Smell the Hodgepodge

Time for Wednesday Hodgepodge where Jo comes up with the questions and we come up with the answers. Thank you Jo From This Side of the Pond.

1. What are some memories you associate with spring?

Strawberry Stands in Southern California. Fresh strawberries right from the fields were so juicy, sweet and delicious! Both of our grandchildren were born in the Spring and that is a very special memory being at the hospital waiting to hear about their entry into this world. Addy was born on the first day of Spring. Easter celebrations are also high on the list of things I associate with Spring. Easter is a favorite of mine to celebrate with joy. After we moved to Washington State a trip to the tulip fields in April make for a wonderful visual picture of Spring!

2. April showers bring May flowers…was that saying proven true where you live? Snapdragons, anemones, carnations, lilacs, sweet peas, tulips, lily of the valley, orchids, roses, gardenias…which one on that list is your favorite May bloom?

If I have to choose one I’ll say lilacs!

Here’s a lilac memory from April 2010 of my niece and grandniece at Descanso Gardens in Southern California.

3. What are your top three distractions and how do you deal with them?

Noise, Empty chatter, devices as in smart phones.

If I can’t get away from the noise I have my headphones.

If I can’t get away from the chatter I try to tune it out. I do tend to sigh when the chatter stops.

Devices, I turn them to silent, or turn them off.

4. Do you eat beef?

Yes!

In the course of a week, how often is beef on the menu?

I would say at least 3x’s a week.

A hamburger, steak, prime rib, or a roast beef dinner…which beef entree would you choose and yes you have to choose. Unless you’re a vegan, and then you may pass.

In a restaurant I would most likely choose Prime Rib if it’s on the menu. If not then I’d go with a hamburger.

5. In what way were you creative during the month of April?

I was creative in planning, organizing, recruiting, cooking and serving 58 pastors last Thursday and Friday. We served dinner, a dessert social, lunch and dinner.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

These grabbers are a favorite with our grands. Toys just don’t hold as much interest. They were trying to grab uncle Andrew’s feet.

Before the Rumble!

Yesterday we had a sunny and windy start to the day. This is a view of our Pink Dogwood from the kitchen window and then from the yard.

We have 4 mature Rhododendrons in our yard and they are getting to full bloom.

Closeups of the lilac and dogwood blooms. Those lilac blooms are filling our yard and deck with their fragrance. Of all these blooms they are the only ones with a strong fragrance.

Blooms from two of our rhoddies.

In the late afternoon the clouds got dark and grey and we had a loud thunderstorm that lasted for an hour. A lot of noise and a little rain. The winds continue today. In the meantime our house is still clean and organized waiting for that family who wants to buy our home.

A Garden Party!

Looks like there are several link ups for this party. Hope I didn’t miss anyone!

Have a Daily Cup of Mrs. Olson

At Home With Jemma

Poofing the Pillows

Decor to Adore

White Spray Paint

This has been a banner Spring in the Seattle area with many things blooming early because of the weather this year. Here are a series of lovelies from our yard. Calling it a garden is a bit of a stretch.

Pink Dogwood is one of my very favorites. We planted this tree just a few years ago.

Our lilac bush was planted the same time as the Dogwood. This is the first year it is full of blooms. Last year we only had 3 blooms!

I love these sweet Violas.

Our Camellia was at it’s fullest a week ago. It is waning now but the azalea bush you see next to it is now in it’s glory in the photo below.

Next to this vibrant azalea is our Rosebud Azalea that will bloom next.

This next photo shows what the sweet little rosebud azaleas look like when they open up. As of this morning this is the first one to open.

We have a few established rhododendrons in our yard. This yellow rhoddy is the youngest and we had some beautiful blooms this year.

These last photos are of our very old and established Rhododendrons that were here when we purchased this old house. The Rhododendron is the Washington State Flower. These next photos were taken this morning in the rain.

One lighter pink and the other one deeper. The third bush always blooms later than these two.

Our patio covers are not up yet so on the next couple of photos you can see the frames without the covers. We usually put the covers up on Mother’s Day weekend.

Here you see a little view of our deck patio and the Dogwood, little yellow rhoddy, and the side of our barbecue.

This is a view of the french doors from our family room that are the most used doors at this old house. You step out on the deck from them and this path takes you to our detached garage/shop. I’ll leave you with some shots that show our deck with the covers up. This one shows the deck looking out from our family room.

Another view with our new privacy fence. Whew…you made it through. Wish I could have strolled through with you and a cup of coffee!

We just got home from a trip across the mountains to visit our son and his new bride of 10 months. It’s a 5-1/2 hour drive to get to their home. Now we are rushing about getting things ready for a trip to San Antonio, Texas for Dear to work at a conference there. I will be on my own and will explore this city that I’ve never been to and also drive to Austin to meet up with my brother and his family who will drive down from Dallas. Woohoo. Better get the laundry going. Hope you all have a good week!

Fences with Flowers…

On my neighborhood walk in the Spring these are the flowers and scenes I see with different fences.

The start of my walk on this sunny morning is from the front of our home on the drive that leads out to the neighborhood. That’s our pear tree on the left at the beginning of the drive. Me and my shadow…

This is the first lilac that I pass along my route with white plastic fence sections you can buy at the big box hardware stores.

At the middle of my walk I see these beautiful rhododendrons against a wooden fence. I want to buy one of these varieties for my yard.

Tulips blooming with a wooden fence in the background across the street from the pretty rhoddies.

Home again, home again, chain link fence. This is the back of our property that happens to back up to the street. Our house is backwards where all the other houses in this neighborhood face the street we turn our back on it! We fool a lot of new delivery people. Our home was the first one in this neighborhood tract. Our old house used to be a nursery with no properties around it at all. The streets and the rest of the neighborhood were added when whoever owned this old house sold it for development.

I’m linking up with TexWisGirl for Good Fences. #108

Hello May!

Early this morning on this first day of May I wandered around our yard and clicked away…

So full, so lush, so many shades of green to enjoy.

Our state flower is the Rhododendron and some of our bushes are blooming.

The soft pink Rose Bud Azaleas bloom later than the bright ones in the next photo.

I’ll give my lilac blooms till Sunday to completely open up and then I’ll bring them inside to enjoy their fragrance.

Thankful today and joining Susanne’s Fave Five to say…

Thank you Lord for Spring flowers and the month of May.

Thank you Lord for a yard that I can enjoy your creation in.

Thank you Lord for a home I can relax in.

Thank you Lord for friends and family and the peace we share.

Thank you Lord that you are the same yesterday, today and forever and we don’t have to fear the ups and downs of our culture.

What are you looking forward to in the Merry Month of May?!

Five Amazing Things…

I have time this Friday to join in with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story for Friday’s Fave Five! It’s been awhile and it will probably be a couple weeks before I can join in again.

This is a post about amazing things. The most amazing thing is that Jesus Christ laid down his perfect life to save all who are lost in their own sin. I was lost in myself and now I see how big my God is and how he saved me with His perfection…Jesus Christ.

Our son Dan sent me this photo from his yard over the internet. Amazing things…beautiful lilac, a lovely butterfly and the internet where I can enjoy this photo minutes after our son took it from 6 hours driving distance away!

Amazing how time flies! Weren’t we just celebrating Christmas!? Here we are on the brink of June!

It’s amazing to me that we are planning a trip to Great Britain in September with our son and his dear wife. Their first time, Dear and my 6th time together. Very excited to see England on our son and daughter in law’s terms. Each of our children are different and England holds so much to see to cover each of their particular interests. With Katie it was mostly literary, Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Jane Austen. With Josh it has to include Soccer! Laura and I will push for the quaint and lovely and probably a play or musical to enjoy…

Last amazing thing is related to our daughter’s literary interests. We found this Christmas card/offer from Dear to our Katie to read a book out loud to her when she was 3. She turned 4 just after Christmas that year and asked Dear to read her The Hobbit. He read it out loud to her and she recalls the fact that he used several different voices for the different characters in the book. Dear bought this copy of The Hobbit on one of his trips to England in the early 70’s. Our Katie to this day is the most interested in reading and enjoys several literary styles. The card had an expiration date on it added by her dad and Katie crossed it out and added the “Not expirable”. Katie is quite amazing as she was reading and understanding a wide vocabulary at a very early age.

I’m so looking forward to catching up with all the FFF participants and seeing what’s new in your worlds…

FFF ~ Lilacs and Peonies and Dogwood Oh My!

Last year we planted a lilac bush, a peony, and a Dogwood. We enjoyed one branch that bloomed this year on the lilac. The dogwood did bloom some pretty bright pink blooms. We are still waiting for the peony to bloom again this year. In the meantime I bought a bunch of peonies at Costco to enjoy.

Here are my 5 favorites from this past week.

1. My lilacs and the wonderful scent we enjoyed for a few days.

2. Seeing my dogwood blooms out my kitchen window.

3. Knowing we have finally found a church home and it’s only 3 miles away from our home. The closest we’ve ever been to our home church. It’s taken us a full year to find the right spot for us. We will go to a membership class in September.

4. I’m reading my third book in the last couple weeks. I read Shades of Earl Grey by Laura Childs. I read the first book in The Penderwicks series by Jeanne Birdsall. Both of these books were very enjoyable. Now I’m reading the latest In the Company of Others by Jan Karon. I really enjoy Jan Karon’s writing…

5. I sent our new cookbook, Mennonite Girls Can Cook, to 3 of Dear’s aunts and to a dear old friend of mine that befriended me in college through a Baptist scholarship that I received from her church. What a dear she’s been to me over the years. She wrote to me and sent care packages while I was away from home in college. We’ve kept track of each other over these last 40 years. She is in her 80’s now, widowed and still a Sunday School teacher at her church. She called me this week after receiving the cookbook to thank me and to chat. Sweet times.

I got notes from Dear’s aunts also thanking me for their books and letting me know what recipes they would be trying first. His aunts are in their 70’s and 80’s.

This weekend I get to go on a walk with a dear friend and we are going to celebrate Father’s day this Sunday instead of next.

Thank you Susanne for hosting Friday’s Fave Five, a time to reflect on good things in our lives.

Photobucket replaced all my photos with blurred out versions 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.

To honor and encourage

Tag Archives: Lilacs