We don’t have to travel far to get to the Northeast Washington Fair because it is in our city of Colville. It’s about 5miles from our home. We decided to attend on Friday morning even though the smoke was thick.
Our first stop was at the Children’s Craft entries since our granddaughter had entered a watercolor painting of a bee. Seems odd to have her entry in the craft section instead of paintings but that is where we found it.
We love it, Addy! Katie says you really did well on the feet.
Our next stop was a barn at the other end of the fair where they have a variety of adult entries including quilts and we were on the lookout for our Grands’ Great Granny’s quilts.
As soon as we stepped into the barn one of her quilts caught our eyes. Granny and Granny Great love purple!
Her postage stamp quilt is amazing and we can see why she got a stack of awards!
Linda entered her mom’s quilts without her mom knowing. (Linda is our Grands’ Granny)
This is the second of three entries made on Granny Great’s behalf, Purple Mountains Majesty.
Here’s Granny Great with her third quilt entry.
I took a couple photos of other quilts we enjoyed, too.
This was a clever Washington state quilt featuring several of our eastern counties with cities.
This entry tugged at the heart as it is a photograph that this young person took of her grandparents home in 2020 for a school project and it was a casualty of the Modrite Fire on July 30, 2026. If you look at the upper right photo that is what the home looks like now.
We saw lots of cows, pigs, sheep, goats, chickens, bunnies, ducks, horses and dogs, too.
We stopped at the Colville National Forest booth and had a nice conversation with the conservationist.
Our fair is not a huge fair and it is easy to navigate. We think it’s great. On one of the days that the fair is in town they also have a rodeo that is well attended.
Tomorrow I’ll share some photos from the Fair Parade down Main Street Colville.
The will of God is always best
And shall be done forever;
And they who trust in Him are blest,
He will forsake them never.
He helps indeed in time of need
He chastens with forbearing;
They who depend on God, their friend,
Shall not be left despairing.
God is my comfort and my trust,
My hope and life abiding;
And to His counsel, wise and just,
I yield, in Him confiding.
The very hairs, His Word declares,
Upon my head He numbers.
By night and day God is my stay,
He never sleeps nor slumbers.
Lord Jesus, this I ask of Thee,
Deny me not this favor;
When Satan sorely troubles me,
Then do not let me waver.
Keep watch and ward, O gracious Lord,
Fulfill Thy faithful saying:
Who doth believe He shall receive
An answer to his praying.
When life’s brief course on earth is run
And I this world am leaving,
Grant me to say, Thy will be done,
By faith to Thee still cleaving.
My heav’nly friend, I now commend
My soul into Thy keeping,
O’er sin and hell, and death as well,
Thro’ Thee the vict’ry reaping.
On Fridays my posts will include verses that stood out in my readings from the Bible during the week. One, two, three or maybe more. If you have a verse/verses that you read during the week and would like to share, leave it/them in the comments and I will add it/them to the post. Let’s continue to dig deep into God’s truth.
The verses that you share are appreciated and so encouraging, I’m thankful for them and for each of you.
1 John 4:7-12
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loves us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.
From Vera:
Isaiah 58:11 ESV
“And the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.”
From Debby Marie:
There were two that stood out to me. And especially what is going on in Nepal.
James 1:2-3
“My brethren count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.”
And 1Peter 1:6-7
” In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
Prayers that our brothers and sisters in Christ in Nepal/Tibet/China will endure the suffering and that many will be saved during this crisis.
From Karen:
Matthew 5:16
Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
Tonight will be the final game for our short summer soccer season. There were fewer practices and games this season because of all the wildfires in our area which caused unhealthy air quality. Congratulations to our Grands for a well played season and to our son who coaches well.
This week the air was clear and we had games Monday through Thursday. Two games each for our ‘Grands’.
While at the game on Wednesday night, the water bucket helicopters were still hard at work helping with the fires that are not contained yet.
The Wednesday game was later than usual so we got the bonus of seeing the sunset on our way home.
After the game tonight, our folding chairs will be back in storage until the next season.
When I went to link up this morning for the Hodgepodge we had the news from Joyce that her dear Mama passed away earlier this week. Our hearts and prayers are with you, Joyce, and with your whole family.
1. How do you feel about the transition from lazy summer days to a busier fall routine?
I’ve always loved the transition from summer to fall. Even the years I was in school, I welcomed with excitement going back. These days I enjoy the fact that Ladies Bible studies will start up again and there will be more order in our days. I enjoy Fall weather and Fall events like cider fest and the corn maze.
2. Your favorite cookie?
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I like homemade Loaded Chocolate Chip Cookies with oatmeal, walnuts, almonds, and sometimes coconut!
I use the toll house recipe and load them up with extras.
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3. What’s something you’ve learned from a culture different than your own?
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I grew up in Southern California just outside East Los Angeles and the neighborhoods we lived in were multi cultural with Mexicans, Jews, Russians, Armenians, Japanese, Scots, and Heinz 57 Americans. I included Scots, although I only first heard of anyone who was Scottish in 5th grade when Karen’s parents moved to Montebello and she was introduced as a new student in our class. I was enthralled with her from the start and she taught me a few Scottish dance moves that we shared with the class for show and tell. I think we sang a song, too, The Bonnie Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomand.
Apart from the great food we enjoyed in the homes of my friends from these cultures, I learned about the Jewish custom of coming of age.
A bar mitzvah and a bat mitzvah are both Jewish coming-of-age milestones. A bar mitzvah (“son of commandment’) marks the religious maturity of a boy at the age 13, while a bat mitzvah (daughter of the commandment) marks the religious maturity of a girl, traditionally at age 12.
I was invited to one of my Jewish friends Bat Mitzvah and I was blown away by the lavishness of the celebration!
These are my multi-cultural Cheer friends from my high school at a Russian dinner at my house before a football game. (My Scottish friend from 5th grade, Karen, is the one with the rollers in her hair). We would have a meal at a different Cheer members home before Varsity games. They are eating borsch. That was just one of the food items my mother prepared for them. I think I see piroshky on the table, also. After the meal we would all get our cheer clothes on and head to the game for a night where we would work off every calorie we ate at dinner!
This is one of my best buddies from school days, Nanc. I spent a lot of time in her home where I learned how to make guacamole and we learned every popular Leslie Gore song by heart. Her parents brought me along to Mexican restaurants with them and to the downtown wholesale fashion district for shopping. Growing up, my family did not eat in restaurants so that was an eye opening experience all its own. Her dad drove a Volkswagon Square back and we spent many miles in that little car. One summer when she got back from visiting her uncle who was a jeweler in Mexico City she gifted me the ring below that he made for me.
While we were living in Camarillo for a short time Nanc and I reconnected online and we met up a couple of times for meals and to catch up on life. The photo above is of one of our meet ups. I hadn’t seen her for 40 years! There is a long story about that…
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4. Food critic, film critic, book critic, art critic…which hat would you most like to wear? Tell us why.
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Of these choices I’d choose the Food Critic hat because I love to travel and I love to try new restaurants and eat good food. I’d have a hard time writing bad critiques, though. I’ll just choose to be a traveler and enjoy trying new food in different places and being satisfied.
I’m not a film buff, or the reader of a variety of genres, and I’m definitely not artsy.
5. What’s a small, random thing from your childhood that you still remember clearly?
This will give you a little insight into my character. I remember hiding from my mother and father on Saturday mornings because I did not want to go to Russian School. When they found me, I would stomp my feet and say, “I’m an American!”. Well that didn’t work. In my latter years I was thankful to have learned the Russian alphabet and to learn to read and write in Russian.
To say “I am American” in Russian, use Я американец (if you are male) or Я американка (if you are female). If you want to say “I am from America” or “from the USA,” you can say Я из Америки or Я из США.
Я американка, Yah Amereekanka, I am American.
6. Insert your own random thought here.
These questions pulled up a lot of memories from my past.
On summer mornings I walk out to turn the oscillating sprinkler on to water our planters. The faucet that the sprinkler is connected to is further away from the house. When I walked back on this particular morning last week I took some photos.
I wish you could hear the birds serenading and the quail warning signals that a human was about.
Can you see the reflection of me still in my summer robe?
These last two photos are afternoon photos after yard work. I do the mowing on the riding lawn mower and Greg does the weed wacking. When I’m done mowing there is a set up to wash the undercarriage of the mower which takes 5 minutes with me sitting on the mower for the process. I took the photo above from my mower perch. If you squint, you can see Greg on the left walking with a white bucket.
After yard work if the deck is still in the shade we cool down with some iced cold water and we thank the LORD for being able to get the job done yet again.
Just after midnight Saturday we had a thunderstorm roll through with lots of lightning bursts and a downpour. It was welcomed. Some from our church got their power knocked out. Ours only went out long enough to have to reset the oven clocks!
As I type this Sunday afternoon we hear more rumblings in the distance. Hopefully more rain is coming. We have a new fire 30 miles from us that is thankfully being managed well. More rain will be welcomed.
We are entering the last week of August and already there are more events on the calendar. Hope you all have a good week.
This is a quick easy bread to make using Bisquik or another pancake and baking mix
Ingredients:
1 egg
3/4 cup of sugar
1- 1/2 cups milk
3 cups Bisquik mix
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
3/4 cup finely chopped almonds
3/4 cup blueberries
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Prepare a 9x5x3 inch loaf pan by greasing it.
Beat the egg and add the sugar beating until well combined.
Add the milk and Bisquick mix and beat well.
Stir in almonds and almond extract.
Carefully blend in blueberries.
Pour batter in prepared loaf pan.
Bake for 50 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean, ovens vary so check at 45 minutes. Cool in pan for about 10 minutes and then remove from pan onto wire rack to continue cooling. Slice and enjoy.
The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b. 