On Saturday the 17th of August an afternoon boat adventure became reality. The younger set filled up all the seats on the boat for a cruise and landing on a beach. Gramps and Baba relaxed and recuperated at home.
Enjoying the best that summer offers in our own backyard! The weekend and Uncle Joshie and Auntie Lolo’s visit was coming to an end.
We all gathered at church on Sunday morning and Josh and Laura hit the road for home right after the service ended. Till next time, adieu!
On Friday afternoon there was an advertised Birthday Party for Smokey The Bear at the Colville Museum but Smokey never showed. It was still a fun experience to walk around the museum and the museum grounds.
On Saturday we took a early morning trip to Spokane to make purchases to re-stock the kitchen cupboards at church since our VBS week depleted all the stock. The sunflower fields were not in their glory but it was fun to whiz by the fields of yellow and green.
Sunday morning was a wonderful church service with our VBS kids starting us off with one of their VBS Songs, God made the Manatee. From beginning to end it was good to worship God together.
On Sunday evening we celebrated our Grands’ Granny’s birthday at our Colville kids and this was the sunset we enjoyed driving down their driveway for home.
It was a good full weekend. Looking forward to Mid-week when Uncle Joshie and Auntie Lolo are planning a drive over the mountains for a short visit to enjoy some summer activities with us.
Have a good week everyone.
The bees enjoy lavender and our bushes are waning but they were full and fragrant through the end of July and into August.
Hummingbirds have a buzz of their own and they really love this new feeder we picked up at an estate sale. I have not been able to keep up with them with this feeder. We have had 5 at a time trying to push off others to get their turn.
The old feeder is okay when the new one is full of visitors.
A rare moment to enjoy this one all by itself.
This week we are having Vacations Bible School at our church and my job is to sell the t-shirts and hats each evening. At only $7 dollars they go fast. We don’t make a profit and probably even take a hit because of what we sell them for but it makes it more affordable to all.
Hope you are all having a good week.
At the end of the week with Southern California cousins visiting in Washington State, the party shifted down to Southern California with more cousins and aunts and uncles for what we have dubbed these gatherings, Bag-o-rama! Josh and Laura flew down to catch our visiting Bagdanov-Dallas family along with more of our family in So Cal! I’m living these events vicariously with photos shared.
First stop, my sister Vera’s home, where my brother Leonard’s family were staying. They are the Dallas fam.
Our youngest niece, Hope, enjoying Jamie’s sourdough bread that Josh and Laura transported to So Cal.
Saturday was beach day!
Party shifted from the beach to their cousin Debbee and Lenny’s home in Huntington Beach.
On Sunday Bag-o-rama continued at Debbee and Lenny’s home.
Half of the Bagdanov siblings were there. My brother Tim, sister Kathy, sister Vera and brother Leonard.
The Sunday crew of my brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, grand nieces, grand nephews, son and daughter-in-law.
Josh and Laura flew home on Sunday and some of the crew continued with Bag-o-rama at Disneyland on Monday. Earlier in the week my brother Steve and brother Leonard made a visit to our parents’ gravesides.
My parents would be pleased with all these gatherings. We carry on our pop’s now famous phone call or end of visits benediction, I love you, I love you, I love you.
This will wrap up my July posts. Onward to August for more fun in the sun!
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!
Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, The Gateway of Dreams statue. Greg had a conference in Atlanta and Katie and Andrew flew down from Jacksonville, North Carolina to join us for a couple days. This was in October of 2012.
Another summertime Wednesday Hodgepodge is up and running. Thank you, Joyce!
1. The Olympics kick off this coming weekend. Will you be watching? If you could watch just one event in person, which one would you choose?
I will watch some of the Olympics depending on the timing of favorite events.
Gymnastics is always a favorite.
Greg was a torch bearer for his company in the 1984 Olympics that took place in Los Angeles. As a family we were able to watch rowing events at Lake Casitas close to our home. We lived in Ventura, California during the 84 Summer Olympics.
2. Have you ever been to Paris? Is this a city you’d like to visit? What’s your favorite ‘French thing’?
I am not pulled with the desire to travel to Paris. French food is probably my favorite ‘French thing’.
3. Macaron, creme brulee, chocolate soufle, mille feuille, or an eclair…your favorite French patisserie from the ones listed?
Our son has mastered the art of making macarons. We’ve enjoyed many flavors of his melt in your mouth treat. Above are some of the macarons he made for Addy’s Birthday Tea Party and below are the ones he made for our family gathering to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary. Our actual 50th is on December 6th of this year but we chose to enjoy summer weather for our big celebration.
4. July 24th is National Cousins Day…do you have many cousins? Are you close to them? Will you see any of your cousins on July 24th?
I have cousins that I love and enjoy visiting with when we can. Lately it’s mostly at funerals that I might see them.
Our kids get together with many of their cousins at least twice a year. Their cousins from California came up for a visit so all our kids gathered in Leavenworth, Washington on July 16th for a quick visit.
Josh, Laura and Katie had several days of enjoying their cousins in the Seattle area last week. Josh and Laura made a quick trip to California over the weekend to spend time with more of their cousins and some aunts and uncles!
Cousins with an aunt and uncle thrown in! Huntington Beach, California this past weekend.
5. Last time you went somewhere that felt like ‘everyone and his cousin‘ was there?
Lately this will only happen when we travel. The last large crowd event we were in the midst of was in Liverpool at the Anfield stadium for a football/soccer match in September of 2023. Everyone and his cousin was there!
Even though it’s been several years since we visited London, that city is a sea of humanity that you cannot separate yourself from easily.
6. Insert your own random thought here.
One more cousin shot from Huntington Beach. My brother and his family were visiting from Dallas which was a very good reason for many family members to come together. Josh and Laura flew down from Washington to join in the fun.
“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.
In other news, things have cooled a wee bit and later this week they are promising the 80’s instead of 90’s!
See you soon Hodgepodgers!
A peachy sunrise on the last Saturday in June in Richland, Washington.
Joyce has some summertime Hodgepodge questions for us this week. Are you playing?
1. What is an adult problem nobody prepared you for?
Growing old and all the things that come with that like; balance issues, getting up off the floor, bruising, hot flashes. I could have just gone with hot flashes…
2. Without mentioning any tech, what’s your most prized possession?
One thing? Can I say my home even though there are a lot of techy things in it? Not the actual structure but the idea of my own place where I can relax and be safe and enjoy. Also a place where I can invite people in for relationship and community.
3. It’s National Peach Ice Cream Day (July 17th). Will you be celebrating?
I could make it happen since Wednesday is Farmer’s Market in town and they might have fresh peaches.
Do you like peaches?
Yes I do but nectarines are my favorite summer fruit.
Given a choice would you prefer peach ice cream, peach pie, peach cobbler, or just hand me a peach?
Fresh Peach Pie. Way back when I enjoyed a scoop of peach ice cream in the center of half a cantaloupe, delicious!
Do you own anything that is peach in color?
Do our day lilies count?
4. What makes a friendship successful?
Forgiveness. The ability to say…”I was wrong, will you forgive me?”
5. Let’s give our brains a rest and do a little summertime this or that…
beach or pool? In my older age and avoidance of sun exposure I’m going with pool. You’ll find me under the umbrella or close to the pool in whatever shade is available.
ice cream or snowcone? A snowcone is fun or a slurpy which is kind of like a snowcone.
amusement park or camping? The quiet of camping sounds better to me if someone else has totally set up the camping area. I could come visit for the afternoon and then go home to my own bed.
burger or hot dog? We had the best lamb burger last night. We bought the meat from a local rancher. A good Chicago Dog is always a treat, too.
watermelon or strawberries? I’ll save strawberries for Spring and say a good sweet watermelon.
get up early or sleep in late? Get up early while it is still cool and enjoy a cup of coffee with the birds singing.
sunrise or sunset? In these parts sunset comes late in the summer and we are sometimes in bed before sunset so it’s sunrise for me!
6. Insert your own random thought here.
Catching up with some summertime swim lesson photos at the local pool.
Someone was brave enough to jump off the diving board in the deep pool!
Thanks for stopping by Hodgepodgers and others, too. Hope your summer is going swimmingly.
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Crater Lake way back in the 50’s. Me, my sisters, younger brother and my mom. I’m in the middle.
HOT off the press are the Wednesday Hodgepodge questions. Thank you, Joyce!
1. Do you feel older or younger than your age? Elaborate.
I feel younger than my age except when I look in the mirror closely. I’m relatively healthy for someone my age. I’m not on any medications, can walk easily and most days have the energy to get things done. Hopefully my hips and knees will hold out for a long time.
2. What’s one thing you should toss right now, but just can’t?
Some clothes that realistically I’ll never wear again. There are other things I should donate or sell, not toss.
3. Have you visited many of the 63 National Parks in the US of A? You’ll find a list here. Do you have a favorite? What National Park that you haven’t seen do you most want to see?
I’ll work backwards on these questions. I would like to visit the Utah National Parks and Glacier. Glacier is the closest to us and more in my comfort temperature range.
I have been to the Grand Canyon, Kings Canyon, Yosemite, Yellowstone, Great Smoky Mountains, Crater Lake, Badlands, Mount Rainier, North Cascades, Olympic, and Redwood.
The Bible Camp I went to in my teens was in Kings Canyon.
4. How often do you get take out? What’s your favorite?
We enjoy take-out from Thai to Go. It’s authentic and good. The owners will sometimes take a month off to go back to Thailand to visit family. They will also take a long time off in the winter and around holidays so we always have to double check to see if they are open.
When we are desperate we get take out from our local Chinese Restaurant.
We might get take out once every couple weeks.
5. Do you have many (or any) subscriptions? Not necessarily magazines, but thinking more along the lines of boxes or products that companies offer, and you can sign up to receive on a regular basis. Could be weekly, monthly, quarterly, even daily. Tell us about them.
At this time we do not have any regular subscriptions. Greg was gifted a razor, etc., from Jeremy’s Razors and he still gets new blades every few months in the mailbox that were part of his gift.
6. Insert your own random thought here.
A couple photos from the National Parks me/we have visited over the years…
Can you guess which one this is? 🙂
Or this one…
This photo is from 1988. *Hint* The mountain behind us is a volcano and is in Washington State.
Hope you Hodgepodgers are enjoying the heat of summer but staying cool.
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!!
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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!
What a surprise we had on Sunday evening!
On Sunday after church we made a quick trip to Spokane to pick up my new prescription eye glasses. When we got home closer to the evening I received a text on my phone from Steven’s County informing us of a major Thunderstorm coming through our area. Pretty quick after the notice the rain started to fall. We saw lightning and then we heard the thunder and knew those strikes were very close by.
The rivers of rain starting coming off the roof. We had talked about putting the summer furniture away and taking down the shade cloth the day before but put it off, oops.
A gust of wind blew through and lifted the bar that holds the cloth up. We were fortunate the bar didn’t go flying into our patio doors. Down came one end of the cloth and the chair and a decorative lantern.
This was one of the stronger storms we’ve experienced since moving here. The power only went out for a few seconds which is very fortunate. The lightning and thunder continued through the evening hours even after the rain died down here. That was an exciting Sunday evening at our country bungalow.
My plans to mow our acreage on Monday have been changed to later in the week.
On Monday (Labor Day) we put away all the patio furniture and took down the shade cloth and cover on the gazebo. Everything is stored for next summer.
The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b. 