Category Archives: Summer

Post-Op Skies

After a long day in Spokane for my Cataract surgery and follow-up we saw this tell-tale sky view as we approached downtown Colville. Later at home we learned that a new fire broke out in the small community of Rice between us and the Columbia River. Our fire fighters are having a rough fire season. This is one of those years where we talk about our 5th season.

My left eye is doing well after surgery. Now that I can’t wear my corrective eyeglasses we had to pick up some readers from Costco so I could see things close up. Distance is amazing and from about arms length on is great but I need help with reading. Once everything is all healed up they’ll check my eyes to get a good corrective reading for the adjustments I’ll need to my reading, phone and computer time.

Thank you to all who prayed and left encouraging comments for me about my latest surgery.

1 Corinthians 2:9

But as it is written: “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him.”

Lavender

This weekend the annual lavender festival begins in Sequim Washington. It was so wonderful to go to the festival in years past. In honor of the festival and other lavender festivals around the area here are the lavender plants on our acreage at our country bungalow.

Today is my second cataract surgery on my left eye. We left home at O-dark-thirty again to get to Spokane in time for the surgery. We will be in Spokane all day as my follow-up appointment is on Friday afternoon. Back to drops and more drops 4 times a day for a while.

We are under severe fire warnings right now and there are several wildfires that are making our skies cloudy with smoke not pretty fluffy clouds. The air quality is not good so we stay inside as much as possible. Hoping for the containment of all the fires in the Northwest! Hope the skies are clear where you are.

Raspberries

On Friday JJ’s mommy and Addy went to Spokane with Granny and Granny Great to celebrate a friends new baby. JJ and Baba were left to their own devices. It is so good to just spend time with one Grand now and then. JJ is developing the right skills to pedal his bicycle and it was fun to watch him. We spent a little time in the garden and he gets to pick and eat all the raspberries he wants. Inside he enjoyed his lunch and then we played with trucks and blocks and puzzles. We worked on a Kiwi Activity box that gets delivered monthly. After we read the book that came with the activity box JJ brought several other books he wanted me to read to him. Later in the afternoon it was time  to wind down to his nap so we watched Octonauts just as Mommy and Addy pulled into the garage. A nice day for everyone.

The Sands of Time Hodgepodge

This photo of sand and surf and a pier is from Huntington Beach, California.

Thank you Jo From This Side of the Pond for Wednesday Hodgepodge.

1. July 5th is National Hawaii Day…have you ever been to Hawaii?

Yes, once in 1997.

Any desire to visit or make a return trip?

Not particularly.

Pineapple, mango, or guava…what’s your pleasure? 

Pineapple but not on a pizza. 🙂

2. Last time you were ‘thrown in at the deep end’? Explain. 

I’ll leave out some information to spare the mostly innocent but ‘the deep end’ was showing up at an event that no one was really in charge of and having to jump in and make it run smoother than it was going to.

3. Sun, sea, sand, salt…your favorite when it comes to summer? 

I like the sea in the summer because it is usually cooler at the seashore than inland.

4. Bury your head in the sand, the sands of time, draw a line in the sand, pound sand, shifting sands…pick one and tell us how the phrase currently relates to your life in some way.

I’ll go with the sands of time as in ‘the steady unstoppable passage of time’. It currently relates to my life as I turned 70 this year. How did that happen? As the saying goes I am not a Spring chicken but that is quite okay as I’ve lived and learned a lot with a lot more to learn!

5. On a scale of 1-10 (1 = make your own rules and 10=like a warden), how strict were your parents? If you’re a parent where on the scale do you land? 

Our Pop worked long hours but he had his priorities and that was making sure we were all at church on time a few days a week. My mother tried to be a warden but mostly fell in at about a 5. I was the baby of the family for 7 years before my younger 4 siblings arrived and I wore my parents down and got to do things my older siblings didn’t do. We didn’t really have chores and we never had an allowance.

Dear and I fall in closer to the warden side than the “free range kids” side.  Maybe at a 7, it’s hard to put a number on it. We had rules, specific bedtimes and other expectations but we didn’t lock them in their rooms. They had the freedom to break the rules when we weren’t watching.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

At my follow-up appointment yesterday my eye tests confirmed I have 20/20 vision in my right eye after my cataract surgery. Looking forward to my left eye cataract surgery July 16th.

Survivors

Many of our plants have survived our epic heat wave and for that I’m grateful.

This clematis hasn’t bloomed the last couple of years but this year we’ve gotten two blooms. This is the second bloom.

The daylilies seem to thrive in the heat.

How does your garden grow?

Today I have a follow-up appointment in Spokane so we’ll leave O-dark-thirty to get to the appointment on time. Need anything from Costco while we are there? That’s a standard question we ask our kids and they ask us depending on who is headed to Spokane.

Picking Cherries

Today my baby sister and her hubby are stopping overnight before they venture home to the west side of the Cascades.

We had such a wonderful church service on the 4th of July.

Have you ever sung the 4th stanza of our National Anthem? We sang all 4 stanzas in church on Sunday.

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.

Praising the Power who hath preserved our nation. Thank you Lord!

Last week during our heat wave we tiptoed to our neighbor’s Cherry trees very early to help him out by picking. Our neighbor had his leg amputated below the knee this past year and understandably is unable to do what he’s done in the past. We didn’t want to wake him up or get his little dog barking so we were as quiet as could be.

They are very tall trees and Dear is on a 10 foot ladder.

There are still more cherries to pick so we’ll sneak over early today to pick some more.

Summertime Bible Verse Challenge

Since summertime can be a busy or less organized time of the year for some our Thursday Bible Verse Challenge will be open to any verse or verses from any Book of the Bible. As you study choose a verse or section that you’d like to share with us. Leave your verses in the comment section and I will add them below. Keep reading, keep studying, keep following Jesus and depending on the Holy Spirit to guide you and illumine the Word.

I’m just finishing up my daily reading of the Book of Romans and choosing the next Book to read for the month of July.

Romans 11:33-36 (ESV)

33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord,
    or who has been his counselor?”
35 “Or who has given a gift to him
    that he might be repaid?”

36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

From Patricia:

Joshua 1:9 Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

From Linda P:

Galatians 2. 20

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.

From Maristella:

“Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.”
James 5:16

Garlic

We are novices when it comes to garlic and harvesting garlic. All the garlic that appeared in our raised planter was put there by someone before we moved in. It was a surprise last year when they popped up and our Daughter in law informed us what they were. This year we were a wee bit more informed and were told if we removed the scapes as soon as they appeared we would get larger bulbs. That advice was timely and good.

This is what the scapes look like and you remove them before you harvest the bulbs. They are good for eating, too. You can see the curly stem with a single bulb on the plant and you can remove them easily.

Next year we will be even smarter about how to pull up the bulbs and what to avoid. I watched a lot of youtubes on the subject after we pulled the bulbs up. Why not before you might ask? That’s the way I roll.  Hopefully I’ll learn from my mistakes.

Hanging the harvest in the Cold Room that we have in our garage using the deer hanger. It’s dark and dry (hopefully). We’ll check them in about 3 weeks to see how they are doing. When they are good and dry we will cut off the stalks, trim the stringy roots and brush off the dirt. Then we’ll store the bulbs in mesh bags like lemons or oranges come in, something airy. Then we’ll store them in a cool dark spot.

Going into the cold room this morning to take the photo I was hit with that pungent fragrance of garlic. It smells like an Italian or Greek restaurant in there!

On the weather front: Our little digital window thermometer tells us our high yesterday was 107 degrees. Today they are predicting 111. Time will tell. Dear is mowing today very early (6:30 am). Our neighbors aren’t close enough to mind too much. We continue to water in the coolest part of the morning.

On the Cataract front: My eye is doing well and Dear is administrating the 3 different drops 4x a day. Tomorrow we move to only 2 different drops 3x a day. Thank you all for your encouragement!