Author Archives: Ellen

Call It A Foot!

Tuesday night into Wednesday we had a significant snowfall here. By the end of the evening we had at least a foot of new snow.

These photos were from Wednesday the 30th of November. The rest of the photos are from Thursday December 1st which turned into a beautiful sunny day.

We are going into a frigid 4 degrees Thursday night into Friday and we have nothing over freezing on the forecast for the next week. Yikes! We put out bird seed for our little feathered friends. The Quail were enjoying our Oregon grape plant gathering the berries from it. This chubby guy was the lookout and a few other Quail were in the plant finding the berries.

Dear’s occupational therapy is going well. Hope all is well in your corner.

Willow

Andrew and Katie were given permission to bring their cat Willow with them for Thanksgiving. This was a first for us and the first cat in our Country Bungalow.

She had many new discoveries to make and routes to enjoy that no human could.

There were two rooms where the doors were closed and she was denied access. She became obsessed with wanting to get into our room one night and we saw her little paw under our door and then she rattled the door and meowed. Hilarious.

She knew where she could hide when the grands were here and were playing their hardest.

She survived and by the end of her time with us was making a little contact with me and Auntie Lolo. We’ll see if she wants to come back at Christmas.

Welcome to December!

30 Days Hath November Hodgepodge

Here we are at the end of November Hodgepodge. Thank you Joyce From This Side of the Pond!

Our yards have been covered with snow since November the 7th.

1. Sum up your November in ten words or less. 

November had a scary start and a grateful, peaceful end.

2. Are you hosting any holiday parties this year? Attending any? Party pooper, party animal, or life of the party…where do you land when it comes to parties? 

No, we are not hosting any holiday parties this year.

We will be attending our first Christmas Party on Sunday December 4th in Chilliwack, Canada. Hopefully the weather will settle down a bit for our drive to Spokane for our flight on Saturday and then our drive from Bothell to Abbotsford on Sunday. It will be our first time back in Canada since the beginning of ‘you know what’. We are so looking forward to being with the Mennonite Girls Can Cook and their hubbies! We will miss our two girls that live in Manitoba for this event.

The last MGCC party we were able to attend was in early December 2019 and this was one of the amazing desserts we enjoyed at that party.

I’m not a party animal or the life of the party or a party pooper. I do like to decorate for a themed party.

3. Do you purchase holiday clothing of any sort (sparkly tops, Christmas jammies, Santa suit, etc). 

There is a festive holiday top or two in my closet. This year with limited time to shop and limited sources I have nothing new. The old sparklies are too snug for comfort, sigh.

Comfy jammies all the way!

4. What’s your go-to recipe when you’re asked to bring an hors d’oeuvre to a party? 

I like to bring a charcuterie board of some sort. This year I’m trying Charlotte’s Red Pepper Jelly Tarts (Mennonite Girls Can Cook) for a ladies brunch I’m invited to on Thursday.

5. December 3rd is National Play Outside Day…what might you do to celebrate? 

We are flying from Spokane to Seattle that morning and will hopefully celebrate our daughter in law, Laura’s birthday in some way that day or evening.

6. Insert your own random thought here.  

In World Cup news, the U.S.A. advances to the round of 16 playing against Netherlands on Saturday. It was a brutal 2nd half but in the end we eliminated Iran and we move on.

Wednesday Morning Update on our overnight snowfall which is still falling this morning:

As of 7am we have 8-1/2 inches of new snow. Our neighbor has already plowed our driveway before she heads into work. We are very grateful for her and her kindness to us. I did hop out in my jammies and Uggs and slipped her some cash for gas!

UPDATE at 11:15 A.M.: We have a total of 11 inches of new snow. PTL Dear is healthy enough to shovel snow!

Lots of cancellations in Colville today because of snow. Happy we can be home and today is baking day for my event on Thursday. Perfect weather to bake!

Rounding Out November

Our Thanksgiving weekend was completed Monday morning when we said our goodbyes to Uncle Joshie and Auntie Lolo praying for a good drive home especially over the passes. Auntie Lolo shared more of her photos with us on their drive and I’m using them to round out November here on my blog. Thank you Lolo!

Our November has been a wintry one with temperatures in the teens and below freezing for a lot of the month.

Addy has a recital coming up in December. She’s the youngest in the bunch so she’ll start the evening off with this song she is practicing.

Addy is practicing her selfie skills in this one.

Me and my guy.

Uncle Joshie captured this shot.

Thank you for making the snowy drive to Colville and home again Uncle and Auntie. We miss you already!

Monday night I had a Women’s Ministry meeting at church with a light meal of appetizers shared. The meeting was short and then the fun task for the evening was decorating the church for Christmas. Our head of services gal was in charge of that and had already gotten a good start so the task was lighter than usual. I opted out of the decorating and headed home on the snowpacked/icy roads.

Today is a quiet day here at our Country Bungalow. We started the morning off at 10 degrees. Brrr. I’ll be watching World Cup Soccer today as the USA plays Iran. My parents were married in Iran and our oldest 2 sisters were born in Iran. We’ve mostly called that country Persia. So thankful God led our people out of that country back in the late 40’s and early 50’s. Our parents were the first of their family to immigrate to the USA in 1947.

Thankful for this quiet day and hope the predictions of up to 14 inches of snow into tomorrow morning is an exaggeration!

It’s Still November

The last days of November have been filled with lots of food, laughter, noise, World Cup Soccer, puzzles, dishwashing, and best of all family time.

Our Thanksgiving meal was on the Mountain and Andrew tried to channel our LoLo and her selfie skills. He did a good job. Our Grands had their Granny Great, Granny, Gramps, Baba, Auntie and Uncle at their house to enjoy our Thanksgiving meal.

Uncle helped them create and build serving as a living ladder.

On Friday before Uncle Joshie and Auntie LoLo arrived the fun continued.

Baba pulled out some old jewelry and it was fun to see just how many pieces would fit on fingers, wrists and necks.

Auntie Lolo has a new tripod to aid her in taking selfies! I suppose they would be called tripodies, not selfies. We took this family shot since Katie and Andrew and Willow decided to beat the snow in the passes and head home on Saturday instead of Sunday.

The sweet goodbyes.

On Saturday Jamie organized a Sign Painting event at our Country Bungalow and we enjoyed creating these signs. It was fun to see the personal twist on each sign. We had a lovely charcuterie lunch that Jamie prepared while we waited for our paint to dry so we could glue the 3d parts on the signs.

On the right side of this photo are 4 generations with our granddaughter being the 4th!

While our sign event was going on the guys were busy on another errand.

We all gathered again on Saturday evening for soup.

Sunday we gathered to worship at our church with a sermon from 2nd Timothy and our service ended with the Baptism of 4 people. Always a great way to end a Sunday Worship service. Lunch at the Colville kids and then dinner back at our Country Bungalow.

The dishwashers have been going nonstop here in Colville. Hope y’all had a good Thanksgiving long weekend or a regular weekend!

Sweet Will of God ~ Hymn

Sweet Will of God

My stubborn will at last hath yielded;
I would be Thine, and Thine alone;
And this the prayer my lips are bringing,
Lord, let in me Thy will be done.

Refrain

Sweet will of God, still fold me closer;
Till I am wholly lost in Thee;
Sweet will of God, still fold me closer,
Till I am wholly lost in Thee.

I’m tired of sin, footsore and weary,
The darksome path hath dreary grown,
But now a light has ris’n to cheer me;
I find in Thee my star, my sun.

Refrain

Thy precious will, O conquering Savior,
Doth now embrace and compass me;
All discords hushed, my peace a river,
My soul, a prisoned bird, set free.

Refrain

Shut in with Thee, O Lord, forever,
My wayward feet no more to roam;
What power from Thee my soul can sever?
The center of God’s will my home.

Refrain

Words: Lelia N. Morris, 1900.

Applesauce Raspberry Jello

This Applesauce Raspberry Jello recipe has been around a long time. I added a few options in presentation this time around including the parfait version above. You can use a parfait presentation or a simple square pan presentation to enjoy this easy dessert or side salad dish.
Applesauce-Raspberry Jello

Ingredients:

  • 1 – 3oz. pkg. raspberry jello
    1 – Cup hot water
    1 – 10-oz. pkg. frozen raspberries
    1 – Cup applesauce
    1 – Cup sour cream
    1 – Cup miniature marshmallows
Method:
  1. Dissolve Jello in hot water.
  2. Add frozen raspberries and blend carefully.
  3. Add applesauce and blend gently.
  4. Pour into 9-inch square pan.
  5. Chill until set.
  6. Combine sour cream and marshmallows and spread over top of set Jello.
  7. Cover and Chill.
  8. Serves 6-8.

If you want to present this dish in an individual parfait glass do not spread the sour cream mixture on top of the set jello. Keep it separate and layer the ingredients.

I have doubled this recipe and put it in a 9 x 13 pan. It’s a refreshingly cool salad!
If you aren’t fond of marshmallows omit them and add a tablespoon or two of sugar to your sour cream.

You can also just put a dollop of the sour cream mixture on top of the jello squares instead of spreading the topping completely over the jello.

It’s fun to transform a simple recipe with an eye catching presentation.

Thanksgiving decorations are put away and today I’ll ask our sons to get down all the Christmas bins which require a ladder. Not promising the bins will get emptied but at least they will be where I can get to them easily in the next several days to empty. Time for me to pull out our Christmas CD’s. I’m aging myself and not apologizing. CD’s are very much appreciated at our country bungalow.

Katie and Andrew decided to make the drive for home today with Willow their cat (there will be a Willow post, soon) since there are some snow forecasts that show significant snowfall in the mountain passes later on Saturday and into Sunday. The rest of us will carry on with activities after they hit the road. The girls are going to paint signs and the guys might be pushing around some snow, after they get those bins down for me.

Stuffed

Hope you all had your fill of Turkey yesterday! We had turkey with all the trimmings at our local kids’ home. Our daughter and husband and cat arrived yesterday afternoon in time to settle in and drive with us for our evening meal. Today our other kids will be driving over the mountains to join all of us.

I’ll be back next week!

So Far From Want Hodgepodge

 

It’s time for Wednesday Hodgepodge on the Eve of Thanksgiving here in the USA. Thank you to Jo From This Side of the Pond for the timely questions.

1. Have you ever been on a cruise? If so where did you go and how did you like it? If not, do you have any desire to take a cruise someday? 

The answer to all of these is no. If a cruise could tempt me it would be a small boat river cruise.

2. Tell us about your Thanksgiving plans…are you hosting? cooking? eating out? turkey or some other main? is it stuffing or dressing in your house? homemade cranberries or cranberries in a can? are pies on the dessert menu? what kind? what are your ‘must have’ sides? Tell us one thing you’re especially grateful for this year.

Our Colville Kids are hosting and I’ll be bringing the Yams with Marshmallow topping goodness. Stuffing is enjoyed as part of our turkey tradition. It doesn’t pay with our crowd to make homemade cranberry sauce so I’ll buy a can of it just in case someone asks for it. Yes, pies for dessert, pumpkin and pecan. Must have the Yams with the marshmallows.

This year we are especially grateful for Greg’s continued recovery from his stroke on November the 5th.

3. If someone approaches you and asks for money do you give it to them? Do you drop money ‘in a tin cup’ that belongs to a person on the street? Do you have a specific charity you support during the holiday season and/or year round?

I am not prone to dig in my purse and give money to someone on the street. I have dropped money into a violin case, or a guitar case or a similar container for street entertainers. We have in the past donated to the Union Gospel Mission Thanksgiving dinner drive. Our specific donations during the year for those in need go through our home church’s benevolent fund.

4. Have you started decorating for Christmas? Is your tree up? Shopping done? Wrapped? 

While our kids are here this coming weekend I am solicitating their help in getting the fall decor put away and the Christmas bins down and helping me decorate. They will carry the fake tree in from the garage, too.

This is a stocking only year for our family because of a trip we are all taking together in January. Shopping for those stocking gifts are half done and they not wrapped.

5. Create your own acrostic using the word THANKS. 

Because of our health scare in November my acrostic is about Dear and Me. We will celebrate 48 years married on December 6th. We always have a lot to be thankful for. This year the theme is different.

T is for time away together traveling near and far.
H is for our hours of learning more about God with the help of the Holy Spirit.
A is for another year to celebrate being one in Christ.
N is for new things to learn about each other.
K is for knowing our hope is in eternity with God.
S is for our Savior and Lord who secures it by his perfect sacrifice.

6.  Insert your own random thought here.  

Our pastor shared the following letter and especially the quote that I put in bold letters. The letter is from Edward Winslow’s 1621 Thanksgiving letter from Plymouth in New England.

Loving, and old Friend; although I received no letter from you by this ship, yet forasmuch as I know you expect the performance of my promise, which was, to write unto you truly and faithfully of all things.  I have therefore at this time sent unto you accordingly.  Referring you for further satisfaction to our more large relations.  You shall understand, that in this little time, that a few of us have been here, we have built seven dwelling-houses, and four for the use of the plantation, and have made preparation for divers others.  We set the last spring some twenty acres of Indian corn, and sowed some six acres of barley and peas, and according to the manner of the Indians, we manured our ground with herrings or rather shads, which we have in great abundance, and take with great ease at our doors.  Our corn did prove well, and God be praised, we had a good increase of Indian corn, and our barley indifferent good, but our peas not worth the gathering, for we feared they were too late sown, they came up very well, and blossomed, but the sun parched them in the blossom; our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a more special manner rejoice together, after we had gathered the fruit of our labors; they four in one day killed as much fowl, as with a little help beside, served the company almost a week, at which time amongst other recreations, we exercised our arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and among the rest their greatest King Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five deer, which they brought to the plantation and bestowed on our governor, and upon the captain, and others.  And although it be not always so plentiful, as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want, that we often wish you partakers of our plenty.

If you’d like to read the whole letter click here.

We forget here in our land of plenty that we are far from want. Thanksgiving is a good time to remember all we have and how far from want we are. Everyday is a good day to thank God for his goodness to us. Hoping we all are ready to share our plenty.

Happy Thanksgiving Hodgepodgers!