Category Archives: Family

Hello Summer Hodgepodge

 

Summertime at our Country Bungalow.

Hello Summer Hodgepodge. Thank you, Joyce!

1. Summer’s here!  In the northern hemisphere anyway. If you’re in the southern hemisphere substitute winter for the word summer. What do you love most about summer? What’s your biggest summer pet peeve?

I love summer fruits like nectarines and peaches and plums and watermelon!

In our neck of the woods mosquitoes and mean bugs like wasps are a nuisance!

2. What song always reminds you of summer?

The Beach Boys ‘California Girls’. I was born and raised in Southern California and my early days were filled with music by this classic group.

3. What’s something you remember about your childhood summers? Do you think kids today get to enjoy summer the way you did as a child? Elaborate.

Honestly, I don’t remember specifics about summer versus other times of year. We were outside a lot. We would go to the beach with other relatives. I do remember getting the worst sunburn of all time and our mom soaking rags in vinegar to put on our burns.

Our summers as kids were very much unplanned by our parents. It seems like parents nowadays are more hands on and do more planning for summer activities. Summer camps and summer sports, etc.

4. We celebrate Fathers Day on June 21st. Do you favor your dad in looks or temperament? Tell us something about your dad. Or your husband as a dad. Or a son/son-in-law as a dad. Or your grandpa.

Our Pop worked hard to support his family. He was a man who loved His Lord and Savior and was faithful to our mom and us. He was punctual to the point of being early especially for church. He loved jigsaw puzzles and in his old age worked on them to pass the long hours of the day.

My Pop and me camping in Southern California. He is working on a jigsaw puzzle.

Our dear Pop was called home to heaven June 24th, 2018. Eight years ago today.

I’m a combo of our Pop and our Mom. I do enjoy jigsaw puzzles and I’m punctual to a fault.

5. Let’s wrap up with a summer this or that-

  • flip flops or sandals
  • beach or pool
  • watermelon or peaches
  • shorts or sundress
  • iced coffee or ice cold lemonade
  • amusement park or water park

Sandals, beach, watermelon, sundress, iced coffee. Neither an amusement park or water park are on my list ever for the summer. 🙂 I’d rather go to a place like Disneyland in the cooler months.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

We are getting ready for the 250th celebration of the USA at our house. Here are some initial decorations to mark this epic event.

A lot more will be coming out of my red, white and blue bins.

Our schedule is not our own this week and it will be hit or miss as to whether I can visit as usual. If not, I will catch up next week.

Happy Summer everyone!

World Cup Fever Hodgepodge

Ole Ole Ole, it’s time for World Cup and for Wednesday Hodgepodge! Thank you, Joyce.

1. June 17th, 1994 was the day of the infamous O.J. Simpson car chase. What were you doing in 1994? I’m guessing somebody is going to tell me they weren’t born yet but that’s part of the fun of the Hodgepodge. Lots of generations are represented here. 

In June of 1994 we traveled to Southern California to stay with family and take in all we could of the World Cup. I’m sure we were on the same freeways O.J. was on during our time in L.A., the Santa Ana freeway and the 405!  I know we watched it on TV.

Back to the more important reason we were in the greater LA area. Our boys and I found the USA World cup training center and met some of the players. Then we found the hotel the team was staying in and our sons worked hard to get signatures on the team poster our oldest son bought. They managed to get every signature of the people in the poster except for one trainer/coach who wasn’t in Southern California.

If I remember correctly Josh got a 3 or 4 game package deal and Dan got 1. The prices were very reasonable compared to today.

2. What’s your favorite summer salad that isn’t the traditional tossed green lettuce kind of salad? 
Click below to see the recipe.
Do you like fresh fruit in a salad (other than in a fruit salad of course)?
I enjoy strawberries or pears in a green salad with the right dressing and cheese to compliment and roasted walnuts or shaved almonds…
3. Is chivalry dead? Should it be? 
~
No and no. It is always a pleasure to enjoy chivalry or witness it.
~
4. Would you rather spend a week of your summer vacation in Hawaii or Alaska?
I’ll say Hawaii because there are fewer bugs.
Have you ever been to either?
We have been to Hawaii but not Alaska.
Are they two places you really would like to see?
No
How do you feel about ‘Hawaiian pizza’ aka pineapple on a pizza?
Nyet, No, Nine
Have you ever eaten Baked Alaska?
I think I have but I couldn’t tell you where or when.
~
 5. World Cup play is happening now…are you interested?
Very interested. And for the record I’m interested in soccer all the time not just for World Cup.
Watching any matches?
I’ve watched them all to one degree or another. Some I’ve watched every minute others I watched parts of .
Did you or your children play soccer/futbol?
All three of our children played. Our sons played for their school varsity teams and on traveling teams, too. Our sons also worked as referees for our community leagues and for indoor games, too.
And now, our Grands are playing soccer.

There are eleven US cities hosting matches-

–Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, New York with the stadium in NJ, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Seattle
 along with  three cities in Mexico (Guadalajara, Mexico City and Monterrey)
and two in Canada (Toronto and Vancouver)-

You get free tickets to one of these matches. Which city do you choose? Tell us why. 

Seattle, because it would be the easiest stadium for us to reach.

Our son and daughter-in-love are attending the USA v. Australia game this Friday in Seattle!

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Dan’s ticket that he purchased from his soccer coach was for a game in Stanford. Dan and I traveled from the LA area up to Stanford for the game. The game was on June 24, 1994. And yes, we traveled those same freeways O.J. did. 🙂

I’m behind and the way things are going it will be a while for me to get my mojo back.

I hope to get around to see y’all.

Playing Soccer in the Rain

In honor of World Cup Soccer 2026 being played in the United States/Canada/Mexico, I’m reposting this poem written for our sons by their

Great Uncle, Arnold.

He wrote this poem in a letter to Greg’s mom, Verna, about our boys playing soccer. Verna was living with us at the time in a daylight apartment Greg built for her in the basement of our home. Verna was the oldest of her siblings born in 1918 and her brother Arnold was born in 1920 on Christmas Eve. Verna passed away in 1997 and Arnold passed away several years later. This would have been written in the early 1990’s while we were living on Norway Hill in Bothell. Uncle Arnold was a letter writer and he wrote several poems. Letter writing at it’s finest in beautiful handwriting. 

Playing Soccer in the Rain

It’s raining steadily and hard,
So puddles, growing in the yard
Spill over, and run down the street
Past where this street and others meet.

The boys play soccer in the rain
They run and strive with might and main
To kick the ball into the net
In spite of getting soaking wet.

The teams they play on won 1st prize
It’s good that they could realize
Success for all the joy and pain
Of playing soccer in the rain.

Written by Arnold August Moline

Road Trip 19761

Uncle Arnold is in the upper right hand and lower right hand photo with the darker hair. His brother Clifford is in those two photos along with me on a visit to see Greg’s grandmother in Englewood, Colorado in 1976. Upper right is in the kitchen of Greg’s grandmother’s home. Clifford had made a rhubarb pie. He was the cook for himself, Arnold and Grandmother Agnes. Arnold and Clifford never married. The photo in the upper left is of friends from my side of the family who lived in Denver, the Semenchuks. Lower left is another of Greg’s Uncles, Chester, who everyone called ‘Red’. Greg is in that photo with him cutting logs for firewood at their cabin outside of Denver.

Thank you for reading this nostalgic memory lane post. Enjoy your day!

Busy Days Behind Us

June 7th through the 9th was filled with family activities and gatherings.

Josh and Laura started the drive across the mountains early on the 7th to make it to JJ’s Taekwondo exhibition at Town and Country days in Kettle Falls.

The sun heated up those mats and they had to make the presentations fast so the soles of their feet wouldn’t burn!

Yep the mats were hot. I’m pretty sure there will be discussions for next year to have the presentations from our group and the gymnastics group for performing on the stage instead of in front of the stage!

A snow cone and ice cream made things better.

From Town and Country Days we all gathered at our country bungalow for a Taco Salad meal. After dinner we all made our way back to the Woodland Theater in Kettle Falls for The Haran Dancers recital.

Addy performed beautifully.

On Sunday after church Josh and Laura traveled back home.

They won’t be back for Father’s Day so Laura took an early Father’s Day photo.

On Father’s day weekend I’ll share the very thoughtful gift our kids and grands gave their dad/gramps.

Very early on this same Sunday morning (2:00 am) our Niece, her hubby and our grand niece found their way to our home from Boise, Idaho where they had attended a wedding. They let themselves in and found their guest rooms without waking us up. They slept in on Sunday and we managed to get ready for church and leave without waking them up. We left them at Bedside Baptist and returned from church in time to make them fresh coffee.

Sunday afternoon we were at the Woodland Theater again with this new crew who wanted to see Addy perform with the Irish Dance group.

It was a great matinee performance and once again we all headed to our country bungalow for a meal.

Pulled pork sandwiches with homemade coleslaw and not home made beans. There were homemade desserts.

Fun and goofy times.

The fun continued on Monday at Bayles Mountain.

Cousins once removed making memories.

The California crew left about noon on Tuesday June 9th after enjoying Uncle Greg’s famous Swedish pancakes. They headed for Josh and Laura’s home for another week in the Pacific Northwest.

And while the westside crew were on the Olympic Peninsula we were back in Kettle Falls at JJ’s Taekwondo Promotion.

We also participated in a community garage sale on Thursday and Friday. We were happy to get rid of some large items that were getting in the way around here. So thrilled we didn’t have to haul them back home.

I’m watching World Cup Soccer games while I work on posts and visiting blogs. It’s no secret that I’m a soccer fan. It’s been an exciting start in the group stage. It’s been fun following fans that have traveled from around the world and who are soaking up the food and experiences unique to the USA!

Thankfully we have a relatively quiet week ahead of us. We need that. Have a good week y’all.

Soccer or Futbol Quotes

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It’s no secret that we have soccer/futbol fans in our family and I’m one of them. We are excited for World Cup 2026 here in the USA/Mexico/Canada.

This is a collection of Soccer Commentators comments during games in the past in honor of World Cup 2026. The photos are from games through the years from our travels and at home.  Some are from World Cup 1994 which was the last time and first time World Cup was hosted by the USA. This post is very random and jumps around near and far and wherever soccer/futbol has taken us.

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“He’s already written his name in lights here”

“That was a chance to put the game to bed”
“That goal keeper is a mere spectator” “It’s one way traffic at the moment”

“Every road is a cul de sac at the moment” ~ Ian Darke announcer for the Slovenia/USA game.

“England is running around like flies at the moment”

“He is a new name among the old soldiers”
“The giants can be knocked out by the minnows!!”
“Suarez, next time you get hungry take a bite of a Big Mac”
Quote of the match: “His ears look quite normal.” :0)
another great one…”couple years past their sell by date in the premier league” :0)
“So many of these players now on the wrong side of 30” Adrian Healey
“It really is keystone cops stuff here”
“The last drop of the drink in the last chance saloon”
“The North Koreans are a toughish nut to crack”
“The ball got smuggled away”
“So many of these passes going astray”
“Made rather a mess of it”
“Events conspiring against them”
“They need a win to tie up an almighty knot”
“That tall beanpole striker”
“Over the bar with a goal gaping at her”
“Columbia just had a sniff of something”
“Solo could have brought a portable TV and watched her favorite Film”
“Like a hot knife through butter!” I love Arlo White!
“A slender advantage”
“The cruelty of sport” nice way to describe the own goal…
A sport announcer’s most stupid statement of all time “It’s going to come down to who wants it more” As if one or the other team doesn’t want to win. It’s going to come down to a lot of factors in the run of play but there’s not anyone on the field who wants to lose! And that’s my personal opinion. Thanks for letting me vent!
“He was the meat in that sandwich” ~ English Premier League soccer announcer. The meat in this challenge happened to be the ref! He’s still down on the pitch…

USA-Panama3Go U.S.A.!

Vámonos!

Last Week of May Happenings

At the very end of May on a day without rain, the first camping trip as a family happened for this crew.

Addy had the big catch of the trip hooking a Prize Fish that was registered with Fish and Wildlife. They are working on what she’ll get for her prize.

She now has more fish tales to tell. Both Grands want to go camping again.

I’ve been on the lookout for a nice chess set. Stopping in at a local estate sale I found this Renaissance set from the 50’s in great shape. It was $25 which I thought a decent price.

With all the rain we’ve had lately it seemed a good time to start another puzzle. This puzzle was purchased at a thrift store and I wanted to see if there are any missing pieces. I’ll soon find out!

And as of last night just a few more sections to go.

More May blooms that are thriving.

June blooms coming soon. Looking forward to all that June holds.

Living Vicariously

Four of ours were able to travel to Kalispell to meet up with many of their cousins over Memorial Day Weekend. There was a special wedding that six of our people were attending on Saturday so the annual ‘Arizona Cousin’s Memorial Weekend’ was moved to Kalispell this year. It was a great accommodation to make.

Their VRBO was on Foys lake close to Kalispell.

Our niece Debbee turned 50 in the middle of May and our DIL Laura was inspired to order a special t-shirt for each of the ‘cousins’ with a special moment in their life with their cousin Debbee. The photo above shows the original cousins with Babushka and Dzeda all together back then and then this photo below of the now.

A re-enactment…

Laura found special photos for all these peeps!

It was a wonderful way to celebrate Deb Deb’s birthday.

It was time for these six to leave for the wedding.

These 6 enjoyed a meal out while the others were at the wedding.

Sunday was a full day for all to be together.

 

 

On Memorial Day it was decided that a trip to Glacier National Park and a hike was in order. Donning their Memorial day t-shirts and coats they set out at 5:30 am!

Another meaningful, encouraging and rewarding Cousin Memorial Weekend in the books!

Ellen with an E, Hodgepodge

Thank you to Joyce From This Side of the Pond for our weekly Hodgepodge questions.

1. Do you like your name?s

I have grown into it. I do not have a middle name on my birth certificate.

Are you named after someone (grandparent, etc)?

No. After my older sisters got the more traditional Russian names, my mother decided I’d get a name none of her friends would choose for their children. Ellen is not a typical Russian name.

In Russian, the name Ellen translates to Эллен (pronounced EL-len) when used for an English name.
However, because Ellen is a variant of the name Helen, the traditional Russian equivalent is Елена (pronounced yeh-LYEH-nah), which is often shortened to the nickname Лена (pronounced LYEH-nah)
Лена is what I was called by our Russian family and friends.
Ellen, Ellen, Watermelon. That is something I remember some classmates in elementary school repeating to try to irritate me. 🙂
I also had to correct people over and over again when they tried to call me Helen. I’d say, NO, Ellen with an E.

If you have children how did you choose their names? 

For our sons we chose strong Biblical names, Joshua and Daniel. For our daughter we chose a name from Greg’s heritage and also a strong name, Katherine.

2.  A piece of red velvet cake, a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a slice of blueberry pie? You can only have one…which will you choose?

I’ll go with red velvet cake.

If you could pick any red, white, or blue dessert other than those listed here, what would you choose? 

Fourth Festivities3

I love a good patriotic berry trifle.

3.  What’s a job you’d like to try for just one day? 

I’d like to try being a detective and solving a murder.

4. Any patriotic decor in your home currently or coming up this summer? 

Yes! And I’m on the lookout for more since this is the 250th year of freedom!

5. It’s the end of May, so let’s exercise our brains. Sum up your month with an acrostic using the word MAY. We can do it!!

M emorials beginning and ending the merry month of May with

A wakening buds and weeds displaying a springtime

Y ard that needs attending to!

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Memorial weekend scattered many of our family to Texas and Montana, far south and far north! The travelers originated from California or Washington State.

Kathy is our oldest sister and turning 80 over Memorial weekend she deserved a celebration all her own. She was in Texas on her day so our sister, Lana, threw a birthday party for her. Our youngest sister, Lana, lives in Texas.  Both my older sisters (Kathy and Vera) were in Texas to attend our youngest niece’s graduation from high school. The graduation ceremony was on Friday. Our youngest niece is the daughter of our youngest brother who also lives in Texas. Are you following? Anyhoo, hats off to Lana for giving Kathy a very special celebration.

In Texas our friend, Heidi, sat in for me for this ‘sister’ photo above since I couldn’t be in Texas for the events this past weekend. Lana, Heidi, Vera and Kathy on Kathy’s 80th birthday.

Kathy’s kids and grands were all in Montana for a wedding. Our kids and Vera’s kids were in Montana, too, for the annual ‘cousins memorial day weekend’. This group of cousins sent their mom, nana, auntie a special photo greeting for her 80th. There was some face timing, too.

Meanwhile back in Texas…

Our niece, Hope’s graduation ceremony.

Graduations, weddings, cousin’s annual gathering, it was a full weekend! Why were we absent? We enjoyed taking care of our Grands while their parents had fun with the cousins in Montana!

Each of these loved ones got a t-shirt with a photo of a special moment in their history with their cousin Debbee. She turned 50 in May and our DIL Laura was inspired to celebrate her at cousins weekend in this special way.

The original ‘band of cousins’.

Whew! That was a very busy weekend. Our Colville kids made it back Monday evening and our ‘sitting’ duty was over. We shared our time watching over our Grands with our DIL Jamie’s dear mom. She got the evening/overnight duty while and we got the daytime duty. I’m sure our Grands had stories to tell about their caretakers and didn’t hesitate to throw us ‘under the bus’. 🙂

And just like that, May is almost over!

Our Week in California

Before we parked at the Spokane airport for our flight to Orange County we enjoyed our Linner at the Rusty Moose in Airway Heights which is just a hop skip and a jump to the airport.

We arrived at the Santa Ana Airport in Orange County on Thursday evening May 7th. Our brother-in-law picked us up at the curb and brought us back to my sister Vera’s home in Huntington Beach, where we would be staying for a week. Our sister Vera had been in Arizona and she arrived this night, too, and brother-in-law headed back to the airport to pick her up. BIL lives in Texas and he arrived the afternoon of this day. This Orange county airport had a total of 7 of our family members arriving at different times on this day. We all initially traveled to attend our friends memorial service on Friday morning but after that we filled the rest of our time meeting up all over the L.A. area traversing the freeway system for graduation ceremonies, Mother’s Day meals, birthday meals and farewell meals with different family groups and different venues. Whew!

Our Washington kids were able to attend our Great Nephew’s graduation from The Masters College in Santa Clarita. They drove across Los Angeles from the Memorial Service to attend.

That evening we were treated to dinner at Seasons 52 in Costa Mesa with two of my sisters and brother-in-law. I didn’t take any photos.

Saturday this crew drove from different areas of L.A. and Orange County to meet for brunch at Twoheys. Those of us who weren’t at Jack’s graduation were able to congratulate him in person at this gathering. Some of us were also meeting his bride to be for the first time.

This restaurant moved from it’s original location in Alhambra to this South Pasadena location.

Retro, family-friendly American diner known for burgers & hot fudge sundaes since 1943.

Our church youth group would end up at this restaurant frequently in the 60’s and 70’s. That was when they were still in the Alhambra location. We could down a burger and then have one of their famous sundaes. My choice for a burger was always the Stinko Burger. A plain burger with a thick slice of raw onion. I ordered the same on this day for ‘old times sake’.

Josh and Laura left the 2EE’s gathering and headed straight to the airport to fly home.

Saturday evening this crew met up in Huntington Beach at Mario’s Mexican Restaurant for dinner. My brother Steve and SIL Kelly were able to make it to this gathering, driving out from Moorpark. Our niece Debbee was turning 50 this same week so we celebrated her. The Brother in law who picked us all up at the airport is sitting next to Greg. Me and my two sisters are seated at that end of the table. My brother is next to me and SIL across from him sitting next to our niece Melissa. Our niece Debbee is to the right and her hubby is taking the selfie. There was a two hour wait time for a table at this restaurant (remember this was Mother’s Day weekend) but…our Lenny, Debbie and Melissa are good customers here and the manager of the bar came up with seating for us in 20 minutes! Muy Bueno!

On Sunday, Greg and I attended Beach Bible Church (formerly Evangelical Free of Huntington Beach) with my sister Vera. This was Mother’s Day. This was the same church Greg and I attended when we lived in Huntington Beach in the mid 70’s and mid 80’s. Both of our sons were dedicated in this church. It hasn’t changed much and it is still a Bible believing and Bible preaching church. The service with the worship songs and preaching was balm to the soul.

At some point during the weekend gatherings there was a last minute decision to gather at Vera’s home for a Mother’s Day meal. Our niece Melissa offered to bring the pies and our nephew Ryan made a special gluten free cake for the gathering. Vera and I made the decision to order a couple dishes from a Chinese restaurant close by to make the day easy peasy. The Beef Broccoli and Orange Peel Chicken with steamed rice was just right for everyone.

I wasn’t with any of our children on Mother’s Day but it was nice to be with all my sisters, a few nieces, nephews, BIL’s, one brother and SIL.

Monday was beach day and I’ll save that post for another day.

Our flight home would be on Wednesday morning so our last gathering was on Tuesday night with a skeleton crew. My sisters Lana, Vera, Greg and I had a wonderful meal at an Italian Restaurant in Newport Beach called Sapori.

It was a very nice finale to our time in Southern California.

Vera drove us to the airport on Wednesday morning. Thank you, Vera, for your hospitality and to all our family who drove miles for our gatherings. Thank you, Lana, for giving up your bed for a few nights and for the use of that amazing hair dryer! 🙂

Our Friend Ken

Ken’s Memorial Service was held on May 8th, 2026. We traveled to Southern California for the service.

Ken and Heidi’s son, son in law, daughter and grandsons all spoke, read scripture, in honor of their dad’s, pop pop’s, memory. They spoke much of Ken’s love for his Savior, Jesus Christ.

Old Testament Readings:

Isaiah 40:31 ~ …but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

Isaiah 45:22 ~Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.

Isaiah 12:2 ~ Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the Lord God is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.

Psalm 56:3-4 ~ When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?

Joshua 1:9 ~ Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

New Testament Readings:

John 14:1~ Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.

1 Peter 5:7 ~ …casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

Philippians 3:20-21 ~ But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.

My brother-in-law led the congregation in singing. We sang, How Great Thou Art, It is Well with my Soul, and “God be with you till we meet again”.

God be with you till we meet again;
By His counsels guide, uphold you,
With His sheep securely fold you;
God be with you till we meet again.

Refrain

Till we meet, till we meet,
Till we meet at Jesus’ feet;
Till we meet, till we meet,
God be with you till we meet again.

Our kids and our nieces with Ken’s daughter.

After the beautiful service we had time to catch up with friends and family at a reception at the church. It was so good to see old friends we haven’t seen for ages. I should have taken more photos.

All my sisters in order of birth.

My college bestie who was married to my cousin.

My dear friend, Ken’s beloved wife, Heidi.

The memorial for Ken was held at the same church that Ken and Heidi got married in back in November of 1978. I was the matron of honor, pregnant with our firstborn son. Greg and I were both in the wedding. We met Ken when he started dating Heidi.

The photo above is after the wedding reception at our home in Huntington Beach. Ken and Heidi opened wedding gifts and then changed and headed off for their honeymoon. That’s my dear old Pop watching on. Heidi and I spent so much time together that she was part of the family.

The upper photo in the collage was Christmas 1979 when they were expecting their first baby and the two lower photos were of our last time together as couples in November of 2025. Ken and Heidi traveled to our home to visit. It was a precious time of catching up and of also understanding that these were Ken’s final months on this earth. We had a glimpse of the suffering that they were in the midst of. It helped us to know how to pray for them in the months after this visit and leading up to Ken’s death.

This next song was one that Ken listened to the last months of his struggle and one that comforted him. He shared it with his dear family. It was played at the end of his memorial service.

It is such a comfort to know that Ken is with his Savior, Jesus Christ and that his suffering on earth is over.

Till we meet again, Ken, at Jesus’ feet!