Author Archives: Ellen

Rain, Rain, Go Away Hodgepodge

1. April showers bring May flowers or so the saying goes. Has your April been filled with showers? Do you carry an umbrella, wear a slicker, or make a run for it? Besides rain, what else has filled your April?
We are breaking rainfall records here in the Pacific Northwest. Oye. No, I do not bother with an umbrella. I do have a good waterproof jacket. Mostly, I run for it!
Our 5 week old granddaughter has filled our April with lots of love, cuddles and smiles. This is one of the latest photos we’ve gotten via text. Oh how I love this little gift from above.
2. What’s something you could give a 30-minute presentation on at a moment’s notice and with zero preparation?
How to wing it making a meal with whatever you find in your fridge and cupboards.

3. Share with us a favorite food memory from childhood.

Pishky! Russian Fry Bread. 

4. What’s a song you thought you knew the lyrics to, but later discovered you were wrong?

When I learned lyrics to a song I listened to them over and over and over again to get them right. In junior high we would listen to Leslie Gore songs on a record player pulling up the arm of the record player and setting down the needle carefully again and again until we knew the words by heart. I was in choirs and Christian singing groups and enjoyed music enough to get the words right. When our minds went blank and we forgot words in the middle of a concert we kept our mouths moving and never missed a beat.

The thing I get wrong very often are well known sayings…

5. According to one travel website, the most overrated tourist attractions in America are-
Niagara Falls (NY), Hollywood Walk of Fame (California), Times Square (NYC), Epcot (FL), Seattle Space Needle (WA), and Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market (Boston). How many of these have you seen in person? Did you feel like a tourist? Did you care? Tell us about a place (not on the list) you’ve visited that might be considered a tourist trap, but you love it anyway.

I’ve been to Niagara Falls (both sides), Times Square, Hollywood Walk of Fame, and the Seattle Space Needle. Pike Place Market in Seattle is a tourist trap that I enjoy taking people to.

6. Your signature clothing item?

Blue jeans in public. My pink chenille robe in the privacy of my home! Sometimes you might see me in the yard early in the morning with my robe on. My Dear cringes when I head outside in my robe.

7. What’s an experience you’ve had you think everyone should experience at least once? Why?

Being the one in need of help. This is when you learn that it’s better to give than to receive. It’s hard to be the one who needs help. It’s a lot easier to be able to give…

8. Insert your own random thought here.

A little sunshine in a song from my teen years…

I’ve got sunshine on a cloudy day
When it’s cold outside I’ve got the month of May
I guess you’d say
What can make me feel this way?
My girl (my girl, my girl)
Talkin’ ’bout my girl (my girl)

Linking up with Joyce From This Side of the Pond for Hodgepodge Wednesday.

I drove to Canada and back on Tuesday and spent some time with my Mennonite Girls and will be sharing about our time soon. I am happy to report I had very little rain on my windshield going and coming back home, woohoo! Hope to get around and meet some new Hodgepodge friends.

All the Pretty Petals

Seattle has soaked up 44.67 inches of rain since October 1. That makes this October-through-April the wettest such period since record-keeping began in 1895 — and there’s still another week of April left to go. The normal amount of rainfall for the October-through-April period in Seattle is 30.9 inches, according to the service.

When the sun finally shines we race outside to soak it up and if we are bloggers we grab our cameras. Our plants and trees are blooming and blossoming a little later this year than last.

Our apple tree and pear tree are full of blossoms. We don’t have our patio covers up yet. We usually put them up mid-May and then we bring out our patio furniture.

Apple blossoms above and Pear blossoms below.

Our pear tree is in the middle of treatments for Pear Trellis Rust. It’s a great old pear tree and we do not want to let it stop growing healthy.

We left our most precious little flower in Eastern Washington and are planning our next trip back across the mountains to see in person how she has grown.

Precious bundle of cuddles.

I’m linking to ABC Wednesday started by Mrs. Nesbitt and carried on by a great team of administrators with Roger at the helm.

We had a day with lots of sunshine on Monday. Such a nice change. I’m headed across the line on Tuesday and will be late in visiting blogs. Hope Spring is going well in your neck of the woods.

The Celebrations Continue…

We decided it was good to celebrate Easter again while we celebrated our son-in-law Andrew.

Family on the western side of Washington got together this morning for brunch. Dear and I attend our 8am service at church so a brunch at 11:00 works out well for us. We had Eggs Benedict with hashbrowns and fresh fruit.

Andrew’s birthday was on April 12th while we were in Eastern Washington.  Today he got a small slice of coffee cake with a birthday candle in it. We sang and he managed to blow out the candle. He looks pleased with himself.

Dear, Andrew, Katie and I also celebrated on Friday April 21st at a new place close to us called Korachka, a Russian Tavern. We gave Andrew his birthday gift and enjoyed some Russian food…delicious. Friday was a glorious sunny day…all day and into the evening! On the way home from the tavern I took some shots from the moving car of the sunshine on Lake Washington.

And because this is a post of mosaics here’s one from the day we left eastern Washington of the many faces of our dear little 1 month old Addy. These photos of Addy were taken on April 18th in the morning before we said our goodbyes.

Linking up with Maggie at Normandy Life for Mosaic Monday. Thank you Maggie.

Buds and Blossoms of the Spring ~ Hymn

Buds and Blossoms of the Spring

Buds and blossoms of the spring,
Bloom to praise the heav’nly King;
Let the joyful news be spread,
Christ is risen from the dead.

Refrain

Ever living, loving Friend,
Now to Thee our songs ascend;
Make us pure in heart, that we
May the heav’nly vision see.

Empty now the Savior’s tomb,
Light is shining through the gloom;
He is living evermore
On the bright eternal shore.

Refrain

Teach us Savior, day by day,
Walking with us by the way;
May our hearts within us burn,
While still more of Thee we learn.

Refrain

Words: Eliza E. Hewitt

April Showers…

We took a different route home from Eastern Washington to I-90 taking us through small towns on highway 231. All along the way we saw excess water on properties and water very close to spilling over the roadway.

We had breakfast in Springdale at the Kozy Korner. We knew it was a good choice when all the locals kept coming in while we enjoyed our meal. Instead of heading back to Highway 395 we continued on 231 south to I-90.

This steeple on this church caught our eye in the little town of Edwall. The steeple was the best feature of this church.

And earlier in March on our trip to Colville for our granddaughter’s birth I took a photo of this church in town without a steeple but with an interesting exterior.

Speaking of our granddaughter I will add a photo of her, too, just to show her later in her live what was happening in the towns around her at her birth and shortly after.

This is me saying goodbye to our little Addy before we headed home on April 18, 2017.

April showers and March showers and snow melt have caused a lot of headaches for everyday travel in the tri-counties in Northeastern Washington. This next photo is just one example of a travel nightmare for lots of folks. This is part of highway 395 north of Colville and north of Kettle Falls.

We enjoyed our “off the beaten path” route to get to Interstate 90 and were happy that the roads had held up on this route.

I’m linking up to InSPIREd Sunday with Beth and Sally and

to The Barn Collective with Tom the Backroads Traveler.

On this Saturday I mowed the lawn while Dear weed wacked and we got the job done before another rain shower came through. We had glorious sunshine on Friday and in between rain showers today we have had some welcome sunshine.

We enjoy every minute of sunshine we get after so much rain and grey days! Hope you are enjoying sunshine in your neck of the woods.

One Month…

These photos were taken on Monday April 17th. Addy was born on Monday March 20th.

It really is amazing how much these little munchkins grow in their first year. We hope to be back to take Addy’s 2 month photos! Addy’s mommy and I have a little secret about these 1 month photos we can chuckle about.  Remember to ask your mommy and me about that secret dear Addy.

 

Oh Deer…

This foursome of deer like to graze on our son’s land.

They spotted me looking at them and were snorting at me.

Some more photos of Auntie Katie’s time with her niece Addy. These photos were taken on Monday April 10th.

Peace to you and to yours…

Excited to say the sun is shining right now as I finish up this post. Hope it continues through tomorrow.

Timber!

Dear and Dan had a great time completing several projects at the home on the mountain. Tree felling was added to the list of things to accomplish while Dan had a helper. The first tree the guys felled was close to the house. Jamie, Addy and I could watch from the nursery window. The tree was dead and the rain had paused so it was a good time to fell it and cut it into rounds to dry until next winter.

The weather on Easter was so wonderful with no rain all day and beautiful sunshine. After our Easter Brunch company left we changed into work clothes and headed out for a hike on the property to find more dead trees. Addy was snug as a bug with mommy.

This tree that was leaning on another was the tree chosen to untangle and chop down. This time they used an ax.

We supervised from a distance.

We headed back to the house while the guys found a creative way to bring the felled tree back up to the house to cut into rounds.

A wonderful dreamy first Easter for Addy.

Here are some photos from the Southern California gathering with part of my side of the family. My niece Melissa shared this next one of my dear old pop coloring Easter Eggs with her in Southern California.

My older sisters, Kathy and Vera, baked the Russian Easter Bread (Kulich/Paska) for the Easter gathering. Quite a nice batch. Good job sisters! On Easter day they gathered at Debbee and Lenny’s home to celebrate Jesus together. My little grandniece Ellie had her first Easter egg hunt. Look at her bunny purse for her egg gathering, so cute.  Grandnephew Jack and Grandniece Avery got quite a haul. My nieces Melissa, Michelle and Debbee prepared the strawberries to go with the Easter bread and Seernaya Paska.

My Pop (one month shy of 94) with some of his grandchildren and great grandchildren who all live in Southern California. The Texas crew and Washington crew are missing plus some of the California grands, too.

Dear and I traveled home again on Tuesday April 18th. Being conditioned to take the morning Addy shift, I woke up at 4 am today ready to go. It will take a few days to extend my sleep to a more normal pattern. We were gone for 13 days so the lawn needs mowing and some weeds need pulling. As soon as we get a good dry day we’ll whip things into shape. The rain has been relentless. It was tough to say goodbye…

Thank you for visiting and the time you take to leave a comment. It is always appreciated. Hope to visit y’all soon. Blessings.

Addy’s First Easter

We celebrated Easter with our Eastern Washington kids on their mountain that they’ve marked with a B. All through the morning texts flew back and forth from Texas, Southern California and Western Washington with our Easter greeting to each other, Christos Voskress! Voistinu Voskress! We always give each other the Easter greeting, Christ is Risen, He is risen indeed in Russian. And we say it back and forth three times.

This year we had brunch with some of Jamie’s family and a friend of the family.

We had an egg casserole that cooked in the slow cooker. I forgot to take a photo of it. Granny’s deviled eggs had some extras in them that made me want more than one or two. We had the traditional Seernaya Paska to spread on our Easter Bread.

The Grannies on Jamie’s side got in some good cuddle time. Dear read the resurrection passage from Matthew 28 and prayed a blessing on our gathering and then we all dug in.

Brian’s birthday was the day before Easter so we sang happy birthday and ate some pie made in his honor.

More cuddle time for Jamie’s mom, Addy’s Granny.

Addy decided sleep was a good thing for Easter.

The sunshine was so welcome. We were all so grateful for the the warmer temperatures. Addy slept a lot on her first Easter. Wish we had Easter Monday here in the U.S. so our son could have one more day at home but it’s off to work today for him after a nice stretch of paternity leave.

I love Easter. Hope yours was filled with joy!

 

Before the Throne of God Above ~ Hymn

Christos Voskress! Voistinu Voskress!

Христос Воскрес!

Воистину воскрес!

Christ is Risen!

Truly He is Risen!

Before the Throne of God Above

Before the throne of God above
I have a strong and perfect plea.
A great high priest whose name is Love
Who ever lives and pleads for me.
My name is graven on His hands,
My name is written on His heart.
I know that while in Heaven He stands
No tongue can bid me thence depart.

When Satan tempts me to despair
And tells me of the guilt within,
Upward I look and see Him there
Who made an end of all my sin.
Because the sinless Savior died
My sinful soul is counted free.
For God the just is satisfied
To look on Him and pardon me.

Behold Him there the risen Lamb,
My perfect spotless righteousness,
The great unchangeable I AM,
The King of glory and of grace,
One in Himself I cannot die.
My soul is purchased by His blood,
My life is hid with Christ on high,
With Christ my Savior and my God!

One with Himself I cannot die
My soul is purchased by His blood
My life is hid with Christ on high
With Christ my Savior and my God!
With Christ my Savior and my God!’

Words: Charitie L. Bancroft, 1863.