Stained Glass Blue Monday

 It is time for BLUE MONDAY!!

I am back again after I don't know how long for Blue Monday.

Today I have Stained Glass Rhapsody in Blue.

 My cousin made these for my aunt and uncle.

They have them hanging in a window that does not have a curtain.

 They hang in the same window side by side.

We were at their house the day after Christmas to celebrate the marriage of my cousin and his new wife.

They had gotten married in July and came to California for a reception to celebrate with California family and  friends.

When we went I already had one cataract surgery but the other yet. So driving at night was still uncomfortable for me. My niece and nephew are both driving now and I had planned to have one of the drive us all home. So how do I choose which one to drive home. 

Solution: I had the niece drive us there and the nephew drive us home. They both did well, but did give them driving advice like which lane to be in and keep a comfortable distance from the car in front of us.

The above picture I took on the way home coming down a steep hill looking over the San Francisco Bay. If you look carefully in the distance, you can see the Golden Gate Bridge.

I am linking up with Sally over at Smiling Sally 

for Blue Monday

Happy Blue Monday!

Linnea

Random 5 Friday (again)

This is hosted by A Rural Journal.

What are my Random 5 for the week?

1.

We have been having warm afternoons this week. Today it got up into the 70's and I even opened a couple of windows! However, it does cool off quickly and when it does I need to get to it and close up the windows again. Temps still drop in to the 30's during the night.

2.

Thursday the 16th is the anniversary of the deaths of both of my grandfathers. My dad's father died Jan 16, 1966. And my mother's father died Jan 16, 1997. How often does that happen? And then this year my sister-in-law's grandmother died yesterday (the 16th). Something about the 16th I guess in this family.
This picture is of my dad's parents. My Swedish Grandparents.

3.
 My other grandparents are my Finnish Grandparents. Here is the picture of them.

This is when they were first married in 1928.
Sadly both are gone now. Of course if all of my grandparents were living, all would be way over 100 years old by now. Sweet memories I have of them.

4.

Also on Jan 16, I had the second of my two cataract surgeries. It is taking a bit to get used to being without glasses. I keep pushing up non-existent glasses. Ha! I do find that I already need reading glasses. Got some at the drug store on my way home that day.

5.

In the meantime, we are facing a drought. Not a fun thing to go through.  Anyone have rain? Send all the rain you can to California we need it desperately. Time to think about things that don't need as much water. A succulent garden is appealing to me. I hope I can get a start on creating an interesting one.

Hope everyone has a  great week.

Linnea

Random 5 Friday

I discovered a meme I had not seen before. Sounds interesting to post 5 random things that could be about anything really. I think I will give this a go. The actual name is "Random 5 Friday". Hosted by "A Rural Journal".

(1) In October we took a trip to see Yosemite. That was the plan anyway. But plans changed since we went during the Government shutdown and Yosemite was closed during that time.

But we were able to ride the train on the Sugar Pine Railroad.

This buiding is where you buy your tickets plus a store to purchase other things as desired.

Then we asked another passenger on the train to take our picture.

This is the latest on of us.  

(2) Sometimes I manage to take the time to get some pictures along my commute to and from work. These were taken before the time change so it was late afternoon sun here which provides interesting lighting over the vineyards. Especially pretty that day. After the time change I was driving home in the dark more often than not. Fall colors make for pretty pictures!

(3) I have picked up my flute again after however many years since the last time I played. I now go to band rehearsals at church. Then I had to stop driving at night. (more about that further down), so I ended up missing my flute, the fun with the other band members, and just plan fun just by being there. I did a solo on my flute accompanied by the piano/organ. There were still notes I was not able to play. Took advantage of the down time to to have my flute repaired. Three pads needed replacing and some tightening was done. I was amazed at the difference. I can get more notes and it sounds so much better.

(4) 2013 was the year of the eyes for me. In the spring I noticed that I was seeing doubles or more of lights while driving. Then in June I got my eyes checked and had a prescription change. But when I picked up my glasses I discovered I could not read with them. Back I go to the eye doctor and asked if the bifocal part was put in my new glasses. They said yes. So that had me come in on Saturday (this place is open on Saturdays) Rechecked my eyes and could not match the prescription to the one that was just made. Went back a week later and still could not get a match. Went back 2 weeks later, still no match. So he looked through the microscope at my eyes and told me that my cataracts are growing by leaps and bounds and would probably need cataract surgery before the end of the year. He told me to come back in two months. Back I went in September and by then it was bad enough my insurance would cover most of the surgery.

(5) Had my first cataract surgery on December 12. Two days after my 57th birthday. It was definitely and interesting experience as I watched the old lens being taken out and the new one come in. It has been over three weeks and I am still not seeing distance like I would like. I am told it takes a while to settle in. The other eye was supposed to be done on Jan 2, but was postponed until Jan 16th due to family emergency for the one doing the surgery. Not the one who examined my eyes in the first place. In the meantime I wear my glasses with the lens popped out for the eye that already had the surgery.

Whew!

Linnea

Outdoor Wednesday

Wow! It has been a long time since I posted! I thought I would jump back in with an Outdoor Wednesday post. Sometimes when it is just too hot we take a drive out towards the coast to cool off. The date was June 29th and it was HOT in our area at that time. A good day to take a drive. We decided to head over to Point Reyes area. And it was definitely cooler there and worth the drive!

When you get there, people park in a lot that is about a 1/2 mile from the lighthouse area. We were lucky to find a parking spot as many other people had the same idea as us to escape the heat. I could not find my camera so these pictures are from my cell phone camera. Not bad actually.

My knees give me troubles and I needed to rest. There was bench to sit on to rest and admire the view. This is the view and.....

This is us looking at the view. It was very, very windy. I felt like my hair was blowing away and hubby had to hold on to his hat! After a rest we continued on the rest of the way to the lighthouse.

In California you can see a lot of this where the layers of the earth are visible. A result from long, long ago and the mountains were being pushed up and the valleys were being formed.

The lighthouse is way down there. 300 steps down and 300 steps back up! We have been down this before several years ago with our daughter and I barely made it then. With my knees acting up, we decided I better not try taking the stairs down there. A lot of adventurous and in better shape than me people did take the steps down. And back. You have to come back up.

Instead we did this, watched people and the whale. Hubby, in the hat, was watching a whale that surfaced frequently to blow through her blow hole. We are not sure if it was a she, but people where yelling "thar she blows" each it happened. It was fun. And I had a chance to chat with a lady who was  hosting 2 students from France. She did not take the stairs down, but the students did. She told me they are young and full of energy, they can take the stairs. 

I cropped this picture several times to get it to this. That is the whale. Made me wish I had my camera. Darn me for leaving it at home.

Here is the view of the lighthouse. And if you look carefully you can see a bench, resting area just to the right of the stairs. There are two of them. I had to use those last time we went. 

See, they warn you about the stairs to make sure you are capable of doing it. Don't want to get stuck down there and not be able to climb back up again.

Found this growing out of the rock walls on the walk back to the car which was another 1/2 mile. I would say we still got our exercise in even without the descent and climb to and from the lighthouse.  Perhaps next time I will be in better shape. I have been swimming a lot for exercise. I am hoping it helps me knees feel better.

We continued on with our drive until we figured it had cooled off some. It was still hot by the time we got home, but not as bad and eventually we were able to cool the house down by opening the windows and turning on the fans.

Stay cool,

Linnea

Linking up with A Southern Daydreamer for Outdoor Wednesday. 

P.S. I looked everywhere for my camera and never did find it. I had last used it the night before at a concert. I'm afraid I lost it there and it was never found. Fortunately, I had already uploaded the pictures except for the ones taken that night.

 In the meantime I got a new camera! Still getting used to it. And the next post I do will probably be pictures from the new one.

Remembering the Victims of Newton, Connecticut

Today at church there was a few moments of silence before the start of the service and then a hymn of Lament was sung. Following are the words to that hymn. It was very difficult for me to sing. All I could do was follow along.

*********************************************************************************

In Deepest Night

In deepest night, in darkest days,

when harps are hung, no songs we raise,

when silence must suffice as praise, 

yet sounding in us quietly

there is the song of God.

When friend was lost, when love deceived,

dear Jesus wept, God was bereaved;

wo with us in our grief God grieves,

and round about us mournfully

there are the tears of God.

When through the waters winds our path,

around us pain, around us death:

deep calls to deep, a saving breath,

and found beside us faithfully

there is the love of God.

Text: Susan Palo Cherwien

Music:Thomas Pavlechko

~Linnea

Secret Santa Soiree

I participated in the Secret Santa Soiree again this year. Colorado Lady was our host again. I posted about it on my Craft blog this time. You may click here to see it. It was a fun exchange and I love the items I received.

Linnea