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All these photos were taken at Butchart Gardens this past week. The beauty in the center is our daughter Katie! :0)
To see more mosaics visit Mary at Little Red House.
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.
It’s time to visit Susanne at Living to Tell the Story to join in the fun of remembering our favorites from this past week.
At the very top of the list is the good extended time we’ve had with our kids this past week. We had meals together, went to church together, traveled to Canada together, enjoyed sporting events together, and cared for each other.
On Tuesday when Dear, Katie and I traveled to Vancouver Island and back we saw a great Sunrise and Sunset.
Finding great places to eat when we’re traveling is a favorite thing of mine! We really enjoyed our eating adventures on Vancouver Island and back home, too.
Seeing signs that remind us of good books we’ve read is always fun.
Enjoying all of God’s creation intensified in a beautiful garden and out on the waterways…
Looking forward to seeing all your favorites from this past week!
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.
Welcome to Friday’s Fave Five where we look back over the last week and remember our favorite things. Please visit the lovely Susanne in Canada at Living to Tell the Story to join in the fun!
Even though it’s hard to think about anything but the heat here in the Pacific Northwest I’m pushing myself to change the subject a little. So onward and upward to my favorites from this past week.
1. On Saturday after reuniting with my walking buddies on our 6 mile walk Jody and Dave picked me up for a West Coast Reception for a friend of ours who got married on the East Coast in June. It was so much fun to see former church friends that we hadn’t seen for a while and to catch up a little. It felt like a 10 year reunion.
2. On Sunday I met my kids at their church and went out for brunch afterwards with them and Grandma Wilma to the Maltby Cafe, home of the ginormous cinnamon rolls. Josh and Laura spent the rest of the afternoon at our house and it is always so much fun to listen to the fun and laughter the 4 of our kids have over a board game. This time they pulled out Risk.
3. The heat came in and my absolute favorite thing has been our fans!! I know it’s hard for people from hotter regions to understand our whining about the heat but because of our more typical mild climate very few homes in Washington have air conditioning. The other cooling favorites have been Popsicles! Today I bought an inflatable mattress to put in the basement so I can sleep more comfortably down where it is generally 10 -15 degrees cooler. Of course I looked just like this model on the bed last night…LOL!
4. I have also enjoyed planning a whirlwind trip for my husband, daughter and me to Vancouver Island next Tuesday. I like planning and investigating the details for a trip.
5. Tonight Dear arrives from Southern California. We will enjoy the next 2 weeks in the Northwest together and then we will drive back to Southern California together on August 15th. I’m looking forward to our time together here.
6. My extra favorite is all the fun hours I’ve had leisurely shopping at Goodwills here who have very good air conditioning. I’m going to blame my purchases this week on the unbearable heat!!
Good news! I woke up this morning cold in the basement and went upstairs to my bedroom at 5:00 am and crawled into bed and even covered up with the blanket to get warm!! There’s a cool breeze blowing this morning and the house is all cooled down, yippee!
Have a wonderful weekend everyone!
When I woke up today and wondered what day of the week it was it dawned on me that I forgot all about Friday’s Fave Five. Scramble, scramble here we go. Thank you Susanne for helping me keep my days straight! Visit Living to Tell the Story for more favorites or to join in.
1. On Sunday I was still in Southern California and Dear and I met his brother and wife for a birthday brunch at the Tam O Shanter in L.A. We don’t get together very often with T and C and it was fun to catch up a bit and enjoy a good meal together. Turning 60 is a very good excuse for a nice meal.
2. On Monday Willow and I were able to get a early morning walk in and it was hot, hot, hot already. It was good to catch up since we hadn’t walked for a couple weeks. What a surprise to see the Jacarandas still blooming.
3. Monday evening I flew to Seattle in a smaller plane where the seats were closer together and smaller then usual (is that’s possible?) but I had a window seat and got some fun shots of Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Rainier. I arrived in Seattle to warm temps, too.
4. Tuesday evening I joined my kids and a friend at the U.S. Open Cup game at a small venue to see the Sounders beat Houston 2-1 in overtime. It was an exciting game and fun to be right on the field. Again it was very hot.
5. Making blueberry muffins with blueberries from my bush was another fun treat this week.
My daughter’s sunburn is finally in a tolerable stage and it’s good to see her feeling so much better. Wednesday was a very hard day around here. Friday is really looking up!!
Blessings and I’m looking forward to seeing what you’ve been up to.
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.
And she’s visiting me and I’m trying to keep up with her. My niece Debbee will be here till Wednesday. You probably won’t be hearing much from me till later in the week.
We are all so happy that Debbee gets to run in the Boston Marathon next April. It sure would be fun to go and cheer her on.
Debbee is gluten intolerant and was so excited when we found this gluten free bakery in Seattle. She has treats stored up in the refrigerator for her time here. She said it was like Christmas looking at all the gluten free baked goods in this shop!
We’re off to Downtown Seattle for Happy Hour at Boka’s on our way to the Mariners Baseball game. Blessings!
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.
Welcome to Friday’s Fave Five hosted by Susanne at Living to Tell the Story. This weeks favorites come from the State of Washington.
1. My first favorite was crossing the Columbia River into Washington from Oregon and knowing we had just 3 more hours to be at our home. We made the road-trip from California to Washington on Sunday. I will be in Washington for the next 6 weeks.
2. Having all our kids around the dinner table. It’s always fun to enjoy a meal together.
3. Getting the patio put together and ready for our 4th of July party.
4. My old double oven was getting questionable so we ordered a new one. It arrived on Thursday and Dear installed it. I’m going to bake some cookies on Friday to break it in and test it!
5. I love summer fruit. My favorite is a Nectarine. I’ve been enjoying some this week.
If you are living in the U.S.A. I hope you have a wonderful 4th of July.
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.
I’m joining Sally’s Blue Monday a little late this week. Visit her to see more blue. I suspect you’ll see a lot of 4th of July blue this week.
And on a personal note. We arrived to our home in the Seattle area at about 10:15 last night. As usual it will take me a couple days to get my brain back. It’s hard sometimes switching from my Southern California Brain to my Washington State Brain. The trip took us 15 hours but listening to The Prisoner of Azkaban made the hours go by quicker. The book on cd was 11 hours long. I’ll be uploading photos from the wedding and other random shots soon.
Hope all is well with everyone…
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.
Summer is coming and for some of us that means an increase in overnight guest traffic. When Dear and I moved to Washington away from both of our families we were introduced to holiday visitors. You can stress out if you want or plan to make it less stressful. Learn from our good and bad experiences.
At first we thought we had to be there for every little experience sacrificing our sanity. Then we learned to give our guests some freedom. We also learned to give them some responsibility. If someone was great at making pies, we picked blackberries for them. If someone was celebrating a birthday we made reservations at a restaurant to celebrate. Our guests have helped with car repairs and home improvement projects.
Over the years we have had very mellow go with the flow guests and some more pamper me guests whose eating patterns changed from year to year. (No fat, some fat, no sugar, only Diet Coke, no meat, only chicken, no carbs, etc. etc.) Here’s what we ended up doing. Before they ever arrived in Washington we asked them to research and decide what they’d really like to experience and what they were comfortable leaving up to us. Then we asked what their favorite breakfast cereal was and their favorite beverages. When they arrived they were shown the notes on the refrigerator.
#1 ~You are welcome to anything in my refrigerator and cupboards. Please check and see if I have the items you need to be happy. If you do not see the things here that will make you happy we will make a trip to the grocery store so you can purchase the items that will make you comfortable during your stay here.
#2 ~ I do not ask you over the course of the day if there is anything you need. You are very welcome to get whatever you need and want at any point during the day without my permission. I and my family will get a snack without asking you if you want one. If you want a snack please know that we want you to treat this like your home. Get up and get that snack you want without asking permission! If there is something you need please feel free to ask and we will hunt it down for you!
#3 ~ You can use the dishwasher, the stove, the oven, the microwave,the washing machine, the shower anytime during the day.
#4 ~ We encourage our company to participate in making at least one meal while they stay with us. While they are making the meal the rest of us will set the table and have fun creating an atmosphere to go with their menu. With my sister-in-law Letty who happens to be Hispanic we really go all out with the Mexican theme while she makes the Mexican rice, beans, salsa and Carnitas for all of us to enjoy!!
This may sound harsh to some of you but you need to know that we do make several meals and drive our company all around town to see the sights and we do enjoy all of these activities. It’s just good to have the comfort of knowing they don’t have to be cared for every minute of the day. That’s why we give them the freedom to get up and get whatever they need whenever they need it without our direction.
Being pro-active in spelling out things and squashing any unreasonable expectations will make it easier on everyone and make you welcome overnight guests over and over again…
We always look forward to out of town guests since we’ve set up guidelines for ourselves and them. There are always those who don’t need any guidelines, those who just fit in with the everyday flow.
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.
We arrived in Seattle at 10:00 pm last night. Early this morning I took a stroll through the yard to see what was blooming. My Rhodies are looking lovely and the Azaleas have finally bloomed. The ferns are getting lush. I also see a whole lot of weeding that needs to be done! It was great to wake up to birds chirping away. The sun is shining brightly now and I’m trying to decide what adventure to have today. Have a wonderful Saturday everyone!
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.
Susanne at Living to Tell the Story started Friday’s Fave Five for us to think back on our past week and remember our favorite things. Visit her by clicking above and join in…
1. On Monday I drove to my mom and dad’s to spend some time with them, my brother,SIL, and their daughter before they flew back to Texas. My cousin was there too and it was good to catch up with her.
2. Dear installed new blinds in our bedroom and I’ve really been pleased with the new feel and light in the room.
3. Dear ordered me a new lens for my big camera so I can zoom farther. Again I’m in learning curve mode. I look forward to practicing over Memorial Weekend.
4. Even though I do not have to work outside the home in this stage of my life everyday is usually filled with things I need to do. On Thursday I had a totally free day and it was fun to go to Ventura and thrift shop and site see without looking at my watch. I ate at this great Irish Pub & Restaurant called Dargan’s and I’ll be going back with Dear sometime soon.
5. Today Dear and I fly to Seattle for 5 days and this is my top favorite thing! I get to see my kids, dust my house, run the lawnmower, go to Goodwill, sleep in a Kingsize bed, walk up and down stairs all day, walk around a yard, see my kids. I’ll be practicing with my camera and new lens in the Seattle area. Hopefully I’ll have something fun to show next Friday…Lord willing.
I hope to get around to as many of you as I can before we hit the freeway to LAX. For those of you in the U.S.A. a very Happy Memorial Weekend to you.
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.
The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b. 