Category Archives: Colville

Farewell to February Hodgepodge

March is coming, Hodgepodgers, and Joyce From This Side of the Pond is giving us a little tease. I’m posting this a day early because I’ll be busy until the evening of the 25th. I’ll be visiting y’all then.
My photos from Washington D.C. are all from a visit in May of 2011.
1. America celebrates turning 250 years old this year. Primary cities set to lead the celebrations on July 4th are Boston, Philadelphia, New York, and Washington D.C. Other significant locations for celebrating will be Charleston SC and the ‘historic triangle’ which includes Jamestown-Williamsburg-Yorktown Virginia. 

Of the cities listed how many have you seen in person?

I’ve had the privilege to visit Boston, New York and Washington D.C.

Of the cities listed which would you most like to visit this year?

I’d love to visit Charleston S.C. or Williamsburg some day.

Any plans to do so?

Not at the present.

What’s one place in America you think everyone should see?

Washington D.C. because there is so much history documented there and so much to see and enjoy.

If you’re not American what’s one place in the US you’d like to see? 

2. Three sounds you love to hear? 

I love to hear “hello mom” or  “baba!” I love the sound of any music that is honoring to God and lovely in general. I also enjoy pure natural nature sounds like birds and other animals or water flowing, etc.

3. Three sounds you hate to hear? 

Loud nonstop cussing. The screeching of brakes. Smoke alarms.

4. February 24th is/was National Tortilla Chip Day.

Are you a fan?

yes

With salsa, guacamole, queso, or just plain please?

Salsa and guacamole, please

Do you like nachos? With what on top?

Nachos are okay but not what I prefer to order or make.

Is there anything (besides nachos) you make that calls for tortilla chips? 

Taco salad is good to have with chips.

5. We March into March with next week’s Hodgepodge…what’s one thing on your March calendar that makes you smile? 

I cannot choose just one!

The following selfie is from this past Sunday, the 22nd of February.

Two March birthday girls, the oldest and the youngest girls in our family!

We have so much to smile about in March. In March we will visit Budapest and embark on a river cruise with stops in  Hungary, Slovakia, Austria, and a bus trip to the Czech Republic, too,  and then we will end our international trip in Cambridge U.K.

We travel home from London on my birthday and then our family will gather to celebrate our granddaughter’s birthday which is in March, too. Whew!

And for the record the 14th of March marks my 75th birthday on this earth! We will be at airports and on airplanes for all of my birthday. I will count it all joy!

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

I didn’t think I’d be able to participate this week in the Hodgepodge but we’ll be hunkered in a hotel room this evening and I’ll have the time to participate. This won’t be the case for the next two Wednesdays. Cheers!

One more photo from Washington D.C. This is the Washington National Cathedral.

Weekend Recap

Hello Monday and hello to the last week of February!

I took this selfie on the way home from church on Sunday. We watched the USA-Canada Men’s Hockey game before church and we were happy for the historic win for the USA men. I decided to wear my USA jacket to church as a nod to the Hockey team. I love that Addy leaned over to get into the selfie!

Congratulations to all the participants in the Winter Olympics!

I’m adding a couple of photos from my archives taken in Milan in March of 2013.

The soccer stadium in Milan.

Have a great week!

Currently

I’m enjoying the sun on the snow and how it sparkles.

The snow crown on the bird bath caught my eye. I like it even better with the sunshine on it.

Before our snowfall I got some shots of Quail. They love our Silver Spruce Bush.

When we step out on our deck at times upwards of twenty quail will fly out of that bush!

It wasn’t planned but when JJ arrived on Monday afternoon, his mom mentioned we were twins and needed to take a photo!

Today is Women’s Bible study morning and I made some Date Nut loaves to slice and share with the ladies. I’ll share the recipe and photos if they turned out good.

Before I close off this post I’m going to give you some unsolicited advice.

Do not buy furniture with a black finish if you do not like to dust! 

If you are under 60, celebrate the fact that you can still get up off the ground easily.

When I have to kneel down it is a major event for me to get up again.

Enjoy the rest of the week!

Triple Tuesday!

We’ve got the trifecta of celebrations happening here for this jam packed Tuesday.

There’s Fat Tuesday/Mardi Gras and Pancake Tueaday/Shrove Tuesday and this year it is also Chinese New Year/Lunar New Year!

Here is how I’m melding all these celebrations tonight.

Our dining room table is set for company we are having this evening. I pulled out the Chinese souvenirs I bought in San Francisco’s China Town back in 2016.

Our menu’s nod to the Chinese New Year will be Egg Drop Soup for our starter course.

My nod to Mardi Gras and the Fat Tuesday are my fleur de lis napkin rings.

Wanting to also fit in the Pancake Tuesday tradition, for dessert we are having ‘Russian Pancakes’ or better known as Blintzes.

I mentioned yesterday that there was talk of snow. We ended up getting a good 4 inches of snow on Monday!

It’s melting already.

These two sent me a selfie with the Vintage Valentine Day Cards I sent them.

The love continues!

The Irish Dancers that our Addy is part of are dancing tonight in town at a Mardi Gras celebration.

Are you giving a nod to any of these celebrations?

 

Weekend Re-Cap

On Valentine’s Day, these two cuties arrived at our door with their mom to deliver some Chocolate Covered Strawberries. They were making the rounds to their loved ones. So very thoughtful. They were delicious.

Our family exchanged greetings via texts. Greg and I enjoyed steaks off the Traeger for our Valentine Day Meal.

These were some of our views on the way to church on Sunday morning.

When the interesting bank of fog/low clouds burned off we had a beautiful Sunshine filled day. We received photos from the Western side of our State and we reciprocated with photos from the Eastern side.

From Kirkland where sunglasses were a must to Colville where sunglasses were optional.

Being out of doors was a welcomed treat.

The blue sky and sunshiny views were so appreciated! Thank you, Lord!

Our daughter sent a photo of her latest hair color just in time for Valentine’s day.

It’s the start of the third week of February already. Time is flying. Five more weeks of Winter! Maybe I’ll have some snow photos to share this week if the predictions are correct.

Hope all is well in your corner of the world.

Super Weekend Re-Cap

On Saturday I pulled out a few Valentine goodies to decorate with, inside and outside.

Saturday afternoon we headed into downtown Colville to the yearly Awana Grand Prix.

Super Sparkle was Addy’s car.

The Bullet was JJ’s car. It’s the slick grey with gold tip. Both cars did better this year than last year in the races.

Addy’s car got a second place for design.

She was pleased.

On Sunday at church this handmade Valentine was in our box. Thank you to the anonymous giver! I appreciate the thought and encouragement!

Our family in Colville in the Seattle area and family in Texas were rooting on the Seahawks in the Super Bowl.

We watched the Seahawk/New England Patriots game live but for the halftime show we switched to Turning Point USA’s All American Half time show!

I’m using these flashback photos to say Congratulations to the Seattle Seahawks for winning the Super Bowl in an overwhelming fashion!! Well done, Defense!!

Looking forward to this new week with some family time ahead and a special baby shower at our church on Saturday.

Thankful

Some things I’m thankful to God for on this Thursday…

We had some nice clear weather for our safe trip to Spokane and back again. It was also warm enough to shop without a coat to and from the car. We detoured from our usual route home and stopped in Elk for lunch. From Elk we drove on backroads to Loon Lake and then north again to Colville.

This stoplight in the town of Chewelah south Colville is the one light we encounter for over 50 miles as we traveled! Once we get to Colville we encounter one more signal before we reach our home.

One of our stops in Spokane was at Trader Joe’s. They had loads of tulips for sale. I chose the 10 stem option for $6.99. Twenty stems were $12.99. I love tulips! God created so many different flowers for us to enjoy.

We stopped at Hobby Lobby for Valentine Day goodies, HomeGoods to replace a large casserole dish, (One of mine got a crack in it) TJMaxx for a baby shower gift, and before we finished up at Costco for gasoline and some other necessities we went through the new car wash across the way from Costco. What a treat to have a clean car!

Our Winter Women’s Bible Study starts today. I’m looking forward to studying about Heaven, When Faith Becomes Sight, with other women in our church.

Posting this a little later than usual. What are you thankful for today?

 

Changes

Sometimes it just takes a little change to brighten your prospect.

This past weekend we decided to do a little jimmying of our furniture to see how we’d like it. Of course as soon as the huge heavy sofa was moved, the rug had to be moved, tables had to be moved, lights had to be moved and wall art went to more suitable locations.

I’m adding a daytime photo of the room after this post was published. I’ll share a couple more on my Hodgepodge post, tomorrow.

In total bloggy fail, I did not take a before photo.

We are happy with the change in that it gives us regular sitters a new prospect around the room and to the outside. We are looking forward to a full house to see how our ‘people’ like the changes.

Our ‘littles’ who aren’t so little anymore gave the room a thumbs up!

It was JJ’s afternoon yesterday while Addy was at Irish dance. He looked in the refrigerator and announced to me that he was making guacamole. He had the avocados out and said “Baba, I need onion powder and lime juice, and a little salt, please.”

“I don’t think we have any chips so you’ll have to use crackers.” He was good with that. He did end up having a favorite of the two crackers. Note to Baba.

I’m happy that our grands can come up with good snacks and have kitchen skills that will serve them well.

How is February starting off for you?