Our Honeymoon…

This weekend I finally got familiar with the new scanner I purchased to scan old slides that Dear took in the 70’s. At least one day a week on my blog will be devoted to a blast from the past.

I’m starting with our honeymoon which was in December of 1974.

After our wedding we went to my parents home and got ready to leave on our honeymoon. Our family and closest friends were there, too, and we opened gifts before we changed into our get away clothes and left for our honeymoon. Did any of you do that after your wedding or did you take off and go straight to your honeymoon from the wedding sight? We were pretty beat when we finally arrived to our first destination, the Pierpont Inn in Ventura, California.

The Pierpont Inn, Ventura, California. Little did we know that 10 years later we would move to Ventura.

From the Pierpont we continued north along the coast of California.

This little log cabin somewhere in Central California was a nice little spot to stop. I can’t find it online anymore but it was called Butterfly Trees Lodge.

This was Dear’s car, a 1971 Datsun 510.

We went as far north as San Francisco and then headed back home along the 101 highway to our apartment in West Los Angeles. We stopped in Solvang on our way home.

Back to the present…

We had a nice quiet weekend and we were able to start a couple new projects. I filled our bird feeders…finally. Dear is working on closet doors. I started the huge project of scanning old photos starting with our slides. What fun it’s been to see these old images from the 70’s. How was your weekend?

2013 Recap…the Joys, the Sorrows…

Here are my collages from January to December of 2013. I had to make 2 collages for September and 3 collages for December. September had our high and our low of the year. December starts with Laura’s birthday, our anniversary, Christmas and then Katie’s birthday. Too many events for one collage…

We had a quiet start to the year with our first ever experience with Hoar Frost. Our sons both had birthdays in January turning 32 and 34.

In February Katie came to stay with us for a month while Andrew had cold weather training in California. My cousin and his wife came for a visit, too. After 38 years we finally had our dining chairs recovered in leather. We are very happy with them. We also took a drive to see the Skagit Eagles.

March was filled with wonderful experiences. We took Katie to see her brother’s property in Eastern Washington. The beginning of the Sounders soccer season. Katie, Laura and I flew to Southern California for my niece Debbee’s bridal shower. Such a good time with my sisters, nieces, and cousins. Katie returned to North Carolina to reunite with Andrew as he arrived back from training just as Dear and I flew to Milan, Italy. This was my first time in Europe and we arrived in Milan on my birthday. I went to my first international soccer game and enjoyed traveling to Lake Como to experience a more quaint side of Italy.

The night we all arrived in Orange County for my niece’s wedding we got together with Dear’s side of the family for a meal at our hotel. Debbee and Lenny’s wedding was at the end of April in Huntington Beach, California on a Friday night. Another wonderful gathering with my extended family. On Saturday of this same weekend we planned a 90th birthday/ 70th wedding anniversary celebration for my mom and pop. Little did we know my mom only had 4-1/2 more months on this earth. On Sunday we had brunch together at my sister’s in Huntington Beach and then we all walked to the beach to enjoy the surf and sand.

May brought our Celebrations book launch in British Columbia. Such a good time for the 10 of us to be together. Mother’s Day is of course in May, too and I was treated to 2 beautiful Mother’s Day bouquets from my children.

In June I traveled with the Mennonite Girls to Manitoba for several book events in Steinbach and Winnipeg. Josh treated me to a club box soccer experience for the Panama/USA soccer game. We also were happy to attend Marie’s bridal shower here in Washington and be representatives for our nephew Caleb’s side of the family.

In July we finally began work on replacing all our old floors in this old house. July also brought the news that my mom had flat-lined and was in the hospital. Those of us from out of state flew to Southern California to be with my mom and pop and face the news of my mom’s future on this earth. My mom was released from the hospital to Hospice care at her and my pop’s apartment.

August brought more home improvements with the carpeting going in and new closet organization. We flew to Southern California again for our nephew Caleb’s wedding and while we were there we were all able to say our in person final farewells to my mom. We came home knowing that her time was short. Dear, Josh, Laura and I were leaving for England on September 12th and my family decided that if my mom died we would postpone the funeral till our return from England. Just before we left for England Dear and I were able to drive to British Columbia for a celebration meal with some of the “girls” and their husbands at Anneliese’s parents cabin at Hatzic.

From September 12th until September 23rd we enjoyed a wonderful trip in England with Josh and Laura. We received the news that my mom had passed away just as we arrived in England. We were sorry we could not communicate right away and get details until we reached our first destination with wifi. We stayed calm and carried on knowing that there was nothing we could do. Our trip was filled with many great events and destinations. We went to a Manchester United Soccer game (epic experience for our son Josh) We enjoyed hedgerows, villages, canals, ancient churches and lands. We stayed in the Cotswolds, Wells, Cornwall, and London.

We got home from England and made plans immediately to fly to Southern California for my mom’s services. We all flew in to Orange County airport from different parts of Washington. Katie was staying with us during this time (she arrived the end of August with Andrew and he left back to N.C. on Labor Day) Andrew deployed to Afghanistan the week of my mom’s funeral. We also celebrated Dear’s 60th birthday in September.

In October Marg and John joined us for a soccer game between our team and their team. Their team won. Some of my nieces from Southern California came up for a girls weekend and we had a great time trying to get through all of Downton Abby seasons 1-3. Katie and I traveled to British Columbia again to join the “girls” at the West Coast Women’s show where we had cooking demonstrations on the cooking stage.

In November we had our brilliant Pub night to thank our friend who made arrangements for us to use his parents home in Cornwall on our England trip. We had an early Thanksgiving celebration and met Dan’s girlfriend, Jaimie. Besides a traditional Thanksgiving meal with turkey and all the trimmings we managed to get together at Palisade for brunch the next day.

December was packed full of good times and celebrations. We celebrated Laura’s birthday at Neville’s a British restaurant. Katie and I traveled to Abbotsford, B.C. for the Cookie class that the Mennonite Girls Can Cook put on at Lepp Farm Market. Dear and I celebrated our 39th wedding anniversary at Semiahmoo Resort in Blaine, Washington. Josh and I also went to a board meeting for the Sounders soccer team where we got to meet some of the players. And all of this happened the first 10 days of December!

Katie and I took a train trip up to Vancouver, Washington before Christmas and the day after we had snow at our house! Christmas Eve we helped usher at one of the services at church and then came home for a non traditional meal of hand made tamales. Later that evening Dan arrived from Eastern Washington and Josh and Laura arrived after celebrating with Laura’s family. We all woke up together on Christmas morning except for Andrew. We missed having Andrew here. Christmas was relaxing and fun. The English Cracker tradition will now become our tradition as well. It was so much fun to see what popped out of our crackers and then to read the cheesy jokes and wear the tissue crowns. Fun times.

Katie’s birthday is December 27th so we had a day of destinations that were all enjoyable ending with dinner at this old house with Josh, Laura, my sister Lana and BIL Steve, our nephew Caleb and his wife Marie and of course the master of this old house and his wife…me.

I talked to my pop today who is struggling with pain in his shoulder and is probably facing some surgery to help with the debilitating pain. He misses my mom but still he thanks God for all that God brings his way. He told me he has asked God to shorten his days on this earth. He is weary. We thank God, too, for all He brought our way in 2013. Time will tell what 2014 holds.

We had a very quiet New Year’s Eve until the fireworks started going off at 11:30 P.M. I was in bed by 9:00 and woke up to hear others blasting in the New Year. I rolled over and went back to sleep. Today we are having another quiet day. We watched the Rose Parade and watched a couple New Year’s day soccer games from England and now we are watching the Rose Bowl Game.

Do You Measure Up?

We thought we had measured the inside of our closet well before I headed to Ikea to buy some new storage pieces for our T.V. and a 2nd closet in the guest room.

The T.V. stand is working perfectly and just how we planned. The storage units for the closet were another matter. I picked up this large square piece and another section that was narrower and taller to put on one end.

Seems our measurements were 3/4 of an inch off. I knew my handy dandy Dear would figure something out or we’d just stick the tall unit in the basement. The figuring someway to squeeze it in was the more favorable option because I wanted to maximize the storage in this closet. The solution was to take the support for the upper shelf completely out. See that white upper board at the end of the closet with the hole in it that was a hanger bar? Of course that also meant we had to take the entire upper shelf out during the process, too. We still had to partially disassemble the tall unit to get it in and then to lift the unit while it was in it’s place to tighten the screws. Are you confused yet? Too bad I didn’t YouTube the process.

It’s quite the feeling of accomplishment when you can enjoy the fruits of your labor and know you conquered assemble yourself furniture! That is one snug fit let me tell you. Oh my aching back…

I’m also quite pleased that I have some empty cubbies to add things to in the future. Have you had fun projects go south on you?

My mom and pop are doing well being left alone at night. My mom has had some tough days with her heart feeling very heavy. When I talked to my pop this past week one day he told me my brother had made homilets for them for breakfast. On Tuesday he said my sister Kathy had made something Mexican for them with beans… saucekitos or something. My family loves to document what we call “Moisiisms”.

My mother and father have never had lobster, scallops or shrimp so my brother Steve made lobster and scallops for them last week and my sister Lana made a shrimp dish for them to try on another evening. My mother really enjoyed the lobster and left the scallops for my brother to enjoy. I forgot to ask how she liked the shrimp. I really can’t remember having much fish growing up. Maybe once when my pop went deep sea fishing and caught Yellowtail. I do remember camping at San Clemente Beach in California when the Grunion were running and catching some and running up to the campsite to cook them fresh. The Grunion running experience was a great one for me. “The grunion are running, the grunion are running, was chanted down the beach after waiting in the dark for them to appear. You could see little silvery fish emerge from the waves onto the beach and they would start digging into the sand to lay eggs. Wow this post has really gotten away from me.

Here’s a short explanation from Cabrillo Marine Aquarium, “Spend a night sitting on Southern California’s sandy shore waiting for the “grunion run.” Grunion are small sardine-size fish of the silversides family, which are among the few species of fish that actually come ashore to lay their eggs on sandy beaches. They are found from Southern California south to Baja California and arrive at night after the high tide around the new moon and full moon. Cabrillo Beach is one of the better places to observe the fish.”

So you see if you don’t measure properly you will find your mind being random and scattered and full of fond memories of carefree days…

Here’s that Yellowtail I mentioned earlier. This was taken in our backyard in Montebello Gardens (Pico Rivera). That’s me and my brother Tim watching my pop clean the fish.

Hope you have a perfectly random day!

Mom & Pop 1950’s!

Love this very old photo of my mom and pop. This was taken at Knott’s Berry Farm in Southern California in the 50’s. Have any of my bloggy friends been to Knott’s Berry Farm? I have very fond memories of the farm/amusement park. The Chicken restaurant at Knott’s was probably the first restaurant I ever ate at until I was in Junior High or High School. Chicken and boysenberry pie for dessert. My family did not eat out at restaurants. We would have take out pizza from Johnny’s once in a while and that was the only time we also would have pop.

Back to the Future: Friday was a frustrating day for the flooring people and for us. Some things were overlooked when the flooring was laid and they had to tear out a section and redo the prep work and install the boards again. Fixing takes so much more time then doing it right the first time. Of course we had vacuumed all the walls, ceiling, etc. etc. after the first go around and now we had to do it again. In the long run we will be happy and we would recommend the flooring people again but not the prep guy!

Happy Weekend everyone!

Septembers Past and Present

September 2007, Woodinville, Washington

September 2008 in California

September 2009 Stanley Park in Vancouver, B.C.

September 2010, Beaufort, South Carolina

September 2011, Kirkland, Washington

September 2012, Seattle, Washington

September 18, 2012. My mom and dad at their apartment. My mom got home from the hospital on Tuesday and my sister Lana took this photo.

Plans are afoot for my time in Southern California this weekend. The first day of Fall will include a taco party with my family at my niece’s house. More big plans are afoot for October. I’ll be able to share more soon. Hope all is well with you my friends…

Back to Sacramento…

When I was in Sacramento a few weeks ago I stopped by the Capitol. I was born and raised in Southern California but had never visited the State Capitol. Funny that it took moving out of the state to finally stop by for a visit…

There was a beautiful rose garden next to the Vietnam Memorial.

The young service man sitting at the entrance really hit me hard.

All Gave Some. Some Gave All.

I’ll be sharing my photos of the Capitol building soon.

Signs of My Summer…

It’s that time of the week again when I scramble to find photos that will fit the Alphabet letter of the week. This week we are up to the letter S. I know it’s Wednesday and not Thursday yet but I’ve got something special to post tomorrow…

Jenny keeps us all on track with Alphabe-Thursday so click on over to join in the fun.

Signs are my choice for the letter S!

Sisters by marriage at Julienne.

I was happy to even find some signs in my archives that had words that began with the letter S.

This is the original Starbucks in Downtown Seattle across from Pike Place Market.

This next sign is from a couple summers ago from Central California. It just made me chuckle.

Summer made a slow appearance here in Western Washington but these last weeks of August have been very nice. Even though Fall is one of my favorites I’m happy that the sun and warmer temperatures finally blessed our region. Next week Dear is off and we are going to head to the Oregon Coast and then inland to Bonneville Hot Springs. I probably won’t have a chance to participate with the letter T. Hope you all are still enjoying your summer…

Flag Ceremony at Orange Circle…

While we were in California Katie and I were able to participate in a Flag Ceremony at the Circle in Old Town Orange. Every Wednesday at 6:00 P.M. people gather to watch the flags being lowered and folding of the Flag. Many retired military from different branches were represented.

Before they lowered the flag and folded it properly Mark Wayland acknowledged 5 veterans in the audience that had served in World War II. One of the veterans was celebrating his 90th birthday and his family brought cupcakes for everyone at the ceremony. We got to sing Happy Birthday to him.

Mark also acknowledged a young bride in the audience who’s Marine husband is serving in Afghanistan right now…our Katie. He made her cry but the tears were good tears and then when the big burly Vietnam Vets came over to give her a hug with tears in their eyes we knew they understood and we cried some more. It was great to hear these Harley riders tell her they would be praying for her and Andrew.

Dear’s brother Terry and wife Christina with one of their 3 daughters with Katie and me. Christina got to know Mark while working with the Orange County School Board. She invited Katie and me to attend this ceremony.

This vet with Mark served in WWII, Korea, and the Vietnam War. He comes to the ceremony every week. It was great to meet him.

I got the following information from an Orange County Register article written by David Whiting although my sister-in-law who knows Mark from working with him at the Orange County School board also filled me in about this giving Purple Heart retired Marine.

“Mark Wayland, Marine Vietnam vet, retired firefighter and Orange school board member, looks like a biker with his denim vest and bushy mustache. And he is. So are many of the men in the Circle.

Most are members of the Patriot Guard Riders. In particular, they ride to remember fallen military brothers and sisters and to ensure things go smoothly at military funerals.

With his black Harley Electra Glide decorated with Marine logos parked just 50 yards away, Wayland explains tonight’s mission.

Every Wednesday night, Wayland, his buddies, their wives, friends and supporters gather in the Orange Circle. They come to lower the flag at 6 p.m. and honor, as Wayland puts it, “those who are in harm’s way.”

What an honor to be able to meet these folks and to honor them and others who have sacrificed so much for all of us. Thank you Mark for all you do and may your sacrifices return to you tenfold.

ht: Orange County Register, David Whiting.

Showers of Blessings…

My mom (Baba) and Katie

My sister-in-law from Dallas with mom.

Niece Melissa with Katie

Sisters by marriage, Katie and Laura. The sweetest sister Katie could ever ask for.

The nieces with Katie and Laura. We are missing 5 nieces in this photo.

My cousin Kathy (Katrina), my mom and my sister Kathy.

My sisters Kathy and Vera flanking my sister-in-laws Mandy and Letty.

Katie with our dear lifelong friend Alice.

My cousin Valia with her daughter Michelle.

Somebody told a great story here. I love the reaction. If I had to guess I’d say my sister Lana is the culprit!

The oldest to youngest sister photo. Kathy, Vera, Ellen, and Lana.

My sister Kathy gave a short devotional about being a married woman. She’s a great teacher!

My mother gave Katie some heirloom linens and other gifts.

Katie got everyone laughing when she whipped out her pocket knife to cut away wrappings. And I do mean whipped as in whipped it open in the air.

These are shoes Katie hung on to from her Grandmother Verna. Verna lived with us when Katie was little and they had a very special bond.

Melissa and Lana…partners in crime.

Michelle and Deb Deb taking a breather…

The girls frosted an all white cupcake for Katie.

My sister Kathy with her two daughters.

My Sister-in-law Christina and our niece Kacie with Katie.

Katie and me with our friends Alice and Svetlana.

The shower committee at the end of the night!…Just kidding….

It was such a blessing to be able to have so many of our family members and friends all together in one place for this event. Thank you all for coming.

A special thank you to Michelle for letting me use some of her photos from the shower. Thank you to all my family members who worked hard to pull it all together. We love you and appreciate you!

Fun Times in the City of Orange…

Sunday morning we started the day with a trip through Starbucks on our way to Old Towne Orange. We browsed through a couple antique malls and the Army-Navy Store. We later drove to my sisters in Whittier for a family meal with my parents, siblings, and nieces.

It’s always good to see my mom and pop. Mom is having lots of pain in her back and hips and walking is getting more and more difficult for her.

After lunch and lots of lively reminiscing Katie and I headed back to the city of Orange where we are staying. We decided to stop at Orange Hill Restaurant for some refreshment before we settled in for the night.

They take their name seriously here and the fact that they are in the city of Orange. Have you ever seen an orange baby grand piano?

We enjoyed ourselves so much in these orange surroundings we decided to go on Monday night with my nieces who also live in Orange.

It was sunny enough that we had to wear our shades inside for a while until the sun went down some.

Tomorrow our DIL Laura arrives and we are having a bridal shower for Katie. We are looking forward to Katie’s first shower and seeing dear friends and relatives we haven’t seen for a while.

I heard our summer decided to hide again for a few days in the Northwest. I hope it reappears soon…

The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b.

To honor and encourage

Tag Archives: California