A couple Saturdays ago I walked with the Wonder Walkers group from church at Evans Creek Preserve in Sammamish.
It was a good walk with several trails and some higher elevations to hike up, too.
Thankfully this was the only wildlife we saw. There are bear warnings here. We did hear lots of birds.
I’m linking up to Mosaic Monday with Maggie at Normandy Life.
We had a couple events this weekend, a very special birthday party and a baby shower. I’ll share photos from the birthday party soon.
On June 17th we drove up to Skagit Valley for our first walk with the Wonder Walkers, a short term summer group from our church. The summer plan is a different walk in the Puget Sound area each Saturday until the end of August.
Dear and I had never been to this part of the Valley.
The weather cooperated with us and it ended up being a walk that we didn’t need jackets for.
I should have taken my longer camera lens and the next time we go I will. That’s a Heron on top of that bare tree.
Swallow
This area borders the Skagit Bay and the Skagit River.
This is a walk we’d like to do again since our time was limited and we didn’t walk down every path.
We are about 24 hours from Summer Solstice. The sun did shine here today. I hesitated to share but I’m on another kick to drop several pounds. This time around I am not weighing myself until I see some improvement in my body profile. I was brave enough to take a photo with my phone and when things look different I’ll weigh in and go from there. That will take a while. The reality right now is just to scary for me to attach a number to by stepping on the scale. My first goal is for my jeans to be roomier. After I reach that goal I’ll set another one. Dear and I are not eating anything after 5 pm unless it’s out of our power like celebrations. We also are limiting certain treats if we don’t hit at least 4000 steps on our fitbits. We are aiming for 10,000 a day. I’m counting calories but Dear is not. You won’t hear anything else from me on this subject until I reach my goal.
Enjoy the beginning of our summer season.
Ducks at Bothell Landing taken February 10th.
Red Winged Blackbird at Juanita Bay Park in Kirkland, Washington.
I believe this is a Wood Duck. We spotted it on Juanita Bay February 11th.
This last photo is from northeastern Washington. A couple of these Grouse would come to this tree outside our son and daughter in law’s in the low light of evening and early morning. They were really enjoying the buds on the tree. It was hard to get a great shot from the window. This was taken on Tuesday morning February 28th.
Linking to Saturday’s Critters at Viewing Nature with Eileen.
We have been on a slow return to whatever might be called normal at this old house. We need to get out and have a good walk again soon. We arrived home from Eastern Washington on Wednesday. We are observing Lent which began on Wednesday. Our weekend should be relatively quiet. Hope your March is starting well.
These are some of the fences on our walking loop. Dear and I are still heading out most days for a forty minute heart pumping walk in our neighborhood. Dear is working from home these days so I’m happy to have a walking partner. It’s a good computer/reading/housework break for him and for me. We try to get out before or after the rain and sometimes walk in light rain, too.
I’m linking up with Tex*Wis*Girl for Good Fences #98.
On Wednesday I traveled to a large Asian store in Bellevue, Washington, to see if I could find some more items for our Chinese New Year Super Bowl party. I hit the jackpot and found several great additions for our party like almond cookies, fortune cookies, Tsingtao, and lucky coins. There is a Goodwill next store to the Asian Market. I was so disappointed about how overpriced several items were at Goodwill. Sheesh…a used dinner plate for $7.99…really??? I had to search long and hard to find items that were reasonably priced. Goodwill needs a wake up call. Thanks for letting me whine!
Whether they are Friday’s Fave Five with Susanne or Five on Friday with Amy here are my favorites I’m sharing this week. Some are illustrated with some photos from our time in San Francisco last week.
2. Some fun adventures finding things to decorate a Chinese New Year table in February. I bought some items in San Francisco but when returning home I realized I needed more things to pull the table together. (above photos from Chinatown San Francisco) While shopping at Goodwill I spotted…
…this! Back in 1973 when I was in England I started my china Hope Chest purchases with a tea set from England. Were you in the Hope Chest era? The pattern is Moss Rose by Royal Albert. After I was married Dear and I completed my set with a dinner service for 12 that we drove into Canada to buy. When I saw this smaller teapot and trivet at my local Goodwill I grabbed it fast. With my senior discount these pretties cost me $10!
3. Happy find while I was out and about was a Persian Bakery and a Persian restaurant in a strip mall close to our home! Just look at that fresh Barbari bread above! I grew up enjoying Persian cuisine. My parents’ families escaped out of Russia into Iran in the early 30’s. My parents spent their teen and early adult years in Persia and learned to enjoy Persian food and to cook it. My father even learned Farsi while he lived there. I’m looking forward to eating at the restaurant soon.
4. One pot meals! Tomorrow on Mennonite Girls Can Cook I’m sharing the one pot meal I made from these ingredients. Earlier in the week I made Susan’s (My Mother’s Apron Strings) Skillet Lasagna and it was delicious.
5. Since Dear has been working from home we are walking together most days of the week. It rained all night and all day yesterday so we skipped but we are determined to get out on most days and do our loop. Our walk starts on a gradual uphill before we hit the steepest part of the walk and we get our hearts pumping. Then we have another flat spell before we head downhill home. This photo is not from our neighborhood but from a lovely walk we had in England on a trip in 2014. I’m always ready to go back to scenery like this!
Here we are heading into the last weekend of January. Nothing major going on which is nice. Maybe I’ll get around to dusting! What’s up in your neck of the woods?
…instead of circling around and around.
My life right now seems a bit irregular. I’m getting things done but in a random fashion, moving from one thing to another. I’m still waiting to find a rhythm to my life in this waiting time. In the meantime I’m not fretting just observing my randomness.
Although I feel disjointed, I’m still finding contentment in beautiful things around me. I’m grateful for encouragement that comes my way daily and for the peace in the midst of randomness.
I’ve continued my walking from Monday through Friday. This week I found an old 3×5 index card spiral pack that I have several Bible verses printed in to take along with me on my walks. Something good and encouraging to read while I walk by myself. So not 21st century, though, as I don’t have those buds in my ears listening off a device. It’s still my hand held device in the written form.
I’ve been managing to get something on the table or the counter most every night for dinner and yesterday I was inspired by Pope Francis’ visit to the U.S.A. to make some Italian Cookies that I’ll share sometime soon on the Mennonite Girls Can Cook blog.
Dear and I joined a group at our church for the next 8 weeks called, Who Needs Theology?
Here’s one of the introductory thoughts shared: “Your theology -your thoughts on God-are your most important thoughts because they determine everything else in your life. If this is true, then we ought to dig deeper into what we believe and why we believe it.”
Forever, O Lord, your word
    is firmly fixed in the heavens.
Your faithfulness endures to all generations;
    you have established the earth, and it stands fast.
By your appointment they stand this day,
    for all things are your servants.
Psalm 119:89-91 ESV
Hope you have a weekend filled with contentment in your small and big accomplishments. I’m off to scrub my shower before I finally jump in it today! RANDOM!
…to get out and move has it’s benefits which are blessings!
This is part of the group of seniors that I walk the trail with on Tuesdays. I join a few of these same gals at an exercise class on Monday, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Most of this group are in their 70’s and 80’s. I’m the young chick among them.
When you get out you see God’s handiwork!
We’ve also been out working in the yard a lot this past week. My Bleeding Heart plants are coming up and blooming. Such a treat to see.
Our Forsythia bush is flaming!
Soon I’ll be able to show the before and after photos of phase two and three of our outdoor project. I’m glad we can still move after working outside shoveling and digging and tamping oh my!
My five favorites are walking, making new friends, seeing God’s handiwork, being able to work hard, enjoying the fruit of our labor! What are some of your favorites this week?
I’m joining in with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story for Friday’s Fave Five.
Last Friday I had a wonderful walk on the beach. My sister Vera lives a few blocks from Huntington Beach in Southern California and we always enjoy walking down and taking in the sea air. On this day we walked down with my brother Leonard, SIL Mandy, niece Hope, new nephew Andrew, and my sister Vera.
We were wondering how Andrew would react to the ocean waves.
Hope went in with no fear and Andrew watched from the sand.
We left my brother to enjoy watching the kids while the three of us walked along the tide line for an hour.
We walked up the beach and then down again to the pier.
Andrew kept quite busy building in the sand.
Do you live anywhere near an ocean shore? We live close to the shores of Lake Washington and a short drive to the Puget Sound but we have to travel a few hours to get to the Pacific Ocean.
…from sunny Huntington Beach, California.
This was a wonderful way to start the day. Walking along the tide line in the sand was a good workout this morning with my sister Vera and my SIL Mandy. This is my second day in Southern California and I’ll have lots to share when I get back home.
Dear and I lived in California from 2006 until 2010. These are some signs from our day and weekend trips while living there.
This was our go to Mexican restaurant in Camarillo, California.
Between Santa Barbara and Santa Ynez we stopped at the Cold Spring Tavern for breakfast. I got a kick out this sign.
I saw this sign in San Francisco.
This sign was from Willow and my weekly walks in her neighborhood.
Most Saturday mornings we’d arrive at this beach and have our beach walk. We miss our walks here.
I’m linking up to Signs Signs hosted by Lesley.
All of our children were born in California and this week we will be celebrating our oldest with a dinner together on Saturday. Our second born son will be celebrating this week with his fiance who has a birthday this week, too, in Eastern Washington. Our January is full. I’ll be traveling next week to California to celebrate our niece Hope’s 7th birthday and one of my brother’s birthdays. I’ll share photos from all the fun times we manage to enjoy! Is January full or quiet for you?
The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b. 