Tag Archives: Finding Beauty

Finding Beauty ~ I will Sing…

I took these photos at the Bellevue Botanical Gardens last week. Lavender and purple seemed to be the winning colors that were blooming at this time.

The plush green of the Japanese Garden was so calming and refreshing. Spring is just so lush around here. There are benefits to getting a lot of rain. All this beauty makes me want to smile a lot and to sing. You might even catch me talking in song lyrics. Don’t be alarmed!

…All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful:
The Lord God made them all.

Each little flower that opens,
Each little bird that sings,
He made their glowing colors,
He made their tiny wings…

Excerpt from All Things Bright and Beautiful

Words: Cecil F. Alexander

Footnote: I won’t be participating in weekly memes due to several key events happening around the homestead and in South Africa! World cup begins on Friday and I’ll be trying to catch every match and probably singing Ole, Ole, Ole, Ole! This is also a busy family weekend because of visitors, graduation, and kayaking. If the whales attack us while we are kayaking I’ll have my sister write a post so you’ll know where I disappeared to.

So until I post again…Go U.S.A.!!

We Highly Recommend…

The Wild Iris Inn in La Conner, Washington for a great getaway.

 

Dear and I had an overnight there for my birthday last weekend.

 

First we had lunch at Seeds-A Bistro & Bar. They have a great menu. After lunch and a little walk about town I checked in for my 90 minute massage at Salon Rouge while Dear checked into our Bed and Breakfast Inn. Later we would have dinner at the restaurant in the bottom right photo.

Before dinner we strolled through the La Conner Quilt and Textile Museum which is housed in the National Historical Victorian Gaches Mansion. It’s the white house on the left…

 

All of the food we ate was wonderful. Top left is my lunch at Seeds, Borsch and a 1/2 meatloaf sandwich. That amazing appetizer of fried polenta smothered in a fabulous sauce and the lamb shank was my meal at Nell Thorn Pub and Restaurant. It was an exceptional place to eat with a great staff and ambiance. Our two course breakfast at the Wild Iris was very tasty and filling.  Good thing it was a lovely weekend to walk around town and burn a few of the calories we ate.

 

Some of the shops about town. In 1869 John S. Conner purchased the trading post on the Swinomish Channel and named the area in honor of his wife Louisa Ann Conner and that’s how La Conner got its name.

 

The waterfront and the Rainbow Bridge crossing the Swinomish Channel. The Swinomish Indians are La Conner’s First Nation.

 

It was fun to come upon the wild turkeys that made La Conner their home in 2005 and that the city has declared the official town mascot.

 

Some sites just outside of the city center. The acres of fertile farmland around La Conner were first planted mostly with oats. The Tulip industry emerged in the Skagit Valley in the 1920’s when there were restrictions on importing Dutch Tulip bulbs. After WWII, Dutch immigrants began farming tulip bulbs. Since 1982, the annual Skagit Valley Tulip Festival is held the month of April and has been attracting visitors from around the world to view between 400 and 500 acres of tulips in bloom. I’m going to try to get back up to this area when the tulips bloom…

On the way home on my birthday we also saw the Snow Geese which I posted about earlier in the week. La Conner was a delightful overnight getaway for Dear and ellen b.

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.

Finding Beauty…

 

Short and sweet this week. This shot was one of many I took last Saturday at the Japanese Gardens in Seattle.

Hope you found some beauty in your world this week. Visit Claudia at Dipity Road to see more beauty. She has lots of sweet bunnies to show you…

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.

Finding Beauty ~ Pleasanton, California

Click on the badge above to join in the beauty with Claudia at Dipity Road.

We traveled 1200 miles over 3 days last weekend and we found lots of beauty along the way. We traveled from Camarillo, California north along Highway 101 stopping in Santa Barbara, Paso Robles, Gilroy, and then for our first overnight in Pleasanton, California.

 

Main Street in Pleasanton was a nice street with lots of great shops, wine tasting rooms and restaurants. The rain that fell on us for much of our journey subsided when we arrived in Pleasanton so we had a very nice walk before dinner. Our hotel was located on Main Street and I’ll publish a post about it soon.

 

This Veterans Memorial Building really stood out against the blue sky and clouds.

 

 

They changed the original verse from the Bible to read “for his country” instead of  “for his friends”. I’m including more of the context of this passage with the verses that follow. These are from the King James Version of the Bible.

John 15: 13-17

13Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

14Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.

15Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.

16Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.

17These things I command you, that ye love one another.

Thank you to Claudia for hosting “Finding Beauty” and I do hope you all have a beautiful Friday!

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.

FFF & Finding Beauty

Susanne at Living to Tell the Story is the hostess of Friday’s Fave Five and Claudia at Dippity Road is the hostess of Finding Beauty.

Looking back over this last week and finding favorites and beauty.

Enjoying getting together with friends and family has been the theme of my last days in Southern California.

 

This is one of my family’s favorite spots for breakfast. My sisters and some of my nieces and great niece and nephew were there.

 

My grand niece with her Auntie.

So for the 5 Favorites…

Dinner with Dear on Valentine’s Day

A walk with Willow

Dinner with Family at my mom and dad’s

A Pot of Earl Grey with Willow

Breakfast with Family

and

Bonus #6 starting a 40 day devotional for Lent on Wisdom

My oldest sister Kathy’s family

The sisters minus Lana…poor Lana had to be in Hawaii instead of with us :0)

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.

Finding Beauty ~ Fresh Flowers…

Time to visit Claudia at Dipity Road to join in on Finding Beauty on Friday.

Just click on the badge above!

I love fresh flowers. They always stand out and brighten a room. They don’t have to be expensive, either. I’ve been eyeing the daffodils that are showing up at Trader Joe’s and other grocery stores this week. I will put off getting a bunch until I arrive in Seattle for a 10 day visit next week. I dare you not to smile when you see a bunch of daffodils!

 

Daffodils

by William Wordsworth

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.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the Milky Way,
They stretch’d in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced, but they
Outdid the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed — and gazed — but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

Have a great weekend 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.

Webbed Feet?

It’s time for Finding Beauty on Friday hosted by Claudia at Dipity Road

 

Aren’t the feathers on this duck beautiful?

~There are a lot of people here in Southern California that are checking to see if they are developing webbed feet. The storms that have blown through the Southland over the last few days are causing lots of havoc and closed roads and evacuations due to fast moving water or standing water or mud slides. We are all ready for a dry day…

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.

Finding Beauty ~ Look Up!

 

It’s time to join Claudia at Dippity Road for Finding Beauty.

My husband was out barbecuing on Tuesday night and called me out to our little front patio to check out the great sky! Little puffs of clouds covered the sky around our condominium complex. I love it when all I have to do is step out my front door and see something as delightful as this!

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.

Friday ~ Finding Beauty

Claudia at Dipity Road is starting a new meme for Friday called Finding Beauty. Click on over to check it out and join in if you’d like…

After I returned to the condo in Southern California from our home in Washington State I felt the need to hit the beach and catch some of the winter beauty here in Southern California. This was taken at Pt. Mugu on Wednesday of this week.
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.