Tag Archives: Friday’s Fave Five

Friday’s Fave Five ~ You Can Go Home Again…

It’s time to pick your favorites from this past week! Thanks to Susanne at Living to Tell the Story for hosting this great exercise.

Here’s some of highlights from this past week.

 

I never thought I was a morning person but the older I’ve gotten the more I’ve enjoyed early morning and seeing the Sunrise. I’ve been out with Dear at dawn and by myself at dawn this week and it really is a glorious time of the day…

It was very cool to go to the Camarillo Ranch House on Sunday for the celebration of Adolfo Camarillo’s 145th birthday and see these famous Camarillo White horses.

 

During the celebration they had the great old Victorian house open for tours. I enjoy walking through and seeing the architecture and period pieces in all the rooms. I’d love a breakfast room like this…heck, I’d love a formal dining room like this. There is a very grand dining room just next to this room.

 

So you know the saying “You can’t go home again” well I met up with one of my best friends from high school in our home town for lunch this week. While we were there we decided to drive over to our alma mater and take a photo. We also drove down memory lane to each of our childhood homes to see what they look like today…

 

On the way home from our lunch I took a detour to here. First United Christian Molokan Church on Lorena St. in East Los Angeles. As a child and pre-teen my family spent lots of time here. My grandfather was a preacher/elder at this church. I am grateful and thankful to God that He led my father and our family out of this religion and into His marvelous grace filled life. My father accepted Christ as his Savior at the Billy Graham Crusade in Los Angeles in 1963.

If I was still a Molokan and as a married woman I would have to dress like this for church…

I spotted this Molokan lady while I was in Montebello yesterday. She’s probably on her way to a lopsha lunch after a funeral.  She’s wearing all white and after the graveside ceremony you go home and change into your white outfit for the funeral meal.  Lopsha (Russian noodle soup) is usually served after the graveside service. Borsch is more typically served at weddings.

I really enjoy traditions and I partipate in traditions. BUT I have to step back and evaluate when my traditions become my religion instead of relying on what Jesus did for me on the cross. For me worship is all about Jesus.  From time to time it’s good to seriously evaluate what I am worshiping.

And now I’m off to see the sunrise and then a  fun time is afoot. I’m picking up Willow and meeting Sara (another local blogger) to tour the Getty Museum. We’re going to be exposed to some great works of art. Have a great day everyone and I’ll come around to see your favorites later this afternoon.

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’s Fave Five ~ October #3

It’s time for Friday’s Fave Five hosted by the lovely Susanne at Living to Tell the Story. Click over to join in. It’s a good exercise of looking back and remembering favorites, blessings, good things that have happened.

This has been a different kind of week for me and come to think of it the last 3 weeks have been “different”. I’m in the midst of changes to my usual routine around the condo and out and about. One major change that a psychologist could probably run with is the fact that I haven’t purchased anything from a thrift store in the last 3 weeks. Hmmm.  On to my favorites…

 

1. On Saturday I met up with 9 of the gals in my family for a tea. It wasn’t one of the best tea rooms we’ve been to but it was fun to get together and enjoy time together. And yes I did have a hat on most of the time till it fell off…that’s my story and I’m sticking to it!

 

2. I’ve challenged myself to get moving every day instead of just the day Willow and I can get together for our walk. It has felt good to get out at 7:00 three days a week to get my heart rate going before breakfast. The other 3 days I’m trying a simple weight training routine with dumb bells.

 

3. There used to be a huge dirt and weed filled area behind our condominium complex. It is now a Sports Complex with 4 baseball diamonds and several full soccer fields with lots of parking and restrooms, etc. This week they laid all the grass and it will be nice to have less dust flying around here. I’m waiting for the complex to be opened up so I can get some better photos.

 

4. Yippee our Seattle Sounders won their game against Kansas City on Saturday so we are in the playoffs. I might even be able to go to a playoff game since it sounds like at least one of the games will be in the L.A. area and better yet my kids might come down here for that game!

 

5. I’m excited that my oldest son and I made arrangements this week to go to my middle son’s graduation from Academy the end of November. It wasn’t easy to find flights to get to this little town out in the middle of nowhere. I was sad that no one would be there to see Dan graduate and am relieved now that it is possible. God is good.

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.

Do You Have Favorites?

So do you have favorites? Favoritism can have a negative connotation but not on Fridays. On Fridays we look back and think about all the good things we’ve experienced and try to narrow it down to 5. Visit Susanne at Living to Tell the Story to join in the fun.

 

1. On Saturday at dawn Dear and I returned to one of our favorite Saturday beach walks at Emma Wood State Beach in Ventura. It had been several months since we had been there.

 

2. When you live in a little condo there aren’t a lot of “projects” to do on the weekends so on Sunday after a wonderful service and message on “Waiting on the Lord” we headed to 2 little farm communities to see what we could see. We had lunch in Santa Paula at Smokin Joe’s and then spent a little time in Fillmore where we saw this great old church.

 

3. On Tuesday Willow and I returned to the Blueberry farm for a walk before the rains came. We huffed and puffed and then got to taste test a few different varieties of blueberries….yum.

 

4. On Wednesday I sat at home in the condo and enjoyed the sights and sounds of a steady rain.

 

5. Last but not least was a surprise in my mailbox this week. Remember Susanne had a FFF giveaway? I won and the package arrived this week. Thank you Susanne. There was a devotional book, note cards, 3 healthy candles, a Starbucks gift card, and a candy bar. Well there were 2 candy bars but I don’t know what happened to one of them before I was able to take this photograph…

 

but clearly it was enjoyed with only a few crumbs remaining…

Thanks again Susanne.

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’s Fave Five

Friday already and time to look back and choose our favorites. Susanne at Living to Tell the Story is the hostess of this event. She’s also Canadian and will be celebrating Thanksgiving this weekend. Happy Thanksgiving to all our Canadian Friends…

Now for my favorites from this past week.

#1. We returned home to our little condo last Sunday happy to feel the cooler weather. It has remained cool all week and that is definitely a favorite of mine.

 

#2. On Tuesday Willow picked me up and drove us to her friend’s Blueberry farm for our walk. It was fun meeting Willow’s Blueberry Farm girlfriend and walking along the property. Some of our walk was more elevated then it looks but my huffing and puffing let me know we were climbing. It was a beautiful morning here in Southern California.

#3 and #4 ~ I finished the Anne of Green Gables Series of books this week. The last one in the series was Rilla of Ingleside and the story was told during the time of WWI. I really enjoyed all 8 books and it was the first time that I’ve read through them all. I would recommend them to fans of Anne. I was sad to be done with the series but then I found this sequel to The Wind in the Willows at the Friends of the Library. This is my #4 favorite this week. Don’t you love the cover and the here’s an illustration from inside the book.

I’m looking forward to dive in to this book. Have I mentioned before that I’m a huge fan of Children’s Literature?

#5. Before we returned to Southern California we spent fun times playing Beatles Rock Band with our kids. It was fun to sing along to those favorites of mine from my junior high and high school years.

I’m at Bible Study this morning and then I’m making and delivering a meal to someone who had surgery so I’ll be coming around later today or this evening. Have a good 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.

Friday’s Fave Five!

Time to look back over this last week and recall your favorites. Visit Susanne at Living to Tell the Story to join in.

 

1. Fall is one of my favorite seasons and one of the “signs” of the season I enjoy are dew dripping spider webs. On an early morning walk at the beginning of the week Willow and I saw a lot of these webs. The weather here in Southern California has been very hot and we are also experiencing smoke and ash from a nearby fire. So it may be a while before we see any other signs of Fall around here. They are promising a cool down next Tuesday.

2. On Saturday our Washington Huskies Football team who were not rated because of their miserable season last year beat the #3 rated U.S.C. Trojans! What fun that was to watch. Boy was that a very good shocker!! Dear is a University of Washington alumni and our daughter is finishing her last quarter there this Fall.

3. On Monday I got to meet my newest little Grand Niece. I got to hold her, change her and rock her to sleep. Fun times…

4. It’s always a great treat to talk to my kids on the phone. Our daughter called this past week after she changed her first tire! (she’s 23) She also started the lawn mower and mowed the lawn for the first time in her life! We were very proud of her. I’m so grateful that my kids call regularly and let us know what’s going on in their lives.

5. As the heat seems to linger on and on here I am so grateful for our airconditioning. I thought our bill would be really high last month and it was only $14.57. They had given us several credits that we weren’t expecting and really don’t understand :0). There are advantages to owning a really small condo.

Later today Dear and I are flying to Seattle. We will be at our home there until Sunday October 4th. We are excited to see our kids and get caught up with some business there. As usual I won’t know how much I’ll be able to blog. My connections there are really slow and it takes so long to upload photos, etc.  If you don’t hear from me you will know why. I’m looking forward  to seeing some of this color and some of these people while I’m there. It might be a little early yet for the color but I’ll keep my eyes open…

 

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend…

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’s Fave Five

 

It’s Friday and time for Friday’s Fave Five. Look back over this last week and choose 5 favorites in your week to share. Susanne at Living to Tell the Story is our hostess for this event and has Mr. Linky ready for you to join in.

Here are my five or so since last Friday.

1. On Saturday we had a family potluck to celebrate my parents 66th wedding anniversary. We took the time to share things we remembered about my mom and pop growing up. It was a good time of affirming mom and pop remembering their acts of love for each other and for us.

2. On Sunday Dear and I spent a few hours at the Rose Bowl Flea Market. It was a good time.

3. On Sunday night Dear and I began a 13 week course at our church called The Truth Project. Judging from the material and caliber of teaching from the first night we are really in for some growth and learning with this material.

4. I finished a project this week that gave me a lot of relief. My high school scrapbook was falling apart and I bought a new book to re-do the whole thing. It was good to get the project finished.

5. On September 17th we were blessed with the arrival of our latest family member. My niece Michelle gave birth to our little grand niece, Avery! We are so excited for Ryan, Michelle and Jackson on their new little family member. Congrats to the grandparents, too!

I’m adding a #6 not so important but fun for me…I’m enjoying watching some of my favorite reality t.v. shows. Top Chef, Project Runway, Biggest Loser, and now Survivor! Russell is so evil. I hope they figure that out soon.

I’m off to our first Women’s Bible Study session this a.m. bright and early because I’m a table leader. I’ll catch up with y’all later today. Have a great 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.

Friday’s Fave Five ~

It’s time to visit Susanne at Living to Tell the Story to share your favorite moments from this past week. Thank you Susanne for being the hostess with the mostest!

 

This was an amazing week filled with lots of experiences that were out of the ordinary. Dear was born on September 9th a few years ago but his birthday this year was the fun 09-09-09! We also had a long weekend here in the U.S. with Labor day giving many of us an extra day off. Dear and I took advantage of the extra time and had some extra fun celebrating his birthday early. So…here’s my five or so favorites.

1. Driving up the coast to Morro Bay and Cambria on Saturday, two Central California Beach communities. It was cool. It was beautiful. It was good to get away from the ordinary.

2. Having a wonderful creamy birthday brunch at Five Crowns Restaurant in Corona Del Mar. Corona Del Mar is another beach community but it is in Southern California. Yes, we do not shy away from driving…

3. Having my dear DIL send me this photo of our boys. She took it on Sunday. I love seeing our boys together, enjoying each other and taking care of each other.

4. Having Monday off and enjoying a totally layed back day recovering from all our travel and creamy food!!

 

5. This is my BFF from high school. She was rudely taken out of my life and away from all her friends half way into our junior year of high school. We spent so many hours together in high school. We memorized Leslie Gore songs together, had slumber parties, went to the L.A. Garment district together, were part of  a Y.M.C.A. service club together, went out to dinner together…and then she was gone! I was thinking about her and wondering how I could track her down but it was hard because of her very common last name here in Southern California. We finally connected on Facebook through some mutual friends! Yesterday we met for lunch after 41 years. It was so good to re-connect and catch up on our lives after all these years!!

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’s Fave Five ~ Changes…

It’s Partay time at Susanne’s because this is the 52nd Fave Five! Visit her at Living to Tell the Story to link up with your favorites. Thank you Susanne!!

 

Changes are afoot in our family. If and when I can share specifics I will. Our middle son is embarking on a new adventure in his life. He is leaving that jackhammer and concrete work behind him. Because of this change things have been buzzing here in Southern California and at our home in the state of Washington. Lots of fun calls, lots of plans, lots of prayers, lots of excitement. So here are my favorites. First three to do with the new adventure and the last three from my week here in So.Cal.

1. A fulfilling achievement for our son.

2. Friends and siblings around him that have been spending all the time they can with him before he leaves on his new journey.

3. Older brother stepping in to take care of what we can’t from miles away.

4. Walking early morning most days with Willow and seeing some fun sights. It really has made a difference to get back into this regular routine. It’s also good because as we huff and puff we share and support each other.

5. Having a day with Dear without any “have tos” except for stopping at a donut shop and feeling like we’re kids again eating a really good donut!

6. Oh yes and my extra fave is very “sweet” indeed. Our Seattle Sounders F.C. won their first trophy by beating D.C. United in the U.S. Open Cup Final on Wednesday night. I watched the game on the soccer channel and was a screaming fan in my condo with my Sounders t-shirt on!

For all of you who live in the U.S. Happy Labor Day weekend to you. Enjoy your extra day off. For everyone else have a great weekend.

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’s Fave Five ~

Time to think back just 7 days and remember your favorites. Once you’ve done that head over to Susanne’s at Living to Tell the Story and join in the fun of Friday’s Fave Five!

A boring week would be very nice but I might not see that for a little while.

It was so nice to have my daughter here with us along with her boyfriend. They flew back to Seattle on Sunday.

 

My daughter having lots of time with her cousins and grandparents is another favorite.

Being with my brother’s family from Dallas for more then one day makes my favorites, too. We had time at Disneyland, time at our open house on Saturday and then a few more hours on Sunday at my niece’s shower before they flew back to Dallas.

Putting on an event with my family is always a lot of fun. On Sunday my sisters and nieces and I put together a Tea Baby Shower for the next little girl who will be joining our family later in September. The time together with my nieces and all my sisters and SIL’s was wonderful.

Lastly is that yummy meal you see in the collage. Dear barbecued all that for dinner on Wednesday and it was oh so good. The Corn on the cob was my favorite. So buttery garlicky corny good.

Thanks for visiting. I really do appreciate the cyber friendships blogging has afforded me!!

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’s Fave Five ~ The Happiest Place on Earth…

FRIDAY!! This week got away from me. Thank you Susanne for encouraging us with this weekly exercise of “looking back” and being thankful for our favorites from the past week. Click on over to Living to Tell the Story to join in…

 

1. So we made it safe and a little bit crazy back to Southern California on Sunday. My favorite part of our 18 hour trip in the car was listening to Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix on cds. There are 23 cds and we only got up to #15. Listening to books on cd really helps me endure the boredom of road travel especially through Central California.

2. Came home to a nice clean condo which quickly had every inch of floor space filled with inflatable beds because my daughter and her boyfriend made the trip with us and are staying here for a week.

3. On Wednesday I met up with 10 family members to enjoy the day at Disneyland. My sister Lana G! treated me royally that day paying for my ticket and all my food.

4. Spending time with my brother Leonard, his wife Mandy and my niece Hope. We get to see them once or twice a year since they live in Texas.

5. Watching Miss Hope (my niece) and Jackson (my grand nephew) interact with each other. Miss Hope really enjoys having Jack in her sights. She is pointing out his nose for him in the collage.

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.