Category Archives: Our Country Bungalow

Still Leaning

Many in our little country town are taking note of this beauty leaning more and more each year.

We wonder when the collapse will happen.

We’ve been wondering for at least five years. If and when it collapses, we will document it.

I’m leaning a bit more myself. Yesterday was a glorious upper 70’s day and we worked outside while our hired teens worked for 3 hours on our acreage to clean up as much of the debris that they could from the powerful windstorm that occurred while we were on our river cruise.

This pile is larger than it looks on camera.

I weeded this area while the teens raked and hauled.

We’re continuing with the work today, another sunshine filled day predicted with temps into the 70’s!

My work will be short this morning because I have a massage scheduled for 11am. I schedule these far out and my gal is booked out for months so I can’t change the appointment. Pretty sure after more work this morning that massage will be what my old body needs!

We are tackling large limbs that fell, too.

The windstorm of winter 2026 will go into the books!

Have a good day!

Sibs and Sips Hodgepodge

All my living siblings in 2003 in age order left to right, oldest to youngest. I’m in the middle.

Time once again for the Hodgepodge questions from Joyce!

1. Egg on your face, putting all your eggs in one basket, a good egg, walk on eggshells, nest egg, or a tough egg to crack…which eggy idiom currently applies to your life in some way? Explain

This one wasn’t easy for me. I’ll go with walk on eggshells because of my whole Plantar Fasciitis episode in 2025. I try to walk lightly and I don’t jump or run or stay on my feet in general for long periods of time. I threw caution to the wind on our latest trip in Europe and England where we walked and walked and were on our feet every day. So thankful that my feet survived.

2. April 7th is National Beer Day…are you a beer drinker? If so do you have a favorite?

I do enjoy a good beer once in a while and especially on a sunny day. (Don’t tell my mom…oh never mind she’s in heaven now and she doesn’t care anymore.) Speaking of my mom, today was her birthday when she was on earth. She was a good Russian Baptist…no drinking, no smoking, no dancing, no gambling, no cussing. 🙂

IPA’s and Dark beer, like Guinness, are favorites.

These photos, above and below, are from Bratislava, Slovakia. These are the two beers that are brewed at Bratislava Flagship Restaurant, a Slovak beer hall housed in an 18th century monastery.

I’ll have a full post soon about our time in Bratislava.

Beer battered fish, beer bread, beer can chicken, beer brats…which one sounds good to you? Have you made any of these?

Beer battered fish and beer can chicken sound the best to me.

3. Do you have siblings?

I have/had eight siblings. Our oldest sister died in Persia/Iran when she was only two.  I have seven living siblings, three sisters and four brothers. Four of my siblings still live in Southern California. Two (the twins) live in Texas. I’m the only one in the state of Washington.

Here is our oldest sister, Kathy, who died in Persia and what our Pop wrote about her in his life story.

On April 25, 1944 our first daughter was born.  She was the ideal baby – beautiful, happy, loveable.  Then in early 1946 she contracted dysentery and died. Our hearts were broken.  In addition we as parents were blamed for her death because we didn’t have a dedication ceremony for her when she was born – neither in the Baptist or the Molokan church – because we could not agree as to what church should conduct it.  This guilt added to our grief. But fortunately, it was mitigated with the birth of our second daughter, Kathy, in May of 1946.

Yes, they named their second daughter Kathy, too.

What’s the best thing about being your sibling? If you don’t have siblings, what would you say are the pros and cons of being an only child?

I keep in contact and check up on my siblings. On many occasions, I’m the communication link for us all. Over the years all of my siblings (but one) have stayed in our home for an overnight or longer visit.

My older brother has chosen to separate himself and his family from the rest of us for the past twenty or more years. It is hard to understand and sad for all of us.

4. How do you feel about floral scents in products? Do you have a favorite?

I’d rather enjoy real flowers with their scents. I’m not a big fan of manufactured scents in general. Subtle fragrance in candles are okay. I like a clean light citrus scent. If I was to pick a floral fragrance, I’d choose lavender.

5. What’s one thing in your home that begins with the letter G that you would say is a keeper, something you’ll hold on to? Tell us why.

I could have said the Grand Piano but that is slated to go to our daughter in the future.

I’m going with goblets. I like a nice goblet to set a table with. When we moved I scaled down on my goblets but I still have a nice collection in different colors and clear glass, too.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

It has been so beautiful here the past several days.

I finished this very hard puzzle yesterday. It was a challenge and it felt good to put the last piece in!

I’m still basking in the celebration of Easter and my wonderful Savior who when I repented gave me immunity with his own life and not just immunity but I was delivered by God from the kingdom of darkness to the Kingdom of His beloved Son, Jesus Christ.

March Was Lovely Hodgepodge

Thank you, Joyce for keeping the Hodgepodge questions coming.

1. March is rolling on out of here. Sum up your March in ten words or less.

Budapest, Bratislava, Czech-Republic, Austria, Cambridge, Seventy-Five, Nine…Travel and Birthday Joys!

2. Are you afraid of heights? No

When was the last time you found yourself dealing with a height, and did it make you nervous?

Besides flying at whatever thousands of feet, the highest was climbing with our own two feet to the Panorama Look-Out at St. Stephen’s Basilica in Budapest last month.

It did not make me nervous until we started down on these stairs.

3. What’s a word you struggle to spell on a regular basis, and sometimes need to double check before writing it down?

Occassion , Ocasion, Ocassion, Occasion whew…finally I got it right.

Use the word in a sentence that tells us something about your April calendar. 

We are looking forward to several occasions to celebrate in April starting with Resurrection Sunday and then two more family birthdays.

4. Love ’em or hate ’em, with Easter comes the sweet treat known as Peeps. So… do you love ’em or hate ’em?

I neither love them or hate them, I ignore them.

Speaking of peeps, what’s your favorite way to have chicken? 

Chicken pot pie is a favorite.

5. This week’s Hodgepodge lands on the first day of April, which happens to be National Poetry Month. Do you like poetry?  Share a favorite line or two from one of your favorite poems. What makes this one a favorite? 

The form of poetry I love are old hymns by people like Fanny Crosby, John Newton, Wesley, and others. I’ll share a stanza and refrain from Fanny Crosby’s, Like a River Glorious;

Like a river glorious, is God’s perfect peace,
Over all victorious, in its bright increase
Perfect, yet it floweth, fuller every day,
Perfect, yet it groweth, deeper all the way.

Refrain:
Stayed upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blest
Finding, as He promised, perfect peace and rest

This has been a favorite for years. It was a hymn we sang often at Bethany Baptist church in L.A. and in other churches we’ve been a part of. It has a great four part harmony and the alto part comes back to my memory easily when singing it with the congregation. The longer I’ve been following Jesus as my Lord and Savior, God’s peace gets fuller and deeper.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

It’s Easter week and this is another hymn that speaks of Jesus Christ and what the cross, Good Friday and Easter are about. Happy Easter, Hodgepodgers!

 

Lamb of God, We Fall Before Thee

Lamb of God, we fall be­fore Thee,
Humbly trust­ing in Thy cross.
That alone be all our glo­ry;
All things else are on­ly dross.

Thee we own a per­fect Sav­ior,
Only source of all that’s good.
Every grace and ev­ery fa­vor
Comes to us through Je­sus’ blood.

Jesus gives us true re­pent­ance
By His Spir­it sent from Heav’n;
Whispers this trans­port­ing sen­tence,
Son, thy sins are all for­giv’n.

Faith He grants us to be­lieve it,
Grateful hearts His love to prize;
Want we wis­dom? He must give it,
Hearing ears and see­ing eyes.

Jesus gives us pure af­fect­ions,
Wills to do what He re­quires,
Makes us fol­low His di­rect­ions,
And what He com­mands, in­spires.

All our pray­ers and all our prais­es,
Rightly of­fered in His name—
He that dic­tates them is Je­sus;
He that an­swers is the same.

When we live on Je­su’s mer­it,
Then we wor­ship God aright;
Father, Son, and Ho­ly Spir­it,
Then we sav­ing­ly unite.

Hear the whole con­clu­sion of it:
Great or good, whate’er we call,
God, or King, or Priest, or Pro­phet,
Jesus Christ is all in all.

Words: Joseph Hart, 1759

Spring Firsts

On our trip to Spokane on Tuesday we saw the new roadside sign from Williams Valley Mennonite Church as we drove through the little town of Clayton. Such a great verse for Spring!

Speaking of Spring we have a few signs on our property that Spring is springing before our eyes.

The birds have been very busy. Two nests in two of our roadside shrubs.

Greg spotted this mud lined nests on his way to our mailbox.

I wonder which birds made these nests.

Hooray for these sweet daffodils that are finally opening up. They make me smile. We’ve been dropping below freezing the mornings this week but the daffodils don’t seem to mind.

What signs of Spring are you enjoying as we head into Easter week?

Seventy Five!

Today is my seventy fifth birthday. God has been so good to me. We will be traveling all the live long day today. From Cambridge to London to Seattle to Spokane and then home again, home again, jiggity jig!

It will be good to be home again and to get our bearings.

Here are some birthday photos from the past.

 

 

 

 

The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
    indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.

Thank You, LORD!

 

Currently

I’m enjoying the sun on the snow and how it sparkles.

The snow crown on the bird bath caught my eye. I like it even better with the sunshine on it.

Before our snowfall I got some shots of Quail. They love our Silver Spruce Bush.

When we step out on our deck at times upwards of twenty quail will fly out of that bush!

It wasn’t planned but when JJ arrived on Monday afternoon, his mom mentioned we were twins and needed to take a photo!

Today is Women’s Bible study morning and I made some Date Nut loaves to slice and share with the ladies. I’ll share the recipe and photos if they turned out good.

Before I close off this post I’m going to give you some unsolicited advice.

Do not buy furniture with a black finish if you do not like to dust! 

If you are under 60, celebrate the fact that you can still get up off the ground easily.

When I have to kneel down it is a major event for me to get up again.

Enjoy the rest of the week!

Triple Tuesday!

We’ve got the trifecta of celebrations happening here for this jam packed Tuesday.

There’s Fat Tuesday/Mardi Gras and Pancake Tueaday/Shrove Tuesday and this year it is also Chinese New Year/Lunar New Year!

Here is how I’m melding all these celebrations tonight.

Our dining room table is set for company we are having this evening. I pulled out the Chinese souvenirs I bought in San Francisco’s China Town back in 2016.

Our menu’s nod to the Chinese New Year will be Egg Drop Soup for our starter course.

My nod to Mardi Gras and the Fat Tuesday are my fleur de lis napkin rings.

Wanting to also fit in the Pancake Tuesday tradition, for dessert we are having ‘Russian Pancakes’ or better known as Blintzes.

I mentioned yesterday that there was talk of snow. We ended up getting a good 4 inches of snow on Monday!

It’s melting already.

These two sent me a selfie with the Vintage Valentine Day Cards I sent them.

The love continues!

The Irish Dancers that our Addy is part of are dancing tonight in town at a Mardi Gras celebration.

Are you giving a nod to any of these celebrations?

 

Weekend Re-Cap

On Valentine’s Day, these two cuties arrived at our door with their mom to deliver some Chocolate Covered Strawberries. They were making the rounds to their loved ones. So very thoughtful. They were delicious.

Our family exchanged greetings via texts. Greg and I enjoyed steaks off the Traeger for our Valentine Day Meal.

These were some of our views on the way to church on Sunday morning.

When the interesting bank of fog/low clouds burned off we had a beautiful Sunshine filled day. We received photos from the Western side of our State and we reciprocated with photos from the Eastern side.

From Kirkland where sunglasses were a must to Colville where sunglasses were optional.

Being out of doors was a welcomed treat.

The blue sky and sunshiny views were so appreciated! Thank you, Lord!

Our daughter sent a photo of her latest hair color just in time for Valentine’s day.

It’s the start of the third week of February already. Time is flying. Five more weeks of Winter! Maybe I’ll have some snow photos to share this week if the predictions are correct.

Hope all is well in your corner of the world.