Just in Time…

…for the Major League Soccer season opener in Seattle my flagpole was ready to hoist it’s flags. We’re proud to wave the American flag and our Seattle Sounders flag, too. We also have our Marine Corp flag that will be waving proudly.

 

Dear mixed up the concrete base for the flagpole on Saturday. On Monday we were ready to set the telescoping flag pole in and to raise the flags. Josh and Dear did the honors. Long may they wave! We take them down at Sunset since we do not have a light to illuminate the Stars and Stripes.

Last night at the opening ceremonies they had representatives from all the Military Service Branches. They unrolled and held and waved huge flags on the pitch. The Few. The Proud. The Marines. They were the brightest and the best. They never flinched, slouched, or let go of the flag. I bumped into a few of them during halftime and complimented them. Of course they replied “Thank you Ma’am” , because they are very polite, too.

 

Our daughter is marrying a Marine and we are proud of him! OO-RAH!

The origin of OO-RAH ~

U.S. Marines were the word’s first proprietors, using it to express contentment or to set expectations. And although use-dependent, the word OO-RAH can take on a variety of meanings. Now after languishing in military jargon obscurity for decades, it has rapidly become much more commonly known as even civilians associate its use with Marines.

The spelling of the word has never been standardized, as is often the case with phonetic interpretations of a sound that can only be properly formed at the bottom of the lungs. Variant spellings include “OORAH,” “OOHRAH,” and “OOH-RAH.” However it is spelled, it is recognizable as distinctly Marine whether spoken or written, and it can easily be distinguished from the Army version, the venerable but significantly less motivating “HOO-AH.”

Hope your Wednesday is going well. I’m a wee bit tuckered out from all the partying and fun we’ve been having around here this week. I slept in and missed my Zumba class this morning. I’m enjoying a little sunshine but I hear it’s not suppose to last so for the time being I’ll bask in it. Tomorrow I’ll be making corned beef and cabbage to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.

These things I warmly wish to you-
Someone to love
Some work to do
A bit o’ sun
A bit o’ cheer
And a guardian angel always near.

~

Dance as if no one were watching,
Sing as if no one were listening,
And live every day as if it were your last.

~

May your home always be too small to hold all your friends.
God is good, but never dance in a small boat.

Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes 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.

FFF ~ Marching Along…

It’s that time of the week when we look back and choose our favorites. Susanne at Living to tell the Story is our hostess and you can click on the logo above to get to her site and join in this worthwhile exercise. Here are my 5 for this past week.

1. Dinner with our kids on Tuesday evening. I made a Russian favorite Golubtsi Голубцы (stuffed cabbage).

 

2. Elizabeth Goudge books. I re-read The Bird in the Tree and now I’m continuing on with the 2nd book in the series called Pilgrim’s Inn/Herb of Grace. The 3rd book is Heart of the Family. I also was able to check out one of her books I’ve not read yet called The Castle on the Hill.

 

3. More books including travel books for Washington D. C.  After checking out different travel guides from the library to determine which guides I liked best I ordered my own copy last week. I also ordered a box of 50 cards that spell out 50 different walks around D.C. The cards are great because they are easy to follow with a map and the route outlined on one side and a description of what you will see on the other. Groupon, an online site offers deals via email that alerts you to special deals in the many cities across the U.S.A. Besides Seattle I signed up to get Washington D.C. deals emailed to me. I’m concentrating on the dining deals since we’ll be eating all of our meals out. I’ve gotten 2 great half-price deals already.  Along with my travel books I ordered The Amish Cook’s Baking Book and I’m looking forward to trying some of the recipes.

4. Road Trip on Saturday with Dear to Cabela’s and the state capitol. It’s been a while since Dear and I took off on a Saturday. It was a good diversion from the regular. The weather was nice, too. We shopped, had a wonderful meal, and saw some great sights!

 

5. Whoohoo! My 2011 packet with my season tickets and new Sounders Season ticket member scarf was delivered by our son Josh. The season begins at Qwest field on Tuesday evening against the L.A. Galaxy. Happy Days are here again.

 

So how did your week go and what are some of your favorites?

I’m watching what’s going on in Japan and the countries affected by the Tsunami warnings this morning. Praying for the people of Japan and that the Hawaiian Islands stay safe.

Psalm 46: 1-3 (ESV)

God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way,
though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble at its swelling.

From The Message

God is a safe place to hide, ready to help when we need him.
We stand fearless at the cliff-edge of doom,
courageous in seastorm and earthquake,
Before the rush and roar of oceans,
the tremors that shift mountains.

Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes 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.

Sunday was…

…as full as a bag of trick or treats!

Dear, Katie and I went to church and besides hearing a good sermon we were treated to a Violinist who was amazing. His name is Klinkenberg and he sometimes plays with the Celtic Women. He played a more classical piece and then at the closing of the service he fiddled a wonderful rendition of Jesus Loves Me. We bought his soon too be released CD called Fiddle-Levity! We had it on during lunch and really enjoyed it.

When we got home Josh and Laura had already arrived to enjoy a meal with us. I tried a recipe from The Pioneer Women Cooks ~ Tasty Kitchen blog called Sauerkraut and Pork that had been cooking away in the oven while we were at church. We all agreed it was very tasty!

Josh, Laura and I left Dear and Katie at home to handle the Trick or Treaters and we headed downtown to Qwest Field to see the Sounders play the L.A. Galaxy. Lots of the crowd dressed up for Halloween. These guys were one of our favorites!

Three Blind Refs! After the game we wondered it they were the refs that called our game.

Joshua’s red beard really made his leprechaun costume more authentic. :0)

It was a great night for a Sounders game and for Trick or Treaters with no rain drops falling on anyone’s heads. Too bad the Sounders didn’t win. That would have really capped off a wonderful day!

Today I headed out early for some physical therapy on my tennis elbow. It has been raining steadily and promises to keep raining all day and into the night. I’m glad to be home in my slippers enjoying the coziness of our gas insert fireplace…

I came across this verse in Ecclesiastes today and couldn’t help but chuckle and use it during this political season we find ourselves in! Out of context? Maybe, maybe not.

Ecclesiastes 10:2 (English Standard Version)

“A wise man’s heart inclines him to the right,
but a fool’s heart to the left.”

Back to Back!

It was so much fun being with these long time friends at Qwest field in Seattle last night watching our Seattle Sounders Soccer team win their 2nd U.S. Cup trophy!  This is the first time a team has one a back to back U.S. Cup championship. The night was perfect weather wise and the crowd was electric like our Sounder’s jerseys.

Congratulations Seattle Sounders F.C.!

Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes 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.

When in Rome…

…or in Seattle, out of towners do as the Seattle-ites do.

 

They go to a Seattle Sounders game with a pre-game stop at the Taco Truck!

 

We make sure everyone is wearing the right colors and we are ready to cheer on our home team.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was the perfect night for shirt sleeves in Seattle. And it was even more perfect because we won!

Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes 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.

Between Storms ~ Mosaic Blue

We’ve had a couple dry days this week tucked between some very soggy ones. Saturday dawned dry and glorious.

 

My kids swung by to pick me up for the Sounders Soccer Game at Qwest field and the Blue and Green was proudly displayed everywhere. Some people go way out to show their colors. We had another record breaking crowd for MLS Soccer. Seattle is the best place to be if you are a soccer fan in the U.S.A.

 

Here I am with our son Josh and our DIL Laura after we stopped at the Taco truck for our Street tacos, 3 tacos for $5.00. It’s our traditional meal before the game. Oh good there’s no cilantro stuck in our teeth!

 

I was very happy that the Sounders shut out the New England Revolution 3-0 but another thing that made me very pleased was to finally meet Oliver face to face and to be able to hold him during the game. He slept the whole time grimacing when the crowds exploded in cheers. At the end of the game when I handed him back to his mom Bridget he woke up with a sweet smile for her.

He smiled while I held him, too.

Please visit Mary at Little Red House for Mosaic Monday and Smiling Sally for Blue Monday.

Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes 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.

Seattle Blue Mosaic Monday!

If it’s almost Monday it is time for some Blue and some Mosaic fun. Visit Mary at The Little Red House for Mosaic Monday and Sally at Smiling Sally for Blue Monday.

On Friday I took a walk at Juanita Bay Park and at St. Edwards State Park and the Robins were very active. Some were busy gathering nest material.

Seattle Blue is very well represented by our Seattle Sounders F.C. team(Soccer!) Bottom right photo…our wonderful son Josh, an amazing photographer and friend Jeremy Leffel, Our friend and computer programmer extraordinaire Beau, and our favorite family doctor Dave. Beau, Josh and I have a total of 5 season ticket seats together. Fun times. We were so happy we beat the Kansas City Wizards 1-0 in the 2nd to the last minute of the game. Sheesh. Keep us on the edge of our seats!

If and when my daughter gets married her wedding date will depend on whether Jeremy is available to take photos!! Yes, he’s that good!

Do you notice anything missing in the photo on the right in this mosaic? While my son and I were at the soccer game Dear and Katie chopped down that pine tree. Dear tied the tree securely to Katie’s trailer pull, made a precision cut angled just right and Katie pulled it down with her car. I was so sorry to be gone while this took place. I would have loved to have gotten photos of it coming down…

And before any tree huggers come after me, we had to take it down because it was damaging our roof and allowing rats free access to the garage!!

Friday’s Fave Five ~ Tis the Season…

…for the beginning of MLS Soccer 2010!

 

I was so pleased to get my Season Ticket Holders 2010 Package. I’ll be sporting the new scarf to all the games. Last night was the season opener and my son, DIL and I went together. Our friends Beau and Bridget met up with us there, too.

 

And the best way to start a season off is with a win and I’m happy to say we beat Philadelphia 2-0! Way to go Sounders!

I just have to share one more photo from the game last night. This was a Seattle Motorcycle Policeman that we spotted during the “March to the Match” Love the fact that he’s sporting a Sounder’s Scarf!

 

 

And now to the other favorites!

~My pear tree blossoming.

~Strawberries being in season.

~ Duplicating at home the Fried Polenta in Creamy Gorgonzola and mushroom sauce that we had at Nell Thorn Restaurant in La Conner. I’ll share my recipe soon.

~ Making my mom’s rice with raisins. It’s been so long since I had made it and it was good to have that taste treat again. Recipe will be at the Mennonite Girls Can Cook Blog soon.

~ Finding a great purse at Goodwill, a $45.00 baggallini for $5.95. It was perfect for the Sounders game.

Now please visit Susanne at Living to Tell the Story to join in with your favorites or to see more. Thank you 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 ~ 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.