We Made It!

On Tuesday we left our house at 6:00 am and headed north to Anacortes to catch the 8:15 ferry to Sydney, Vancouver Island, B.C. Our ferry ride through the San Juan Islands was very foggy and misty for most of the way. At first it was hard to make out the islands till you got very close. Towards the end of the trip the skies lightened up. Vancouver Island was nice and sunny. We made it to Butchart Gardens. We traveled on the Black Ball ferry out of Victoria to Port Angeles to get home. From Port Angeles we had to make it to Kingston, Washington before the last ferry set sail at 11:10 pm. We were so thankful to make it on time and to be in our beds by 12:30 am! I’ll post many more photos from our trip when I get a chance to sit at the computer more.

This morning I took our middle son to the doctor to get treated for an ear infection that he’s suffered with for a few days now. His ear was practically swollen shut.  Thankfully he got 3 different medications that should relieve the pressure and pain. I guess a mom can always be called upon to give tender loving care,  even to her adult children…

Now to get caught up with my other world…

Thrifty and Blue!

Click on the logos to visit Rhoda at Southern Hospitality for Thrifty Treasures and the Blue Bird to visit Sally for Blue Monday!

This week I’m combining my Thrifty finds with Blue Monday. My two tiered server was $3.99. I liked the yellow blue and green color scheme and set it at the center of my tablescape that I’ll show later this week. I bought packages of these old fashioned looking hankies to layer with my napkins. The hankies were 3 in a package for $1.49. The yellow tablecloth cost me $2.50 and the 6 sage green napkin rings cost $2.99. We had brunch at this table after church today and this evening we’ll be eating dinner at the same table.

Looking forward to seeing your treasures and your blue!

 

The King of Love My Shepherd Is ~ Hymn

The King of Love My Shepherd Is

The King of love my Shepherd is,
Whose goodness faileth never,
I nothing lack if I am His
And He is mine forever.

Where streams of living water flow
My ransomed soul He leadeth,
And where the verdant pastures grow,
With food celestial feedeth.

Perverse and foolish oft I strayed,
But yet in love He sought me,
And on His shoulder gently laid,
And home, rejoicing, brought me.

In death’s dark vale I fear no ill
With Thee, dear Lord, beside me;
Thy rod and staff my comfort still,
Thy cross before to guide me.

Thou spread’st a table in my sight;
Thy unction grace bestoweth;
And O what transport of delight
From Thy pure chalice floweth!

And so through all the length of days
Thy goodness faileth never;
Good Shepherd, may I sing Thy praise
Within Thy house forever.

Words:  Henry W. Baker, in Hymns An­cient and Mo­dern (London: 1868). This hymn was sung at the fun­er­al of Di­a­na, Prin­cess of Wales, in West­min­ster Ab­bey, Lon­don, Sep­tem­ber 6, 1997. Music: St. Columba, an­cient Ir­ish mel­o­dy

Barbara from Stray Thoughts sent me the lyrics to this hymn when a couple blogger comments mentioned Verdant on my Outdoor Post last week and I talked about learning a new word. She had recalled that this was the hymn where she remembered the word verdant from. Thanks Barbara.

Mystery Solved!

My mystery tree is a Chinese Flame Tree. Thank you Nikkipolani for helping me identify my tree.

Here’s her comment that she left on my previous post…

nikkipolani

Oh yeah, I’ve got one of those. It’s a Chinese Flame Tree. Beautiful little yellow flowers, turns into papery bougainvillea type pods, drops them everywhere, seedlings a few months later in all the places the pods have dropped.

I decided to go back out and take some close-ups of the pods and leaves. Bloggy friends are such a great source of information!! The photo below shows the tree before all the blossoms rained down on my lawn and patio slab.

Have a great Sunday everyone…

My Mystery Tree…

I’m on a quest to figure out what kind of tree this is in my yard in Washington.

Here’s a view of the top of the tree from my bedroom window. The yellow blossoms are a real treat to bees. I can see them enjoying the nectar all over the tree top.

Right now these yellow blossoms are raining down steadily onto the lawn and back patio slab.

It’s hard to see them but all those little black dots on the yellow are bees…

I’m going to have to find me a tree specialist…an arborist?

Friday’s Fave Five ~ Beat the Heat Style…

Welcome to Friday’s Fave Five where we look back over the last week and remember our favorite things. Please visit the lovely Susanne in Canada at Living to Tell the Story to join in the fun!

Even though it’s hard to think about anything but the heat here in the Pacific Northwest I’m pushing myself to change the subject a little. So onward and upward to my favorites from this past week.

1. On Saturday after reuniting with my walking buddies on our 6 mile walk Jody and Dave picked me up for a West Coast Reception for a friend of ours who got married on the East Coast in June. It was so much fun to see former church friends that we hadn’t seen for a while and to catch up a little. It felt like a 10 year reunion.

2. On Sunday I met my kids at their church and went out for brunch afterwards with them and Grandma Wilma to the Maltby Cafe, home of the ginormous cinnamon rolls. Josh and Laura spent the rest of the afternoon at our house and it is always so much fun to listen to the fun and laughter the 4 of our kids have over a board game. This time they pulled out Risk.

3. The heat came in and my absolute favorite thing has been our fans!! I know it’s hard for people from hotter regions to understand our whining about the heat but because of our more typical mild climate very few homes in Washington have air conditioning. The other cooling favorites have been Popsicles! Today I bought an inflatable mattress to put in the basement so I can sleep more comfortably down where it is generally 10 -15 degrees cooler. Of course I looked just like this model on the bed last night…LOL!

4. I have also enjoyed planning a whirlwind trip for my husband, daughter and me to Vancouver Island next Tuesday. I like planning and investigating the details for a trip.

5. Tonight Dear arrives from Southern California. We will enjoy the next 2 weeks in the Northwest together and then we will drive back to Southern California together on August 15th. I’m looking forward to our time together here.

6. My extra favorite is all the fun hours I’ve had leisurely shopping at Goodwills here who have very good air conditioning. I’m going to blame my purchases this week on the unbearable heat!!

Good news! I woke up this morning cold in the basement and went upstairs to my bedroom at 5:00 am and crawled into bed and even covered up with the blanket to get warm!! There’s a cool breeze blowing this morning and the house is all cooled down, yippee!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Victoria, B.C.

This is for you Cori G! You mentioned the Blethering Place and I hunted down an old postcard from the 90’s that I’ve had since eating there on a trip to Victoria. The back of the postcard reads…You can find this charming “Touch of Britain” nestled in the heart of beautiful Oak Bay, only minutes from downtown Victoria.

“Blethering,” according to Oxford, is Scottish for voluble, senseless talking.

I’ve made reservations on the Anacortes Ferry to travel to Vancouver Island on Tuesday and reservations on the Black Ball Ferry to travel back to the U.S. on Tuesday evening. Again we are packing it all into one day! Dear, Katie and I are setting out on this adventure.  We plan to stop at Butchart Gardens on our way to Victoria. It will be interesting to see what we can take in and if we make it to the Kitsap Ferry Terminal for the last sailing to Edmonds at 11:10 PM.

Meet My New BFF’s!!

These are my new Best Friends Forever!

All because of this…

History making and record breaking temperatures in Western Washington. And yes that dial is above the 100 degree mark.

I’m headed out today to hopefully buy an inflatable bed so that I can sleep in the basement tonight where it is at least 15 degrees cooler then the rest of the house. My bedroom is on the 2nd level (3rd level if you count the basement). It gets quite toasty up there.

Here’s something from this week that I find pretty funny…

Verizon is putting Fios in our neighborhood. Our yard is the lucky yard where these boxes have lived and the new fios one gets to live. After putting in the new equiptment the nice worker bees replaced my dead grass with fresh new green grass. This morning the water truck pulled up and they watered that new grass. Just made me chuckle…