A little road trip to meet up with my girlfriends from Canada to see the tulips and daffodil fields in Mount Vernon yielded an added photo op with barns in the distance, emphasis on in the distance. I’m linking up to the Barn Collective #25 at Rose Street Reflections. Thank you Amy!
Hope you didn’t have to squint too hard to spot the barns! Next time I’ll show the ones I got closer to without any flowers in the foreground!
Have a wonderful Easter Week everyone!
Some of my favorite things in my yard this week! I count all of these as blessings from above.
Things that are springing up around here are among my favorites for
Friday’s Fave Five hosted by Susanne at Living to Tell the Story.
The Lenten Rose is my favorite plant that ushers in the Lenten Season.
These primroses appear every year and I didn’t plant them. I’m always happy to see them.
What fun to see these miniature daffodils springing up, too.
We managed to prune both our apple tree and pear tree this week and that was a huge accomplishment at this old house.
My bonus fave is my verse of the week from my abc Scripture Memory Cards…
The fact that we have been called and redeemed by God is pure love…
Have a wonderful Valentines Day and President’s Day Weekend.
Do you get Monday off? What were some of your favorites this week?
It’s time for Vee’s Note Card party.
Sunset over Lake Washington in Kirkland, Washington.
Rows of spent daffodils in Mount Vernon, Washington during the Tulip Festival.
Apple blossoms on our apple tree taken this past Saturday.
Russian sweet cheese spread served with Russian Easter Bread (Kulich/Paska).
Христос Воскрес!
Воистину воскрес!
Here we are in the middle of April and we’ll finally be celebrating Easter this coming weekend. I’m looking forward to our Good Friday service and Easter service. After services on Sunday some of our family will be coming over to celebrate an Easter meal here. We are having rack of lamb, rice, asparagus, salad and Italian Easter bread (Colomba) with strawberries for dessert. Our annual Kulich/Paska baking day is not happening this year so I was happy to find a source for the Colomba. It tastes and smells very similar to Kulich/Paska.
How are you celebrating Easter this year?
Although we were short on sunshine this past weekend we had some nice sunshine last week. I bought some daffodils that always have a way of adding sunshine to a table. They also make me smile. Today is Shrove Tuesday or Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras. The day before the season of Lent begins. Lent is a time of abstinence, of giving things up leading up to Easter Sunday. In the U.K. this is Pancake Day. Shrove comes from the old word “shrive” which means to confess. Will you be eating pancakes today?
We had a great visit with our middle son and his girlfriend this weekend. I did not take one photo. We ate, played games, ate some more. Now that Dan has his own house we are slowly sending over his leftover belongings from our house. You know how that goes if you have adult children. This time around he was able to load 2 motorcycles in the bed of his truck to take back with him. I really do hope he didn’t take Dear’s head cold back with him. The roads were quite nasty on their trip home and on Monday the pass that they took was closed to traffic most of the day.
Everyone was talking about March challenges this weekend. Maybe I’ll challenge myself to do something in March, too. I’m thinking along the lines of exercise. How about you?
Those daffodils are now 13 inches high. It’s amazing how fast they’ve grown.
I’m headed on a new adventure today with my girls. Here are some photos from the road this past week when we visited our son Dan and some other random shots from here, there, and everywhere!
The bridge over the Columbia on I-90 heading East at Vantage.
Friday turned out to be a glorious day in the Pacific Northwest.
The weather gave us lots of hope for future tulip days in April. But in March we always have daffodils popping up to make us smile.
Katie had 16 inches of her hair cut off to send to Locks of Love and she is now a vibrant red head! I’ll give you a sneak peek.
I’ll share the whole look later. As for me my hair is still the same with some grey covered up for now.
Hope you all have a great weekend. I’m not sure when I’ll be posting again because of our whirlwind trip to the Los Angeles area.
…but she can dig a hole and put a pretty plant in it!
Last year I planted these after they were wilted in their little pots. This year they surprised me popping up and showing me their pretty smiling blooms! God is the best gardener and I really do depend on Him.
Look how the wild flowers grow! They don’t work hard to make their clothes. But I tell you that Solomon with all his wealth wasn’t as well clothed as one of these flowers.
On Saturday I added these Primroses that I’ll be able to see from my kitchen window. It makes me smile.
We had a few hours of dry weather on Saturday and Dear worked in the garage organizing more “stuff” and I did a little work in the yard. It felt so good working outside. It didn’t take long for the weather to turn on us and we experienced some lion like March weather. Sunday started cold but bright. Such a nice change. Blessings to you on this first Sunday in March!
Songbirds in the woodlands sing it,
Flowers breathe it in the grove,
Bells in tow’r and steeple ring it,—
God is goodness, God is love.
Refrain
Lift your voices, happy, happy voices,
And the sunny hours of life improve;
Praise Him for His countless blessings,—
God is goodness, God is love.
Smiling plains and vales display it,
Breezes tell it as they rove,
Rivers, rills, and brooklets say it,—
God is goodness, God is love.
Refrain
Lakes and seas with joy reveal it,
Suns proclaim it from above,
In our hearts today we feel it,—
God is goodness, God is love.
Refrain
Words: James Rowe, circa 1910.
This sign is on the stairwell at my hairdressers salon/home. It made me smile and I hope you smile, too.
Before the tulips bloom fully here in Washington the daffodils make us smile.
Sometimes a different color tulip gets in the mix and the daffodils try to share the glory with the tulips…
Hope your weekend is off to a good start. If the weather cooperates I’ll be mowing the lawn and Dear will be doing some painting. What are your plans?
I wander’d lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
~Wordsworth
This is just a portion of this Wordsworth poem. How wonderful it is to have some sweet little signs that Spring is coming. Today is Saturday and we are just messing about the house with no grand plans. Dear will do some sanding on some drywall in the new laundry room. I’ll make sure the doors are closed and the drywall dust is contained to that room. Tomorrow is Sunday and we do have some grand plans. We will be trying another church in the morning and then we are headed north to meet up with some special people for dinner. I’ll share later when I have photos to show.
~Charles Dickens
That really describes Wednesday. It was extreme in contrasts. We will see what Thursday holds for us.
I need to get a smog check on one of our cars and I hope to get some laundry done now that the washer and dryer is in it’s new location and all hooked up and vented. What does your day hold?
Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes and 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.
The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b. 