On July 5th our front acre was transformed into a RV park for a night. One of the Mennonite Girls Can Cook, Bev and her husband Harv, stopped by for a short visit during their summer travels. We enjoyed dinner, conversation, and then breakfast together before they headed out for more adventures.
Thanks for stopping by Bev and Harv!
It’s that time of the summer when soccer camps happen and right on the heels our city youth soccer teams are formed.
Tonight they will meet their teams and coaches for the next few weeks.
Meanwhile here are some current visitors on our property.
Turkey families have been showing up.
They are very hard to see but these are itty bitty little quail. They are so little and so cute.
Fun to see the flitting butterflies landing on the lavender.
I’ll share what has been blooming here in my next post.
This mama deer comes to forage in our yard but leaves her fawn in a neighboring area to our property.
Our state bird has paid us some visits, too.
Mama Deer comes back a few times a day to nibble on all the pretty stuff and some weeds, too.
We had a surprise visitor today who was running back and forth next to our slider and seemed to want to come in an pay us a visit. This was the first time we have seen this critter in our parts, a long tailed weasel!!
_1000023975.png)
Since this critter eats mice and chipmunks we wish it well!
I’ll be missing in action for a few days. I’ll catch up when I can. Have a great last weekend in June!
Flag Day is a holiday celebrated on June 14 in the United States. It commemorates the adoption of the flag of the United States on June 14, 1777 by resolution of the Second Continental Congress.
On June 14, 1777, the Continental Congress replaced the British symbols of the Grand Union flag with a new design featuring 13 white stars on a field of blue and 13 red and white stripes—one for each state
The American flag, also nicknamed as “Old Glory” or “star-spangled banner”, has changed designs over the centuries. It consists of 13 equal horizontal stripes of red (top and bottom) alternating with white, with a blue rectangle in the canton bearing 50 small, white, five-pointed stars. Each of the 50 stars represents one of the 50 states in the United States and the 13 stripes represent the original 13 colonies that became the first states in the Union.
The rest of the photos show some new blooms around our country bungalow.
I brought in some of the white peonies to enjoy their scent and some of the first of the pink peonies, too.
Have a nice Father’s Day weekend everyone.
Our Iris is getting bigger every year.
This is the first clematis to open some buds.
The Columbines are spreading out all over!
It’s a nice time of year for color out back and out front. The most intense color right now are the deep red/burgundy peonies that bloom first before the white and pink varieties we have. I was able to use the red peonies for simple center pieces at the memorial reception of our friend this past Sunday. We have 6 bushes of the red peonies. I’m happy that they could be enjoyed by others.
Our outdoor furniture is coming out little by little. We will be selling a couple of the larger tables that were just too bulky for our deck. We replaced them with simple foldable tables. We have a group garage sale coming up starting next Thursday and hopefully they’ll sell quickly.
Hope all is well these last days of May in your corner of the world.
Joyce From This Side of the Pond has a fresh set of questions for us to ponder for Wednesday Hodgepodge.
1. Growing up, at what age did you think you’d become an adult? At what age did you actually become an adult?
If I thought about it I didn’t call it being an adult. The older siblings in my family had some responsibilities that were adult like earlier in life. Our parents immigrated to the U.S. just after World War II, legally. Our mom never drove and our pop had to work hard to support a family with 8 children. Sometimes my older sisters and I walked into town to pay bills in person with cash from our parents. We got ourselves to swimming lessons, the library, and to school. When I got my license there were times that I took my younger brothers to their baseball practices and games. When many of my friends were at senior prom, I was at my younger brother’s baseball game. In my senior year of high school I had enough credits to graduate with morning classes. I found an afternoon job at a local company and got rides to and from work. I saved up for college with that job. I earned scholarships for most of my college costs. My older sister drove me to the University of Redlands for my freshman year and helped me settle in. We didn’t have and didn’t expect input from our parents on which college to go to. If they could they would help with college costs but mostly we paid our own way. We purchased our own cars and they were mostly used cars. After college I was able to finance my Volkswagen at a school credit union and when I paid that off, like an adult, I earned some good credit.
2. What’s a favorite item you’ve bought this year?
At our church my area of service is the kitchen and the hospitality branch. We had some money left in the budget so I was able to purchase a coffee system that got plumbed and makes providing coffee at functions so much easier. Instead of those big old coffee pots that you have to fill with water, add the coffee in the baskets and plug in two hours before an event, we can now fill a basket with coffee grounds push the button on the new system and have 2.2liters of coffee in 5 minutes. Yes, and amen!
3. May 28th is National Hamburger Day…are you a fan? If so, how do you like yours? When was the last time you had a hamburger? Besides the backyard grill, what’s your favorite place to go for a burger?
We do enjoy a good burger. We hadn’t had burgers for a long while but Saturday of Memorial weekend we had a good burger on the way home from shopping in Spokane. We enjoy the burgers at Masters Brew House in Deer Park. Their onion jam that you can have on a burger is delicious. Sorry to say we haven’t found a good burger in Colville. We have fond memories of In N Out burgers.
4. How have your priorities changed over time?
The closer I get to heaven the more concerned I am about friends and family and people in general who haven’t had their debt to God paid by Jesus Christ. We all have a debt of sin on our accounts. You can trust Christ who suffered and died and rose from the dead to provide that debt payment. You need to ask forgiveness (repent) for your sin and put your faith in him and His sacrifice. What Jesus accomplished will pay your debt in full or you will have to pay that sin debt to God yourself in hell. Only Christ’s sacrifice provides the way. You can not earn it by being a ‘good’ person or a ‘religious’ person. It’s a no brainer to me. I’m getting too old to sugar coat this message. Heaven is real and Hell is real. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father but by Him.
5. What’s one thing on your June calendar you’re really looking forward to?
The very last weekend in June our family of 10 will be enjoying time together in Walla Walla at a VRBO.
6. Insert your own random thought here.
Our son gifted his dear bride a long weekend away over Memorial Weekend. He took time off of work and cared for our Grands while mommy was gone. We enjoyed feeding them a meal on Friday night of the weekend.
First corn on the cob this year!
On May 10th I stayed up late to see if I could see the Northern Lights which were predicted to be visible in our area and many other areas around the world. I looked up and could tell there was something different happening but no color was visible to the naked eye. When I saw other people posting on Facebook the pinks and greens in color I was confused as to why I couldn’t see the same thing. When I looked at the image of the sky I just had snapped on my phone I could see the colors in the sky. How odd that was. I just kept snapping away and here is what my phone captured.
At the end of my time on our deck taking photos, these lights below which were more on the horizon and not looking straight up, were visible to my naked eye.
It was amazing to witness and a bucket list item that I could check off my list.
In the stars His handiwork I see…
“The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
Day to Day pours forth speech,
and night to night reveals knowledge.”
Psalm 19:1,2
We are running out of May days. Over the weekend some of our kids and nieces and nephews were together in Arizona for their annual ‘Cousins Memorial Day Weekend’. On Monday our flag pole was taken out of it’s Winter storage and back in it’s worthy spot in our front acres. Long may the Red, White and Blue wave!
We have lots of pretty color popping up along with so many weeds that we have not kept at bay. I’ll share some of those colors, soon. What’s popping up at your place?
We put out 3 hummingbird feeders this year. We are happy to see the little hummers return. They are not back in full force yet but we are happy to watch the ones that are enjoying the feeders.
Thursday morning between six an seven a.m. we were treated to a show by a group of deer running around and hopping in our backyard. I took a video that I wish I could share.
I’m adding a quote for the day here.
I am very sure that any man of common understanding may, by culture, care, attention, and labor, make himself what- ever he pleases, except a great poet.~ Lord Chesterfield
Hope the first weekend in May is filled with lots of joy for all who visit here.
It’s the Merry Month of May and time for our first May Hodgepodge. Thank you to Jo From This Side of the Pond for the timely questions.
I’ll be using photos from my archives for many posts until I can figure out how to be able to add more media to my site. Such a revolting development.
1. Mayday! Mayday!…when was the last time (or a recent time) you literally or figuratively needed to call for help? Elaborate.
A few months back we had to call our son to help with our water heater that wasn’t putting out any hot water. Brrr. He was a huge help scraping out a bunch of residue and helping Greg with draining the thing and installing some new parts.
2. May Day…when was the last time you danced?
At our brother and sister’s 60th birthday party at a ranch in Texas on July 29th 2023 we enjoyed some line dancing.
Do you have a lot of baskets?
I have a few baskets.
What’s something you keep in a basket?
Napkin rings. I have a lot of napkin rings, y’all. I have sets in ziplock bags. Sets of 4, sets of 6, sets of 8, sets of 10, sets of 12 and some sets over 12. Sets of 6 and under are in a basket. Sets of 8 are in a basket. Sets of 10 and over are in a basket.
What’s your favorite purple flower?
Oh, this is a hard one. I love purple flowers. I’ll go with lavender even though we won’t see fields like these until July.
This collage is from several years ago at the Annual lavender festival held in Sequim, Washington.
3. What’s something you may do this month?
We might be putting out our outdoor furniture soon.
4. Do you like eggplant? Quick topic changes lol? If you said yes in answer to the eggplant question how do you like yours prepared? Of the following purple foods, which one is your favorite…plums, purple carrots, purple asparagus, eggplant, acai berries, blackberries, purple cauliflower, elderberries, purple potatoes, or passion fruit?
Not a huge fan of eggplant and I don’t think I’ve ever cooked eggplant. In my Russian culinary heritage there is a dish called Ikra that is a popular dish to spread on bread or crackers to enjoy, an eggplant caviar. My mother did make it and my sister Vera has made it. The recipe is in our family cookbook that Vera put together.
From the list of purple things, Blackberries are my favorite.
5. The calendar turns on Hodgepodge Day…
“Then you have to remember to be thankful; but in May one simply can’t help being thankful that they are alive, if for nothing else.”-L.M. Montgomery
Tell us one thing you’re thankful for today.
Just one!? I’m thankful for how our Grands are growing and learning about our God who created them and loves them.
6. Insert your own random thought here.
Tonight is Awana Awards night. These photos are from the last couple years. JJ graduates from Cubbies tonight and next year he’ll be a Sparky. Addy will get some awards tonight because she finished all her books and all her verses and then did some extra books and verses! She will still be a Sparky next year.
This is Addy two years ago when she was still a Cubby.
Happy May everyone!
We are seeing more green around our country bungalow and the first pop of color are the Daffodils and the sweet Johnny Jump Ups.
I brought a bouquet in for the table and will be bringing in a second bouquet today for our weekend festivities.
On this past Tuesday we had our 2024 inaugural walk on the Rotary Trail. Speaking of inaugural, I mowed our acreage on Tuesday, also. This was an early start to mowing.
From a distance we thought this was a real heron but when I zoomed in it looks more like a statue.
There were lots of real birds chirping and singing as we walked.
This eagle was soaring.
This trail loop walk takes us just under an hour to complete.
Our glass fishing float was reflecting the clouds this past week and I zoomed in for a photo.
“This glass fishing float is one of the historical, handblown floats used for nautical buoyancy and fishing gear.”
We also have a basket full of smaller floats. This next photo of the floats was taken in the summer with our pest ‘Alvin’.
We have two car loads arriving at our Country Bungalow for the weekend and another Colville carload here for the late afternoon and evening. Today is Andrew’s birthday and we will celebrate him. Tomorrow we will celebrate JJ’s 5th birthday with a bowling party. His actual birthday is in the middle of this coming week. Tomorrow evening and Sunday afternoon Addy has a dance recital with her Irish dancing group. Fun times are afoot! I will be scarce here but busy in the kitchen and elsewhere.
Here’s todays birthday boy!
Have a great weekend everyone!
The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b. 