Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy. These are the 4 Bagdanov Sisters. Not the best quality photo but it is full of emotion!
For more Photos on the Emotion theme head over to Tnchick’s.
Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage. They have blacked out all those photos on my blog posts. OH BOTHER! I’m slowly cleaning up my posts.
Molly is hosting Fun Monday this week. She says…
I have the great honor of hosting Fun Monday this coming Monday, June 9th. For your assignment tell us about a happy memory from your childhood. If you have pictures, please show us your pictures.
When I was little the cousins would all pile into one car and head up to Big Bear, California or another mountain destination and camp. I’m the one sitting on the table. These were happy childhood memories.
On the bench in front: Valia my cousin, my sister Vera, my cousin Walter, my cousin Alex, me on the table, across the table on the bench- my Uncle Paul, my Father, my brother Fred, my sister Kathy standing on the bench. Behind the bench – Mrs. Dorofeiv, Mike Dorofeiv and their child.
Here I am with my father who loved to put jigsaw puzzles together. My sister Kathy is standing behind my dad and me. These days my favorite kind of camping is at the Hilton but I know that the best memories for our kids are the real camping experiences out in the great outdoors. I wish I would have taken my kids on more camping excursions…
This is my cousin Valia and me. We spent lots of time with each other while I was growing up. My maternal grandmother lived with them so we were over there a lot. This photo was taken at Easter.
Here’s that same cousin with her daughter and granddaughter. I got to see her this last Saturday at a baby shower for her DIL. One of our projects while at the shower was to create something on a onesie for the baby that’s due in July. Yikes I’m not really artistic or crafty but here is what I came up with. Good thing babies wear onesies under their regular outer wear!
Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage. They have blacked out all those photos on my blog posts. OH BOTHER! I’m slowly cleaning up my posts.
For more Fun Monday Happy Memories visit Molly.
We had some very interesting guests for dinner last night and we wanted to feed them something special so I decided to try Pioneer Woman Cooks’ Smashed Potato recipe she shared this week. To go with the potatos we had a marinated flank steak and a Fiesta Salad. Here’s my attempt with the smashed potatoes.
First boil red potatos in salted water till you can pierce them with a fork. Then put them on a olive oiled sheet pan and smash them with a potato masher. Mine look different from Pioneer woman’s because she had the older fashioned potato masher.
After smashing them brush them with olive oil and salt them with Kosher salt liberally. Sprinkle pepper on them and a finely minced herb of your choice. Pioneer Woman and I used rosemary. Then stick them in a 450 degree oven for 20-25 minutes.
They were delicious and even the little rabbit really enjoyed them. He mostly went for the rosemary.
Then because these were very special guests we served a fresh strawberry pie for dessert. Yum…
It was fun to change identities during the evening. Even the beloved stuffed dog got a new face.
My guests were my niece Michelle (the Lion), her husband Ryan (the Bear) and my great nephew Jack (the Rabbit).
Do try these potatos, you won’t be disappointed. You can boil the potatos ahead of time then get them ready to pop in the oven 20 or so minutes out from serving time. Oh and because we are big fans of garlic I’ll add garlic next time.
Have a wonderful day!
Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage. They have blacked out all those photos on my blog posts. OH BOTHER! I’m slowly cleaning up my posts.
During my weekend in Seattle my sister, daughters, and I decided to stop at the Lake Washington Arboretum and to stroll through the Japanese Garden. We wanted to see the Tea House where Katie attends class every Thursday to learn the Japanese Tea Ceremony. She has her final this Thursday (today).
The Gardens are beautifully landscaped.
These photos are of the Tea House that is nestled in the beautiful surroundings of the garden.
It’s Spring so the Rhododendrons and Wisteria were in their glory.
I was so pleased to see the Wisteria in bloom.
The 4 of us were really in awe of God’s glorious creation and how He has given man the eye to plant and plan the beautiful landscape in this garden.
I hope you can sense much of the beauty through these photos.
Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage. They have blacked out all those photos on my blog posts. OH BOTHER! I’m slowly cleaning up my posts.
Today I’m getting on one of these ~
To fly north to here ~
I am so looking forward to seeing them and~
Him ~
And maybe we’ll get all this out again for summer~
Have a wonderful weekend. I might not get around to the computer much but, Lord willing, I’ll be back on Tuesday.
What to do with shoes on the beach~
Hold them
Put them on a rock
Just don’t put them on your feet
This is our oldest son Josh and his wife Laura at the beach with us in California.
For more Photo hunters head over to tnchick’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!
I drove out to Orange County yesterday to meet up with some of my family at Darya Persian Restaurant. We were celebrating my Pop’s birthday.
My brother Leonard was in town overnight from Dallas so we celebrated early. Bottom left photo in the collage are the 3 who have birthdays in the next few days. My nephew Levi on the 27th, my sister Kathy on the 23rd and my Pop on the 25th. The food photos are what I ordered, a lamb shank with a plate of mixed rice with lima beans and that’s not cheese on top, that’s rice with saffron.
Here’s Uncle Leonard with some of his nieces and one of his nephews. Debbee, Levi, Michelle, Leonard and Melissa.
Leonard, Melissa, Jack, and my SIL Kelly.
My nephew Levi, niece Michelle, and my brother Leonard.
Me and my brother Leonard
The party moved from the restaurant to my parent’s apartment for cake and chai (tea). I hit the long road home from the restaurant. It’s good to “love one another”.
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!
Happy Birthday to my oldest sister Kathy and an early Happy Birthday to my Pop! Kathy’s birthday is today and Pop’s birthday is the 25th. He’ll be 85 on Sunday.
These photos were taken in 1947 or 1948. My Mother is pregnant with my sister Vera in this photo and Vera was born at the end of February in 1948. My parents had just immigrated to the USA from Iran. That is my oldest sister Kathy in both these photos. Kathy was born in Iran in May of 1946.
I love this photo of Kathy on the swing in the park with all the people sitting on the benches in the background. The men and some of the women with hats on. This photo is also from the late 40’s.
Here’s a photo of Kathy and my Pop taken last night at a family celebration.
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!
I came across these very old Paintings of Russians drinking tea (chai) and I wanted to share them. This first photo is from 1889.
I would love to own one of these older Samovars. See the glasses on the bowls. She is pouring the hot water into the glasses with a strong steep of tea. The concentrate of tea is in a small pot that fits on top of the Samovar.
“Of all beverages, tea alone has the proverbial power to relieve toska, the sadness and melancholy which traditionally burden the Russian spirit. The samovar which dispenses it is a time-honoured symbol of Russian hospitality. It stands for the hearth, the warmth of a Russian welcome, the restorative powers of a glass of tea around the stove after hours in sub-zero temperatures. The word means ‘self-boiler’ and the samovar is just that, a portable water heater made traditionally of brass and fuelled with pine cones or charcoal. On top of it rests a teapot containing a powerful infusion. To pour a glass of tea, a little of this concentrate is diluted with boiling water from the urn. This way it is always fresh never stewed.”
After serving the tea the guests will pour the tea out of their glasses into their bowls and sip the tea from the bowl. This is how I remember drinking tea with my grandparents and relatives growing up. We had tea glasses and bowls. Here’s another quote from The Food and Cooking of Russia by Leslie Chamberlain.
“Sadly, the modern Samovar is a plug-in electrical device distinquished by its mass production shoddiness and the fact that no one wants to buy it. It is perhaps a fitting epitaph on the death of a culture. In the nineteenth century the samovar and the tea glass holder, found in daily use in the lowliest and the richest households, inspired some of the finest secular silverwork ever produced in Russia.” This is one of my Samovars that is an electric one, modern and mostly made for the tourist trade. They are pretty to have around but not the older genuine article. Here are the tea glass holders spoken of in the quote, podstakanik.
In this painting again they are drinking tea from the bowl. Statistically the Russians are among the world’s top three tea-drinking nations (with Britain and Japan).
Can you see the Teapots on the table that look similar to mine above? I was excited to see this.
Now the next photograph is a group of modern Russians getting the samovar ready at my brother’s reception to celebrate his marriage.
My nephew Joe, my brother Tim, my husband, my BIL Steve, and my son Daniel. A couple of these guys aren’t Russian by blood but they have embraced part of our culture anyway.
They had to stoke it up outside because it was causing some problems and not wanting to light.
For more posts on the Pouring Teapot hop over to LaTeaDah’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!
This week’s Gracious Hospital-i-Tea Blog-a-Thon is all about Teapots. Share your teapots and any stories behind them.
This was the first teapot I ever owned. Royal Albert Moss Rose. I bought a complete tea set when travelling to the UK on a Christian music tour/outreach in 1973.
These are the dishes I registered for when Dear and I set our wedding date. They are Pfaltzgraff Yorktowne. I did not register for China. I was happy to get both of these teapots as wedding gifts.
Dear and I bought this teapot in 1975 after we were married. It has a cylinder that you put the tea leaves in and it sets right down into the boiled water and the tea steeps without a tea leaf issue when you pour the tea into the cup. I don’t have access to the teapot right now to show you the cylinder.
When my parents were in their 70’s they went back to their hometowns in Russia and started a church and ministry to their relatives and others who lived in their village. These teapots were a gift to Dear and I from them from Russia. You would use the large one for hot water and the small one for a strong steep of tea.
They also brought us back the red and gold samovar. The Samovar on the right is a purchase I made from Goodwill. The little metal samovar is a gift from my SIL.
This teapot is a gift from my good friend Jody. She purchased it on a mission trip to China.
I found out during the blogathon that this teapot is from a nesting set of 3 pots and this is probably the creamer. It’s from Japan made in the ’30’s.
I purchased this during the blogathon at TJMax because of the English tourist spots pictured on it. Did I mention that I love the UK and love travelling there?
On Mother’s Day I purchased this Teapot at the Rose Bowl Flea Market. I just read The Wind in the Willows for the first time this year and this teapot seemed perfect to remember my quest to read Children’s Classics in 2008.
Last but not least, I finally made the plunge and bought myself an electric tea kettle this year. It’s fabulous. The water heats so quickly and I don’t have to worry about leaving the flame on under the kettle!
To see more Teapot Stories 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!
The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b. 