WFW ~ Psalm 95: 6,7

Psalm 95: 6,7 (ESV) ~ “Oh Come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker! For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.”

For more Word Filled Wednesday visit Amydeanne.

The photo of the door was taken in downtown Ventura where there are lots of great older homes and churches built in the early 1900’s. This is actually a building or house converted into a church. It is not where we worship…

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!

Ruby Tuesday ~ Neighborhood Walks

My Ruby Tuesday Photos are again from one of our neighborhood walks.

 

The plants in the top row are Coleus. I’m not sure what the rest of the plants are called. Happy Ruby Tuesday everyone (even though right now it’s Monday). Next week Maryt is challenging us to find a photo with just a little bit of red in it. Fun!

For more Ruby Tuesday click over to Maryt’s at Work of the Poet.

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!

Potato and Ham Chowder

 

This is a simple recipe from a blogger I tried and it was very tasty for boxed pototoes! It’s a slow cooker recipe…

Potato and Ham Chowder

1 pkg. of boxed scalloped potatoes (any variety you prefer)
1 cup diced ham
2 stalk of diced celery
1/8 teaspoon pepper
2 cups half & half
1/3 cup flour
5 cups chicken broth
1 diced onion (any size you like)

Mix potatoes, sauce mix, ham, broth, celery, onion & pepper in crock pot. Cover and cook on low heat for 7 hours.

 

Mix half & half with the flour, gradually stir flour mixture into chowder until blended. Cover and cook on low for one more hour stirring occasionally until thick. For a less thick soup, use regular milk instead of half & half. Garnish with chopped green onion, shredded cheese, or sour cream if desired.

 

Very thick and yummy soup. Since I served it up on blue dishes I thought this would be a perfect choice for Blue Monday. I bought these blue dishes from Target on a super clearance. They were from their Christmas collection a couple years ago.

 

Enjoy!

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!

When I was Little My Mother Gave Me Castor Oil

Were you ever given Castor Oil? Saturday on our walk at Emma Wood State Beach in Ventura we found a Castor Bush with clusters of seed pods. When we opened up the pods we found these Castor Seeds. These are what they make Castor Oil from.

 

We also saw and smelled the Fennel plants. Sweet Fennel is so much more appealing  than Castor oil. I’m not sure what the second yellow plant is and the sweet lavender colored plant is either. It was another great early morning walk on the beach with wonderful views of God’s creation all around us. This next shot was a special treat for us as we walked back to our starting point.

I’ll be posting more photos from this walk. We saw other herons, godwits, and gulls, all together but this heron seemed to be standing alone for us to appreciate.

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!

The Year is Swiftly Waning ~ Hymn

The Year is Swiftly Waning

The year is swiftly waning,
The summer days are past;
And life, brief life, is speeding;
The end is nearing fast.

The ever changing seasons
In silence come and go;
But Thou, eternal Father,
No time or change canst know.

O, pour Thy grace upon us,
That we may worthier be,
Each year that passes o’er us,
To dwell in heaven with Thee.

Behold the bending orchards
With bounteous fruit are crowned;
Lord, in our hearts more richly
Let heavenly fruits abound.

O, by each mercy sent us,
And by each grief and pain,
By blessings like the sunshine,
And sorrows like the rain.

Our barren hearts make fruitful
With every goodly grace,
That we Thy Name may hallow,
And see at last Thy face.

words by William W. How – 1871

Photo Hunters ~ Wild

Some Wild views from my walks

I think these are Mule Deer. This is from Willow’s neighborhood, my bloggy walking buddy.

Looking through a space in a wooden fence at a field near my home that is still in it’s wild state.

 

The Sea, the tide, the shore, the Sea birds, all untamed and wild.

For more Photo Hunters visit tnchick. If you want to see Wild early click over to Carver’s.

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!

Show Me Something Relaxing…

Robert from Thoughts of a Father has a photo challenge this week with something different every day. Today the challenge is to show something that relaxes you. This is my first contribution and I thought that this represents some relaxation waiting to happen…

For more relaxation posts visit Robert.

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!

Fave Five for Friday

 

It’s time for Fave Five for Friday. If you want to play along visit Susanne at Living to tell the Story. Here are my favorites since last Friday.

1. Starting with Saturday I have two favorites. The first was a return to the beach with Dear for our early morning Saturday walks at Emma Wood State Beach in Ventura, California. We were there at 6:30 A.M. and we saw a lot of birds…

 

2. After our walk we got ready to drive south for a family get-together to visit with my brother Leonard, his wife Mandy and their new daughter Hope. She’s 7 months old and they all live in Dallas so it’s a wonderful event when they come to Southern California for all of us to get our fix!

 

3. This made me laugh out loud on Monday when I listened to this You-Tube on Mighty Mom’s site. Click here and give a listen. It’s only about 23 seconds long…

No – I don’t think it’s for real but it still is so darn funny!!

4. Dear turned 55 on Tuesday and a highlight of the week was celebrating Him and celebrating with him at a nice Steak house close to us.

 

5. Today I’m headed to a planning meeting for our new year of Women’s Bible Study. This year I’ll be a table leader so I’m looking forward to the discipline and the friendships that I’ll form with the ladies at my table. We’re studying Grace.

For more Fave Five head over to Susanne’s and consider joining in. Blessings…

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!