Category Archives: Family

Older than You Think Hodgepodge

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Crater Lake way back in the 50’s.  Me, my sisters, younger brother and my mom. I’m in the middle.

HOT off the press are the Wednesday Hodgepodge questions. Thank you, Joyce!

1. Do you feel older or younger than your age? Elaborate. 

I feel younger than my age except when I look in the mirror closely.  I’m relatively healthy for someone my age. I’m not on any medications, can walk easily and most days have the energy to get things done. Hopefully my hips and knees will hold out for a long time.

2. What’s one thing you should toss right now, but just can’t? 

Some clothes that realistically I’ll never wear again. There are other things I should donate or sell, not toss.

3. Have you visited many of the 63 National Parks in the US of A? You’ll find a list here. Do you have a favorite? What National Park that you haven’t seen do you most want to see? 

I’ll work backwards on these questions. I would like to visit the Utah National Parks and Glacier. Glacier is the closest to us and more in my comfort temperature range.

I have been to the Grand Canyon, Kings Canyon, Yosemite, Yellowstone, Great Smoky Mountains, Crater Lake, Badlands, Mount Rainier, North Cascades, Olympic, and Redwood.

The Bible Camp I went to in my teens was in Kings Canyon.

4. How often do you get take out? What’s your favorite? 

We enjoy take-out from Thai to Go. It’s authentic and good. The owners will sometimes take a month off to go back to Thailand to visit family. They will also take a long time off in the winter and around holidays so we always have to double check to see if they are open.

When we are desperate we get take out from our local Chinese Restaurant.

We might get take out once every couple weeks.

5. Do you have many (or any) subscriptions? Not necessarily magazines, but thinking more along the lines of boxes or products that companies offer, and you can sign up to receive on a regular basis. Could be weekly, monthly, quarterly, even daily. Tell us about them. 

At this time we do not have any regular subscriptions. Greg was gifted a razor, etc., from Jeremy’s Razors and he still gets new blades every few months in the mailbox that were part of his gift.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

A couple photos from the National Parks me/we have visited over the years…

Can you guess which one this is? 🙂

yellowstone day one 174

Or this one…

This photo is from 1988. *Hint* The mountain behind us is a volcano and is in Washington State.

Hope you Hodgepodgers are enjoying the heat of summer but staying cool.

 

Gathered Together

We made plans months ago for an early celebration with our family of ten in Walla Walla for Greg and my 50th wedding anniversary. Our actual anniversary is on December 6th but getting the ten of us together that time of year can be difficult. We decided on Walla Walla which was a place none of us had been to before. Laura researched the areas Airbnb options and we looked at a couple possibilities and decided on the Italian Villa. We locked in our dates that were good for each family unit and started making plans. On Saturday the 29th of June our four vehicles had driven equal distances from the northeast of Washington and the Western Puget Sound area of Washington to arrive here.

When Greg and I arrived at four we were in for a special surprise from our kids.

Who are those young kids!?

Dan’s macarons arranged in the numerals to celebrate our 50 years!

Laura retrieved photos from each of our kids’ weddings to add to ours for this special memorial photo collage. This is the message included in the photo collage…

They also had t-shirts made for us. All these things were a fun surprise and great beginning for our time together.

Thank you to all our kids for how you love and honor us!!

We all had our own bedrooms and each couple had their own bathroom. Not too shabby. Plenty of room for all of us to spread out.

We got settled and then got ready for dinner out at Yama’s Greek Eats in downtown Walla Walla. This would end up being our family favorite out of three restaurants we ate at. If you find yourself in Walla Walla eat here!

Our first day of celebration came to a close with excitement about pool time on Sunday and another special event. More to come, soon.

Our gifts have found their special place in our home.

We are currently in a heat wave and staying cool inside as much as possible. Hope all is well in your corner.

Along the Way…

Our little family of 10 planned a special getaway to Walla Walla for Saturday the 29th of June until Tuesday the 2nd of July. Greg and I left a day early to make a stop at Palouse Falls and spend the night in Richland, Washington.

We found our way to the parking lot at the viewpoint to see the falls.

 

From Palouse Falls we headed a little west to the town of Richland which is part of the Tri-Cities for a night at a Marriott property. We had enough points to have our night for free. When we checked in the friendly employee upgraded us to a suite with a view of the water (The Columbia River) for which we were grateful. We dropped off our luggage and ventured to the restaurant we chose for our dinner. We were back to our room for an early night and woke up on Saturday to a lovely sunrise.

We would have several hours to wile away on this day until we met up with Katie and Andrew for a wine tasting at Seven Hills Winery at 1:30. The Walla Walla area and the Columbia Valley area in this part of our state is renowned for wine production. Our check in time for our Airbnb wasn’t until 4pm.

Cheers!

There is much more to share. Thank you for stopping by.

Pausing…

I’m pausing until next week in sharing our amazing family time in Walla Walla the last two days of June and first two days of July.

We had a fun time at our 4th of July late afternoon and early evening festivities after tackling our acreage that seemed to get way out of control while we were gone. Mowing and weeding and watering were at the top of the list. We are enjoying sunshine and warmth here in Colville. Yesterday the temps were in the upper 80’s and today we have a forecast of 93. We are on a trend that will take us above 100 in a few days! Yikes. I see lots of watering in the evening and early hours the next several days.

Stay cool y’all!

Red White and Blue Hodgepodge

Joyce has the questions for our Wednesday Hodgepodge posted and ready for us to answer. Welcome!

1. It’s a big week in the US of A as we celebrate Independence Day. Do you have any special plans? How will you mark the day? BBQ? pool-lake-beach time? fireworks? homemade ice cream? If you’re not an American you can tell us what’s happening in your corner of the world on Thursday.

We are celebrating with a good crowd on the 4th. We bring our own meat to barbecue and a dish to share with the crowd, either a side or a dessert. The party starts at 4pm and ends after fireworks. In between there is a very competitive Corn Hole tournament. Fireworks are downplayed in our corner of the U.S. because of fire danger.

2. What’s your favorite ‘All-American’ dessert?

I’m going with Chocolate Chip Cookies and Strawberry Shortcake.

3. Does that patriotic feeling come easily to you, or are you having to work for it more these days? What’s something that makes you proud to be a citizen of your country?

If I think about how our country was founded and the principles that shaped our Constitution and governance I can be proud and patriotic. Our leadership these days brings me down in this area. I’m thankful my hope and future are in God’s hands.

4. Your favorite ‘patriotic’ movie? Favorite patriotic song?

Yankee Doodle Dandy for the movie and America The Beautiful for the song.

5. One simple pleasure on your July ‘bucket list’?

Besides the 4th our calendar is free of any big events so I’ll say relaxed mornings are on my July bucket list.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

Our family of ten have been enjoying each other since Saturday in Walla Walla, Washington at a VRBO. Today, Tuesday, we are all traveling to our respective homes. It has been such a delightful 4 days and there will be several posts covering our time together. Today will be a day of laundry and yard work!

Happy July Y’all!

Awe Inspiring Hodgepodge

Joyce has posted the questions for Wednesday Hodgepodge, some thought provoking and some easier.

1. What do you think has remained the same about you your whole life?

Being in church on Sundays was ingrained early and is a constant in my life. Having my Spiritual life nourished is a deep and consistent need that I have. This involves much more than just Sundays in Church. On many of our out of town weekends we end up in a local church and meeting Christians from around the U.S. and the U.K. has been a rich experience.

How has your perception of yourself changed over time? 

The more I know about myself the more I know about why I needed to be saved and why I need my Savior, Jesus Christ every day.

2. What was the first thing you learned how to cook?

This is a hard one for my memory bank. I didn’t cook with our mom in the kitchen. I’m guessing it was something in my Home Economics class in Junior High in the kitchen at school like biscuits or cookies or eggs. Later in my life our family started getting together to learn to make some ‘heritage’ foods with our mom. A cooking day with our mom, my sisters, sister in laws, and nieces was always such a fun event!

Do you prefer to cook or bake? 

I enjoy both. Cooking is always faster and something I do more of these days. Baking is something for special occasions.

3. What are some of your current priorities in this season of life? Elaborate. 

Spending time with our children and Grandchildren is a huge priority.

4. How much time do you spend on your hair each day or, put another way, what’s your hair care routine? Do you get it cut regularly or just whenever the mood strikes? Do you go to the same stylist every time? Do you tell your stylist everything? Any other beauty treatments you indulge in throughout the year? 

A visit to my hair stylist happens about every 6 weeks. She works out of her shop on her home property so yes, it’s the same gal every time. I do not tell her everything because she’s a stylist to several other gals and guys from our church. LOL! I’m not a fan of beauty treatments. I do love a good massage and it’s been ages since I’ve had one of those. I spend about 1 minute on my hair everyday. If it’s freshly washed I spend under 10 minutes drying and shaping it into my same old hairdo, a ‘Bob’.

5. What is the most awe-inspiring place you’ve visited? 

I have been privileged to be in many awe-inspiring places in my life. Cathedrals always have the ‘wow’ factor. The Ark Encounter in Kentucky was awe-inspiring.

Last September when we walked around Fountains Abbey in the Yorkshires, the four of us just kept saying, ‘Wow!’. It was so awe-inspiring.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

The Last Three Days…

After pulling some weeds early on Friday morning we were inspired to hit the road and go a little north and then west about an hour to the little town of Republic, Washington.

We had lunch at the Mexican Restaurant in town and then poked around the few shops on the main drag. We found the thrift store in town and then found the park where there was a Farmer’s Market and a Library book sale.

Republic, Washington is a city with an early 1900s look and a heritage based in the mining and logging industries. Originally named Eureka Gulch, Republic had a population of 954 in 2000. Noted for its fossils, natural beauty and recreational possibilities, it is nestled in a valley between Wauconda and Sherman Passes at the intersection of Washington State Routes 20 and 21 in the north central part of the state.

On the way back to Colville.

When we spot the Columbia River we know we are close to home. The weather was great for our quick trip to Republic and back home but things began to turn after we got home.

On Saturday we got some mighty winds and thunderstorms with some hail and rain. At one point the temperatures inside our home dropped five degrees. We also saw that the same roads we had taken to Republic that were clear and dry had snow and slush on Saturday and into Sunday at the highest point on Sherman Pass! Sherman Pass has an elevation of 5574 feet.

On Father’s day we had clear weather again as we headed to church and after we got home from church this was the view we had out our windows.

It didn’t dampen our little Father’s Day meal on Sunday evening with our Colville kids.

Happy Father’s day to our son who is faithful and loyal and cares for his family well.

The two dads got nice gifts and we enjoyed our time together.

Dear got phone calls from our out of town kids wishing him a happy Father’s day.

Happy Father’s Day to Dear. A good Father with integrity and faithfulness.

Today we are scheduled to have our windows washed. We didn’t anticipate all this crazy weather. Hopefully the day will be dry and we’ll be able to enjoy the clean dry windows for a few hours.

Tomorrow I’ll be helping in the kitchen for our Church High School camp and I’ll be gone from home from 6am till after 6pm. I won’t be visiting blogs. Time will tell if I’ll be able to muster for Wednesday Hodgepodge.

Hope you all had a good weekend and have a good week ahead.

Thankful for Fathers Hodgepodge!

Greg with our three in Ventura, California, 1987.

It is time for another Wednesday Hodgepodge and Jo From This Side of the Pond has the questions ready.

1. June 12 is National Simplicity Day. In what way is your life simple? What’s one way that it’s not? 

Since moving to the country our life has become more simple in a few ways. We entertain less. We don’t leave the house as often. When we drive anywhere in town we only encounter 2 traffic signals. There are many places we travel to without even going through one traffic light. The one way it’s not as simple is that we have more property to care for. We need a riding lawnmower and we have more weeds to pull!

2. Something you remember from a ‘simpler time’? 

One of the things we enjoyed doing way back before 9-11 was to drop travelers off at their airport gate and greet them when they returned at their gate. Nowadays you can barely get a hug in when you drop them off at the curb.

3. Do you like squash? If so what’s your favorite variety? What’s a favorite way to prepare squash? 

I don’t mind squash but I wouldn’t go out of my way to eat it or prepare it except for maybe Butternut Squash Soup.

4. Do you shop the warehouse stores (such as Costco, Sam’s B.J’s, etc)? If so how often do you go, and what’s something you always buy in this type of store? 

We do shop at Costco regularly and when we have a project we might shop at Home Depot. Monthly trips to Costco are normal. We always fill the gas tank when we first arrive at Costco. They have the cheapest gas prices around these parts. We regularly buy coffee beans, lemons, toilet paper, water, tissue, toothpaste, shaving cream, bar soap, liquor, rotisserie chicken, pure maple syrup, agave sweetener, ranch dressing, and nuts. We were there on Monday to pick up Dear’s hearing aides. He has never had them before so he is now getting used to them. I also check out their clothing piles to see any deals on items that will work for us. I regularly make purchases for the church kitchen at Costco, too. The items in italic come in multi-packs so we purchase them less frequently.

5. Father’s Day is this coming Sunday. Any plans to make the day special? Tell us something about your own father, or something about your hubs as a father, or about someone who stepped into your life and acted as a father if yours was not a part of your life. 

My older sister Kathy, Pop (working on a jigsaw puzzle) and me camping in Big Bear California in the 50’s.

My pop was a carpenter and he worked hard to earn enough money to feed and clothe us. When he immigrated to the U.S. just after World War II he had to get creative to find work, later he was able to get carpentry work regularly and he was part of the Carpenters Union. Although he was religious there was something missing until He heard the Gospel clearly at a Billy Graham Crusade at the Los Angeles Coliseum. He knew God was calling him to repentance and a new life following Jesus Christ as his Savior. When he asked God to forgive him, and he put his faith in Jesus Christ for his salvation, he knew immediately that something changed in him. He now had the help of the Holy Spirit to live this new life following Jesus. He desired this new life for all of us and for his parents and siblings, too. Sharing Christ with others was a priority in his life. When his papers were filled out for his legal immigration his name was translated to Moisi in English but it would have been more accurate to be spelled Moses. Our parents sacrificed for their children. They very rarely spent money on themselves. Pop lived to be 95 and outlived our mom by 5 years.

This photo is from a celebration we had for our parents in April of 2013 for their 90th birthdays and for their 70th wedding anniversary. Our brother Fred was missing from this celebration.  Our mom died in September of 2013 and our Pop lived for 5 more years.

Our kids will be giving their tributes to their ‘Pops’ on Sunday. He’s a good man and I’m thankful for him and our life together. While I’m sitting at my computer answering these questions, Greg is vacuuming our entire home! What a guy!

We will celebrate with our local kids on Sunday evening here in Colville.

6. Insert your own random thought here.  

Me and my Pop, 1973. This was taken at a Los Angeles terminal for chartered flights. Several family members and friends were all together with no restrictions at the departure gate.

Busy Start to June

June has started off with full weekends and good family days. Our Grands and their mom enjoyed some sweets with Granny Great. I love this photo of all of them.

Josh and Laura were in Nashville for a business trip and got to enjoy the Grand Ole Oprey.

Our Garage sale started Wednesday with 15 families bringing all their stuff together so we were ready for the early birds on Thursday morning. All the participants signed up for shifts to help at the sale.  When our Grands and their mom came for their shift, Addy and JJ and the other littles were able to cuddle the new pups. The family that hosted the garage sale raise and sell golden retrievers.

We had a very successful sale with many families earning over $200 and some earning a whole lot more. We earned close to $400.

On Saturday I put in some time at the sale before Gramps and I headed to Kettle Falls to watch Addy’s Irish Dance group perform at Town and Country Days. It was hot with limited shade. We were happy that the stage was a covered stage so the kids didn’t have to dance with the sun beating down on them.

Finding some shade before the performance.

It was fun to watch Addy again on stage. When the performance was over they got her changed into cooler clothes quickly so they could enjoy some of the Town and Country festivities.

While waiting for the performance to begin we popped into an establishment next door to the stage to cool down and it was fun to spot this customer.

This guy was part of a group that performed in the Town and Country parade earlier on this day. When you are planning a trip to Scotland, you notice people dressed like this.

After the performance we headed back to the garage sale that was in it’s final minutes to gather up our stuff that didn’t sell and collected our money. We had three days in the sun and I was spent.

Another thing happened this weekend. When we put our A/C on it wasn’t working properly. We’ll have to call today and try to get someone out soon before the real heat starts!

Sunday morning after a good time at church we had a true day of rest.

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Tea Time Puzzle

This is the last puzzle from the puzzle club my kids gifted me for Mother’s Day or my birthday in 2023. It really has been a super gift that just kept giving over the year! Thanks Dan and Jamie.

This one is a fun one to work on. I’m moving along in between pricing garage sale items. I’m a fan of puzzle companies that include a puzzle poster!

Today I’m on early shift at the garage sale. Have a great weekend!