Category Archives: Challenge

Easter Week

We are on the letter E for the A to Z Challenge and my choice for the letter E is Easter Week.

This Easter Week will go down in history as the Corona Virus Holy Week of 2020!

Our church will be celebrating Easter together in the flesh once the Stay at Home orders are lifted, sometime in the summer. We will have an online celebration this coming Sunday, on Easter.

Part of Easter Week (Holy Week) is Maundy Thursday, The Last Supper and the Washing of the Disciples Feet.

The Last Supper and the Washing of the Disciples Feet are both remarkable events.

While in Milan in March of 2013 I was able to see Leonardo da Vinci’s mural of the Last Supper. The original mural is on a wall of the refectory (dining hall) in the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, Italy. No photos allowed.

Dear and I were in England in 2014 and we saw two amazing paintings of the last supper, one in the Parish Church of St. John the Baptist in Windsor and one in the chapel of Magdalen College, Oxford.

The Thames 104 - Copy - CopyFrom the Lectern, look down the centre aisle and observe in the West Gallery a painting of The Last Supper. This is a national treasure. The picture was originally presented to the Royal Chapel c. 1660 by Brian Duppa, Bishop of Winchester, Prelate of the Order of the Garter. It was “bought by him beyond the sea”. Another tradition ascribes it to Franz de Cleyn (1588-1658), Rostock, Mecklenburg, Court painter to James I. It was rolled up and buried “in the plumery” (plumbers workshop?) in the Great Rebellion. It hung over the altar at St George’s, Windsor in 1702, and can be seen there in Sandby’s drawing dated 1786.

The Thames 094

Oxford Day 6 141Above the stalls in the chapel hangs Giampetrino’s remarkable 15th copy of Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper, on permanent loan from the Royal Academy. In view of the bad condition of the original fresco in Milan, Magdalen’s copy on canvas is a piece of increasing historic and artistic significance.

Oxford Day 6 144This next sculpture of Jesus washing Peter’s feet is at the Gardens of the World in Thousand Oaks, California.

GOTW-practice035

Excerpts from John chapter 13…

It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.

Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God;  so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist.  After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them.  “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am.  Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.  I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.  By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Thinking of all my friends and family during this time of “Social Distancing”. Hoping you all are holding up under this time of unrest. It’s a good time to heed Jesus’ words and love one another and care for one another and wash one another’s feet.

This song is one that our Russian Community sings at funerals but it is a song with words that are relevant in this time of being apart. I am looking forward to that time “till we meet again”.

A to Z Challenge ~ C is for Colville

C is for Colville. Colville is our newest hometown. We’ve lived here since September 2018. Between hubby and me our first 37 years we lived in Los Angeles, Orange, and Ventura County, California. Dear and I were both born in Los Angeles County. We lived our years through high school and college in Los Angeles County. After we were married we ended up in Orange County where our first two children were born. Before we moved to Washington State we lived in Ventura County where our daughter was born. Our next 30 years we lived outside of Seattle in Washington State. And now for our retirement years we are living in the outskirts of the city of Colville still in Washington State.

Here’s a little history about Colville:

The first white man in the area that is now Colville was David Thompson, who came in 1811 to explore the Columbia River for the Northwest Fur Company. A few months later a water route was opened from Astoria up the Columbia through Canadian waters, and overland to the Great Lakes or Hudson Bay. During that first year, nearly 11,000 pounds of furs were reported shipped to the fur markets of London from the Colville area.

In 1825, Fort Colville, named for Lord Andrew Colville, a London governor of Hudson’s Bay Company, was built at Kettle Falls, a few miles west of Colville. The fort functioned as the center of trade in the Northwest. A large farm supplied wheat, oats, barley, corn and potatoes to sustain the personnel at the fort. (Today, both the fort and farm sites are under water, covered by Lake Roosevelt, a part of the Coulee Dam National Recreation Area.)

By 1840, the Hudson’s Bay trading post was processing 18,000 furs a year. When the boundary of the northwest was drawn at the 49th parallel in 1846 and the territory of Washington was established in 1853, Hudson’s Bay Company, being a British company, withdrew from Fort Colville and moved to Canada. The War Department in 1859 ordered a military post built just northeast of the present townsite. The post was called Harney’s Depot at first, then Fort Colville. Four companies of the United States Infantry were stationed there. (This second Fort Colville, located at different places at different times, sometimes confuses visitors.)

The town of Colville was founded in 1882 when Fort Colville was abandoned. The first school, a hand-hewn log building, built shortly after the founding of the town is presently located at the Keller Historical Center within the city limits.

Colville is the county seat for Stevens County. Stevens County is a county located in the U.S. state of Washington along the Canada–US border. At the 2010 census, its population was 43,531. As of July 2018, the population was estimated to be 45,260. The county seat and largest city is Colville

These are backyard views of our Country Bungalow in Colville, Washington. We do not live in the city limits of Colville so we don’t have the same services that the City of Colville offers within the city limits.

Colville is a city in Stevens County, Washington, United States. The population was 4,673 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Stevens County.

Here are some random photos that I have of the Colville area (Stevens County).

Our favorite grocery store.

We have a Super Wal-Mart and I’m bonding with this store that has most everything we’d need for living in the country.

The Country Store can fill in the gaps for farmers and other property owners.

This is our road. We are up this road about 2 miles.

We get some interesting creature visitors in the country.

The view out to Colville city limits from our kids’ driveway.

This is Colville mountain with our huge C for Colville and a lit up cross.

Highway 395 coming north into Colville with one of our local farm/produce shops, Front Porch.

 

When we come down our road to town we have the choice to go south to Colville or north to Kettle Falls.

 

 

Welcome here to our Country Bungalow in Colville, Washington. Colville is pronounced, Call-ville!

I could have used the letter C for the COVID-19 epidemic but I decided we are getting enough information about the Pandemic. Diversions can be good when we really have no power to change the big picture. We do have the power to change the little picture by keeping our distance and compliance to the mandates set down to slow the spread of the virus. We will continue at home keeping the faith and praying for the end of this. Looking forward to better days or better yet the return of our Lord Jesus Christ.

A to Z Challenge ~ Burn Pile

B is for Burn Pile.

In our part of the country we do not have any yard waste pick-up. There are times during the year that we can have burn piles. When the fire danger is high there are burn bans. There are limits to the size of our burn piles. We were in compliance.

There are different methods to get the fire going. Before we start we connect a hose and we make sure the water is turned on and ready to spray if the fire gets out of hand. I’m happy to say we’ve never had a fire get out of hand.

Once we get the fire going we watch it all day long and keep feeding it with the rest of our gathered brush. If you look behind back to the fence you will see the pile we hope to get through.

For several hours we added limbs and cones and anything else we trimmed around the yard. We made it through the big piles we had. It was a good productive day and we did not have to worry at all about social distancing. We were bushed by the end of the day!

We hope to borrow our son’s tractor sometime and take care of more brush on the property that needs to be cleared.

Life in the country is very different from life in the city. My life went from City mouse to Country mouse in September of 2018 and so far it’s been a joy.

We are complying with the President’s guidelines, 30 days to Slow the Spread.

A to Z Challenge ~ Accept

 

I’m doing something new and joining the A to Z challenge  for the month of April. It’s a daily challenge excluding posts on Sunday so by April 30th we will cover each letter of the alphabet ending with Z on April 30th.

Today is the letter A. My theme for this challenge will be the current state of our lives with the Stay at Home orders from National and State entities while living in our part of the country. Not sure how this will work itself out but time will tell. So my word for the letter A is Accept.

We all should accept the fact that we need to comply as Americans to the president’s order to stay at home and practice social distancing for another 30 days.

So our Sounders Gnome is accepting the order and complying well. Those bunnies in the background need to step up and start complying.

We live in the second poorest county in the State of Washington. We live on close to 5 acres of land. It is not hard for hubby and me to practice social distancing. It’s a challenge for us to even see our neighbors. We do live on a busy road so we see cars and trucks zooming by.

The hard thing is not to see our family, grandchildren and friends during this time.

How are you doing in accepting the mandates from national and state governments?

Fun Monday ~ Quotable quotes and words that inspire

Robin at Pensieve has chosen this theme for today’s Fun Monday.

Quotable quotes and words that inspire.

Here are a couple of quotes for you. One from a Russian and one for an admired American.

“How easy it is for me to live with you, Lord!
How easy it is for me to believe in you!
When my mind is distraught and my reason fails,
When the cleverest people do not see further than this
evening what must be done tomorrow
You grant me the clear confidence
that you exist, and that you will take care
that not all the ways of goodness are stopped.
At the height of earthly fame I gaze with wonder at
that path through hopelessness-
to this point from which even I have been able
to convey to men some reflection of the Light
which comes from you.”

-Alexander Solshenitsyn

Solshenitsyn: A Pictorial Record, 1974

“All the masterpieces of art contain both light and shadow. A happy life is not one filled only with sunshine, but one which uses both light and shadow to produce beauty.”

Billy Graham

Day by Day with Billy Graham, 1976

To read more Fun Monday Quotes click over to Robin’s.

 

Brown Plate Special ~ Week 4

I had to weigh in a day early because of my schedule tomorrow. I am happy to report that my weight remained the same. So to date I’ve lost 6 pounds total. I am feeling changes in my bulk this week even though I didn’t lose any more according to the scale. I’m very content with this eating style and activity level. You might wonder why I’m so excited about this new plan. I’m going to show you a little of what I ate this week and still managed to maintain my weight. Now the added steps in my day are really key here and not eating after 6:00 PM at night or in between meals is important toward my loss and maintenance. I’ve walked one hour a day besides my regular activity steps around the house.

 

I’d like to invite you back to my blog tomorrow because it’s my One Year bloggy birthday and I’m giving away a gift.

A Hike Yikes and My weigh-in!

Please Scroll Down for Fun Monday… 

It’s Monday morning weigh-in time. After my .3 gain last week I’m down .1 this week. I’m still clinging to the hope and the encouragement that this is an activity level and eating plan I can stick to for the long haul and I’ll decide after 6 months if it’s working well. I’m not doing anything drastic in a diet plan, just eating less and not eating after meals, etc. With this effort I think the numbers are going to change gradually and not drastically. So as they say “time will tell”. In the meantime I am always happy not to have put on an extra 5 pounds…

I have some photos from a hike I took yesterday with someone I met at church last week. She invited me to go on a hike with her and another gal and I said yes. I generally walk on mostly flat surfaces but this was a feel new muscles hike for sure. Here are some sites I saw during my 9394 steps…

 

This hike was in the Santa Monica Mountains whose north western boundary ends in my own front yard. We went on the Satwiwa short hike up to some falls.

 

The Santa Monica Mountains are 10 miles across at their widest spot and 50 miles long from Griffith Park to Point Mugu. We really have some amazing places to walk and hike during our stay here in Southern California. We are more and more thankful for the area we live in.  Poison oak grows well here, too, so it’s good to be aware of the danger it poses. Some people (like our oldest son) react quite violently when they come in contact with it. I decided to take a photo to make sure I recognize it.

 

Because of all our rains and snow in Southern California this year there is more water in the creeks and streams. It is refreshing to come upon this site on a hot uphill hike.

 

This is what you are treated to at the end of this trail.

 

The view on the way back to the trail head.

Have a wonderful Monday and week. Keep on walking…

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage. They have blacked out all those photos on my blog posts. OH BOTHER! I’m slowly cleaning up my posts.

TT #20 ~ 13 Tips for eating Healthier

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage. They have blacked out all those photos on my blog posts. OH BOTHER! I’m slowly cleaning up my posts.

These tips are from one of my new favorite sites SparkPeople.

1. Use mustard instead of mayo on your sandwiches. You’ll get lots of flavor with much fewer calories and fat.

2. Select whole wheat bread over white bread. Be sure to read the label to ensure you’re getting whole grains, not just colored white bread.

3. Eat the white meat of turkey or chicken, which is lower in fat than dark meat, red meat and pork. Animal fat is the number one dietary source of unhealthy saturated fat.

4. Start using lean ground beef, pork tenderloin or fish instead of high-fat cuts of meat.

5. Change your cooking methods. Bake, grill or broil your meals instead of frying. Use non-stick sprays—or better yet, non-stick pans—instead of oil.

6. Drink more water. Slowly reduce the amount of soda you drink and replace it with herbal tea or water. Aim for eight cups of pure water each day.

7. Don’t drink your calories. Eat a whole orange instead of drinking a glass of juice, for example. Real food is usually more filling and more nutritious than juices, fruit drinks, and other high-calorie beverages.

8. Serve sauces and dressings on the side. Dip your fork into the sauce, then dip your fork into the food. You’ll still have the flavor but with fewer calories.

9. Gradually switch to skim milk. Milk commonly comes in four varieties: whole (4% fat), 2%, 1% and skim (0% fat). Gradually wean yourself from the higher-fat varieties to the lower fat milk every two weeks. For example: continue drinking your normal 2% milk for two weeks, then move to 1% for two weeks, and then your palate will be ready for the consistency of skim milk.

10. Switch from full-fat cheeses to reduced-fat or fat-free cheeses the same way you would with milk (see tip above).

11. Order vegetables on the side instead of fries. Flavor them with lemon juice or herbs instead of butter.

12. Snack on fruit and nuts instead of sugary treats. The fiber, protein and healthy fats in this combo will sustain you to your next meal and you won’t have the energy slump that comes after eating candy.

13. Reduce your portion size. Most people will eat whatever amount of food is in front of them, so start putting your meals on smaller plates. You will be just as satisfied because your mind “sees” that you’re eating a full plate of food.

For more inspiration on sensible eating check out the Brown Plate Special I’m a part of…

For more TT’s click here.

The Brown Plate Special ~ Week 1

***Please scroll down to the next post if you are here for FUN MONDAY!

I’m joining my friend Kim at Hiraeth for the Brown Plate Special. Along with Lovella and her Walking Club I’m hoping these two accountability groups will help me reach some of my goals for being in better shape and weighing less while enjoying food I love. Today is the first Monday that I will be posting whether I had any weight loss or gain. Yikes. I think this first week should be great because of the typical water weight loss I have at the beginning of any sensible program. So let me run off to the scale and I’ll be right back to tell you what it shows. No not the total weight (I’m not that accountable) just the loss or gain people!!

Woohoo! I am down 4.8#’s. I realize much of this is water weight but who cares I love seeing smaller numbers on the scale. I also realize my weight loss for the next weeks will be closer to 1 lb. a week or less but that’s ok, too. I’m excited to keep going…

Below you’ll find an explanation of what The Brown Plate Special is with links to Kim’s site if you want to join us or just see how this is working.

The Brown Plate Special

In the comments of my recent Recipe Round-up/Snackalicious Super Dishes post my friend, Ellen B, left a haunting question; well, at least a question that’s been haunting me for some time now:

How’s an aging girl who loves food (and LOVES to cook) ever gonna lose weight…?

 

I’ve given it a lot of thought and I think I have come up with a doable plan for aging girls like me and Ellen.  I am calling it “The Brown Plate Special” and I invite you to try this along with me!

I got the idea when I bought a couple of cute little chocolate brown plates on clearance last week.  They are just 9 inches in diameter instead of the standard 10.5 inches and have a little “well” in the center that is 6.5 inches in diameter.  I’m thinking that if I commit to using this little brown plate instead of a regular plate for all my meals, and “load” it only so that it looks visually porportionate to a normal serving of food on a normal plate, slowly but surely I will get portions under control and begin to lose weight without giving up cooking and eating the foods we love.

You can use any small sandwich or dessert plate.  The only other guidelines are just the common sense stuff that most of us in our 40’s and 50’s have already come to grips with:

  • No between meal snacking
  • No evening snacking
  • No second helpings
  • No deserts except on special occasions

Since accountability is essential in such matters, I’ll be weighing in every Monday morning and I’ll confess my weight loss (or lack thereof) in a regular Monday morning post.

If you decide to join me, feel free to invite friends to join us by writing a post and adding this handy dandy button in your side bar.   You can post your weekly progress on a post of your own or in the comments of my weekly post.

So, what have you got to lose