Tag Archives: 4th of July

Out of the Blue

This Ground Hog showed up on our property this week. We have never seen one in our yard before. Our neighbor also said he has never seen ground hogs in our little stretch of homes.

After reading about the ‘colonies’ these critters are associated with we decided to send it on it’s way.

It was fun to watch for a day…

Robins have been quite active around here building nests. The Swallows are busy with their nests in the bird houses around our property. The birds are entertaining and we welcome them.

Welcome to July! We don’t have plans for the weekend but we will be attending a Monday 4th of July gathering with several folk from church. Do you have plans?

Stars and Stripes Hodgepodge

Time to celebrate the Hodgepodge again. Jo From This Side of the Pond asks the questions and we ponder them for answers.

1. It’s been said the best things in life are free…are they?

There has been a price that has been paid for the best things in life like salvation in Jesus Christ.  We didn’t have to pay for that but Christ did and our new life in Him costs us. “Take up your cross daily and follow Him.” When we are faithful and obedient to the Word of God there will be a price to pay.

On a National note there is a cost that has been paid for our freedom. It is good to be free but we can’t forget to be grateful for the sacrifices made for our freedom.

What are some of those things? The Free Things…

*There are good things that are free like hugs, a sunset, smiles, lovely views, etc. etc.

2. Stars or stripes?
Mostly stars but I do enjoy stripes, too.
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Red, white, or blue?
How about all three…
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Apple pie or home made ice cream?
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I do enjoy ice cream but unfortunately it doesn’t like me anymore so I’ll go with apple pie!
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Do you like hotdogs?
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Yes, give me a good Hebrew National Hot Dog, Nathan’s or better yet a Chicago Dog!
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I love a good Chicago dog (see above) and all the things they put on it but can’t get one of those locally, sigh.
If so, what do you like on yours?
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I enjoy hot dog relish on mine. Side note: Hot dog relish has been scarce in my area grocery stores.
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3. One thing on your summer bucket list?
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To make it to the “Coast” for some visits.
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Any plans to make it happen soon?
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No…people are way too busy right now.
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4. What’s your summer anthem? Yes, you need to have one
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A few came to mind like Summer in the City and Schools Out for the Summer but since I don’t live in the city and I’m not in school anymore I’ll go with, You Are My Sunshine.
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5. What’s something you love about America? If you live outside of America, tell us something you love about the place you call home.
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So much to love about America if you ignore the crazy politics going on and the absurd redefinition of basic biology.
I love how you can travel from shore to shore, north and south and see so many different topographies and enjoy small and large towns, seashores and deserts, mountains and plains, regional dishes, amazing architecture, historical sites, iconic landmarks, etc. etc.
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We are in the middle of planning a road trip from Washington State to North Carolina for a wedding in early October. So far some of the diversions along the highways we will travel will be Deadwood, Mt. Rushmore, Wall, Badlands, The Ark Encounter, Kentucky Bourbon Trail, A Shaker Village, Pigeon Forge, and Asheville. After the wedding, Lord willing, we plan to journey to Dallas to visit my brother’s family. We’ll go through Nashville and Memphis on our way to Dallas. From Dallas home we are waiting to see weather patterns before we make those plans.
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6. Insert your own random thought here.
Hope you all have a good 4th of July weekend here in the States and to our Canadian neighbors, Happy Canada Day on the 1st.

The Fourth at This Old House!

The food that my brother Leonard reminded me to take a photo of, steak, corn on the cob, pasta salad and veggie salad.

Trifle for dessert with red, white and blue highlights!

Katie and Andrew…

Katie, Andrew, Hope and little Andrew!

Hope and Andrew’s parents! They live in Texas.

My brother Steve and Dear. Steve and Kelly live in Southern California.

We broke the 4th of July heat record here in the Seattle area…92. Too hot to do much of anything but hydrate! Our town does not allow fireworks so our guests moved over to my sister’s house across the way from us when darkness approached. Her house happens to be in a city that does allow personal fireworks.

We’re getting ready to watch the Women’s World Cup Final Game now…go U.S.A.!

How was your weekend?

To God Be the Glory! ~ Hymn

To God Be The Glory

To God be the glory, great things He has done;
So loved He the world that He gave us His Son,
Who yielded His life an atonement for sin,
And opened the life gate that all may go in.

Refrain

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
Let the earth hear His voice!
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
Let the people rejoice!
O come to the Father, through Jesus the Son,
And give Him the glory, great things He has done.

O perfect redemption, the purchase of blood,
To every believer the promise of God;
The vilest offender who truly believes,
That moment from Jesus a pardon receives.

Refrain

Great things He has taught us, great things He has done,
And great our rejoicing through Jesus the Son;
But purer, and higher, and greater will be
Our wonder, our transport, when Jesus we see.

Refrain

Words: Fanny Crosby

Living in a land with freedoms is wonderful but the freedom that Christ gives us when we are pardoned from our sins is even more priceless. Thank you Lord!

Happy 4th of July weekend everyone!

Happy 4th of July!

Before I take you on a walk about the yard I wanted to wish everyone in the good ole U.S.A. a very Happy Independence Day.

July yard 021We landed in the country we gained independence from on the 4th of July!

Because of my early Thursday morning walk about I found myself another job to do and another request to make of our house guests before we left the country.

July yard 016Many of the blueberries are ready for picking. This will be a nice fresh treat for the guests!

July yard 017I love the hydrangeas at this stage of coloring.

2014-07-03 July yardWe also have white ones and a small potted pink one this year.

July yard 001

July yard 013The lavender has made it’s debut, too.

July yard 020

July yard 005I’ll leave a note for our guests to feel free to snip the fresh thyme for their meals.

July yard 014The apples won’t be ready until we return home.

So how’s your garden/yard growing?

FFF ~ Long Weekends…

The U.S. A. is headed into their long Independence Day Weekend and Canada is in full swing of their Canada Day celebrations. Happy Canada Day to all my friends across the line. Enjoy your camping and grilling! I’ll post more about the 4th of July on Monday.

Now the time is right to look back on the past week and list my favorites to join in with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story for Friday’s Fave Five.

1. Spending a day away with Dear this past Saturday.

2. Spending Sunday with Josh and Laura enjoying brunch, the Sounder’s game, and dinner out.

3. Changing some things around in the Living room for a fresh look.

4. With all my shows in re-runs or off the air, I’ve been enjoying reading in the evening. I’ve finished a couple of books this week and am in the middle of two others.

5. My collage up top shows some of my plants in containers on the deck that are finally starting to show their colors. I’m looking forward to getting the patio furniture down and out on the patio this weekend. Can’t believe the weather has not been good enough to do it sooner.

We are having a 4th of July get together with friends on Monday. Dear will be smoking a Boston Butt for pulled pork sandwiches. My company will be contributing dishes. We haven’t decided on everything we’ll serve yet but coleslaw and baked beans will be part of the menu for sure. My red, white and blue decor is out and our flags will be flying.

What are your plans for the long weekend?

Photobucket replaced all my photos with blurred out versions and photobucket stamped versions. They are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

Blue Mosaic Monday ~ Celebration!

 

Things have been busy around our home in Washington State. We had 18 people near and dear to us over for a celebration on the 4th. Dear barbecued Tri-tip for sandwiches and we had some great veggie sides. Cookies and Cheesecake for dessert. The center photo in the collage is of our daughter Katie. The lovely ladies in the bottom photo are Jamie, Laura (our DIL), Lucy, Katie and Bridget. Jamie, Lucy and Bridget are sisters.

On Sunday morning I drove Dear to the airport and we’ll be apart for about 4 weeks. Boohoo!  On Sunday afternoon we picked up my niece Debbee from the airport for a 3 day visit. This coming Sunday I’m helping my daughter with a Bridal shower at our home. We hope our vision for decorating the gazebo for the shower comes together…

Thanks for stopping by. To see more Mosaics visit Mary at Little Red House. To see more Blue visit Smiling Sally.

Photobucket is holding all my photos that I stored on their site from 2007-2015 hostage replacing them with ugly grey and black boxes and asking for a large ransom to retrieve them. It is a slow process to go through all my posts deleting the ugly boxes.

Christ By Heavenly Hosts Adored ~ Hymn

Christ By Heavenly Hosts Adored

Christ, by heav’nly hosts adored,
Gracious, mighty, sovereign Lord,
God of nations, King of kings,
Head of all created things,
By the Church with joy confessed,
God o’er all, forever blessed.
Pleading at Thy throne we stand,
Save Thy people, bless our land.

On our fields of grass and grain
Send, O Lord, the kindly rain;
O’er our wide and goodly land
Crown the labors of each hand.
Let Thy kind protection be
O’er our commerce on the sea.
Open, Lord, Thy bounteous hand;
Bless Thy people, bless our land.

Let our rulers ever be
Men that love and honor Thee;
Let the powers by Thee ordained
Be in righteousness maintained.
In the people’s hearts increase
Love of piety and peace.
Thus united, may we stand
One wide, free, and happy land.

Words by Henry Harbaugh, 1860

Mosaic Blue Monday ~ Red,White & Blue!

 

I’m joining Sally’s Blue Monday a little late this week. Visit her to see more blue. I suspect you’ll see a lot of 4th of July blue this week.

And on a personal note. We arrived to our home in the Seattle area at about 10:15 last night. As usual it will take me a couple days to get my brain back. It’s hard sometimes switching from my Southern California Brain to my Washington State Brain. The trip took us 15 hours but listening to The Prisoner of Azkaban made the hours go by quicker. The book on cd was 11 hours long. I’ll be uploading photos from the wedding and other random shots soon.

Hope all is well with everyone…

Photobucket is holding all my photos that I stored on their site from 2007-2015 hostage replacing them with ugly grey and black boxes and asking for a large ransom to retrieve them. It is a slow process to go through all my posts deleting the ugly boxes.