Tag Archives: Travel

Fridays Fave 5

It’s time for recaping the week and sharing some of our favorites. Visit Susanne at Living to Tell the Story to join on in…

 

1. and 2. Today is our last day of Women’s Bible Study Fall session. I really enjoyed shopping at Homegoods this week and finding some little treats for the ladies at my table. The autumn mugs were in the clearance aisle and were marked down to $2.99. And while I was shopping I nabbed this fun fold up tin server for myself that was on clearance at $11.00. I like the charcoal grey and the design on it. The fact that it folds up for easier storage is great, too.

3. On Willow and my walks we’ve been treated to some new birds this week that we haven’t seen up close before on our walks. I had to really zoom in to catch this Road Runner but I was thrilled to see it. Beep beep!

 

The Hawk was another treat and I almost caught him flying away…oops, just not quick enough with the camera. We saw lots of deer again this week and this butterfly stayed put long enough for me to capture a shot.

4. I mentioned Bible Study. It’s been really great studying about God’s Transforming Grace this fall. I’ve learned a lot and I hope the Holy Spirit will imprint what I’ve learned on my heart.

5. Did I mention before that I’m flying home to the Seattle area for Thanksgiving next Tuesday?? Oh I have, well let me mention it again here. I’m so looking forward to spending time home with my family over the holidays. My packing list is getting long…

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage and demanding a ransom for me to access them. I’m slowly cleaning up many of my posts where PB have added ugly black and grey boxes where my photos used to be. So frustrating!

Thankful for Extended Family

***Please scroll down for Fridays Fave Five…

Thankful in November

I am thankful for family and friends that go back to Russia, escaping to Iran, and finally by God’s grace immigrating to the U.S.A. Our families used to be more connected when they all first arrived as immigrants to the USA after WWII and through the 70’s. After the first generation kids got married we drifted off from each other. We always enjoy getting together for big events and reconnecting.

 

 

This photo was taken in Iran in the late 1940’s after my parents and sister Kathy had left for the U.S.A. The two families represented here are the Shvetzov Family (my mother’s family) and the Katkov Family (my Uncle Paul’s wife’s family). My Maternal Grandmother and Grandfather are seated on the right. My Uncle Paul and his wife Nina are standing on the right. My cousin Alex is at my grandmother’s side. The rest of the family are all Katkov’s and their spouses. The little girl standing on the left is the lady in the collage below with the yellow mickey mouse hat on. :0) The gal with the red and white polka dot hat on is the little girl being held in the top row of the photo from Iran. She was 5 when her parents immigrated to the U.S.A. The three young girls in this photo from Iran are the only ones still living, Tamara, Vera, and Zena. My cousin Alex died almost 30 years ago in a car accident.

 

Dear and I traveled across L.A. to Mission Viejo for a Nifty Fifty birthday party for Tanya, my youngest cousin on my mother’s side of the family. My mother had one brother Paul Shvetzov and he married Nina Katkov. My uncle Paul and Aunt Nina had 4 children. We were able to spend a few hours reconnecting with my cousins Valia and Tanya and some of their Katkov cousins and aunts that we all grew up with. It was great to get together for a fun celebration because we’ve had our fair share of funerals in the last few years. One of our Shvetzov extended Kasimoff cousins was there too (Hi Helen). It’s confusing people and that’s why we called everyone our cousin and our aunt or uncle growing up!

 

Aunt Nura is the oldest surviving Katkov. All her siblings except for her two youngest sisters, Zena and Vera have all gone to be with the Lord. She’s not in the photo from Iran either because she married a U.S. soldier and came to the U.S. before this photo was taken, too. Top row is Tamara, the daughter of Nura’s brother Vasilli, (Tamara is the little girl in the photo from Iran being held by her mother Zena in the top row) Valia (my cousin) the daughter of Nura’s sister Nina, Michelle (Valia’s daughter) and Shirley (Nura’s youngest daughter). Shirley and I have some fun history together from our teen years.

 

This is my side of the family that attended the celebration photographed with the birthday girl Tanya in the middle in red.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage and demanding a ransom for me to access them. I’m slowly cleaning up many of my posts where PB have added ugly black and grey boxes where my photos used to be. So frustrating!

Fridays Fave Five

1. Dear and I were well enough to have our Saturday walk and this time around we opted to head north and have breakfast at Cold Springs Tavern tucked away in the San Marcos Pass above Santa Barbara. After breakfast we took a foggy/misty walk along the shore and to the Andree Clark Bird Preserve in Santa Barbara.

 

2. I made one of Dear’s favorite Italian dishes this week Puttanesca and I’ll be sharing the recipe soon.

 

3. I really enjoy finding a bargain and this week I bought a White French Ruffle twin duvet cover at Goodwill for $7.95. It’s from the Target Shabby Chic line. When I was in Target later in the week I saw it on the rack for $69.95! Oh and I don’t have any twin size beds. I bought it to use as a tablecloth. Here’s a photo of it on the table straight out of the package with some added pretties on top…

 

4. I got to see some great photos of my sweet niece and I’m sharing it today for my Happy Halloween post and my Pink Saturday Post combined! Pure Pink Sweetness happening here!

 

5. It’s been cooler this week so it’s been easier on Willow and I on our walks. The Mule Deer love it, too.

 

My computer is acting up and I’m hoping it fixes itself soon. When I access blogs from my WordPress blog things seem to work fine but if I go to the linkies or google reader and try to access blogs I get booted out and my page shuts down.  Where did all my great background color and design disappear to? Wah, wah, wah….

For more Fave Five Posts or to join in visit Susanne at Living to Tell the Story.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage and demanding a ransom for me to access them. I’m slowly cleaning up many of my posts where PB have added ugly black and grey boxes where my photos used to be. So frustrating!

ABC Wednesday ~ Outdoors in Santa Barbara

We are on the letter O and my choices are October, Outdoors, On the Coast, On a Walk, Overcast!

Dear and I drove up the coast last Saturday. After a drive through San Marcos Pass to stop at Cold Springs Tavern for breakfast, we headed back to the shoreline in Santa Barbara for a walk. We headed up the beachwalk to the Bird Refuge. There was quite an intense marine layer effect happening on our drive and during our walk. We could not see out into the Pacific. We headed to the refuge and the layer was a little less dense here.

I was really happy to capture this Pelican at the refuge. Oops I guess I should have saved him for next week. P is for Pelican…

For more ABC posts visit the ABC blog that was started by Denise Nesbitt.

Blue Monday ~ Kitsap Peninsula

 

Whenever we take the Edmonds/Kingston Ferry across the Sound to the Kitsap Peninsula we pass a gas station that has these carved pieces all over their grass area. It always grabs my attention and makes me smile but we’ve never stopped until this last summer on our way back from Port Gamble. There were bloggers in the car so there was no excuse not to stop. Then we saw their fabulous sign “Take Photos Have a Good Time” A sign that speaks to the heart of a blogger!!

 

Have a wonderful day and a special “shout out” to my friends Dave and Beth who pass this site way more than me!!

For more Blue Monday visit Smiling Sally our hostess.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage demanding a ransom that I can’t afford. So frustrating as I try to clean up my posts and delete their ugly squares of black and grey off my blog posts!

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.

Fun in Seattle!

Our short time in Seattle has been filled to the brim with activity, work, and just plain fun. On Friday night after a day of working in the basement and around the house we went out to our favorite Mexican Restaurant with all of our kids except for Dan. (He was in Colorado Elk hunting). It’s fun to go to a restaurant where the staff knows us and comes over and wants to know how long we’ll be in town this time. :0)

 

On Saturday Lana G. and I went to our favorite shopping place…the Goodwill! We have a tradition that whoever spends the most on these shopping trips has to treat for lunch. We had some very good finds at Goodwill and Lana managed to spend the most so lunch was on her. (Oh I’ll be showing my goodies later this week) We have always been intrigued with Burgermaster but never stopped in before. Saturday was the day and it was a load of fun. It’s a drive in and dine in your car place. The staff comes up to your car window to take the order and they deliver it there, too. Lana and I had a great time. Our server was very happy to have his photo taken! After dropping our goodies off at home we zipped over to Ste Michelle and Columbia wineries to pick up some wine and to take some photos of fall color.

 

We came home and our kids made dinner for us to celebrate Dear’s belated birthday. Dan made it home from Colorado just in time for dinner and it was so nice to all be together for this meal. In the collage Columbia Winery is in the top right photo and Ste Michelle Winery is in the bottom left. They are across the road from each other. Lana G., her husband Steve, and Katie’s boyfriend Ben joined us for dinner. Oh and that is Lana donning the pirate garb!

Yikes we fly back to L.A. on Monday evening and we still have a mile long list of things we want to do before we leave. I’ll be back to visiting my bloggy friends on Tuesday. Have a great week everyone…

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.