Photo Hunters ~ Beautiful

This was taken in May of 2008 at the Japanese Gardens in Seattle, Washington. The beautiful ladies in the photo are my daughter Katie and DIL Laura.

For more Photo Hunters Beautiful click over to tnchick.

Photobucket is holding all my photos that I posted on my blog from 2007-2015 hostage and replaced them with big black and grey boxes with threats. So discouraging…as I’m slowly trying to clean up thousands of posts!

Fave Five for Friday…

Susanne at Living to Tell the Story is hosting Fave Five for Friday. Here’s what she says…

“Hope you play along. It’s very simple. Just list your favorite five things from the week. It can be anything from jokes to music to food. It’s a fun way to get to know more about each other and maybe make new friends, find new blogs or new things to try. Expand our world’s a bit. Make it as detailed as you like, but the more detail the more fun! Don’t forget to link to this site and sign the Mr. Linky so I can come and read your favorites.”

So here are ellen b.’s 5 for this last week.

1. Things have gotten really out of hand this summer in my eating and staying in shape! One of my favorites from this week is getting back into walking with my bloggy friend Willow. During our walks this has been my favorite sighting this week.

2. I have just come off a whirlwind of travel and entertaining and having a week of rest and relaxation makes my top 5, too. Here’s a photo of my clean organized condo that helps in the rest and relaxation.

3. True Confessions! I really enjoy some of the reality t.v. shows. I get a big kick out of Project Runway and it’s always a highlight of my week to watch it on Wednesday evenings.

4. One of the best times in the day is when Dear comes home from work. Besides coming home which is a good thing, he barbecued some steaks for us on Monday night and that was a favorite meal this week.

5. Hearing that John McCain chose Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate just makes me smile. I’m not that into politics but I love it when things get shaken up.

So if you want to see more Fave Fives and join in head over to Susanne’s.

Walking Again

Both Willow and I are back in town at the same time again and we started getting serious about walking this week. We had 3 good days of walking getting in over 9000 steps each day.

Thursday morning we were blessed with several glimpses of wildlife. We saw this deer which was a first for me in Willow’s neighborhood. We saw a Hawk sparring with some crows. We saw a great group of Quail, too.

I was in Seattle for 6 weeks and Willow was in England during part of that time. She brought me this fun Tea Towel from The Twinings in London.

She also gave me this Sweet Bavarian Plate. Thanks again Willow!

It feels so good to be walking regularly again.

Skywatch ~

This is what the sky has looked like the mornings this week on my walks with Willow. You can barely see the Santa Monica Mountains through the marine haze. It usually burns off by the middle of the afternoon. This looks like a great scene for a science fiction story or horror movie with a title like “Out of the Mist” or “Out of the Marine Layer” How about the first sentence to the thriller… “He appeared one morning out of the mist, off the mountain. Nobody had ever seen him before but one thing was certain, he was not of this world.”

Thanks for your indulgence. Have a great Friday and weekend. It’s a long weekend here in the U.S. since we’re observing Labor Day on Monday.

For more Skywatch photos click here.

ABC’s of the Word ~ Fullness

Galatians 4: 4, 5 ~ “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.”

Colossians 1:19, 20 ~ “For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.”

Colossians 2:9, 10 ~ “For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him who is the head of all rule and authority.

John 1:16, 17 ~ “And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”

For more ABC’s of the Word visit Pam at Grey Like Snuffie.

Bridging the Gap ~ Day 5

The following bridges that I’m posting today are all taken while canoeing on Lake Washington in Seattle, Washington with my daughter Katie in July of this year.

This big bridge is part of the 520 Floating Bridge that spans Lake Washington from Seattle to Bellevue. We ended up canoeing under the bridge to get to smaller waterways off the lake. The floating part of the bridge is closer to the middle of the bridges span.

This smaller wooden footbridge is another bridge we had to canoe under. We ducked for this one :0)

For more Bridging the Gap visit Alice at Iwasborn2cree8

Vintage Thingies Thursdays ~ Turquoise

This week for Vintage Thingies Thursday I’m sharing some of my vintage that happens to be turquoise in color.

These bathroom accessories are from my MIL Verna’s stash. She passed away in 1997 and had lived with us for several years so we got a lot of her stuff by default.

This little lady was hers, too. Verna grew up in the U.S.A. and was a teacher in a one room schoolhouse in Kansas in the late 30’s.

For more Vintage Thingies head over to Confessions of a Apron Queen

WFW ~ Jonah 2:1-2

Jonah 2: 1-2 ~ “From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God. He said: “In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me. From the depths of the grave I called for help, and you listened to my cry.”

For more Word Filled Wednesday visit Amydeanne.

Update: To answer several of your inquiries this photo was taken at Disneyland, Anaheim. It is part of the Pinocchio Ride in Fantasyland.

Bridging the Gap ~ Day 4

My bridge for today is from my favorite place to walk in Southern California. This is a foot-bridge we use when we walk along Emma Wood State Beach in Ventura.

This is Dear after he crossed the bridge. This shot was taken in the Winter. We usually start our walks at 7 A.M. so we pretty much have the beach to ourselves. The next shot is the same bridge taken in the summer time with my friend Jody from Washington crossing it.

I took it at this angle to get this great patch of Cactus in the photo.

For more Bridging the Gap Photos visit Alice at Iwasborn2cre8.

Mango Crockpot Chicken

Sandy at 4 Reluctant Entertainers shared this recipe on her blog and I decided it would be perfect for my Saturday Company/overnight guests. Sandy has the gift of hospitality and if you are timid about entertaining she has a lot of great tips and inspiration on her blog for you.

Spray the inside of your crockpot with whatever cooking spray you like. Load it up with whole boneless chicken breasts. I used boneless/skinless half breasts – 6 of them. Pour 1/2 a plastic tub of the Mango Peach Salsa that Costco sells over the chicken. Cook on low all day long. Do not open, do not stir. When it is done you can shred the chicken and stir it into the sauce.

This is what it looked like before I shredded the chicken.

After I shredded the chicken

Here is how we chose to serve the chicken up this time around. Build your own soft tacos with corn or flour tortillas, cilantro, rice, more salsa, beans, onion, cheese, and jalapenos.

Here’s Dear’s creation before he gobbled it up.

After the 4 of us had our fill I still have enough of the shredded chicken left over to serve up a lot of meals this week. Let’s see there’s chicken enchiladas, chicken salad, chicken tacos, chicken burritos, chicken soup…

My brother Tim and his wife Letty came up to visit us on Saturday and stayed overnight. The beauty of cooking a meal in the crockpot is that you don’t have to spend a lot of time in the kitchen while your company is around. We went out for lunch and did a little antique shopping in Old Town Camarillo while our dinner was taking care of itself. The toppings were all easy to put together at the last minute especially since I made the 90 second Uncle Ben’s Santa Fe Rice :0). Everyone gave the recipe a thumbs up!

Thanks Sandy!

Tonight I used some of this leftover chicken for chicken enchiladas.

I bought Green Enchilada Sauce for these. Heat up half the sauce in a saucepan and heat up each tortilla in the sauce to make it more pliable. Fill the tortilla with the chicken and some cheese. Roll up and put in baking dish. ( I sprayed the baking dish with Pam before I filled it with the enchiladas) After all the tortillas are in the baking dish cover with remaining sauce and with more cheese. Bake in 350 degree oven for 20 minutes or so…

Here are the baking dish of enchiladas after they have been heated through.

They made a great dinner for Dear and I with a fresh salad on the side…

The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b.

To honor and encourage