Tag Archives: California

Mother’s Day 2008 ~ Whittier

 

Our Mother’s Day Celebrations started early this year. I was away from all my children this year so they got together and created the best gift I could possibly ask for. Each of them wrote to me and included a photo of themselves. Each note was unique just like they are. They were put together in the book cover you see in the center of the collage. I was in Mom heaven! On Mother’s Day morning Dear was very sweet and took me to the Rose Bowl Flea Market with a pocket full of cash. I’ll post more about that later. After we walked the isles and isles of goodies at the Flea Market we headed to Whittier for a smaller family gathering with my Sister’s Family and my Mom and Dad. My brother Steve was able to come, too.

 

As we drove through Whittier to my sister’s house we were greeted with the beautiful purple blooms on the Jacaranda Trees.

 

My Father and Mother who are always a joy to be around.

 

My Father and Jackson (Great grandson)

 

Jackson with his friend.

 

We were surounded by beautiful blooms on potted plants and fresh bouquets.

 

We started lunch with my mother’s Borsch and then had fondue. Main course of beef, chicken, cheese, bread, and vegetables. Then a dark chocolate and milk chocolate fondue mix for our fruit and wafers and biscotti. Everything was very good.

I brought my mom, sister, and niece these Johnson Bros. mugs filled with 3 kinds of Tea.

My nieces gave me the potted pink hydrangea in the top collage.

It was a beautiful day of honoring mom’s and enjoying each others company. Thank you Len and Kathy for always opening your home to family. Len’s 95 year old mother was able to join us at the table for a little while and had us in stitches with some of her remarks. How lovely the day was. Thank you Lord.

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!

Tea Rooms ~ The Gilded Rose

This weeks theme is Tea Rooms and Ventures. In April my family met at the Gilded Rose Manor Tea House in Northridge, California to celebrate my mother’s 85th birthday.

 

I love the fact that the Tea House street address is on Devonshire St. It sounds so English and creamy 🙂

There are several different table settings. There are 3 areas of service. The Rose Salon is the largest area,  the Atrium is a little separated from the Rose Salon, and then the Blue Willow Parlor is a private side room that accomodates up to 14 people. We were in the Blue Willow Parlor.

The Blue Willow Parlor with my sisters, mom, and nieces.

The Rose Salon

Rose Salon

The Atrium

We had assorted scones with Devon Cream and Lemon curd and then a variety of tea sandwiches.

Our dessert platter with another fun assortment of goodies.

Although these tea pots aren’t the dainty variety that really served the purpose well, especially with these great warmers that they sat on. Our tea was the perfect temperature to the last drop of each pot. The gift shop at the Gilded Rose sells these, too.

 

The Gilded Rose has a nice gift shop. Besides all these fun Tea Pots and Cups they sell Tea Magazines, Cards, cake plates, baked goods, accessories. They also have a wonderful collection of loose tea for sale.

We all had a nice time here.

For more Tea Rooms and Ventures visit LaTeaDah at Gracious Hospitality.

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 Katie and Flower~ Check it out…

 

Hi Flower! I thought of your blog site when I saw this window in Old Town Camarillo today!

Fun Flower Power!

Katie, these 5 cups cost me $2.00!

What do you think?

Here’s the bottom of the cup…

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!

ABC Wednesday ~ P is for…

P is for Pioneers

 

My husband and I were in Texas this last weekend and we were able to stroll through the Dallas Arboretum (more photos from the Arboretum tomorrow) This is a replica of a Texas Pioneer Village at the Dallas Arboretum. Pioneers settled in Texas because of the availability of land. As the poplulation increased they’d add a general store, church, school, etc. to the village.

P is also for Palm Trees…

 

These were all taken in Southern California in my neighborhood or close by.

For more ABC Wednesday click over to Mrs. Nesbitt’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!

Choose Joy ~

 

One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living.  We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon-instead of enjoying the roses blooming outside our own windows today.
~Dale Carnegie

ht: I saw this quote at Button Willow, a very beautiful blog.

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!

Sky Watch ~ Our Lord’s Candle

 

I saw this wisp of a cloud on a neighborhood walk with Willow last week. The hillsides are filled with these Yucca’s blooming right now. I’d like to get a little closer to one and smell the fragrance…

Our Lord’s Candle (Yucca whipplei) Agave Family. AGAVACEAE ~ The flower stalk is 4 to 8 feet tall. There is basal rosette of spine-tipped, sword-like leaves 1 to 3 feet long. The white flowers sometimes purple-tinged, appear in a terminal compound cluster up to 4 feet long. They are very fragrant and even have a pleasant taste when nibbled.

Beginning in April and continuing through July, Our Lord’s Candle blooms abundantly in Chaparral and Oak Woodland in elevations up to 2500 feet.

 

For more Sky Watch photos click over to Wiggers World.

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 ~ Favorite Walk

Here’s our assignment from Angela at the Lurchers for this week.

“I’m going to make it a nice and easy Fun Monday this week. All I want you to do is take me on your favourite walk. In words or pictures. Or both of course! Tell me why it’s your favourite and point out things of interest on the way.”

My husband and I have two wonderful walks that we do early on Saturday mornings. Our walk along the beach at Emma Wood State Beach in Ventura, California.

 

The beauty of the Pacific Ocean, the fresh salt air, all of God’s beautiful splendor, what a wonderful stimulation for all our senses.

 

Then we have another choice close by. Our second favorite is in the Santa Monica Mountains that are in our backyard. In Sycamore Canyon we have several hiking trails with different elevations to choose from. On the Scenic Trail we again are able to see the Pacific Ocean when we reach the top…

 

We enjoy both of these walks/hikes because we are generally all alone going as early as we do. It’s quiet except for the birds and the crashing of the waves. We see different and interesting plants and wildlife.

 

It’s great to get away from the neighborhood and into the “wild”.

For more Fun Monday visit Angela at the Lurchers.

And look what Anni gave me today. I love her graphics and this one is so darn cute! Thanks Hootin Anni!

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!

Mad Hatter Tea Bridal Shower…

On Saturday I drove 90 miles from Camarillo to Newport Beach to attend a shower for our future niece, Jessica, who is marrying my brother Steve’s son Timothy. Timothy’s lovely mother is my SIL Kelly.

 

This is a fun photo of 3 of my brother Steve’s sons. (Joe is missing) Timothy is the one in the middle flanked by his brothers Caleb and Levi.

Oh the destination and the setting and the beautiful ladies that we got to spend the afternoon with made the 180 mile round-trip so worth it.

 

 

The table was set perfectly for our Mad Hatter Tea. We gave thanks to the Lord for this wonderful occasion and began the festivities.

 

 

Michelle, the maid of honor,  was our hostess and the setting was in her parents gated community in Newport Beach. I can’t even begin to guess what the HOA fees are in this wonderful setting. Did I just say that out loud?

 

It was a Mad Hatter Tea which meant we were all required to wear hats. My SIL Letty and me.  Jessica, the Guest of Honor. Jessica opening her Samovar from my mother and a tablecloth that my mother made when she was 12 years old (that would have been in Tehran, Iran) The last photo is of the daughters and daughter in laws with my mom. Letty, Vera, My Mom, Kathy, Ellen b, and Kelly.

 

Jessica with her friends and most of these ladies will be her bridesmaids. Our hostess, Michelle, to the left of Jessica.

 

After we had our Tea/Lunch we walked over to the Rose Garden in the Community.

Some of my lovely nieces, Melissa, Debbee, and Michelle.

Ellen b. in a hat! You won’t see that everyday.

Well that hat won me a prize along with the great hat on the right that the mother of the hostess wore! I won a wonderful lavender scented candle.

 

We are having a very hot weekend in Southern California. See that 100 degrees for the outside temperature next to my odometer. That registered when I was driving home and reached the San Fernando Valley. Hot, hot, hot for Spring around here! (Looks like I need to dust off my dash!)

Made it home in good time praising our God for the blessing of family and friends to enjoy life with on this earth.

“May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.”
~2 Thessalonians 2: 16,17

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!

Pleasant Valley Historical Society Museum~Botanical Garden

In the City of Camarillo there is a small Museum and Botanical Garden that is only open on Saturdays and Sundays for 4 hours. The facility is staffed by volunteers who are knowledgeable about the history of the area and the artifacts on hand.

 

The museum is housed in the old water district building and the small garden is behind the building.

 

There are several glass cases of some of the local Chumash Indian artifacts and other memorabilia from the early days in the Pleasant Valley Area. After a look at all the cases I headed out to the Garden with a challenge from one of the volunteers to try to guess what a green object in the garden was. Well I like a challenge so I was off to have a look.

 

On the way to find this mysterious green object I stopped to smell the roses…

 

 

More pretty flowers along the walkway still looking for the Green mystery item.

 

This must be the mystery item. I look at it and chuckle because this is not a mystery to me. This is a Still! I’m married to Dear and he has educated me about the Art of Stills. I went back into the museum to let them know I was familiar with the Green Mystery Item. I earned some brownie points for not being stumped! I was then told the history of this Still and how it was donated to the museum by one of the farmers in the area.

“Well, between Scotch and nothin’, I suppose I’d take Scotch. It’s the nearest thing to good moonshine I can find.”
William Faulkner

***I’m headed to a Mad Hatter Tea Shower today instead of a walk so I’m posting my average steps for the week here. I am quite pleased that I’m finally able to walk a little further and that my back is getting better and better everyday. My average steps this week were 7663. Next week I hope to be able to get closer to 10,000 again. We’ll see what my back allows. Have a wonderful Saturday and keep on walking.

Oh and if I’m brave enough I’ll post a photo of myself in my hat!

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!

Photo Hunters ~ Funny/Funky Signs

I had to go to the archives for this challenge. So forgive me if you’ve seen these before on Wordless Wednesday. I didn’t see any new funny/funky signs this week…

 

 

For more Funny/Funky Signs head over to TnChick…

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!