If I Only Had a Brain…

(Scarecrow)
I could wile away the hours
Conferrin’ with the flowers
Consultin’ with the rain
And my head I’d be scratchin’
While my thoughts were busy hatchin’
If I only had a brain

I’d unravel any riddle
For any individ’le
In trouble or in pain

(Dorothy)
With the thoughts you’d be thinkin’
You could be another Lincoln
If you only had a brain

(Scarecrow)
Oh, I would tell you why
The ocean’s near the shore
I could think of things I never thunk before
And then I’d sit and think some more

I would not be just a nuffin’
My head all full of stuffin’
My heart all full of pain
I would dance and be merry
Life would be a ding-a-derry
If I only had a brain

This pretty much covers how I’m feeling today! We got in at 11:00 last night after a day of working our buns off and getting everything wrapped up in Washington. It will take me a little bit to get back to “me old self”. Have a wonderful last day of September everyone. May Fall truly be felt here in Southern California!

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage on their site. All my photos that I stored and uploaded from that site are now big ugly black and grey boxes with a message to pay big bucks to get them restored to my blog. It will take me a long time to restore thousands of posts.

A Jaunt to Seattle

This is a blueberry bush in my yard in Washington. It is so vibrant with Fall colors this time of year. This photo is from my archives.

Dear and I are headed to Seattle for a long weekend. We have some work to do around the house and I get to go see my hairdresser. My grey is calling her name…Sherri, Sherri…

It will be nice to see our kids and spend some time with them. Our son Dan is hunting in Colorado right now for Elk with his bow. We’ll see him when he gets back on Sunday.

Oh and we’re guaranteed not to be awakened by screaming, thumping noises coming from above. Dear and my bedroom suite in Seattle is on the 3rd floor of our home. Yippee!! Yes, unfortunately the noise from above at our condo continues and we’ve had to call 911 twice this week!

One of the fun things about this trip is that we happen to be on the same flight to Seattle with Lana G! She’ll be in First Class instead of with us “behind the curtain” but her hubby will be able to pick us all up and deliver us home.

I’m wondering if my walking buddies are up for a walk on Saturday on the Burke Gilman? I’ll be there at 9:00 if you’ll be there at 9:00.

I never know how blogging will go on these quick trips. So if you don’t see me around you’ll understand why.

September 11, 2001 ~ I’ll Never Forget

I will never forget this day. Where I was, what I did, who I talked to. My TV was still in my living room in Washington in 2001. I sat on the edge of an ottoman in shock. I started dialing, first my husband, then my married son and his wife, (they were married 2 weeks before 9/11 so they just celebrated their 7th anniversary this year, too) I woke my 2 kids that were still at home. That day seemed like it would never end. Called my SIL to find out if she’d heard anything from my niece who works in Manhattan. My niece was in route to Manhattan, no one at work had seen her yet. She wasn’t a casualty that day. She made it. She had to turn around and try to get home again. It took her over 6 hours to get home. Small price to pay compared to so many…

Praying that God will continue to lead and direct our leaders in how best to protect the people they are called to serve. Praying that God will protect us from evil. Also praying that God will build us up to be able to persevere and endure whatever suffering comes our way.

I’m headed out to my porch now to put out the only little symbol of our flag I have here in Southern California. My big flags are all in Washington State. I’ll add a photo soon.

Psalm 20:7 ~ “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.”

So for my morning walk I was on a quest to find U.S. Flags displayed today. I have a hard time walking past 30 minutes by myself and challenging myself with quests helps me stay out longer. At first I was sad that I wasn’t finding any flags but as I plugged away I finally found some. Here’s a collage of some of the flags displayed on my neighborhood 7208 step walk.

Photobucket is holding all my photos that I posted on my blog from 2007-2015 hostage and replaced them with big black and grey boxes with threats. So discouraging…as I’m slowly trying to clean up thousands of posts!

I’ve been Tagged!

Susanne from Living to Tell the Story has tagged me for this meme which originated with Seedlings in Stone this time around.

1. Write about 5 specific ways blogging has affected you, either positively or negatively.
2. link back to the person who tagged you
3. link back to this parent post (I’m not so much interested in generating links, but rather in tracking the meme so I can perhaps do a summary post later on that looks at patterns and interesting discoveries.)
4. tag a few friends or five, or none at all
5. post these rules— or just have fun breaking them

5 specific ways blogging has affected me, either positively or negatively. I will start with the positive…

1. Blogging has opened up the world of technology to me. I have learned so much about computers and Digital cameras that I stubbornly refused to learn before. I never knew what you could do with a right click. I didn’t know how to copy and paste. I was a wimp at the keyboard. Sheesh, I was so afraid of this world my brother had to force me to start a blog.

2. I look at the world so differently with a blogger’s eye. I’ve always been very visual and now I see more than ever before and now I can easily document what I see and I really enjoy that. I was adventurous before but not nearly as adventurous as I am now.

3. I have met people around the world through my blogging that I consider friends. I have even had the privilege of meeting some of these friends face to face. I plan to meet more in the future. It’s a privilege to pray for and be prayed for by people around the world who I never knew existed and who never knew I existed. The “body” is huge and I love being connected to it more.

4. Blogging challenges me to communicate a thought with as few words as I can. Sometimes posts are rambling posts but I like to challenge myself to express a thought as simply as possible.

5. Blogging has taken time away from other types of communication that I was regular with. Sending letters or cards of encouragement, etc. When I pour a thought or encouraging word from myself or another author into a post I think my job is done when in reality there are people that are in my day to day world that also need other forms of encouragement from me.

True to form I’m not tagging anyone but leaving it up to you whether you are inspired to consider this question. If you choose to play let me know because I’d like to read your answers.

Oh and about the illustration at the top of this post. I’ve loved Racey Helps since the first time I saw books and cards in England in the early 70’s. I just threw that in to brighten up the post :0)

Happy Birthday Dear!

As of today Dear gets to order off the Senior Menu at Denny’s! Congratulations Dear! Don’t worry for your birthday dinner we’ll go somewhere where they won’t even mention senior specials…

This is a photo from the outside looking in on the work that Dear has been doing in our basement in Washington. He seems to really enjoy doing this kind of stuff after being cooped up in an office at a desk most days.

After all these years I’m even more happy that God brought us together. You are a wonderful husband and father and I thank God for you and pray that He continues to draw you closer to Him. I love you Dear!!

Opening Doors ~ Day Two

This is day two of Jientje’s Opening Doors Photo Challenge. There are still 4 more days so you still have time to join in. I’m sharing 3 doors today that are a little outside the box…

Garages come in all sizes. These are two colorful Garage Doors that caught my eye. The first one I spotted in a beach side neighborhood in Ventura, Ca. The second one is a garage in Old Town Camarillo. Usually you would expect to find cars in garages but more than cars these days you’ll find them filled with stuff that doesn’t fit in the house!

This last photo is a door that is not fancy. It doesn’t have any great architectural beauty. It is a very ordinary front door in a very ordinary neighborhood in Southern California.

This door in Whittier, California was the front door of my family home in the 70’s. It is the door where Dear first kissed me after one of our dates. It is the door that opened many more doors to my relationship with Dear and our now almost 34 years of marriage. My parents moved away from this home and have made homes as far away from Whittier as a little village in Russia. They are now in a Senior Apartment in Southern California.

To see more photographs of doors around the world visit Jientje at Heaven in Belgium.

Fun Monday

Gattina is the hostess for Fun Monday and here is her assignment for any of us who want to participate..

She says, “As I am a very curious person, I just want you to show us a picture of your blogging place! Your room or bed or whatever space(s) or place(s) you have to write your posts.”

My husband is working in Southern California and we chose to keep our home in the State of Washington because we would love to re-locate there in the future. So in the mean time we have a small 1 bedroom condo in Southern California. My space to blog is in the center of our living area space. My computer and work area is on the dining room table.

My views from my blogging space are the kitchen right in front of me and the living room to the left of me.

When we are going to have company I just put the lap top away.

For more Fun Monday click over to Gattina’s in Belgium.

They Survived!

Two solid weeks without watering and these plants survived. Amazing. They are a little brown around the edges but I was expecting them to be completely withered up under the Southern California Sun!

I did bring a silk unwiltable plant for my front porch just in case all my other plants had died. I bought this at Goodwill in Washington for $5.95.

So how’s your Monday and week shaping up? I forgot that this week is going to be another busy one for me because my daughter is arriving today. I leave at 9:00 this morning to go pick her and her boyfriend up at Long Beach Airport. Tomorrow they are going to Disneyland and some of my family will be meeting up with them there, too. I’ve decided to finally meet up with the Disneyland crew, too. It will be a reapplying sunblock day for me. Have a great week everyone.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage on their site and have replaced my photos with black and grey boxes of ugliness. I’m slowly deleting those boxes from my blog and trying to update so many posts, very frustrating.

My Blog Finally Has Some Color!!

Anyone notice anything new when you clicked over to The Happy Wonderer today? Yippee! Karen from Amusing Blog Designs helped a girl out and gave me the color and space I’ve desired for quite a long time. I’m going to post a larger collage right here just to enjoy the wonder of it all. Thank You Karen ~ It was great working with you! Oh and Lana G! gifted me the re-design for my birthday or something like that.

So have a little dessert and enjoy the flowers with me as I celebrate. Blessings…

5 More Days in Washington

My six weeks in Washington State are winding down. I’m here for 5 more days and then Dear and I hit the long road home to Southern California. My hydrangeas in Washington have reached their full bloom. My hydrangea plant in California is dead by now because Dear forgot to ask our neighbors to water our plants while we’ve been gone. Oops!

One thing that keeps us awake and makes the trip seem shorter from here to there are books on CD. I was so excited to find this at Goodwill and look forward to listening to hours of one of our all time favorites…

This week we’ll be getting in some last minute visits with friends and family here in the Seattle area. Maybe I’ll fit in one more trip to Goodwill. I hope all of you have a great week.

The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b.

To honor and encourage

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