I’ll Count My Blessings ~ Hymn

I’ll Count My Blessings

I lift my heart today in praise
To Him Who loves me so,
Whose mercy crowneth all my days,
And makes my cup o’erflow.
O have I loved Him as I should
For all His blessings free?
Praise God Who giveth naught but good,
For He is good to me!

Refrain

I’ll count my blessings—
Count them o’er and o’er—
I’ll tell my Father’s goodness—
I will love Him more,
I’ll count my blessings, bountiful and free—
Yet I can never count them all—
So good is God to me!

I thank Him for unclouded skies—
For love beyond my ken—
That when my path in shadow lies,
The sunshine comes again.
I thank Him for the hopes fulfilled—
For every answered plea,
That though life was not all I willed,
My God is good to me!

Refrain

I go to meet another year,
With faith no doubt can dim,
God reigneth, and I will not fear,
But trust my way with Him.
Then if that way be bright or dark,
Let peace unshaken be!
And let me, like the soaring lark,
Sing “God is good to me!”

Refrain

Words: Car­rie E. Breck (1855-1934).

Music: George B. Hol­sing­er (1857-1908) (MI­DI, score).

ht: Cyberhymnal

Pink Saturday ~ January 3rd!

Welcome to the first Pink Saturday of 2009. Time to start getting used to writing 2009. So to all you Pinks Happy 2009 to you!

 

In my thrifting ventures I found this pink creamer and 3 pink doilies.

 

I’m a real sucker for Creamers and this one will go nicely with a sugar bowl I bought a while back…

To see more Pink please visit our lovely hostess Beverly at How Sweet the Sound.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007 to 2015 hostage and has replaced them all with ugly black and grey boxes asking for a ransom to have them re-published. Such a frustrating bother as I go through each post to delete the ugly boxes.

Fave Five on Friday!

 

1. Well it will be no surprise that at the top of my favorites for this past week is spending extra time with all my children. (And it hasn’t been a soap opera). On Saturday we did our belated family Christmas with stockings and Dear’s Swedish pancakes for breakfast. Later on that same day we had a birthday dinner for our daughter Katie. Since we will be in California for both Josh and Dan’s January birthdays we are celebrating tonight with a dinner for them.

2. It’s always great to see all the guys working together. Here they are shoveling snow off the drive to our house and two of our neighbor’s houses. We are really pleased the snow has almost disappeared.

3. I’ve been talking about wanting some more substantial nativities and Dear bought me both these sets for Christmas. They are both very different and I like them very much.

 

4. We revived a favorite dessert from days gone by this week that has always been enjoyed. You cook up vanilla pudding and while it is still hot you pour it over a generous scoop of good chocolate ice cream. Yum you get some great hot and cold and added creamy goodness in every bite!  Having Dear’s wonderful Tomato Rice Peasant Soup was so good, too!

 

5. On New Year’s Day we met our dear friends Dave, Jody, Bob and Jan at McCormick and Shmicks Restaurant in Downtown Seattle for Happy Hour. It was wonderful sitting and talking for a couple hours over great Happy Hour Menu food. We had Salmon burgers, Black Bean Chicken Quesadillas and Oysters for $1.95 each! We also tried the Cod sandwich which was $3.95 and delicious! Sheesh, can’t beat that with a stick! We love these friends who we’ve gone through thick and thin with…

 

To see more Fave Fives or to join on in visit Susanne at Living to Tell the Story.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007 to 2015 hostage and has replaced them all with ugly black and grey boxes asking for a ransom to have them re-published. Such a frustrating bother as I go through each post to delete the ugly boxes.

The 1967 Rose Bowl Game

I have been to two Rose Bowl games in my life. The first one was in 1967. A boyfriend I had broken up with invited me to go to the USC vs. Purdue game and I said yes. I was and am a big sports fan. Sad for the young man, it was the game I was interested in and not him. Some of us in Southern California are not huge USC fans in fact we always cheer on whoever is playing them. I was pleased as punch at the exciting close game and that Purdue won! These days I’m a huge soccer fan!

1967 Rose Bowl
(Purdue 14 – USC 13)

Purdue capped its first nine-win season with a hard-fought 14-13 victory over USC. A pair of touchdowns by fullback Perry Williams and a last-second interception of an attempted two-point conversion by defensive back George Catavolos secured the victory for the Boilermakers. Purdue finished the season 9-2 and tied for 1st place in the Big Ten.

 

The last Rose Bowl game I attended was in 1992. Dear was finishing up his mid-life career change in Pharmacy School at the University of Washington so we scored some student tickets to the Washington ~ Michigan game. Those were wonderful football years for the Huskies and it was fun to be able to attend several of the games. It was a little odd for us older folks to be sitting in the middle of the student section, though. We’d always ask the kids behind us if they could hold their liquor. We didn’t want them losing their alcohol on our heads :0)! They would always look at us and with slurred speech say “Oh don’t worry ma’am, we can hold our liquor”

What a dismal year in sports good ole Washington has endured this year. We are looking ahead to better years. I’m so excited that Seattle now has their very own MLS team, The Seattle Sounders. Here’s hoping they’ll pull us out of the humdrums…

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007 to 2015 hostage and has replaced them all with ugly black and grey boxes asking for a ransom to have them re-published. Such a frustrating bother as I go through each post to delete the ugly boxes.

Sky Watch ~ December Skies

Here are some favorite skies from California and Washington at the end of December! A very Happy New Year to Sky Watch Friday bloggers and anyone else who comes by today!

 

For more Sky Watch photos from around the world visit the Sky Watch Official Site.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007 to 2015 hostage and has replaced them all with ugly black and grey boxes asking for a ransom to have them re-published. Such a frustrating bother as I go through each post to delete the ugly boxes.

Ring Out the Old, Ring in the New

Ring Out the Old, Ring in the New
~Alfred Tennyson 1850

Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow;
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,
The flying cloud, the frosty light:
The year is dying in the night;
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

Ring out the grief that saps the mind,
For those that here we see no more;
Ring out the feud of rich and poor,
Ring in redress to all mankind.

Ring out false pride in place and blood,
The civic slander and the spite;
Ring in the love of truth and right,
Ring in the common love of good.

Ring out a slowly dying cause,
And ancient forms of party strife,
Ring in the nobler modes of life,
With sweet manners, purer laws.

Ring out old shapes of foul disease;
Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;
Ring out the thousand wars of old,
Ring in the thousand years of peace.

Ring in the valiant man and free,
The larger heart, the kindlier hand;
Ring out the darkness of the land,
Ring in the Christ that is to be.

I’m chiming in early to wish you all a Very Happy New Year filled with all good things from above! See y’all on Friday!

ABC Wednesday ~ X is for…

X is for Χριστός

 

Chi Rho (☧) are the first two letters in the Greek spelling of the word Christ ( Greek : “Χριστός” ), and so have come to be used for a number of Christian-related usages.

The Chi Rho is one of the earliest cruciform symbols used by Christians. It is formed by superimposing the first two letters of the word “Christ” in Greek, chi = ch and rho = r. Although not technically a cross, the Chi Rho invokes the crucifixion of Jesus as well as symbolizing his status as the Christ. There is early evidence of the Chi Rho symbol on Christian Rings of the third century (200’s). There is also importantly Constantine’s use of it on the labarum, the imperial standard, in the early 4th century. Lactantius, a 4th century Christian apologist, reports that on the eve of the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in 312, Constantine had a vision of God in which he was commanded to mark his men’s shields with the Chi Rho symbol. After Constantine’s success at the Milvian bridge, the Chi Rho became the official imperial insignia. Archaeologists have uncovered evidence demonstrating that the Chi Rho was emblazoned on the helmet and shield of Constantine as well as those of all of his soldiers. Coins and medallions minted during Constantine’s reign also bore the Chi Rho. By the year 350, the Chi Rho began to be used on Christian sarcophagi and frescoes.

I took these photos of these murals inside the historic Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, California. The Cathedral was amazing and I have a full post about it with more photos of the inside and outside here and here. If you ever get the chance to visit San Francisco make sure and put this Cathedral on your must see list!

 

When walking in the Pacific Heights neighborhood in San Francisco I spotted the symbol again above this door. This building probably use to be connected with a church but it appears to have been converted to a home now. Here’s another view of this amazing building.

For more ABC Wednesday visit the ABC Blog  hosted by Mrs. Nesbitt!

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007 to 2015 hostage and has replaced them all with ugly black and grey boxes asking for a ransom to have them re-published. Such a frustrating bother as I go through each post to delete the ugly boxes.

Ruby Tuesday ~ Finale for 2008

The Last Ruby Tuesday for 2008!

I took this in Solvang, California in the Fall of 2007.

For more Ruby Tuesday visit our hostess Mary at Work of the Poet!

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007 to 2015 hostage and has replaced them all with ugly black and grey boxes asking for a ransom to have them re-published. Such a frustrating bother as I go through each post to delete the ugly boxes.

The Bagdanov Christmas Eve in Huntington Beach!

My dear parents, Moisi and Nadia Bagdanov, with their newest granddaughter Hope. This picture represents the oldest and youngest at our family gathering at my sister Vera’s home in Huntington Beach. My parents have 8 living very adult children and 7 of those children with all their children and one great grandchild were all together for the first time at Christmas since 1991. We have one brother whose family does not celebrate with us.

My kids with their grandparents (Baba and Deda).

Katie and her cousin Melissa (one of my sister Kathy’s daughters). My kids with their Aunt Lana and cousin Caleb. Levi and Joseph (Levi, Caleb, and Joseph are 3 of my brother Steve’s boys).

My brother Leonard’s family. Leonard, Mandy and Miss Hope! They flew in from Dallas to celebrate with all of us.

We decided to walk a few blocks to the beach to take some family photos. This photo is of our girls, 3 nieces and auntie Lana.

Our kids.

All the cousins and spouses of cousins. We are missing 8 cousins including spouses in this photo…

The Ladies!  Kristin (my sister Vera’s DIL), Melissa (my sister Kathy’s daughter), Katie (mine), Miss Hope (my brother Leonard’s daughter), Debbee (my sister Vera’s daughter) Jessica (my brother Steve’s DIL), Laura (my DIL), Michelle (my sister Kathy’s daughter).

The Gents! Caleb (my brother Steve’s #3 son) Ryan (my sister Kathy’s SIL), Jackson (my sister Kathy’s Grandson), Levi (my brother Steve’s #2 son) Joseph (my brother Steve’s #4 son) Timothy (my brother Steve’s #1 son) Dan (mine), David (my sister Vera’s son), Josh (mine)

The Newlyweds, Timothy and Jessica.

David and Kristin.

Jackson with one of his favorites, Debbee!

Katie down by the water. A storm was rolling in and we just finished our photo shoots before the rain started.

And here’s ellen b. having so much fun with Miss Hope!

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007 to 2015 hostage and has replaced them all with ugly black and grey boxes asking for a ransom to have them re-published. Such a frustrating bother as I go through each post to delete the ugly boxes.

I was able to restore this post as of May 2021 after we did a back up of all our photos off a very old computer!

Blue Monday and Tablescape Tuesday!

Since we had a blue and white tablescape for our daughter Katie’s birthday on Saturday I’m combining Blue Monday and Tablescape Tuesday this week!  My sister Lana G! was over and helped with the details on the tablescape while Dear and I prepared dinner for the party. Dear made both soups we were serving for the dinner. His famous Tomato Rice Soup is one he’s been making since his college days from Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child. The second soup was a Potato Leek Soup with Bacon and Havarti cheese that we used the best of 3 recipes to come up with. Both soups were yummy and well received.

 

My daughter Katie gave me the star bundt cake pan for Christmas so I decided to make her the Bundt Spice cake she enjoys. Here are the thick hearty soups we served along with bread and salad…

 

For more Blue Monday posts visit Smiling Sally and on Tuesday for more tablescapes visit Susan at Between Naps on the Porch.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007 to 2015 hostage and has replaced them all with ugly black and grey boxes asking for a ransom to have them re-published. Such a frustrating bother as I go through each post to delete the ugly boxes.