying “You can’t go home again” well I met up with one of my best friends from high school in our home town for lunch this week. While we were there we decided to drive over to our alma mater and take a photo. We also drove down memory lane to each of our childhood homes to see what they look like today.

On the way home from our lunch I took a detour. This was the First United Christian Molokan Church on Lorena St. in East Los Angeles. As a child and pre-teen my family spent lots of time here. My grandfather was a preacher/elder at this church. I am grateful and thankful to God that He led my father and our family out of this religion and into His marvelous grace filled life. My father responded to God’s call on his life and trusted Christ as his Savior at the Billy Graham Crusade in Los Angeles in 1963.

If I was still a Molokan and as a married woman I would maybe dress like this for church…

I spotted this Molokan lady while I was in Montebello yesterday. She’s probably on her way to a lopsha lunch after a funeral.  She’s wearing all white and after the graveside ceremony you go home and change into your white outfit for the funeral meal.  Lopsha (Russian noodle soup) is usually served after the graveside service. Borsch is more typically served at weddings.

I really enjoy traditions and I participate in traditions. BUT I have to step back and evaluate when my traditions become my religion instead of relying on what Jesus did for me on the cross. For me worship is all about Jesus.  From time to time it’s good to seriously evaluate what I am worshiping.

And now I’m off to see the sunrise and then a  fun time is afoot. I’m picking up Willow and meeting Sara (another local blogger) to tour the Getty Museum. We’re going to be exposed to some great works of art. Have a great day everyone and I’ll come around to see your favorites later this afternoon.

 

A Proclamation I Like…

 

It’s official. Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels has proclaimed today Seattle Sounders FC Day.

Here’s the proclamation:

City of Seattle * Office of the Mayor

PROCLAMATION

WHEREAS, the City of Seattle appreciates its professional sports teams, recognizing that they add to the city’s prestige, elicit home-town pride and offer a sense of collective camaraderie and solidarity within our communities; and

WHEREAS, the Seattle Sounders FC – which has completed a dream season – embarks on its playoff run, becoming just the second team in MLS history to do so in its inaugural season; and

WHEREAS, the Sounders FC is the most successful espansion franchise in the history of US soccer, boasting the best per game attendance average – 30,943 – in MLS history; and

WHEREAS, the Sounders FC has become the first US soccer team to break the top 50 in average attendance of all the Fu’tbol clubs throughout the world; and

WHEREAS, the Sounders FC – winner of the US Open Cup – qualifies for CONCACAF Champions League next year; and

WHEREAS, the Sounders FC is now the franchise by which all others will be judged, and whose supporters are the envy of clubs everywhere;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, GREGORY J. NICKELS, Mayor of the City of Seattle, proclaim October 29, 2009 to be

SEATTLE SOUNDERS FC DAY

in Seattle, and I hereby urge citizens to join me in raising our “scarves up,” and wishing the Rave Green all the best as they compete for the 2009 MLS Cup.

[signed] GREG NICKELS, Mayor

GO SOUNDERS!

Halloween Tablescape Thursday…

Today is a fun day in blog world because Susan at Between Naps on the Porch hosts Tablescape Thursday. It’s a chance to set a table and share your ideas with others. It’s fun to see the creativity out there. Because Saturday is Halloween I decided to try to come up with a Halloween Scape.

I found 4 of these cute Pumpkin and Scarecrow Placemats at a thrift store last weekend. I paid $1.95 for all 4. I wanted to show you them before I covered them up with chargers and stuff. The spider dish candle holder was from Target clearance last year and I think I paid about 50 cents for it.

The white chargers with black jewel borders were from T.J. Maxx. The square pumpkin plates are paper from Target. The polka dot napkins and the Pewter forks, knives and spoons were from a thrift store, also.

I don’t have a lot of Halloween accessories but was happy to scrape up enough for a scape :0)

Have a safe and sane Halloween Weekend everyone…

WFW ~ Romans 1: 18-20

God’s Wrath Against Sinful Humanity

18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

For more Word Filled Wednesday visit Susan at Forever His.

Outdoor Wednesday ~ Adolfo Camarillo…

Welcome to Outdoor Wednesday hosted by Susan at A Southern DayDreamer.

On Sunday we attended the Celebration of Adolfo Camarillo’s 145th Birthday. Our town is named after him. He donated a lot of land to the city and to the county. The highschool was built on land he donated and is called Adolfo Camarillo Highschool. The Party was at the historical home he built for his family in 1892.

The house and gazebo were decked out for the festivities. Cake and punch were served.

The Adolfo Camarillo High School Marching band was in attendance and among other songs played Happy Birthday.

Some of the famous Camarillo White Horses were in attendance. To see more photos of the horses with links about their history click here. I’m also including a photo of Adolfo Camarillo on his Camarillo White Horse.

There is a huge Morton Bay Fig tree, native to Australia on the property. The grounds are lovely and weddings and other functions are held here.

I’m including a few shots from the inside of family home. It is decorated for Fall right now and soon it will be redecorated for Christmas. I did not leave empty handed from the celebration but I made this sweet little purchase…

Friends of the Camarillo Ranch House were selling some country wares to help support the house.

Ruby Tuesday ~ Camarillo White Horses

Welcome to Ruby Tuesday hosted by Mary at Work of the Poet. Visit her to see more Ruby…

Our town is named after Adolfo Camarillo and on Sunday there was a 145th Birthday celebration at Camarillo Ranch House in honor of him. He had this Victorian home built for his family in 1892.  It is now a historical site and open for tours and other functions. Adolfo donated lots of land to the city including the land where the high school was built and named after him. He also was the owner of the famous Camarillo White Horses. The main reason we decided to go to the birthday bash was to see these white horses first hand.

It was great see the different personalities of these horses. The one with the man leading him (or the horse leading the man) was very feisty and hard to handle. See the great ruby ribbons on the older horse? She seemed to be the oldest and most docile of the 3 horses they had there.  Here’s the third horse.

I’m including a comment I received from Ynez who happens to be Adolfo Camarillo’s Great granddaughter! …”Hello and thank you for the beautiful tribute you have done on your site to my great-grandfather’s birthday celebration and our horses. Your photos are great of the house, too. I thought you and your followers would like to have the names of the three colts that you have in your photos. Left top – El Rey; left bottom – Gavilan; right top and bottom are of Xamarillo. All 3 are 16-17 months old. We are so happy that the horses bring so much pleasure to so many people. Thank you for your wonderful comments.”
If you would like more information about the Camarillo White Horses, please go to our website at http://www.camarillowhitehorses.org.

and here’s one more shot of the feisty one…

I’ll be posting more photos from the birthday celebration on Wednesday and show you what I bought…

Mosaics With Blue Confessions…

It’s the time of year for scenes like these. Confession #1: All these scenes are from last October.

 

These shots are from this year, this past Saturday. Getting closer to Blue here. Confession #2: I’ve started a weight/exercise regimen. I wasn’t going to share this at all because every time in the last year I’ve “tried” something and shared it I end up gaining weight and I’m a little embarrassed about that. So the program I’m trying gives me one day a week to eat whatever I want. That day was Saturday so Dear and I were up early as usual and decided to make a 3 mile roundtrip walk to a donut shop. I sense some skeptics out there shaking their heads and thinking poor ellen b. she’s doomed to failure again. I’ll try to keep you posted on how good or bad I do.  :0)

Finally I’ve gotten to the blue for Blue Monday. These shots are from Saturday also and this was a great new Mexican spot we enjoyed in Ventura, California called Taqueria Tepatitlan. Remember this is my eat anything day and I didn’t take photos to show you what I had for dinner! Look real hard at the window and Corona sign and you’ll see the blue. Confession #3: Since there was so little actual blue in my shots I added the blue background to trick you into thinking this qualifies as a Blue Monday Post.

Now make sure and visit Mary at Little Red House for Mosaic Monday and visit Sally at Smiling Sally for Blue Monday!

 

O Lord, All Glorious, Life of Life

 

O Lord, All Glorious, Life of Life

O Lord, all glorious, Life of life!
To Thee we raise our grateful song;
Lift up our souls from thoughts of self
To Thee, to Whom all lives belong.

Below all depths Thy mercy lies,
Above all heights Thy love ascends;
Thy providence our path surrounds,
Thy watchful care each step attends.

From Thee all good desires proceed,
All holy thoughts we gain from Thee;
The good we do is Thine alone,
Thine shall our heart’s thanksgiving be.

Words: Au­thor un­known, in Har­mo­ny in Praise, 1890.