Caravan Guests

Thursday last, one of the Mennonite Girls Can Cook and her hubby arrived for an overnight stay on our property. Judy and her hubby were at the beginning of a road trip from B.C. to Manitoba via a highway in the U.S.A. We had dinner together and enjoyed dessert, too.

Blintzes with huckleberries ( a new taste treat for Judy and Elmer) and strawberries and raspberry syrup.

After dinner we braved the heat and mosquitoes for some conversation on the deck.

Friday morning we had some coffee together before it was time for them to hit the road to their next overnight destination in Idaho.

Till next time happy trails!

During this same time our kids were all together on the other side of the mountains enjoying some special time with each other.

Summer at it’s best.

I See You!

Hope y’all are doing okay with the heatwave hitting just about everybody. We are so thankful for our air conditioned bungalow. We had guests arrive yesterday in their little RV for an overnight before they head further East. I’m typing this before they get here and I hope we have the clarity of mind to get a photo.

Happy Friday to you all…

Cupping and Clapping…

…the unique movement of a butterfly.

This Tiger Swallowtail entertained me with movements around the garden.

We had a business meeting right after church on Sunday July 16th for our membership to vote on whether to call the Pastor Candidate who we were introduced to a few weeks ago. Our church constitution calls for a vote of the membership to determine to proceed in this step. The vote was counted and we overwhelmingly voted yes to proceed with the call. It was a relief to us that the vote went this way. Finding a new Pastor/Shepherd can take months or over a year. To find a candidate so quickly was a gift from God and we thank God for His care for us in this way.

Pastor Kraig between his son and daughter on the right and his wife on the left between two sons. Their adult children will not be re-locating with them as they all are busy with careers, schooling and service in other parts of the country.

We’ll be welcoming Pastor and Laura at the end of the Summer months.

The Fawn

Gimpy mama and the fawn appeared a couple weeks ago and since then they both have spent time in our back acres. The doe has a broken leg and limps so she gets more grace from us on what we let her nibble on our property. We put water out on these hot days. Healthier deer get run off when they come after our flowers.

Fawns are so much fun to watch when they are on the go.

Our quail population has increased with baby quail looking like teenagers and a whole new batch of baby quail, too.

We are looking forward to the week ahead. What is new in your neck of the woods?

Simple Pleasures Hodgepodge

Jo is back this week with some new questions for us to ponder for Hodgepodge Wednesday.

1. Is your life simple? Elaborate.

For the most part my life is simple since I am retired and do not have every day responsibilities. The only set in stone activities in a given week are prayer meeting on Wednesday mornings and church services on Sunday. The rest of our schedule is free for us to fill in the blanks with weekly keep up of our home and property and any church activities that involve the church kitchen. We typically have our Colville kids over for an evening with dinner once a week. We will throw in a card night with two other couples maybe once a month. We always welcome overnight company that happen to travel our way. We just started up walking on the Rotary trail again with a 3x a week goal. We want to add in 3 days of strength training for our arms/shoulders.

2. What simple pleasure are you are currently enjoying?

I enjoy summer fruit, especially nectarines.

3. Travel by…

Plane or go on a cruise? Plane

Walk or ride a bike? Walk

Swim or ski? Swim, although I’m not a fan of putting on a bathing suit these days.

Ocean or mountains? This is a tough one. I like to walk along the ocean and drive through the mountains.

4. What’s the last thing you bought online that you really loved?

The latest is this ‘Sing’ Cd by Keith and Kristyn Getty which I’m enjoying but recently we ordered our new internet service totally online and installed everything to get it up and running. We are so happy with the purchase of Starlink and the improved quality of everything to do with the internet.

5. What’s your ‘back in my day we__________’ story?

Back in my day girls had to wear a dress or skirt and blouse to school. Those dresses or skirts could not be shorter than knee length. If our girls vice principal thought a skirt or dress might be too short, she’d have us kneel and if the skirt or dress did not hit the floor we’d be in trouble! Photo is of some of my high school friends. I’m taking the photo.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

These two have super powers! Love the slippers they find when they come over for dinner with their parents! Super Heroes love slippers! It makes me smile and thank our Lord when I find those slippers under the dinner table.

Early July Blooms

Thank you, Laura, for this collage of the blooms you took close-ups of during ‘Baptism’ weekend.

We had a good 4th of July celebration with several families from our church. Thankful for such generous hosts to open up their beautiful yard and barbecues for cooking. A potluck of sides and desserts and everyone cooked their own meat on the 3 barbecues available. We all got numbers as we arrived letting us know which barbecue to cook our meat on. A great system for a crowd of 75+ people! A Corn Hole tournament, volleyball and fireworks were all part of the afternoon and evening fun. They also rent a porta-potty which is very smart when servicing such a crowd!

Enjoy the rest of your week trying to figure out what day it is! That always is a challenge for me when a holiday lands on an odd day of the week! Today is Wednesday BTW!

Independence Day 2023

Happy 4th of July, 2023! I leave you with the last verse of the Star Spangled Banner.

O thus be it ever when freemen shall stand
Between their lov’d home and the war’s desolation!
Blest with vict’ry and peace may the heav’n rescued land
Praise the power that hath made and preserv’d us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto – “In God is our trust,”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.