Author Archives: Ellen

The Weekend

On Saturday we arrived to watch our grands at 8:00am and said goodbye to their mommy and daddy at 8:30. After playing for awhile boredom set in and since it was still drizzly outside we pulled out the Play Dough for some creative endeavors.

The sun broke through so after cleaning up the dough we bundled up for some outdoor time.

Our son rigged up a way to add a second swing so JJ and Addy could swing at the same time. It’s ingenious and we enjoyed singing lots of songs like Old MacDonald, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Jesus Loves the Little Children, 6 Little Ducks, The Wiseman Built His House Upon the Rock, The B-I-B-L-E, The Muffin Man, This Little Light of Mine.

Off the swings and into the sand.

Sand is nice but mud is muddy.

We played until it was time for lunch so we kicked off as much mud as we could, washed up our hands and got lunch ready.

Hide and Seek, A non Easter Egg Hunt, pretend play in Addy’s room and then it was time for a relaxing time watching Pippa the Pig until Mommy and Daddy arrived just before nap time. We said our goodbyes and headed home with our trailer.

We decided to have an early dinner at our non-favorite Mexican Restaurant in Colville. It was fun to see a couple of our friends there and my cousin with her family. It was good to catch up with them.

Later in the day our Daughter-in-law on the Coast sent these beautiful images with the snow geese congregating in Mount Vernon, Washington State.

Thank you Laura for sharing these amazing captures with me and letting me share them.

Our Sunday was quiet. We had a guest speaker at church and then we bumped into a couple from church and had lunch with them in Kettle Falls. Home again for more quiet looking out the window at hail, snow, hail and rain. Very undecided weather. Looks like we’ll have a lot more mud to deal with for a while.

Hope your weekend was good.

When Morning Gilds the Skies ~ Hymn

Sunrise january 003

When Morning Gilds the Skies

When morning gilds the skies
My heart awaking cries:
May Jesus Christ be praised!
Alike at work and prayer,
To Jesus I repair:
May Jesus Christ be praised!

Does sadness fill my mind?
A solace here I find,
May Jesus Christ be praised!
Or fades my earthly bliss?
My comfort still is this,
May Jesus Christ be praised!

To God, the Word, on high,
The host of angels cry,
May Jesus Christ be praised!
Let mortals, too, upraise
Their voice in hymns of praise,
May Jesus Christ be praised!

The night becomes as day
When from the heart we say:
May Jesus Christ be praised!
The powers of darkness fear
When this sweet chant they hear:
May Jesus Christ be praised!

Sing, suns and stars of space,
Sing, ye that see His face,
Sing, Jesus Christ be praised!
God’s whole creation o’er,
For aye and evermore
Shall Jesus Christ be praised!

In Heav’n’s eternal bliss
The loveliest strain is this,
May Jesus Christ be praised!
Let earth, and sea and sky
From depth to height reply,
May Jesus Christ be praised!

Be this, while life is mine,
My canticle divine:
May Jesus Christ be praised!
Sing this eternal song
Through all the ages long:
May Jesus Christ be praised!

Daffodils from the Past

Back in 2010 Dear and I drove north from our former home in Kenmore Washington to see the daffodils. Neighboring fields will be full of tulips come April.

I didn’t find any daffodils in the stores yesterday. I did find a bunch of tulips but instead of bringing them home they found a different home.

We are off to grand sit. There will be lots of round and round today. Have a good Saturday.

Daffodils

Like sunflowers daffodils make me smile. I have yet to track some down this year to brighten up the house.

Maybe I’ll find some today.

March has been calm around here so far but plans are afoot for the middle of the month and beyond. Tomorrow we will be watching the grands while D & J help a friend in Spokane with a move.

I’m enjoying the senior workouts by Yes2next on Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays and I’m looking to add something different by them for Tuesdays and Thursdays. I like that the daughter\mom team have voices that are easy to listen to. I’m not a fan of loud screeching instructions.

The owl jigsaw puzzle is still on the dining room table and I’ve made some progress but it continues to be a tough one.

The electrical is mostly done in the shop and Dear has lights, lots of them. Soon he’ll start in on drywalling the ceiling. The temps have been above freezing which makes it easier to work in the shop without heat. Toe warmers and battery warming gloves also add to the comfort of working in the cold.

Other than watching our grands we will have a quiet weekend. How about you?

Truth from A to Z ~ W is for…

Here we are in the first week of March and the letter for our challenge this Thursday is W. March is the last month in this particular challenge. We’ll end with Z on the 25th of March. Next week I wanted to remind you that you can choose any verse with a word that has the letter X somewhere within the word. I’m thinking about a different challenge for the month of April so stay tuned.

W is for Whose, Word, What, Walk

Psalm 56: 9-13

This I know, that God is for me. In God, whose word I praise, in the Lord, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me? I must perform my vows to you, O God; I will render thank offerings to you. For you have delivered my soul from death, yes, my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of life.

From Maristella: So WISDOM :

“Where there is strife, there is pride,
but wisdom is found in those who take advice.”
Proverbs 13:10

“Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.”
James 3:13

“But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere”.
James 3:17

“If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.”
James 1:5

From Cheryl: W is for Walk, Wise

Ephesians 5:15, 16
“See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.”

From Vera:

WICKED, WAY, WILL

“and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
‭‭2 Chronicles‬ ‭7:14‬ ‭NASB

From Patsy:  What, Words, Walking

Like 24:17 And he said to them, “What are these words that you are exchanging with one another as you are walking.

From Happyone (Karen): W is for WAIT.

Psalms 27:14 WAIT on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: WAIT, I say, on the Lord.

Hello March Hodgepodge

If it’s Wednesday it must be Hodgepodge. Jo From This Side of the Pond is coming in like a lion with these questions for the first Wednesday in March.

1. Is March coming in like a lion where you live?

So far March is not coming in like a lion here in the northeastern corner of Washington state.

Aslan, Simba, Elsa, The Cowardly Lion…your favorite ‘famous’ lion? 

Aslan is my favorite lion introduced in the Narnia series of books by C.S. Lewis.

When a young girl from America wrote C.S. Lewis a letter asking what name Aslan used in our world, he replied:

“As to Aslan’s other name, well, I want you to guess. Has there been anyone in this world who

  1. Arrived at the same time as Father Christmas?
  2. Said he was the Son of the Great Emperor?
  3. Gave himself for someone else’s fault to be jeered at and killed by wicked people?
  4. Came to life again?
  5. Is someone spoken of as a lamb?

Don’t you really know His name in this world? Think it over and let me know your answer.” 

2. In what way do you ‘march to the beat of your own drum’? 

I don’t wait around for my dear husband to plan special events for us. I’m more of a planner and schemer and he is perfectly happy to enjoy and pay for my schemes. This has worked well in our relationship. He’s happy for most of the roads we’ve traveled because I plow ahead.

3. What item that you don’t have already, would you most like to own? Any chance of that happening soon? 

The only thing that I can come up with that seems a little alluring in times like these is a very small self contained camping vehicle. Maybe something like this…

Something that is easier to drive than a huge motorhome. There is no chance of this happening soon or ever.

4. March is National Flour Month…are you a baker? Cookies-cakes-or pies…your favorite sweet treat to bake?

I like to bake cookies and cakes…not pies.

What’s the last non-sweet thing you made that called for flour? 

Potato pancakes.

5. There are 31 days in the month of March…where were you and what were you doing when you were 31? If you haven’t hit that milestone yet, then tell us where you were and what you were doing 31 months ago? (if math is not your thing, that would be August 3, 2018)

I’ve hit that milestone 2 times over. When I was 31 our two sons were 3 and 1. I was busy being a full time mother/homemaker. We were living in our second home in Huntington Beach, California. We lived around the corner from my sister Vera and her husband Nick. They also had two children who were 6 and 4. Lots of fun cousin times happened in Huntington Beach. We all attended the same church, Huntington Beach E.V. Free. Before I was a full-time mother/homemaker I was an elementary school teacher in the Montebello Unified School District east of Los Angeles.

This photo was taken at Forest Home Christian Camp in California. We signed up for a work weekend at the camp over Mother’s Day in 1982. We worked on various projects to get the camp ready for summer camping season. Dear’s folks came up and shared a Mother’s Day lunch that the camp provided on Sunday of the weekend. I am 31 in this photo.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

Here’s a real lion. I took this photo at the zoo in Dallas, I think.

Tuesdays With Moisi ~ Holy Moses!

The Timofey and Martha Bogdanov family (Our paternal grandparents). From top to bottom left to right…Ivan Voloshin, Oxahnya (Agnes Bogdanov) Voloshin, Uncle Mike, Aunt Anna (Nura), Timofey (our Dzedushka), Martha (our Babushka), Our Pop (Moisi), Uncle Tim better known as Jim, Uncle Bill, Alex Bogdanoff (our cousin). I do not know why Uncle Alex is not in this photo.

Our Aunt Oxahnya’s (Agnes) first husband did not come to Iran with her so she ended up marrying Ivan Voloshin. Our cousin Alex was her child from her first husband who my grandparents ended up raising after Agnes died. Agnes died after giving birth to her third child in Persia. The child also died.

This was taken in the first city in Persia where Pop’s family settled in for about 3 years. Mahshett (Holy Town). Pop said that people who lived here were called Mashti as a preface to their name. Our pop was called Mashti Moosah for quite a while (Holy Moses!) This would be in the mid 1930’s.

I’m posting this for the benefit of our kids and family history.  It’s a small world as we found out after moving to Colville that one of Oxahnya’s grandchildren, our cousin lives just a few miles from us. She was named after Oxahnya. Her American name is Cindy. It has been fun to get together and connect some of the family history dots! We all grew up in Southern California and now both she and I have settled in Colville. It was Providence that we were able to connect.

Apple Pirog

In the Russian community I grew up in we called our sweet and savory sheets of yeast dough baked and filled with fruit or cabbage or meat, Pirog пиро́г (make sure to roll the r when you pronounce it).

This recipe will make enough dough for 2 small cookie sheet sized pastries. You can cut the recipe in half if you aren’t feeding a crowd or giving some away.

Dough:
1/2 cup warm water
2 packages yeast (each packet is approx. 2-1/4 teaspoons yeast)
1 tablespoon sugar
2 cups sour cream
1/2 cup soft butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons salt
about 6 cups flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Dissolve yeast in warm water with the 1 tablespoon sugar.
Warm the sour cream carefully to lukewarm.
Mix the sour cream, butter, sugar, eggs, salt, and yeast mixture.
Start adding the flour 1 cup at a time till all mixed in and your dough comes away from the bowl and starts to form a ball. You might need a little more than 6 cups of flour.
Knead the dough on a floured surface.
Place the dough in a bowl in a warm place away from draft and let it rise twice punching in between rises. This could take up to 2 hours.
Divide the dough in half. Work with one half at a time if you are filling 2 small cookie sheets.
On a floured board or surface roll the dough out to the size of your small cookie sheet (approx. 15-1/2 x 10-1/2 x 1) The dough should be 1/4-1/2 inch thickness.
Carefully transfer the dough to the prepared cookie sheet (greased) and pat the dough down to fit to the edges and up the edges.
Fill the prepared dough with your choice of filling.
Bake in 350 degree oven for approx 40 minutes or until dough is a golden brown.
Cool before cutting in small portions and serving.

Filling:
4 cups fruit – fresh, previously frozen, or canned
1 cup sugar
4 Tablespoons corn starch

Bring all the ingredients to a boil and then let cool before spreading evenly over the dough.
I added nuts on top of the filling but that is optional.
I used apple slices that I chopped into bite sized pieces.
*This filling recipe was enough for one cookie sheet of the dough. Double it if making 2 cookie sheets.

 

I had some roasted pecans and decided to sprinkle them on top before baking the Pirog пиро́г.

 The finished product. I’m a novice at baking with yeast doughs and kneading dough but slowly but surely I’m practicing my way into a comfort zone to try these recipes my mom made for larger gatherings. I’ll share some of her savory Pirog recipes in the future using a slightly different dough recipe. My mom’s Pirog usually had another layer of dough on top of the filling that was pinched to the bottom layer of dough. Then you would cut decorative slits on the upper dough before baking. She also made more decorative tops like you would on a pie with zig zag designs. 

I’m sorry that I never took photos of our mom’s creations.

My sister Vera sent me this photo of her pirog that she added the top to. Thank you Vera! This sheet pie/pirog was made with Apricot filling. Vera also made the apricot filling.

A Shelter in the Time of Storm ~ Hymn

 

A Shelter in the Time of Storm

The Lord’s our rock, in Him we hide,
A shelter in the time of storm;
Secure whatever ill betide,
A shelter in the time of storm.

Refrain

Oh, Jesus is a rock in a weary land,
A weary land, a weary land;
Oh, Jesus is a rock in a weary land,
A shelter in the time of storm.

A shade by day, defense by night,
A shelter in the time of storm;
No fears alarm, no foes afright,
A shelter in the time of storm.

Refrain

The raging storms may round us beat,
A shelter in the time of storm
We’ll never leave our safe retreat,
A Shelter in the time of storm.

Refrain

O rock divine, O refuge dear,
A shelter in the time of storm;
Be Thou our helper ever near,
A Shelter in the time of storm.

Refrain

Words: Vernon J. Charlesworth, circa 1880.

I found this hymn in a small pa­per pub­lished in Lon­don, called The Post­man. It was said to be a fa­vo­rite song of the fish­er­men on the north coast of Eng­land, and they were of­ten heard singing it as they ap­proached their har­bors in the time of storm.

As the hymn was set to weird minor tune, I decided to com­pose one that would be more prac­ti­cal, one that could be more ea­si­ly sung by the peo­ple.

Sankey, pp. 106–07

Music: Ira D. Sankey, circa 1885.

The Color of Our World

We are in that time of year where our world is predominately brown and green with a little white here and there. We live in the evergreen state so we expect to see green all year round.

We call it our muddy season.

Our grands are blessed to have parents that aren’t afraid of a little mud.

Soon enough lots of pretty color will be added to our world.

Adieu to February. Looking forward to March.