Category Archives: Grandchildren

Love the USA Hodgepodge

Hello July and Red, White and Blue Hodgepodge. Thank you, Joyce!

Happy Canada Day to our neighbors to the North!

1. What do you love most about your country? 

Right now, this minute, I’m enjoying hearing all the good things that World Cup Soccer visitors have to say about this great country of ours. They have said over and over that they were lied to by their home country media on how awful the United States is. They are soaking up the amazing variety of landscape and food and convenience and largeness from coast to coast. We are a melting pot of culture and we are unique in how we display our patriotism and celebrate our country, especially on the 4th of July.

On the flipside we are enjoying their songs, their chants, their dress, their celebrations, their loyalty to their teams!

My parents fled communism (Russia) and spent their teen years and young adult years in Iran. They applied and immigrated lawfully to the USA shortly after World War II. In the nineties when they had an opportunity to re-visit the village our pop was from in Russia they saw first hand what they were delivered from. When they came back to the US and got off their plane in the USA, they kissed the ground! They knew and appreciated the freedom and the country they were providentially citizens of. They embraced the USA, learned the language and were good citizens.

2. Your favorite patriotic song? 

God Bless America

“While the storm clouds gather far across the sea,
Let us swear allegiance to a land that’s free.
Let us all be grateful for a land so fair,
As we raise our voices in a solemn prayer:

God bless America, land that I love,
Stand beside her and guide her
Through the night with a light from above.
From the mountains, to the prairies,
To the oceans white with foam,
God bless America,
My home sweet home.”

3. Red, white, or blue? Stars or stripes? Something you own besides a US flag with some combination of those colors or decorations as part of its design? 

Blue as in blue jeans or the color of our home.

Stars are a favorite…

Red, White and Blue stars are outside and inside our home, especially this time of year!

4. What’s one thing you want more of this summer: fun, rest, adventure, connection, quiet, or confidence? Elaborate. 

I’ve already had more fun than I deserve this year and there is more fun planned for October of this year. I’m going with connection. I’d like more connection in the everyday moments with my God and Savior. I’d like more connection in that regard with other believers, too. Good conversations and prompts that cast my eyes on how gracious God is and all that He is doing to make me more like his Son and my Savior.

Without God’s grace I’d have no hope. Here are parts of Spurgeon’s June 29th evening devotional;

“If the grace of God were to leave the best Christian, there is enough sin in his heart to make him the worst of transgressors. If left to yourselves, you who are warmest for Christ would cool down like Laodicea into sickening lukewarmness:

…Therefore let us cry to God to never leave us. Do not withdraw from us your indwelling grace! 

Lord, keep us everywhere. Keep us when we’re in the valley so that we do not grumble against Your humbling hand; keep us when we’re on the mountain, so we do not lose our balance by being lifted up; keep us in our youth, when our passions are strong; keep us in old age, when becoming conceited in our wisdom, we may therefore prove greater fools than those who are young and silly; keep us when we come to die, in case at the very end we should deny You! Keep us living, keep us dying, keep us working, keep us suffering, keep us fighting, keep us resting, keep us everywhere, for everywhere we need You, O our God!”

5. What was your ultimate, go-to summer activity when you were a kid? Do you still do any version of that today? If you answered yes, does participating in this activity as an adult make you feel like a kid?  

Going to the beach or going to the ‘plunge’, the pool at Montebello high school, was a favorite childhood activity. Did you ever call a pool, a plunge?

As kids, we would walk from our neighborhood in Montebello Gardens (called the Jardines in Spanish) to the high school pool in Montebello where for 10 cents we could enjoy the pools. We would spend a good amount of time in the pools and then have to walk back home. I remember being very thirsty and very tired on that walk back home.

Google maps shows that it was a 2.3 mile walk there and 2.3 mile walk back home!

Our mom never got a license so she never drove a car and our pop worked hard and long hours and always had the family car for his work so as kids we were on our own if we wanted to go to the pool or to the library.

As an adult I enjoy a nice walk on the beach in the cool morning hours and that is something we were able to do just last week!

Cannon Beach, Oregon with Haystack Rock in the distance.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

Speaking of stars, here’s a flashback to 2021 and these two stars are my favorites!

If you are from the USA, I hope you are able to celebrate the 4th of July as the 250th year deserves!

If you aren’t from the USA, happy July to you and don’t be afraid to visit the USA!

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!

Busy Butterfly

We have a very busy Saturday and Sunday this weekend.

We are flitting about like this butterfly from one activity to another.

The Swallowtail enjoys this plant.

I think it’s a Tiger Swallowtail.

We have Taekwondo Promotion, Taco Salad Dinner, Irish Dance Recital, overnight out of town guests, Church, Lunch, Irish Dance Recital, Pulled Pork Sandwich Dinner and more!

Whew!

I did manage to finish this puzzle before things got real busy.

I’m glad it was a thrift store bargain with all the pieces included. The quality of the pieces and the way the pieces fit was a bit of a challenge. I’ll offer it for sale at the Community Garage Sale we are part of at the end the of this new week coming up.

Speaking of puzzles…

These two finished up the puzzle I started with them over Memorial Weekend. It was a fun one to work on. We almost finished it before their parents got home from Montana. I’m glad they put the last pieces in. Looks like someone wants to put in the very last piece.

If you don’t see any comments from me on your weekend posts, you’ll know why.

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.

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!

Balancing the Hodgepodge

I think this cake could qualify for my plate of beige food!

A new set of Wednesday Hodgepodge questions have come our way From This Side of the Pond. Thank you, Joyce.

1. What do you make more complicated than it needs to be? 

Answering some of the Hodgepodge questions! 🙂

2. What impresses you? 

Hard working young people.

3. On a scale of 1-10 how picky of an eater are you?  (1=extremely and 10=not at all)

I’ll go with an 8. No liver for me, thank you. Not a fan of raw fish, either.

If you had to eat a meal made entirely of one color what color would you choose? 

Beige or light brown as in a Thanksgiving plate of turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes covered in beige gravy and a beige soft roll on the side. Also…see photo up top!

4. What does balance in life mean to you? Does your life currently feel ‘balanced’? 

A good combination of home life responsibilities, keeping relationships at peace, and adding in some good adventures is a good balance in life. Giving freely and receiving graciously are important, too. Knowing the God who created me and having peace with Him through Jesus Christ gives me spiritual balance and security.

Currently things are seemingly balanced.

5. If you could travel the world for a year what would be your first destination? 

The United Kingdom would be my first and my last destination. It would be amazing to travel all about that Kingdom with that much time. A whole year could be doable if our kids and grands and friends would meet up with us through the year.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

While we were away these three came by our house to water since we were having dry and warm days which isn’t typical for Spring.

This little guy was pleased as punch to find the snacks I left for him and his sister!

Early May Days Hodgepodge

May the hodgepodge questions entertain your brain, thank you to Joyce.

1. What’s something you may do this month?

Drop some pounds…

2. Hola! Hodgepodge Day lands just after Cinco de Mayo… how do you feel about Mexican food? What’s your favorite dish? Do you make it at home or is it a strictly dine out option?

Mexican food might be my comfort food. I don’t think I have an absolute favorite dish out but we choose the restaurant on whether they make a good salsa which is always served up with chips on the table. We do make some dishes at home like tacos, enchiladas, quesadillas, guacamole, pico de gallo and margaritas.

3. When the children of today grow up what do you think they’ll say about this time period? What do you most hope they remember?

I think Covid will be something they will never forget not only because of the sickness and lives lost but also all the false information and lies circling around that time that were devastating to relationships and mental health.

I want our Grands to remember the rich time they have had learning about God’s love for them and all the love that their parents, uncles, aunts and grandparents showered on them, too.

4. What advice would you give a new mother?

Cherish all the seasons of growth and find joy in the current season even if it is a difficult one.

It is okay and beneficial in many circumstances to say NO.

5. What’s a phrase your mother often said to you? If you’re a mom do you say it to your own children?

No phrase from my mother comes to me. I’ll ask my siblings if they can remember anything.

Now that I’ve read some of your answers for this question, I do remember a phrase that we heard growing up. It was in Russian but the gist was “It will heal by the time you are married!” I might have said this same thing a few times…

6. Insert your own random thought here.

May already has given us lots to enjoy and it’s only been around for 6 days!

An overnight visit from Uncle and Auntie!

We were able to cast a live you-tube of our Great Nephew’s Senior Composition Recital.

We were all blown away by his talent.

Graduation is this Friday.

Hope that your May has started out well, Hodgepodgers and other visitors here!

Adios April Hodgepodge

We’ve had some beautiful days as April ends.

May is coming and the Hodgepodge is here. Thank you, Joyce!

1. Are you feeling more reset, restart, or full speed ahead as we move into May? Tell us why. 

We have to reset. A dear friend of ours passed away and we will now be traveling for his memorial.

Other opportunities have arisen this month, too, and we are shifting our plans to accommodate. We can plan but we do not know what tomorrow holds.

2. Painting, sculpture, architecture, literature, cinema, theatre, music…what’s your favorite form of art? Elaborate. 
Music is at the very top for me but the kind of music is specific. Music that honors God is what I appreciate the most. I’m not a fan of music that yells or goes down roads I don’t want to follow. Story music isn’t at the top of my list, either.
I also appreciate painting, sculpture, architecture and literature. These forms are most appreciated outside of the modern realm. I’m not a fan of modern art in most of these forms. Cinema and Theatre are my least favorites.
These photos are from the House of Strauss in Vienna and the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, England.

3. What time is dinner at your house? How do you feel about leftovers? 

These days we call it Linner. We tend to eat between two and three unless we are meeting up for dinner or having our kids over for dinner. If that is the case dinner is usually between five and six. I’m a fan of leftovers!

4.What’s the last thing you fell down a rabbit hole investigating? 

When I research places to visit or have visited, I can go down many rabbit holes! I was doing some extra history searches for Český Krumlov this past week. In travels, you can’t learn all about a town in a four hour visit. I try to learn what I can before but when I work on a post, after the fact, there is so much more to learn! It always makes me want to go back to places we’ve been for a second look. 🙂

Vienna will be the next place I’ll go down rabbit holes for my research and my next river cruise post.

5. And now for a question from the book Marilyn (Memphis Bridges) gave me…

At what are you ‘self-taught?’ 

Our mom cooked 99% of all our meals growing up and she did a lot of baking but it was never with any help from me. I didn’t do a lot of watching of this process, either. I ate all the good things she made but I had a lot of learning to do on my own. My mom’s efforts and her being open to try new things gave me confidence but the hands on learning came after I was married. Trial and error has worked well for me. Our sister Vera has preserved many of our mom’s recipes and I’m thankful for that.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

I’m so thankful to the LORD for these two and the fact that they have so much room to roam and enjoy the outdoors!

They peddle to the end of the driveway to wave goodbye when our visits are over and we are heading home. See you soon!

Catching Up

Some things of late that I want to store up in my memories.

Turkeys have been strutting around our property this Spring.

This is the latest puzzle I put together and it was a delight except for the pictures of the puzzle on the box did not show a section of the right side of the puzzle or the very top of the puzzle.

This puzzle was found at Goodwill. It was a sealed puzzle that had never been opened so I was confident all the pieces would be in the box. A fun celebration puzzle to complete for the 250th anniversary of our country!

For the Friday night of our latest Birthday Weekend this recipe for Raspberry Lemon Bars was a hit. Click on the link to find the recipe from Reluctant Entertainer.

There were stories told and stories reenacted that made for lots of laughter during the birthday weekend and afterward. If you know you know. I know these next photos will be a hilarious reminder.

I’ve had some nostalgic days going through photo albums after the death of a dear friend of ours and it was uncanny to come across our sons combined 7th and 9th birthday party photos and to see the similarity to our grandsons party this Spring some thirty eight years later!!

Laura captured this beautiful photo of Colville mountain driving into town for the birthday weekend. She has a knack for capturing beauty around her.

Homeschool Co-op had their last session on Thursday. These three have done well and persevered. That doesn’t mean school is over for the year, though.

Working on the last of the limbs to maneuver to the burn pile on this sunny and windy Friday.

Hope you have a beautiful Spring Day in your corner of the world. If you are in a land below the Equator have a lovely Fall Day!