Home Away From Home…

The Beaconsfield Inn Victoria, B.C.

We were very happy with the Beaconsfield. It is a Registered Heritage Property — circa 1905. I loved the wonderful rich wood architecture.

Built at the turn of the century to be a gracious Edwardian home, The Beaconsfield Inn retains many of the historic elements that evoke all the character, warmth and hospitality associated with by-gone eras.

The Beaconsfield was commissioned in 1905 by R. P. Rithet, a local financial baron, MLA and Victoria Mayor (1885) for his daughter Gertrude, and designed by Samuel McClure, one of Victoria’s most notable architects.

Named after a luxurious London Hotel frequented by King Edward VII in pre-World War I England, the Beaconsfield Inn turns the clock back to a gentler time.

We reserved the Gatekeepers room because it would accommodate the 4 of us comfortably.

The common room where we could enjoy coffee, tea, hot chocolate, and sherry in the evening was a great room to relax. There were fresh baked cookies every night, too.

This next photo is a peek into the breakfast room. I’ll share a food post on another day.

I would gladly return to this Inn if I get a chance to re-visit Victoria.

Photobucket replaced all my photos with these 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.

Sisters!

My sisters and I are embarking on a weekend getaway to Victoria on Vancouver Island in Canada. The four of us have never had a weekend away or an overnight for that matter and I’m hoping we have lots of laughing moments like this next photo shows.

Vera ~ Lana ~ Kathy ~ Ellen

Kathy is the oldest, Vera next, Ellen next and then Lana. We also have 4 brothers. Fred was born after Vera. Tim was born 7 years after me and then Steve. Lana and Leonard (twins) were the last two born.

We had a sister Kathy who was the first born in our family that died when she was 2 in Persia. My parents decided to name their second daughter Kathy, too. The Kathy we know was also born in Persia.

Both of these photos were taken a good while ago. Vera is several sizes smaller and I’m a few sizes larger. I think Lana and Kathy are about the same. I told my Southern California sisters to leave their flip-flops at home and to bring lots of layers. I’m providing them with rain coats with a hood. Whatever the weather we will persevere and delight in what God has in store for us!

We leave early Friday morning on the Victoria Clipper for a 2-1/2 hour ride to Victoria. We have gardens, castles, walks, and having a proper tea planned. Next week after I catch my breath I will post about our adventures.

Before I get swept away I wanted to share my plate of Baby Back ribs from our dinner on Sunday. So delicious!

Maybe plates like this are why I’m a couple sizes larger. You won’t be hearing from me till next week. Hope all is well in your neck of the woods!

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.

My Window View…

The view from my computer window has changed…

Does anyone know what this plant is called?

Happy last Saturday of winter to all of you! We are headed to Snohomish, Washington for breakfast and a little antique shopping.

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.

FFF ~ He’s Home!

My Friday Fave Five is a little slow in the making as I was busy just sitting around and looking at our 2nd born son yesterday. I’ve missed seeing his face for over 9 months. More about that later. In the meantime you can join Susanne at Living to Tell the Story and share your favorite things from the past week.

Here are my favorites~

1. Zumba! It’s physical torture for a solid hour that makes you sweat till you’re drenched but it’s fun! I signed up at the YMCA this month and I try to go to the Zumba classes 3 days a week. The other 2 days I do less torturous activity like the treadmill.

2. Molbak’s ~ We have a wonderful garden store in a neighboring city here that really decks the halls for Christmas. I’ve been looking for place card holders and had a Groupon coupon for $30.00 worth of merchandise for $15.00 so I went shopping there last week. I found some holders I really love and got to enjoy their displays of an amazing variety of poinsettias. I’ll share the holders next week after I set our Thanksgiving table. While there I saw this sign that made me chuckle. Just goes to show you how fickle happiness is :0). I much rather choose JOY!

3. I was praying all day long on Wednesday for safe travels for our son Dan and Dear. Dan drove 12 hours from Yuma, Az. to Sacramento, California. Dear flew to Sacramento to meet up with Dan and to drive the next 12 hours to Seattle together. Dan left Yuma at 3:00 A.M. and they pulled into our driveway at 2:30 A.M. I heard their voices and fell back to sleep thanking the Lord for their safety. When I woke up on Thursday and pulled out Daily Light (a Bible devotional) the heading for this day was “He led them on safely”. I smiled and thanked God again for leading them safely home.

4. When Dan finally woke up on Thursday it was so good to give him a big hug and then just sit and smile and talk to each other! He was so happy to be back in the state of Washington. Some of the things he enjoyed…

~cold water right out of the faucet. The water is warm coming out of the faucet in Yuma. Not surprising since it’s desert.

~A real nice mattress to sleep on. He’s been living in a hotel for 9 months.

~A house to move around in with more then 2 rooms.

5. TACO NIGHT! We had the whole family sitting around the table last night for Tacos. It was real good. We got to hear lots of stories from Dan and get caught up a bit.

Dan will be heading to Eastern Washington for his full-time job next week so we’ll enjoy a few more days with him before he heads out. It’s good to have him in the same state now with the opportunity to see him on some weekends in the future. We’re having our Thanksgiving meal early this year (on Sunday) so we can enjoy it all together.

I’ll hop around for some visits now before Dan wakes up and before ZUMBA!

6. I’m cheating with one more. Here’s a quote Dear sent me this week that I wanted to share.

“We have placed too much hope in political and social reforms, only to find out that we were being deprived of our most precious possession: our spiritual life.” – Speech to the Graduating Class of 1978 at Harvard by Alexander Solzhenitsyn

FFF ~ It’s all about Hope!

It’s time for Friday’s Fave Five. Please visit Susanne at Living to Tell the Story to join in or visit more favorites.

Our little Miss Hope wasn’t named that randomly but because she was the result of the hope my brother and my SIL had for her to be born. My brother didn’t have hope of being married a few years back and I’m sure the hope of having a child of his own was off his radar. BUT ~ our God is a God of hope and because of His great mercy and love gave Leonard and Mandy a gift from Him and they named her Hope! Leonard and Mandy married in their 40’s, a first marriage for both of them. They’ve been married for 4 years and little Miss Hope will be 3 in January. Last Thursday we flew to Dallas to have a visit with Leonard, Mandy and Hope. My favorites for this week are…

1. Seeing Miss Hope warm up to us over the course of our time there. At the beginning she only wanted to sit with mommy at the dinner table but soon she decided it would be fun to sit by Dear and me.

2. Watching Miss Hope and her lack of fear at gymnastics.

3. Having several good meals around the table with Leonard, Mandy and Hope.

4. Being able to have good conversations with Leonard and Mandy.

5. Every morning Dear was up first, then Hope, then the rest of us. Dear would be stationed on one of the couches in the family room with his back to the arm of the couch and legs stretched out on the couch reading. On the first morning Hope came out and saw Dear there and ran back to daddy and mommy’s room. By Sunday Hope decided when she got up that she would grab a book and sit on the couch opposite Dear with her back to the arm of the couch and legs stretched out on the couch and read. Too Cute!!

Hope to get around soon and see your favorites from this past week!!

Habitats…

While at the Dallas zoo with my brother, SIL, and niece there was lots of chatter about habitats.

It really is more pleasant to see an animal in it’s natural surroundings even if those surroundings are man made. The zoo’s newest addition was Giants of the Savannah. Both my brother and SIL spent some time in Africa last year on a mission trip and were excited to see this part of the zoo.

It was a fun challenge to keep up with the Little Miss…

We took a ride on the Safari Monorail to see some more habitats.

This reminded little Miss of the Pocahontas story.

So many interesting animals to see. After we had our monorail ride we saw some feathered friends.

Our last stop was the children’s zoo and a ride on the pony!

Be On the Alert!

1 Peter 5:6-10 (English Standard Version)

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.

I took these photos at the Dallas Zoo this past Friday. I was happy they were in an enclosed area. They look docile in these photos but we all know we would be their prey in the wilderness.

Hope your Tuesday is starting off well. As usual I’m trying to get my bearings re-established after being away…

Can’t resist…

…showing some more photos of little princess, Miss Hope!

My brother took these photos. We had a wonderful time in Dallas. We enjoyed being there for the excitement the state experienced with the Rangers winning against the Yankees! We got to see tornado warnings flash across the TV screen during college football. We heard the loudest thunder and saw some great lightning flashes. I’m again posting this from 30,000 feet in an airplane. We are almost over Pocatello, Idaho. My battery is just about done so I’ll catch up with everyone later on when I get home!

The Princess ~

We found out that there is a Princess party that Miss Hope is invited to on Sunday so I’ll be tagging along with my camera and I’ll be able to capture some clearer shots of her in her princess gown. We were at the Dallas Zoo today and I’ll post more photos next week.

The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b.

To honor and encourage

Tag Archives: Travel