Valentine’s Day 2026

Happy Valentine’s day to one and all!

We had our Colville kids over last evening for a Valentine’s Day Meal.

We had a lovely evening.

Just in case you are reading this post today, a very Happy Birthday to you, Beth!

Thankful

Some things I’m thankful to God for on this Thursday…

We had some nice clear weather for our safe trip to Spokane and back again. It was also warm enough to shop without a coat to and from the car. We detoured from our usual route home and stopped in Elk for lunch. From Elk we drove on backroads to Loon Lake and then north again to Colville.

This stoplight in the town of Chewelah south Colville is the one light we encounter for over 50 miles as we traveled! Once we get to Colville we encounter one more signal before we reach our home.

One of our stops in Spokane was at Trader Joe’s. They had loads of tulips for sale. I chose the 10 stem option for $6.99. Twenty stems were $12.99. I love tulips! God created so many different flowers for us to enjoy.

We stopped at Hobby Lobby for Valentine Day goodies, HomeGoods to replace a large casserole dish, (One of mine got a crack in it) TJMaxx for a baby shower gift, and before we finished up at Costco for gasoline and some other necessities we went through the new car wash across the way from Costco. What a treat to have a clean car!

Our Winter Women’s Bible Study starts today. I’m looking forward to studying about Heaven, When Faith Becomes Sight, with other women in our church.

Posting this a little later than usual. What are you thankful for today?

Changes

Sometimes it just takes a little change to brighten your prospect.

This past weekend we decided to do a little jimmying of our furniture to see how we’d like it. Of course as soon as the huge heavy sofa was moved, the rug had to be moved, tables had to be moved, lights had to be moved and wall art went to more suitable locations.

I’m adding a daytime photo of the room after this post was published. I’ll share a couple more on my Hodgepodge post, tomorrow.

In total bloggy fail, I did not take a before photo.

We are happy with the change in that it gives us regular sitters a new prospect around the room and to the outside. We are looking forward to a full house to see how our ‘people’ like the changes.

Our ‘littles’ who aren’t so little anymore gave the room a thumbs up!

It was JJ’s afternoon yesterday while Addy was at Irish dance. He looked in the refrigerator and announced to me that he was making guacamole. He had the avocados out and said “Baba, I need onion powder and lime juice, and a little salt, please.”

“I don’t think we have any chips so you’ll have to use crackers.” He was good with that. He did end up having a favorite of the two crackers. Note to Baba.

I’m happy that our grands can come up with good snacks and have kitchen skills that will serve them well.

How is February starting off for you?

Ground Hog Day

Will winter linger, or Spring prevail? When I wake up and hear the prediction, I’ll add it here.

Update: Looks like Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow so 6 more weeks of Winter.

I’m chuckling because my calendar already tells me that the first day of spring comes in the 6th week from now!

Happy February everyone!

Here is what things looked like on our travel to church on Sunday, the first of February.

As you can see it has been pretty dreary and our mountains are hidden.

These shots are out our slider to the back acres.

It seems all our snow moved east for now!

Soon this dreary landscape will be transformed again to all the joy that Spring has to offer.

We made some adjustments to our family room furniture arrangement and moved around some lamps and wall-art. So far we are enjoying the new minor changes. It will be fun to see what our grandkids think about the changes when they are here this afternoon. I’ll try and remember to take a photo of them in the midst to share.

January Photo Prompts

Joining in on Kym’s Everyday Images on this last Thursday in January.

You will see her photo prompt and underneath will be the photo I selected for the prompt. I’ll add the link once it goes live this morning.

Out for a walk (quarterly)

I walked out to take a panorama photo of our property. It was too cold to stay out for long. No snow anywhere to be seen which is a bit unusual.

Logo

A Logo and brand of small appliances I’ve counted on for over 50 years!

At home (monthly)

Another panorama shot on my phone camera inside our home. I’m practicing.

Inside and/or Outside

The road we live on going north beyond our driveway at the orange triangle.

Good food

A cottage cheese, egg and spinach bake for our January month of eating intentionally.

Curlicues

There are many elegant curlicues on this amazing church building in Edinburgh.

Texture

This church door and arch has lots of texture.

Texture refers to the way an object feels to the touch or looks as it may feel if it were touched. Texture is one of the seven elements of art.

I’ve been a fan of photo taking since my junior high days. It was always a shot in the dark as to whether your photos would turn out. Once done with a roll of film we had to turn it in to a photo processing venue and then wait for a while to pick them up and see how they turned out. What a difference the whole digital camera option is! Instant viewing and in an instant you know if you have to re-do the shot!

Hope all is well in your corner of the world.

Winter Sunshine Roundup

On Friday I took some photos of our country bungalow.

We finally got some sunshine and blue skies here. But…

Baby, it’s cold outside!

At the Irish dance studio it is cold inside, too. The dancers appreciate the coolness once they are dancing hard.

Friday was lovely on the other side of the state, too. We got this sunshiny photo from J & L enjoying the sun.

While being cozy inside, I finished the World of Jane Austen puzzle. It was fun to put together.

Here’s a closeup of some of the details.

I’ve been practicing with the panorama feature on my phone.

In the kitchen, I’ve been trying some easy lower calorie high protein meals for us. It’s been an adventure.

Late Breaking news on this Sunday is that our Seattle Seahawks are going to the Super Bowl LX. Brings back some memories.

The photo above is from 2014, the last time the Seahawks won the Super Bowl. In 2015 they went to the Super Bowl again but lost to the New England Patriots. This will be a repeat match-up. Truth be told we are fair weather fans. We don’t typically watch NFL Football. That said, we will root for the home team again this year from our comfy seats in front of the TV.

The photo below is from 2014, also. Greg worked in downtown Seattle back then and this was the building he worked in at the time with the nod to the 12th man. If you know, you know. Congratulations to the Seahawks for reaching another Super Bowl.

This is what it looked like in our family room the last time the Seahawks won the Super Bowl.

Back to the present…

Hope all of our bloggy friends and family in the path of the arctic blast are doing well and have power! Stay safe y’all.

A Deep Hodgepodge

This photo from January of 2016 (10 years ago) was from a few days spent in San Francisco while Greg was at an Oncology Conference. The words below the first photo are about that day in 2016.

Today was a full day of sight seeing with an old friend from my college days who grew up in San Francisco. She happens to be Russian/Chinese and knows the city well. We had several stops and enjoyed lunch and shopping in China Town where everyone is getting ready for the Chinese New Year. I don’t think I need to tell anyone what bridge they are looking at in my photo…

My friend, Alice, at our delicious lunch in Chinatown. She did the ordering. My friend passed away in 2018.

Back to…

…Another winter Hodgepodge with a flashback to ten years ago thanks to Joyce From This Side of the Pond.

1. Ice skating, skiing, sledding, snowshoeing, playing in the snow, or a snowy walk…which winter activity do you choose? Have you done any of these activities so far this winter?

Nothing this winter. We have not had any measurable snow this season.

At this stage of life, the only winter activity I would choose are the walking kind.

When we have a good dump of snow I have gone out our door to snowshoe. This is from 2019.

This one is from 2022.

2. Everyone is posting pictures from ten years ago on their social media sites so let’s jump on the bandwagon too. Share one photo and one thought to go with said photo from the year 2016. And maybe everyone isn’t doing this, but many are and we’re going to be part of the fun.

This was one of the best memories of 2016! This is the photo that was shared with us and I shared it on the Hodgepodge with the words below the photo.

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We have the best of news that we have permission to share now with the world. Dear and I are grandparents for the first time and will be able to see our new little granddaughter for the first time in person sometime in March or April of 2017 depending on when she pops out. Even though our little granddaughter is not born yet we consider her our granddaughter already as God is wonderfully forming her right now.

At the end of 2016, this review of the year from July to December was published on my blog. What a year!

3. What’s a trend you hope disappears in this new year?

Stalking, attacking and verbally assaulting Law Enforcement.

4. ‘They’ say there’s a day for everything and January 21st proves it. National Granola Bar Day. Do you like granola bars? How about just regular granola? Do you like bars of other kinds?

I’ll have one if I’m desperate but they aren’t something that is purchased and available in my pantry. I do enjoy granola as a cereal with milk.

5. A frozen lake, a trickling stream, a raging river, or a deep well…which one describes something about your life right now? Elaborate as much or as little as you like.

A deep well. There is so much to learn that I do not know. So much to see that I haven’t seen. So much about God that I do not know. I believe the ache to know more, see more and do more comes from a deep longing from our inner being that wants to see God as He is. It is a hard thing to explain. Someday that will be a reality. Until then I’ll keep digging in God’s truth and in the world God created for us to enjoy and give glory to God in the discoveries along the way that show me more of Him. My deep desire will become reality when I graduate to heaven.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

Speaking of 2016, this is another amazing memory and experience we had in September/October of that year.

The “Girls” and most of our husbands have just returned from a seven day trip to Indiana and Ohio to see a production using our name in Amish/Mennonite Country. The Blue Gate Productions hosted us and treated us as VIP’s. All ten of the girls were together at the Blue Gate Garden Inn where we enjoyed “Faspa” on Sunday night before we had our cooking show and saw the production for the first time. As you can see from the first photo above we have fun together.

We took this opportunity to get some photos of all ten of us since Betty and Charlotte live in Manitoba and miss many of our get togethers in British Columbia and Seattle.

I shared many posts about our time in Amish Country. This is the initial one here.

Happy Wednesday, Hodgepodgers and all who stop by here.

Boxing Day 2025

On Boxing Day (just a week ago)

After our traditional Swedish Pancake breakfast, the kids gathered at the Rotary trail for a walk. Greg, who is half Swedish, does the honors of cooking the pancakes at every special family gathering.

We all look forward to his Swedish Pancakes with Little smokies. They are enjoyed with sour cream and real or not so real Maple syrup plus fruit syrups, especially boysenberry which has been impossible to find in recent years!

Lots of stray golf balls were found in the brush.

Later that evening it was taco night at our country bungalow.

The dish washer was going full speed ahead for several days!

A Hodgepodge Happy New Year!

A Very Happy New Year to All! Welcome very soon to 2026!

This is my Happy New Year Post for Hodgepodgers. This post card was sent to Greg’s Great Great Aunt Emma. The card was sent from Chicago to Denver in 1906! It is a hundred year old Happy New Year greeting! The stamp was one cent. The written greeting is in Swedish.

Making room for the last Hodgepodge of 2025! Thank you, Joyce From This Side of the Pond.

1. Did you make resolutions or set goals for the year we’re waving goodbye? How did that work out for you? Will you set any goals for this new year, new season, or new month? Share one or two if you’d like to share.

The only goal I set for 2025 was to read the Bible through alongside Everyday Gospel, A Daily Devotional Connecting Scripture to All of Life by Paul David Tripp. I found it to be a good combination and encouraging. One other highlight was using our Church History Study Bible with notes stretching back from the first and second centuries and reaching forward to the twentieth century. As the introduction states about the contributors in the notes, ‘these are theologians, pastors, poets, laity, all offering perspective on God’s Word’ to aid us in escaping the ‘tyranny of the present to see wisdom from the past’.

The Puritan John Owen (1616-1683) offers us this encouragement:

If you have any regard to the constancy of your faith, to the comfort of your life, the honor of God, or the salvation of your own soul, labor immediately to get your belief of the Word better founded. Read the Scripture constantly, study it seriously, search it diligently, hear it explained and applied by others, meditate on it yourself, and beg of God an understanding of it and a right faith in it.

2. When did you have the most fun this year?

This was the family Christmas card photo this year taken over Thanksgiving weekend.

Hands down the most fun always happened when we were together with family or dear friends! The joy, the belly laughs, the support, the one liners, and the love flowing made for memorable moments all through the year!

One of the belly laugh moments of 2025!

3. What’s a song or song lyric you’ll associate with 2025? Tell us why.

Phil Wickham’s Hymn of Heaven because it is the hope that encourages me in my daily life. Songs of life that are filled with truth inspire me and cause me to worship God. This is important to me. Artists like The Getty’s, Chris Tomlin, Phil Wickham, and others who sing what is true to the Bible are my favorites. I’m not a fan of imposters. It is my prayer that these and others stay true.

4. Best (or a favorite) bite of something delicious you tasted this year?

I grew up on my dear mom’s blintzes but I’ve not made them for several years. This year I made them twice and they are so good to my taste buds and memories. I choose them for my best bite this year!

Before you ask…you can find the recipe for Nadia’s Blintzes here.

5. What do you want to do more of in the new year? Less of?

I would like to read more good books this year. I would like to decrease my sugar intake this year.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

Happy New Year to all my friends who stop by my blog. I appreciate each and every one of you! Wishing you a new year of peace and joy down in your hearts to stay…

Christmas Day 2025

Christmas day started quietly with just the two of us enjoying a Fancy Egg Scramble. I was able to set the table and make a few of the food preparations before the two sleighs from across the mountains arrived 3 minutes apart. Soon afterwards the Colville kids arrived and quiet was replaced with joyful chatter and anticipation of what Christmas day holds at Baba and Gramps’.

(A fair warning: This is a many many photo full post)

The centerpiece.

No white Christmas for us this year.

The birthday cake for Jesus arrived with the Bayles Mountain crew. Designed and planned by Addy and JJ and brought together by their mom. The stable, the star, Joseph, Mary, Baby Jesus, sheep, shepherd, 3 wise men and a donkey were all included!

Use your imagination and you’ll be able to see all the main participants. It took me a while to figure out that the marshmallows with the little bit of pretzel were the sheep!