In the Good Ole Summertime Hodgepodge

It’s Wednesday so time to answer the Hodgepodge questions of the week. Thank you to Jo From This Side of the Pond for the questions and the link!

1. Something you learned from your father?

That following Jesus is worth the cost. When my Father was called by God and he repented of his sins and started following Jesus and obeying what the Bible teaches he realized what was missing in his religious life. When he was saved he was immediately aware of the presence of the Holy Spirit within him. All his religious efforts never gave him this presence and peace within. When he made the decision to be baptized in obedience his parents would not speak to him, his friends didn’t want to associate with him. He was treated like pariah. We were ostracized from the church we grew up in. This was a blessing in disguise. We ended up in the same church as my maternal grandmother. Over time my parents re-established the relationships that were severed because of his decision without compromising their Faith in Jesus.

2. Do you like onions? Raw or cooked? How about onion rings? What’s something you love to eat that calls for onions?

Yes, yes, and yes. I really enjoy onions and the flavor they add to many dishes. Give me a nice huge slice on my burger, please. I like caramelized onions on steak or a burger, also. Salsa and pica de gallo are a couple favorites that call for onions. I could go on and on. In my teen years I would order the Stinko-burger at Twoheys in South Pasadena.

3. It’s officially summer (in the Northern hemisphere)…your favorite and least favorite things about the season?

Favorite: A freed up schedule

Least Favorite: Heat above 82 degrees with any humidity added to it.

4. When you think about the summers of your childhood what are two or three things that come to mind?

Getting sunburned at Newport Beach, California. Collecting soda bottles while there and turning them into the store to get the deposit on them so we could buy a candy or a popsicle. When the sunburns were really bad our mom would soak old rags with vinegar and lay the rags on our sunburned bodies to ease the pain/heat.

Camping in a tent at Big Bear, California with cousins.

5. A hot mess, the heat of the moment, beat the heat, if you can’t stand the heat, catch heat, in a dead heat…choose a ‘hot ‘phrase and tell us how it applies to your life right now.

At this stage of life you’ll find me beating the heat in any way I can. I look for shade. Stay in the shade. I prefer to eat inside at restaurants not out in the sun. Walk early before it gets too hot. Work in the yard early in the day. You get the picture…

6. Insert your own random thought here.

Celebrating the fact that school’s out for the summer. They had a very successful first year of homeschooling!! Our daughter-in-law is an amazing mom and teacher to our grands. Happy summertime to you!

Reunited and Celebrating

Our dear grandchildren are back in our neck of the woods and we were able to enjoy a meal together at our home on Friday evening June 17th. After the meal JJ and Addy were keen on preparing me another meal in their play room. JJ prepared the crab for me while Addy put together a sandwich.

Later we headed outside for some time enjoying the latest skills these two have developed on their Big Wheels.

In the same week our kids on the Coast enjoyed a meal out together and sent us this picture. Love seeing them together.

On Father’s Day we received texts with photos and Happy Father’s Day greetings from all our kids and grands.

We enjoyed a Taco bar meal together in Colville with extended family. These two fathers were celebrated.

So happy these 4 are back home in our neck of the woods.

Happy First Day of Summer. We are supposed to enjoy some sunshine the rest of the is week instead of the cloudy rainy days we’ve had up to now! How goes it in your neck of the woods?

Hummingbirds

I’m traveling today so Truth for Today will resume next Thursday.

We hung a Hummingbird feeder up on our patio structure and it has been delightful to watch the hummingbirds come and go.

I’ll be scarce on the internets for the next several days. I’m hoping to document what I’ve been up to soon.

Since Thursday is when I post Truth for Today I will share this paragraph from Drawing Near, by John MacArthur.

Be Quick to Hear

…”You should be quick to hear the Word because it provides nourishment for your spiritual life and is your weapon against all spiritual adversaries. It is the means by which you are strengthened and equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17) It delivers you from trials and temptations and engages you in communion with the living God. The Word should be your most welcome friend…”

Spring Deer

The deer are coming around again to nibble and rest in the shade in our back yard. They are welcome as long as they stay away from my clematis.

This male was interested in the female and was chasing her so they didn’t stop to nibble on my clematis.

Here is some evidence of our Spring showers from this past weekend. While I’m typing the dark clouds have moved in again and we have thunder and lightning.

Raindrops Keep Falling…

…and our blooms are slower to open up this Spring. Compared to last year our Peonies, Clematis, Irises, and Columbine are all a bit behind in opening up in their glory.

We have 2 large bushes of this variety of Peony and 3 smaller ones. When they bloom I try to bring bouquets in and give away some, too. I was able to take a nice bouquet to a surprise birthday party we went to on Sunday afternoon during a dry spell with sun, some blue sky and lovely fluffy clouds. When we got home from the party the skies opened up with an amazing downpour with lightning and thunder and hail, oh my.

One of the many Iris bulbs opened up on Saturday. Several more to come.

Our weekend was filled with mostly rain with a few dry spells. During the dry spells I pulled as many weeds as my back and arms would permit. When the soil is wet with rain the weeds pull up easier. I figure 20 more hours of weeding and I’ll be ahead. I smile and sigh at the same time.

Even though we are getting a lot of rain and cooler temperatures this Spring we go with the flow and hope that this accumulation of moisture will help lower the risk of wildfires this summer.

How goes it in your corner of the world?

Robins Old and New

We don’t remember them with white on the tail feathers like this.

This young one was just improving it’s flying skills, just fresh from the nest.

If you squint you can see the little one on the branch to the left. It flew up into the trees in our front yard.

It’s been fun to watch the festivities of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee! We recorded it and are slowly making our way through.

In other news we have had to turn from heat to air conditioning the last couple of days and the Columbine is blooming beautifully!

Hope your first weekend in June is a good one.

Spring is Moving Fast…

…and our Grands are growing fast! They are wondering how they are going to retrieve their ball that managed to leave their 20 acres and land in a neighboring property.

More fun events happening for them this Spring.

They have enjoyed some sunshine and pool time which is always a treat.

Lots of sunblock and time in sunhats.

JJ looks a bit miffed here. Maybe he didn’t like getting out of the water for the photo.

Time out of the heat at a very cool library.

I’m enjoying the seasons with these two and I’m glad I have photos and memories of the different stages of their growth.

And just like that we are at the last day of May. If I’m counting right we have 21 days until summer begins.

How Things Sit in May…

I wanted to get some views of our country bungalow so I would have some before shots since painting the exterior of our home is on our minds.

We are still deciding on the color palette. Our garage and shop are a biscuit color. We aren’t planning on matching the three structures.

While I was doing this walkabout I took some photos of our views first looking North.

This section of our front yard has this lane and to the right are some bushes and trees, a ditch and then the road.

Following our road you will eventually get to the Canadian border.

Southeast you see some of the destruction from a fire a few years before we moved here.

Looking to the East from our property.

We are more and more thankful for God’s leading in our move to this part of Washington State. I didn’t know how I’d manage being so far from a large city and all the conveniences a large city has to offer. We’ve managed just fine. I’ve embraced Wal-Mart. We have many small businesses that we try to support. We have a hospital. Our church is Bible believing (Inerrancy of the Bible), Bible teaching, Gospel centered (Teaching God’s Truth, not stories or opinion), and doctrinally sound. If that was missing it would be tough to live here. Having our middle son, his wife and our two grandchildren here goes a long way in adding to our country comfort. We are able to travel South whenever we feel the need to stock up the pantry with offerings from Costco or Trader Joe’s. We travel about 70 miles generally without any traffic and at 60 miles an hour most of the way. There are only 2 stop lights between our home and the Spokane area. One of those stoplights is in our town and the other one is in Chewelah twenty three miles apart. Spokane has all the box stores and a myriad of restaurants to choose from.

Moving onward into the last full week of May and ending with Memorial Weekend. Hope all is well from where you are sitting.

Merry Mid+Month of May

This past week we had beautiful days like this one. This is a photo from our kids’ drive. We had darker, rainy days. This Spring in general compared to last Spring has been colder and wetter. After a very dry Spring and Summer last year the ground is soaking up all the rain which bodes well for the summer and possibly less fire danger. Time will tell.

We spent a few days this past week tuning in to a livestream from the Truth Matters Conference staged at The Ark in Kentucky. It was so worthwhile to listen in. If you want to hear some good truth you can find the different sessions on YouTube soon. Just look up Truth Matters 2022 put on by Grace to You. I’ll sign off with this quote.

“The Kingdom of Light needs no help from the kingdom of darkness”

Hope your days are filled with God’s light!