Category Archives: Summer

Summertime

Summer has been full of sunshine and some usual events and unusual events, too.

Fishing on the shore and throwing rocks is always fun.

Soccer camp is over but soccer teams have now formed and continue through August.

Our son Josh signed up for his first ever triathlon and his goal was to ‘not drown and to finish’. He achieved both and finished well. Laura was there to see it in person and document this epic achievement.

He was being cheered on from near and far!

We were all so impressed and happy that he could accomplish this goal. I was particularly happy he didn’t drown!

After all that excitement we were ready for a week of Vacation Bible School and that will be a separate post.

We are already at the middle of August and so many have started back to school already. It’s always hard for me to get my mind wrapped around that since I’m such a traditional school year kind of gal. Start up after Labor Day and end by or shortly after Father’s day! Happy days of summer to all of you.

 

This World Is Not My Home Hodgepodge

 

It’s Wednesday and I’m rolling in a little later than usual for Wednesday Hodgepodge. Thank you, Jo!

1. Hello August. What’s one thing you’re looking forward to this month? 

I’m still soaking in the last four days of July. So much to share about our time in Texas.

In August I’ll enjoy watching our Grands play soccer.

2. What are you doing to beat the heat right now? If you live in the southern hemisphere are you enjoying cooler temps or counting the days until summer? 

Oh goodness me. When we stepped out of the airport in Spokane on our way home from Dallas last night, we were relieved to be in 90 degree weather instead of 100+++ weather. What I do to beat the heat is to work in the early morning hours and stay inside in air conditioning for the other hours. If I’m outside I always navigate to shade!

Today the high in Colville is supposed to be 95 but right now it’s a cool 53 degrees! Woohoo!

3. How do you see the world? 

I see the world as a training ground in my Faith and walk with Jesus. The song that popped into my head when I read this question is the title I used for this post. I’ll share the full song here because another thing we enjoyed the last 4 days of July was singing together at my sister’s home, at the Twins birthday bash and in church on Sunday morning.

This World Is Not My Home

This world is not my home, I’m just passing through.
My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue.
The angels beckon me from Heaven’s open door
And I can’t feel at home in this world anymore.

Chorus
O Lord you know I have no friend like you
If Heaven’s not my home, then Lord what will I do?
The angels beckon me from Heaven’s open door
And I can’t feel at home in this world anymore.

They’re all expecting me and that’s one thing I know.
My Savior pardoned me and now I onward go.
I know He’ll take me through, though I am weak and poor.

Chorus
O Lord you know I have no friend like you
If Heaven’s not my home, then Lord what will I do?
The angels beckon me from Heaven’s open door
And I can’t feel at home in this world anymore.

Just up in Glory Land we’ll live eternally.
The Saints on every hand are shouting victory.
Their song of sweetest praise drifts back from Heaven’s shore
And I can’t feel at home in this world anymore.

4. What food product do you think is better store bought than home made?

Fried Chicken or donuts. I don’t or wouldn’t even attempt to make those items at home.

How about something you refuse to buy because it is so much better homemade? 

So much is better homemade and fresh from the stovetop or oven. Anything my mother made could not be bought. Growing up our family always had homemade. Once in a great while our Pop would bring home pizza.

5. Are you easy to get along with? 

For the most part, yes. I do hold my ground on my strong beliefs and don’t appreciate being identified with movements or ideologies I’m opposed to.

6.  Insert your own random thought here. 

We are home from a wonderful birthday celebration with family and friends in Dallas, Texas. We also took a side trip to Waco in the heat while in Texas. I’ll be gathering my thoughts and my photos and photos from family and friends of the wonderful time we had and will be posting soon. Here we are on this last Sunday in July singing along with 3500 voices praising our LORD! It was glorious!

Thanks for stopping by. I’ll try and visit between laundry loads!

Around We Go Hodgepodge

It’s time to go around again with Wednesday Hodgepodge. Thank you Jo From This Side of the Pond! 

1. July 25th is National Merry-Go-Round Day. Do you call it a merry-go-round or a carousel?

I’ve called them both. The collage above was from a family trip to Arizona a couple years back.

When was the last time you rode one? Did you enjoy that?

We enjoyed riding on one with the Grands at Disneyland back in January of this year.

Metaphorically speaking, what’s something in your life right now that feels like a merry go round? 

Ugh, hate to even bring it up but the whole losing pounds and then gaining them back.

2. What word do you have a hard time pronouncing?

Fentanyl. It’s not fentanol it is fentanil. Dear is a retired pharmacist and he always corrects news people, etc., when they pronounce a drug wrong. Not only is it hard to pronounce correctly it is causing so many deaths and problems in our nation.

What word do you have a hard time spelling?

I used to have a problem spelling conscience but then I started pronouncing it con-science and it solved my problem with spelling. 🙂 License is another one that I have to always think about when writing it out.

What’s your favorite word in another language? 

Right now I’m practicing saying, Sláinte. Sláinte means “health” in both Irish and Scottish Gaelic. It is commonly used as a drinking toast in Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man.

I’m looking forward to using that word in September.

3. What’s a phrase or cliche you use pretty often and find to be true?

Lord willing is one that is always true. I know our plans are always subject to change because of what God wills in our lives.

4. When it comes to grocery shopping what is your most dreaded chore-menu planning, the actual shopping and paying, or the unloading/putting away?

These days it is the actual menu planning that hasn’t come easily. When the meal is planned and agreed upon the rest of the tasks are pretty seamless. Might sound weird but sometimes an inspiration for a meal will pop into my head while I’m in the store and I find that fun to gather the ingredients and go for it.

How often do you shop? Do you use any of the pick up and/or delivery services?

Whenever I’m in town for other reasons I pop into the stores and do some shopping. I do not have a set day or times in the week to shop. I do not use pick up or delivery services.

5. Something you need or want to do before July comes to a close? 

Pack for our trip to Dallas. We will be celebrating our youngest siblings turning 60!

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

These two were a wonderful caboose to our family. We are looking forward to celebrating them as they turn 60. I was 12 when they were born and what a surprise they were to our whole family including our Pop because our Mom did not tell him or the rest of us that she was having twins.

Walks North and South

Sunday the 16th of July we headed out our door and walked north on our road until we reached this private drive that leads to many houses (see the mailboxes) and walked down across the stream and back to the main road again. On Sundays our road has a lot less traffic and very few if any log trucks or large chip trucks.

 

A week later on a Saturday we decided to try walking south out our door and onto a less traveled street for our walk. We’ll be doing this walk on the weekends from now on since the traffic is very quiet there on the weekends.

We try to get out the door at 5:30am and that insures even less traffic. Things start picking up at 6:30am.

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?

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!