Veteran's Day, Dungenness River Railroad Bridge Park, Friendly Village, Cranberry Orange Almond Bread

Today is Veteran's Day... a day to remember all those who have served and/or given their lives for the freedom we enjoy.

Always November 11th because the end of World War I was signed on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918.... and is used as a day of remembrance for all services and conflicts since then....

We remember and thank you.

On a lighter note... 

And because of fall... here is Friendly Village transferware by Johnson Brothers, England from the 1960s by the mark which has changed over the years denoting changes to age and place of manufacturing....

Friendly Village is one of the 10 most famous china patterns..
This design is called The Ice House. There are lots of different patterns in the set, and all so attractive.

And always fun with this hand colored on transferware design, no 2 pieces are ever exactly the same, as each is hand painted on the transfer by an artist. This set actually, has some of the most vivid coloring I have seen in this pattern.

Perfect for a holiday tea party!

Our kids are here and at a bit of a loose end, as they are waiting for their escrow to close on their property on the 15th, so we decided to take them to a favorite place in town for a walk... Dungenness River Railroad Bridge Park.

The Dungenness River as a major and picturesque river here in Sequim, that runs out of Olympic Mountains of Olympic National Park to the Strait of Juan de Fuca...

the photos below are from 2013, from a blog post I did....

There used to be a branch line railroad from 1915 until the early 1980s from what is now Olympic National Park and Olympic National Forest here, bringing timber to Dungeness Spit on Sequim Bay. It was rescued from dereliction and became a land trust and has been renovated to include a wonderful park incorporated into the Olympic Discovery Trail, and also houses the Audubon Society headquarters, the Dungeness River Audubon Center.

The fall foliage of the heavy vegetation here by the Dungeness River was lovely. It was overcast, with a few showers, but lovely for a post lunch walk...

One of our favorite areas is the park namesake, the Railroad Bridge, an old railroad trestle bridge converted to a bridge for foot and bike traffic, and a part of the Olympic Discovery Trail, that covers 130 miles across the top of the Olympic Peninsula from Port Townsend to the coast by Forks.

That's my Honey in the hat, and son and daughter in law up ahead...

We always loved walking there, lots of wonderful fall leaves and local resident Eagles, deer, otters, salmon, herons and all sorts of critters.

Then we had a major rain and wind storm in 2015....

This is a drone shot from our local newspaper of the bridge after the storm clouds cleared... can you see that the left hand portion of the bridge is all but missing? The left half lost the superstructure of the wooden trestle and the right hand section lost most the piers supporting it due to the massive windfall trees that washed down from the park and collided with the bridge.

Yesterday, with our daughter and son in law, was the first we had seen the new structure that opened last year after being completely rebuilt. It now has a concrete deck and an extremely strong foundation. The old historic wooden piers, deck and superstructure are gone, which is very sad, but it is good to get back to a favorite place and introduce it to our kids. They loved it!

So, life moves on...

And we are celebrating with tea here, as the kids will be close much of the year. An answer to prayer.

They may not think so, as they asked if anything needed doing and so they fixed my husband's slow draining sink!

And having the kids around is a great excuse to bake! I needed flour, and bought a bag of a favorite Whole Wheat Pastry Flour from Bob's Red Mill... an independent organic miller in Oregon we found while living in Ashland, Oregon before moving here to Sequim, Wa. 
On the bag was a recipe for Cranberry Orange Almond Bread, so I made that!

And was quite happy how it turned out. I substituted plain yogurt for the buttermilk, as that was what I had in hand...

And certainly fit right in with my Friendly Village plates!

Thanks for joining me, and have a lovely week!