Category Archives: Meme

Weekend Roundup “Y”

It’s time for Tom’s Weekend Roundup “Y”.

The prompts:

Starts with “Y.” 

A Favorite. 

Yellow. 

Starts with “Y”.

Yellowstone National Park with it’s yellow stone walled canyon.

The real view of part of the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone with the Lower Falls and an artist rendition below with the yellow stone enhanced.

This artwork is displayed in Cody Wyoming at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West. One of my original posts about Yellowstone can be found here.

A favorite:

A yellow budding water lily and it’s reflection in the water.

Yellow:

A yellow fire hydrant in Coupeville, Washington. Looks like a little robot…

Joining Tom with a parting shot…

A bush filled with yellow blooms. Sorry I don’t know the name of it.

Have a wonderful first weekend of summer y’all.

 

 

Hello Summer Hodgepodge

1. Summer is upon us this week in the Northern hemisphere. Tell us three things on your summer bucket list.

No real bucket list type items but things that we need to have happen this summer…

1. Sell our house. 2. Buy a new house. 3. Complete our move to the new house. In the midst of all of that, spend time with our growing granddaughter, family and friends.

2. Something fun you used to do as a kid in the summertime?

In the 50’s we would go camping in the mountains close to Los Angeles. Big Bear was one of our favorites. As a child this was a fun experience. I’m the one with the buster brown haircut. The other thing we would do was spend time at the beach with our cousins and usually we’d choose Newport Beach in Southern California. Besides dodging waves and digging for sand crabs, the kids would walk around and collect empty soda bottles to take into the little convenience store to redeem the deposits. With the money we’d get by doing this we’d buy a popsicle or candy bar. So thrilling for us young ones! What wasn’t fun about the beach was coming home with horrible sunburns and having to have cold rags dipped in vinegar put on our backs to ease the pain and heat. Ouch. My dear mom was the one who would minister to us.

3. Rooftop or backyard? Why?

I’ve never really lived in an environment where I have to rely on a rooftop to be outside. A yard is still important to me. More importantly a covered deck is my preference with a view of greenery all around and some privacy. If you have a rooftop space you could invite me over to experience something different!

4. Do you read food labels? Place importance on them? Make an effort to find out/care about where your food comes from?

My label reading life has evolved over the years. Growing up we were part of a religion/cult where pork products were taboo so we made sure the salami and hot dogs we bought were an “all beef” product. My family left this group in my later teens and I am free to enjoy bacon and other pork products. MSG was the next item in an ingredients list that we avoided and still do. We avoid anything with aspartame and saccharin or any fake sugar. No diet soft drinks at my house. I can only hope the food I buy at the local grocer is okay…another good reason to pray over the meal you are about to consume.

5. A song you’ll have on repeat this summer?Philip Philip

Summer, Fall, Winter and Spring the songs I mostly have on repeat are Christian worship songs and hymns but here’s one that is somewhat appropriate for our move…

6. Insert your own random thought here.

Our son is threatening to get our little grand girlie a huge hamster ball so they don’t have to deal with this scenario. Yikes, she climbed up on that bar stool and hoisted herself up on the counter. She’s a strong daredevil.

Here she is with her Uncle. This looks a lot safer!

Linking up with Jo From This Side of the Pond for Wednesday Hodgepodge. She asks the questions and we answer…

A Fatherly Hodgepodge

Me and my dear old pop in 1973.

I’m adding a lot of random (not in chronological order) photos of my dear old pop throughout this post.

1. What happens to the mail at your house?

90% of it goes in the recycle bin. Bills go in my pay bills folder. Our kids’ mail goes next to the microwave for them to pick up the next time they come over. Magazines that we want to read end up in the family room or next to the toilet.

My older sisters and our pop in January of 2017.

2. Something you always splurge on? Any guilt associated with the splurge?

I’ll always splurge on my kids and on a good meal when we have friends and family over. The best meat with no guilt…just an empty pocketbook.

Josh and Laura with their Dzeda in January of 2017.

3. There are many, but what are two important questions you think every bride and groom should ask/answer before they plan their walk down the aisle?

If the bride and groom are believers these two questions are important. Do you love Jesus? Are you willing to obey him?

Our pop in the 1990’s

Dear and our pop in January of 2017 at Joe and Hannah’s wedding.

Me and my siblings in the 50’s with our pop before our next 4 siblings were born. I’m the youngest in this photo.

4. What’s the best advice your father ever gave you?

I can’t remember him giving me verbal advice. My parents were Russian immigrants and it took them a while to communicate in English. My Russian was dismal so verbal communication was an issue. Modeling was the best communication they gave. I learned a lot from watching them. One thing my parents always were ready to do was to drop everything and head over to someone’s home when they heard that a family member had died or to the hospital when they heard a friend or family member was suffering. They showed up. My mom would take food. They sat and listened and then they prayed with the hurting. My parents also modeled their faith in Bible reading and praying.

January 2015 with half of my siblings.

5. Your favorite movie where a father features heavily in the storyline?

I needed help with this one because my memory failed me. I’m going with Fiddler on the Roof. Teyve and his daughters.

“If I were a rich man…”

Our pop in the early 1950’s at 4635 Oak street in Pico Rivera, California.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

Pop in 1967 or 1968 in Montebello while hosting our cheer leading squad for dinner during crazy hat night.

When I was in high school a door to door salesman tried to con my parents to buy a set of encyclopedias that they claimed would help us kids in school. The cost was prohibitive and I confronted the salesman and told him my parents would not be buying the set of books. The salesman was a little hostile and I didn’t back down and showed him the front door. After that incident whenever my father had to go out of town for a job, he’d leave the “purse strings” with me to pay the bills and dole out the money for my mom and the rest of my brothers and sisters. I was a scrooge.

Pop and mom (dzeda and baba) with our kids on Norway Hill in the early 1990’s.

My mom and pop at our niece Debbee’s wedding in April of 2013 five months before my mom passed away.

Me and my siblings with our dear old pop at our mom’s funeral in September of 2013. One brother is missing in this photo.

My pop and oldest sister at the Molokan Cemetery where our paternal grandparents and some uncles and aunts are buried.

Our dear old pop, who is now 95, is struggling more and more and continues to wait on God’s timing for his homecoming.

I’m linking up for Wednesday Hodgepodge with Jo From This Side of the Pond. She asks the questions and we answer them.

Totally Rad 80’s Hodgepodge

1.Describe your 30’s in one sentence. If you’re not yet 30 tell us one thing you hope to accomplish once you hit that particular decade.

A decade of change with a 2 year old toddler, 2nd baby (1981), 3rd baby (1985) moving on to elementary years with two moves, one north to Ventura where 3rd baby was born and then further north to the Pacific Northwest for hubby to pursue a career change at the University of Washington.

How’s that for a long sentence. In one word or three I’d describe my 30’s as “Changes” or “gnarly but rad”.

2. Is it harder for you to exercise or eat healthy?

Depends on the definition of exercise and healthy. I’m not a gym kind of person but I enjoy walks or easy hikes and mowing the lawn.  I like good food and a variety of food. You won’t find me drinking green shakes.

3. June 7th is National VCR Day. Huh? Anyway this reminded me of something I saw on Facebook listing household items we no longer have and the VCR was on it. I couldn’t put my hands on that list, but found another list here of 21 items we all had ten years ago, but which are now obsolete-

bookshelves (WHAT!!???), drip coffee makers, alarm clocks, file cabinets, desktop computers, printers, printed phone books, answering machines, fax machines, paper shredders, a Rolodex, CD racks, CD burners, china cabinets, home phones, entertainment consoles, DVD players, calculators, takeout menus, incandescent light bulbs, and cable TV

Your thoughts? How many on the list do you still have? Still use?

Haha! We still have everything on the list but CD burners, answering machines, a Rolodex. Instead of CD racks we have baskets that hold our CD’s. We do still have a VCR but it’s not hooked up at present.

4. What’s something you see disappearing in the next ten years?

Hopefully not the postal system.

5. How did you celebrate your birthday this past year? Is that typical?

This year Josh and Laura had us over for brunch to celebrate my birthday and it was wonderful. It is typical for us to enjoy a meal together but we usually go out.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

This past weekend was packed with all these people who are near and dear to us. Our family connected with the Dickinson family the decade of my 30’s and our friendships have grown since.

Linking up to Wednesday Hodgepodge hosted by Jo From This Side of the Pond. She asks, we answer.

Weekend Roundup ~ V

This week’s prompts:  Starts with “V.”  A Favorite.  Violet.

Starts with V: Viola and

my sister Vera who was Valedictorian of her graduating class.

A Favorite is this view.

Violet: Our daughter’s hair at present is violet or close enough to violet.

This is a vintage photo (1950’s) of my cousin Violet and me and my sisters Vera, Kathy and me. I’m pretty sure it was taken at Easter judging by the white patent leather shoes.

Thank you Tom for hosting The Weekend Roundup.

Next week’s prompts  Starts with “W.”  A Favorite.  Water.

Weekend Roundup ~ R

Starts with “R.” 

A Favorite. 

Red

Here are my choices from the prompts for Weekend Roundup.

Robin starts with R.

A Favorite: Reflections including some family members on Lake Roosevelt.

Red: Red tulips growing in a rather long row behind Judy and me in Chilliwack, B.C.

Parting Shot:

The raging Spokane River because of Spring runoff.

Cllick over to Tom The Backroads Traveller to see more selections from the prompts.

Today is mowing the lawn day and then I’m going to a soccer match with my adult kids on this side of the mountains. Happy Cinco de Mayo to all!

The Merry Month of May Hodgepodge

1. April showers bring May flowers or so the saying goes. Is there a flower you associate with a particular memory? Explain.

We live in the Rhododendron state. Every May these beauties in the photo above bloom all over our state. They come in different sizes and colors. We have five different plants in our yard. They grow with extra care and they grow wild with no care. The yellow one below is our newest one. I’ll always associate Rhodies with our move to Washington state way back in 1988.

2. Last time you helped someone? Tell us how.

These two just attended the Aeronautical Engineering “Space Ball” last weekend. Andrew will be graduating soon and he has been offered an intern to hire job after graduation. And yes, Katie’s hair is a rich shade of purple. They needed to search for a new apartment and I helped them by driving them to five complexes to check them out. These two brilliant young adults hate to drive. I like to drive so I was happy to help them in this small way. I also needed to be out of the house since there was an open house going on at our home so it filled the time nicely.

3. It’s National Salsa Month (the food, not the dance) so tell us, do you like salsa? Hot, medium, or mild? Homemade, store bought, or from your favorite restaurant only?

We like the salsa at our local Mexican restaurant. It’s medium. Other than good restaurant salsa we enjoy homemade.

4. When I was twelve years old…

This is the junior high school I was attending when I was 12. When I was 12 I attended Hume Lake Christian camp. What I learned at Bible Camp was that the only connection I could have to God was through Jesus Christ and what He did for me on the cross. Being Russian and being a part of my father’s religion did not give me a direct link to God that I believed I had. In 1963 at Hume Lake while listening to a speaker talk about Jesus and His sacrifice on the cross to save sinners I was moved to step out and become a follower of Jesus. God’s plan of salvation was exclusively through his perfect son Jesus, who is fully God and came to earth to live a perfect life among us and be the perfect sacrifice for our sins. I knew I was one of those sinners and I needed a Savior. This decision began a journey of ups and downs, highs and lows, but a journey forward with my God and Savior.

Nestled close to Kings Canyon National Park in California’s Sierra Nevada is the Youth Camp that I was able to attend in 1963, 1965 and 1967. I was 12, 14, and 16 during these wilderness adventures.

5. It’s the first of May so let’s run with it-first things first, don’t know the first thing about it, first dibs on something, first impression, first rate, first cousin, first string, first come first served, at first light-which phrase can best be applied to something in your life currently or even recently?

Currently I’d have to choose at first light. Seems Dear and I are up before first light each day. We should have been farmers or milk deliverers.

6. Insert your own random thought here.
It’s the Merry Month of May and I’m happy that it’s here.
Joining Jo From Across the Pond for Wednesday Hodgepodge.