When I arrived in Washington on Saturday Afternoon this bouquet of Lily’s was waiting for me from Dear for my birthday. Thank you Dear!
I was anxious to look around my yard Sunday morning and see if any of my plants had survived and bloomed since I’ve been gone. I was so excited to see some pretty blooms.
My friend Beth gave me this Lenten Rose for my birthday a couple years ago and look at how beautiful it has bloomed. Thanks again Beth for this beautiful plant that blooms during the season of Lent and thank you for my beautiful hanky that you sent this year. I use hankies these days to catch my tears of joy especially at church, weddings, baptisms, etc. I’ll make sure to bring it to Jamie’s wedding in August!
How sweet it was to spot these perfect waxy looking blue blooms with the yellow centers and the yellow with orange. Are these primroses? My clematis that my friend Jody gave me has survived too and is full of blooms. This is the first year that it is blooming so profusely. (I left it in it’s container too long before planting it in my planter and I was afraid I killed it but it revived, probably because it was from Jody’s hands to me)
Look at all the bulbs ready to open.
What a fun stroll it was and boy do I need to do some weeding!
Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage. I’m working on updating my blog posts very slowly.
I’m adding some words this week. These are my parents at their first meeting with their new miracle granddaughter. Their last granddaughter (our Katie) was born 22 years ago. Their youngest grandson is 16 years old. This granddaughter, our niece was born in January to my brother and his wife, who are both in their 40’s. It is their first baby. We are thrilled with this latest addition to our family and you can see how thrilled my parents are to finally meet her face to face! Dear and I get to go meet her in May! Praise God from whom all blessings flow…
My kids are coming over for dinner, corned beef and cabbage. I’ll be making some fun green drinks and we’ll eat and celebrate being together and surrounded by green. I’ll post the people photos later! 🙂
I tweaked the table some more before my guests arrived.
My beautiful children, with one missing and Dear is in California till Friday, so dinner for four.
The meal was enjoyed by all…
Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage. I’m working on updating my blog posts very slowly.
Fairest Lord Jesus, Ruler of all nature,
O Thou of God and man the Son,
Thee will I cherish, Thee will I honor,
Thou, my soul’s glory, joy and crown.
Fair are the meadows, fairer still the woodlands,
Robed in the blooming garb of spring;
Jesus is fairer, Jesus is purer,
Who makes the woeful heart to sing.
Fair is the sunshine,
Fairer still the moonlight,
And all the twinkling starry host;
Jesus shines brighter, Jesus shines purer
Than all the angels heaven can boast.
All fairest beauty, heavenly and earthly,
Wondrously, Jesus, is found in Thee;
None can be nearer, fairer or dearer,
Than Thou, my Savior, art to me.
Beautiful Savior! Lord of all the nations!
Son of God and Son of Man!
Glory and honor, praise, adoration,
Now and forever more be Thine.
Have a wonderful Palm Sunday and beginning of Holy Week everyone…
Top of the mornin to yea! We made our Corned beef and cabbage early here in California since I’m leaving for Washington today on an early plane. Have a great Saturday. Ummm and about my walking totals this week. Dismal to say the least. Had a couple of good days but funerals and other happenings really affected the weekly totals. But I’m still walking. My average this week was 8295 steps per day. Have a great weekend everyone…
I bought the flat cut corned beef brisket seasoned in a package with an extra spice packet enclosed. I covered the brisket with water and brought to a boil with a couple onions quartered. After it came to a boil, I lowered the flame to simmer and let it simmer for a couple of hours plus. Then I took the brisket out of the pot and put it into a baking dish. I skimmed off the fat and then spread a spicy mustard on top of it and put it in 350 degree oven, covered with foil, for another 45 minutes. During this process I put all the vegetables in the broth to boil. When the broth came up to a boil again I lowered the temperature to simmer and let the vegetables cook till they were tender.
Then it was all ready to eat. Tender and seasoned just right without any extra seasoning…
Forgot to buy some Guinness to go with the meal but did find one of Dear’s home-brews that had a good healthy head to it.
Killarney
By Killarney’s lakes and fells,
Emerald isles and winding bays,
Mountain paths and woodland dells,
Memory ever fondly strays.
Bounteous nature loves all lands,
Beauty wanders everywhere,
Footprints leave on many strands,
But her home is surely there!
Angels fold their wings and rest
In that Eden of the west;
Beauty’s home, Killarney,
Heaven’s reflex, Killarney.
No place else can charm the eye
With such bright and varied tints,
Ev’ry rock that you pass by
Verdure broiders or besprints.
Virgin there the green grass grows,
Ev’ry morn Spring,s natal day,
Bright hued berries daff the snows,
Smiling Winter’s frowns away.
Angels often pausing there
Doubt if Eden were more fair;
Beauty’s home, Killarney.
Heaven’s reflex, Killarney.
Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage. I’m working on updating my blog posts very slowly.
Wedge Salad, Martinis, Porterhouse Steak, Rack of Lamb and a free Birthday piece of Mud Pie. All the food here was very good. We’d go again for a special occasion.
The Birthday Girl
The Guy who supports me in everything I do and always shows me love. Thank you Dear!
Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage. I’m working on updating my blog posts very slowly.
Today is my birthday and I decided to go down memory lane and post some older photos and show you a little of my history.
First I’ll surround myself with things I enjoy. I do know how to pamper me 🙂
I think this is my seventh birthday because of the candles on the cake which would make this 1958.
This is our dining room at 4635 Oak Street in Montebello Gardens. We lived here till I was in 5th grade. My brother Fred, sister Vera, me, my cousin Jim and my sister Kathy who got cut off when I posted this (sorry Kathy)
This birthday was either 1960 or 1961 because there’s my little brother Steve in the high chair and he was born in December of 1959. This is the kitchen and my cousins around me are Tanya, Valia, Vera, Johnny, and you can barely see Walter. These next 4 photos were taken just last Sunday when we ended up driving through Montebello to go to a family function in Whittier.
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. This is the building the library was housed in where I spent many happy hours looking at all those books and trying to choose just 4. Now it’s a senior center.
We moved from Montebello Gardens across the river to Montebello when I was in 5th grade. This is our house at 305 Los Angeles Ave. When we lived here there wasn’t a second story and there wasn’t a chain link fence. Although a chain link fence would have come in handy after the twins (escape artists) were born…
This was my high school. Montebello High home of the Montebello Oilers. It’s totally fenced in now so they can have Lock-downs. 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. It’s under renovation.
In my junior and senior year I was a Song-leader and part of the cheer squad. I’m in the bottom row on the right. Judy, my best friend from junior high and high school is next to me. Debbie next to her. The top row left to right is Kathy, Bet (yes we called her Bet), and Judy. You can see those same stands behind us. This photo was taken in fall of 1967. We’re seniors here and will all graduated in June of 1968.
These are the photos I had access to while I’m here at the condo in California. Tomorrow I fly to Seattle to see my kids and celebrate Easter with them. I’ll be there for a couple of weeks. I haven’t seen them face to face since January 1st so I’m really looking forward to my time with them.
This was taken last Easter in Edmonds overlooking Puget Sound at our good friends Dave and Jody’s. They started the tradition of eating fish on Easter because that is what Jesus ate after his resurrection to show the Disciples He was alive.
~
Thanks for indulging me and I couldn’t resist the Beatles singing Happy Birthday to finish off this post. Thanks Myrna.
Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage. I’m working on updating my blog posts very slowly.
Friday March 14th is my 57th Birthday. For my TT this week I’m choosing 13 very memorable years in my 57!
1. 1951 ~ My birth year. I was born in East Los Angeles, California.
2. 1963 ~ At Hume Lake Christian Camps in King’s Canyon, California God called me to become a disciple of Jesus Christ and I started a new life following him.
3. 1968 ~ Graduated from Montebello High School in Montebello, California
4. 1972 ~ Went on my first date with Dear in October of this year.
5. 1973 ~ Graduated from Cal-State Los Angeles with a degree in Home Economics and an Elementary Teaching Certificate.
6. 1974 ~ Got married on December 6th to Dear and have celebrated 33 years of marriage so far. We were married on a Friday evening.
7. 1979 ~ Our first child was born in January. Josh is our firstborn weighing in at 10 pounds. Born on a Friday.
8. 1981 ~ Our second son was born also in January, also on a Friday. Dan was 8 pounds and 1-1/2 oz.
9. 1985 ~ Our third child was born on a Friday, too but not in January. Our first daughter (and last) Katie was born at the end of December even though her due date was in January also. She weighed in at 8 pounds and 12 oz.
10. 1988 ~ We moved from California to the state of Washington so Dear could go to Pharmacy School at the University of Washington.
11. 1996 ~ We gave our dream home and all of our equity back to the bank because of a major landslide on the slope behind our home.
12. 2001 ~ Our first born son was married to our beautiful daughter in law, Laura.
13. 2006 ~ Dear took a full-time job in Southern California and he and I find ourselves living in Southern California again but without our children close by. They are all still in Washington. Dan and Katie are taking care of our home while we’re in Southern California in our Condo.
I’ll leave you with this party image of me way back in the 50’s. I’ve always been one to love a good time…
We went on a Hike early Saturday morning. We drove west to Pacific Coast Highway and South to Pt. Mugu State Park. We started at the Sycamore Canyon Campground and made sure to read the warning signs. We spotted Poison Oak at the very beginning of the hike. The only animals we saw were rabbits, lizards and birds.
We decided to take the scenic trail for our hike and we were rewarded with some beautiful views of the Pacific Ocean and of the mountains of the Santa Monica coastal range.
We also were happy to spot many wildflowers.
To see the names of some of these blooms you can click here.
The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b. 