J. Paul Getty Museum ~ Pacific Pallisades

As promised here are more of my photos from the Getty Villa during our Bloggy rendezvous on Monday.

 

 

 

The J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Villa is home to an extensive collection of Greek, Roman, and Etruscan antiquities, one of America’s finest holdings of ancient art.

 

J. Paul Getty purchased the sixty-four acre site in 1945. This is a photo taken in the Outer Peristyle.

In Greek and Roman architecture a peristyle is a columned porch or open colonnade in a building that surrounds a court that may contain an internal garden.

 

There are Bronze sculptures, replicas of statues found at the Villa dei Papiri.

 

 

These columns lead you out to the Outer Peristyle from the Inner Peristyle. The capitals of the Corinthian columns in the Triclinium on the south side of the Inner Peristyle were inspired by the curling acanthus plant.

 

A View into the Inner Peristyle.

 

 

 

This fountain is located in the East Garden. The colorful fountain with shells and theater masks is a replica of an ancient fountain from the House of the Large Fountain in Pompeii.

 

 

A sampling of some of the treasures…

 

I was in the Men in Antiquity Room and spied this statue in an opposite room divided by an open court. There were two windows between me and the statue. I was intrigued and put the camera on zoom and hoped it would turn out. I was pleased to see it did.

 

When I made it to the Women and Children of Anitquity this Herculaneum Woman and the other women statues in the room were off limits for photography.

 

Willow here’s my version of a Monet.. The colors in these lily pads are so beautiful.

 

Couldn’t leave without a close-up photo of one of the roses on the grounds. This Museum is worth a few trips to see all it has to offer. It is free but you have to make a reservation and request a free ticket for entrance to the estate.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage and they have blacked them all out. I’m slowly working at restoring my posts without their help. Such a tiresome bother!

Hospital-i-Tea Blog-a-Thon ~ Delicacies…

Share your favorite teatime recipe for sweets or savories. Tea sandwiches, scones, and dainty desserts all count in this category. Give credit to the originator of the recipe if possible. Post a picture if you can. This is sure to make everyone hungry for a delicious tea time treat!

 

Cucumber Mint Tea Sandwich

1/2 seedless cucumber, peeled and very thinly sliced (about 32 slices)
1/4 cup loosely packed fresh mint leaves, rinsed, spun dry, and chopped fine
1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 cup cream cheese, room temperature
16 slices best-quality white bread
Salt to taste

 

Place cucumber slices between layers of paper towels to remove excess moisture.

In a small bowl, combine mint, butter, and cream cheese; spread on one side of each slice of bread. Lay cucumber slices onto the buttered side of 8 slices of bread. Sprinkle with salt. Top with the remaining slices of bread, buttered side down.

Carefully cut the crusts from each sandwich with a sharp knife. Cut the sandwiches in half diagonally and then cut in half again.

Yields 8 whole sandwiches or 16 halves or 32 fourths. Recipe Source here.

 

 Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage and they have blacked them all out. I’m slowly working at restoring my posts without their help. Such a tiresome bother!

For more Tea Sweet and Savory recipes click over to LaTeaDah’s.For more Tea Sweet and Savory recipes click over to LaTeaDah’s.

WFW ~ Luke 12:27,28 ~ Consider the Lilies…

 

“Consider how the lilies grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith!”
 
Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage and they have blacked them all out. I’m slowly working at restoring my posts without their help. Such a tiresome bother!
 
For more Word Filled Wednesday visit 160 Acre Woods

ABC Wednesday ~ N is for…

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage and they have blacked them all out. I’m slowly working at restoring my posts without their help. Such a tiresome bother!

N is for Nests

The Great Blue Herons and their Nests in Kenmore, Washington.

 

A colony of nesting great blue herons is known as a “heronry”. When I was in Washington State over Easter I was able to get some photos of this “heronry” in Kenmore, behind the Kenmore Park n Ride.

 

When my friend Jody and I were walking on the Burke-Gilman trail one day we were approached by some bird-watchers who were looking for this heronry. I was able to direct them to where it was. It re-sparked my interest and I made it a point to take some photos the next day. When I used to pick up Dear from the Kenmore Park in Ride years ago I remembered being in such awe over this nesting area and the acitivity from these great big birds. It was wonderful to watch them fly around the nests and light onto one. This would be a great field-trip and lesson for any homeschoolers in the area.

The Great Blue Heron belongs to a large family that includes herons, egrets, and bitterns. This world-wide family has about 60 species. The Great White Heron of Florida is a local color variation of the Great Blue and belongs to the same species.

The Great Blue Heron’s long legs allow it to hunt in deeper water than most other herons and egrets.

this photo is from Seattle.gov

Herons have special patches of powder down feathers, which they rake with a foot, causing the powder to fall on fish it has caught. The powder causes the fish slime and oil to clump up so that the herons then can simply brush it off with a foot. Herons also rub the powder especially on the underside of their bodies to repel swamp slime and oils.

The Great Blue Heron can swallow a fish many times wider than its narrow neck.

Herons look for food anytime there is enough light. Studies suggest that cloudy weather is ideal for the birds to look for fish. Herons don’t just eat fish, however. They eat a wide variety of prey, including frogs, salamanders, turtles, snakes, insects, rodents, and small birds.

In catching fish, the Great Blue Heron grabs smaller fish between the two mandibles of its bill; with a quick strike it stabs the larger fish.

In the Pacific Northwest, eelgrass beds are important foraging sites for the Great Blue Heron.

Herons nest in colonies. One of the largest colonies in Washington is located in Renton; last year there were approximately 135 active nests there.

For more ABC Wednesday posts head over to Mrs. Nesbitt’s

Bloggy Friends at the Getty Villa

 

On Monday Willow and I met Sara from Much ado About Something at the Getty Villa. This was the first time I met Sara face to face. Sara in person is true to who she is on her blog. She’s gracious, thoughtful, and kind. What a fun experience to meet bloggy friends in person. I’ll be posting more about the Getty soon.

 

Here we are at lunch at the Getty Cafe. Willow from Willow’s Cottage, Sara of Much Ado About Something and ellen b. from the Happy Wonderer. See ellen b. leaning over without wincing with back pain. Whoohoo!

 

Friends, Fellowship, Food and Fun. Stay tuned for some of the architecture and art from the beautiful Getty Villa Grounds. Thanks for the fun package and avocados, Sara. I’ll be emailing you…

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage and they have blacked them all out. I’m slowly working at restoring my posts without their help. Such a tiresome bother!

Fun Monday ~ What Was & Is Worth It…

Southern Doll is hosting Fun Monday this week and she has the following assignment. What have you done in your life that was worth doing?

I know that as soon as I publish this there will be other things that come to mind. I decided to start with high school and move on from there.

The thing in high school that was worth doing was getting baptised in my junior year. I started a more dedicated journey following Christ at this point in my life and would never turn back.

During my College years I was part of a Christian Rock band. I met Dear in this group and we became engaged and then married in 1974. We went on two summer tours in England together with the group which was an amazing experience in travel and ministry.

 

Getting a College Degree and a Teaching Credential was worth doing.

Getting married to Dear was and is definitely worth doing and we’ve been doing it for 33 years. Oops! I think I just probably embarrassed my children and myself by accident.

Having each of our three children was worth it big time in my life. Each of them is unique and I thank God for their individual gifts and personalities.

Developing close friendships and opening our home for fun and fellowship and spending loving times with my extended family has been worth it.

 

Much of this time is spent around food!

Moving to Seattle in 1988 and raising our children there and developing friendships there was worth it.

 

Starting a blog and meeting bloggy friends around the world has been worth it.

Growing older with Dear and being faithful to our marriage is worth it.

For more Fun Monday posts head over to Southern Doll’s.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage and they have blacked them all out. I’m slowly working at restoring my posts without their help. Such a tiresome bother!

Brown Plate Special ~ Week 10

For the last 2 weeks I have been living a very non-active life due to my back issues. Well if I needed any proof that activity is vital in my life to keep weight off this was the proof. Over these 2 weeks I have gained 4.1 pounds. Yikes! The positive side of this is that from my beginning point I am still down 4.8 pounds.

I am finally able to walk with little pain so I have a good outlook for this week. Today I’m going to the Getty Villa with Willow and Sara another bloggy friend that I get to meet face to face for the first time. I’ll be taking lots of photos as usual so I hope to share them soon.

So I’m putting my pedometer back on and getting serious again. No more pampering myself because of my pain! Have a great day y’all…

Cherry Varenya ~ Russian Tea Sweetener

The Russian immigrants I grew up around would make and enjoy this Cherry Syrup made with whole pie cherries in their hot tea. They used this syrup in place of sugar to sweeten their tea. I called my mother this week to get the following recipe from her to share for The-Sweet-and-Savory-of-Yummy.

This is a very simple recipe for Cherry Varenya. This is a syrup made with Cherries to sweeten hot tea with.

Cherry Varenya

1/2 Cup Water
1 Cup Sugar
1 Cup Whole Sour Cherries (Pie Cherries)
1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice

You would increase the proportions of this recipe according to how many cherries you have on hand that you want to make into Varenya.

Boil the water and sugar to make a clear simple syrup. When the liquid is clear add your cherries and let it boil for 10 to 20 minutes (depending on how hard the cherries were to begin with) At the end of the boiling add 1 Tablespoon of fresh lemon juice to help preserve the brightness of the syrup.

You may want to can it at this point. (I don’t know how to can anything so you are on your own here!) 🙂

You can do this process with sliced lemons, too, to make a Lemon Varenya.

Lemon Varenya

When I was young our family would go to a Cherry Orchard somewhere near Lancaster, California in July when the pie cherries were ready to harvest. It might have been in the Leona Valley. We would pick cherries all day and take home upwards of 40 pounds of cherries. That’s a lot of Varenya. When we picked this much my parents would give about half of the cherries away to other relatives and friends who couldn’t make the trek out to the Cherry Farm. Then it was a full day of preparing the cherries for Varenya. Washing, cooking and canning.

Out of Bondage ~ Hymn

“Only One Life Twill Soon Be Past ~ Only What’s Done For Christ Will Last”

Out of Bondage

Arise, come ye forth, and forever break the chain,
That long had oppressed you with sorrow and pain;
Arise, come ye forth, hear the blessèd Lord’s command,
And He Himself will guide you with a strong, strong hand.

Refrain

Come forth, come forth, and shout the jubilee,
Come forth, come forth, the Lord will make you free;
Come forth from your bonds, hear the blessèd Lord’s command,
And He Himself will guide you with a strong, strong hand.

Arise, come ye forth; will ye spend your life for naught,
When Jesus Who loves you a ransom has bought?
The price of His blood, O receive it while you may;
Behold the promised time is now; O come away.

Refrain

Arise, come ye forth, and be slaves to sin no more,
How oft your Deliv’rer has called you before;
Come forth from your bonds, and your liberty receive,
Your willing hearts to Jesus give; repent, believe.

Refrain

Words by Fanny Crosby
ht: cyberhymnal

Saturday at Lowe’s and Beyond

Well what do you do when you are still recovering from lower back pain issues and can’t take your usual long beach walk or long canyon hike? You go with the hubby to one of his favorite spots and take the opportunity to walk and stretch and keep your muscles from painful stiffness.

 

BUT while he is busy looking at tools you escape to the garden department and pretend you’re in an English Garden and take these photos.

 

 

 

 

Then since you are already in Ventura why not have Second Breakfast at your favorite Ventura breakfast spot Allison’s Country Cafe?!

 On the way home we stopped at the Friends of the Library in Camarillo to shop for some bargain books. Here are my two finds for the day.

 

Both of these books have such wonderful illustrations. Dear bought 3 Audel Carpenter’s and Builder’s Library books.

Here’s something for April from Shakespeare and The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady.

“Oh; how this spring of love resembleth
The uncertain glory of an April day!
Which now shows all the beauty of the sun
And by and bye a cloud takes all away.”

Two Gentlemen of Verona ~ Shakespeare

Hope you are having a lovely weekend…

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage and they have blacked them all out. I’m slowly working at restoring my posts without their help. Such a tiresome bother!