Category Archives: Canada

Three Years Later…

…we were able to cross the line into Canada for our annual Mennonite Girls Can Cook Christmas Dinner/Party.

We drove the couple of hours from Bothell to Abbotsford crossing at the Sumas Border Crossing and arrived at Anneliese and H’s home. They had graciously reached out offering us their guest room for the night and a ride to the party in Chilliwack.

On the way to the party at Judy and Elmer’s we made a surprise stop but that’s not my story to tell.

Here we are, 7 of the 10, Mennonite Girls Can Cook. Our two Manitoba Girls and Kathy could not make it to the party.

It was so good to see these ‘Girls’ face to face after 3 years.

Lovella and Anneliese brought the appetizers.

Judy’s punch was festive.

Speaking of Judy, the hostess with the mostess, she single handedly cooked us the main meal portion for the evening. Her hubby Elmer is always available to lend a hand, help serve and wash up the dishes!

 

She set a beautiful table and created the live runner.

She sewed the napkins and made the place cards.

Marg brought the salad and she had help plating it from Bev.

Bev baked the buns.

Judy’s Saucy Cranberry Chicken was the main event on our dinner plate, delicious. Get her recipe here.

She also made the sides, carrots and peas, mashed potatoes, broccoli salad and a cranberry gravy.

Our sweet ‘captain’, Lovella!

The wonderful dessert finale to our meal was this trifle that Julie made. Refreshingly delicious! I did not get a photo of the Black Forest Trifle that Judy made. When I lived in Western Washington I would contribute to the menu but because of the extra traveling this year they let me slide.

After our meal the guys headed upstairs to play Crokinole and chat while us girls exchanged gifts and did some catching up downstairs. We finally wrapped up the evening shortly after 11:00 PM!!

Here’s the gift I brought home from our exchange.

We count ourselves blessed and fortunate to be able to meet up again for this wonderful yearly event.

You can now look away for the saga part of the story of Dear and me getting from Colville to Abbotsford. For those of you who are more curious here goes…

Originally we had flights out of Spokane to and from the Seattle area for our Saturday to Tuesday trip. We booked a hotel room at the Spokane airport for Friday night since we had an early flight on Saturday to Seattle (7am). It takes us 2 hours plus to get to the airport from our home in Colville. Our flight back home on Tuesday was scheduled for 7:30am getting us back to Spokane at 8:30am.

On Friday we had a leisurely morning and packed for our trip. We left our home at noonish with a stop at the post office to pick up a package that was too big for our mailbox. My haircut appointment at 1:00 got cancelled at the last minute so we decided to just carry on down the road to Spokane to have a meal before we checked into our hotel. We tried The Elk in The Browne’s Addition neighborhood of Spokane. The food and service was good and we enjoyed our time there. The drive to the airport from the restaurant was short and we checked into the hotel.

We woke up very early on Saturday morning and discovered both of us had never thought about bringing our passports even though we knew the purpose of our trip was to travel into Canada. OYE and BOTHER. We as a couple are not firing on all our cylinders. Every flight on Saturday was overbooked with one flight before ours cancelled which put even more pressure on the remaining flights. We made the decision to cancel our tickets for our 7am flight and drive back home (2 hours) and get our passports and make the 5+ hour drive to Bothell instead of flying. Driving the roads back to our home we gained confidence that the roads were in good shape and the drive would be okay. We made it home, grabbed our passports, had breakfast and packed a few more things in the car for our trip.

Back on the road at 8:30am we had an uneventful drive through the eastern and central part of Washington and over the Cascade mountain range into Western Washington. We made a stop at Chateau Ste Michelle in Woodinville for some wine to take with us to Canada and then filled the gas tank at the Woodinville Costco on the way to our kids’ home in Bothell. We were at our kids’ home at 3pm. (BTW: since Greg’s stroke I’m the sole driver)

Saturday night we had a nice meal out with our Western Washington kids to celebrate Laura’s birthday. On Sunday we worshipped at Josh and Laura’s church, grabbed some lunch items at Central Market, ate our meals and got ready for our drive to Canada. Our route to Abbotsford would take us about 2 hours. We stopped at a carwash in Bellingham to get all the dirty snow off our car before heading into Canada. The Border crossing and banter with the Agent was pleasant and once across the border we found our way to Anneliese and H’s home.

We drove with Anneliese and H. to the party in Chilliwack (a 20 minute drive) and the winds were blowing across the valley and it was frigid. We were welcomed into Judy and Elmer’s warm and festive home and enjoy our long anticipated party. After the party we slept fast. Monday morning we were served a delicious breakfast and we set off back to the USA. We were at the Border bright and early and had another pleasant encounter and crossing.

Our kids were busy with work and other events during the day on Monday so we contacted some dear friends to meet us for lunch at our old stomping grounds. We had a leisurely couple hours with them over delicious Mexican food and then made it back to our kids’ home. Laura made dinner and we packed up to leave on Tuesday morning. On the road again at 8:30 Tuesday morning (our anniversary). It took us an hour to get to traffic free I-90 and off we climbed over Snoqualmie Pass again. The roads were clear with no restrictions. (Thank you, Lord). Once over the pass we stopped in Cle Elum for a break which included breakfast. Back on I-90 we made it to Spokane by 1:30pm. We stopped at Costco to pick up a few items and were back on the road lickity split. Got another snack in Deer Park and started the final leg home arriving at 5pm. Whew! Greg figured out that we were driving for a total of 22 hours all told. That 22 hours didn’t count the stoppage times.

We are still covered in snow here with no melting in the forecast. In fact we have more snow in the forecast for Thursday and Saturday.

Greg is continuing with his Occupational Therapy. We’ll be traveling to Spokane again on Monday for his follow-up with the surgeon.

And that’s the rest of the story.

Canada to the USA…

We had a beautiful drive from Chilliwack B.C. back to the USA last Sunday. After I took these photos we encountered  fog. We were happy to have the blue skies and lovely clouds before we entered the fog. Another trip, two border crossings with pleasantries from both sides. We are always happy to have easy crossings.

After church today we headed to Spokane for one last shopping trip before Christmas. On Monday my car goes in for repairs from my deer encounter for the rest of the week. I will have a relaxing week at home without a vehicle so maybe I’ll do some baking. For sure I’ll do some wrapping of gifts. The Christmas Cd’s will be playing in the background no matter what I’ll be doing.

Happy new week to all of you.

Trail, British Columbia

The weather on Friday November 1st looked promising albeit cold and we decided it was a good day to drive to Trail B.C. to enjoy some Persian food. Since we’ve been in Colville it has been difficult for us to find good Persian food. Kootenay Kabab in Trail looked promising and it is only a 50 mile drive for us from our Country Bungalow. We asked Vera to pack her passport so we were all ready with passports in hand and headed north at 10am. The border crossing was simple and we reached our destination by 11:30. We found out that parking would be a problem for us since we did not have any Canadian coinage. Oops. No credit card parking kiosks in Trail.

We found a place to park by the Columbia River Skywalk and enjoyed the walk across and back building up our appetite.

This was the first time we’ve ever been able to walk across the Columbia River!

Lots of reminders of the country we were visiting.

After our brisk walk we stopped in a bank parking lot and I went inside to see about getting some coinage. With coins in hand we found a spot close to Kootenay Kabab and fed the meter.

Kootenay Kabab in Trail B.C. was worth the trip across the border. Dear and my sister Vera had the Koobideh Kabab and I enjoyed the Lamb Shank. We had the Shirazi salad, too. They are the first Persian restaurant in the Kootenays and the closest Persian restaurant to us. We enjoyed the food and will return next year after the winter snows have melted. This part of the Kootenays is known for their winter sports which means lots of snow. Our border crossing back into the USA was easy including a pleasant conversation with the Border Agent.

Home again along the Columbia River from Canada to the USA. “Roll On Columbia roll on”

Our piroshky baking day was a success but I did not get all the photos I was planning on. Baking is different when you have 2 little grands helping. I’ll share the photos I did get plus the recipe soon.

Adieu to July

Some last photos from July including a few from our road trip into British Columbia to the town of Nelson and home again. I like their sign on our departure.

The Kootenay River along 3A in British Columbia.

We had some grand visits to our home along with their parents and we always have the goodbye rituals when it’s time for them to go home.

At a visit to Dan and Jamie’s with Granny Great I caught this photo.

Addy “reading” with all her favorites beside her.

Auntie Lolo flew east to spend some time with all of us and she captured so many sweet moments.

We introduced Addy to Josh and Dan’s Construct building toys.

Time outside at Gramps’ and Baba’s.

The weather has really heated up and Auntie Lolo captured these shots under the outdoor shade pavilion at Dan and Jamie’s. JJ can spot his mommy from a distance and it’s easy to see she is his favorite right now.

Before we went to dinner with our kids at El Ranchito in Chewelah, Dear and I attended an open house at the home of our youth pastor and his family. This is the view from their home looking across the valley to Colville. We could see our kids’ mountain in this breathtaking view. This is just part of their panoramic view.

Uncle Josh surprised us all and took a flight from Seattle to Spokane after work on Friday arriving late Friday night to spend a day and a half with all of us. Addy was thrilled to have some special time with Uncle Josh and Auntie Lolo. JJ enjoyed them, too. Jamie took this photo of Josh, Laura and JJ. JJ sees his mommy and he’s all smiles.

Laura caught this moment of JJ with me and Gramps. JJ loves to interact face to face. The photos above were taken at El Ranchito in Chewelah while we were enjoying dinner.

Josh and Laura are at the airport headed back to Seattle. We will all miss them.

The beginning of this week will be very busy for us. We are hosting a church event here at our country bungalow on Tuesday evening. If I’m scarce you will understand. I hope to take some photos of our event but…when we host big events I might forget to take photos as I’m all wrapped up in the details…

Hope the end of July goes well for you.

St. Saviour Anglican Church

St. Saviour’s Pro-Cathedral is an excellent example of a Gothic Perpendicular church in stone, and thus reminiscent of many English churches. Visitors are amazed by the jewel-like stained glass windows that depict stories from the Bible and, by their dedications, provide a connection to the history of families that helped build Nelson.

St. Saviour’s congregation began in 1890 when Nelson was a raw mining town. In the early days St. Saviour’s was likely a haven for homesick English men and women far from their homes.  The words and music of the traditional Church of England services, no doubt, brought great comfort. A Mission Room was erected in 1892 and the stone church was opened in 1899. The church burned to its granite walls in 1928 and was rebuilt in 1929. The stained glass windows that grace the church were donated after the fire.  St. Saviour’s is still one of Nelson’s best loved heritage buildings.

Dear and I had a very enjoyable visit with a couple ladies from the church who welcomed visitors on this day.

I am the good Shepherd and know my sheep.

The Good Shepherd window-McCauslands masterpiece for this church, was donated by Consolidated Mining and Smelting President Selwyn G. Blaylock in memory of his parents Rev. Thomas and Mrs. Eleanor Blaylock.

John 10:11-18 English Standard Version (ESV)

11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13 He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. 17 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”

The Good Samaritan.

The Miracle of the Widow’s Son is in memory of Dr. William Rose who was not only a medical man but also became mayor and a Provincial Legislator.

A representation of the Holman Hunt painting “Behold I stand at the door and knock” is in memory of Mary Spurway, mother of noted Nelson photographer Dick Spurway. Her husband Rowland was a true frontiersman-a cowboy and trapper who could speak 3 First Nations Languages-Blackfoot, Cree and Sioux.

The Faith Charity and Hope window is in memory of Florence Douch one of Nelson’s unsung heroes of the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918.

Jesus as a boy talking with the elders in the temple. In memory of Charles Wesley Busk, who was a pioneer and surveyor in the area. He donated the land for St. Michael and All Angels Church in Balfour and All Saints Church Longbeach. He had an estate at Kokanee Creek and was instrumental in forming the 1st Scout Troop in Nelson–Scouts still meet at Camp Busk.

The Joy window showing the Risen Christ.

The Ascension window is in memory of Lesley Vivian Rogers and his wife Eva Jane. Rogers was the “Home Child” from England and later served as a drummer boy in the Boer War. He became the Principal of Nelson High School keeping his position for 24 years – L. V. Rogers High School (the present day Sr. high) is named after him.

The Nativity Window created by McCausland of Toronto -it has a typical scroll on the lower edge and it is the only window in the church which shows the McCausland signature.

The window of the Last Supper is in memory of Bishop Frederick Patrick Clark, who died suddenly while visiting Cranbrook in 1954. An overflow of 400 people attended the funeral at St. Saviour’s with clergy from around B.C., Alberta and the U.S.A. This it the newest window in the church and is a bit controversial as “consecrate is spelt wrongly and Judas has been given a Halo. The window was not made by the McCauslands as their quote for $1120.00 was turned down.

This Coronation Tapestry is an actual tapestry from the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, June 1953. Drapes and tapestries decorating Westminster Abbey during the Coronation ceremony were later distributed to all Cathedrals in the Empire.

The crochet of the Last Supper has an interesting history. It was given to a young nurse in gratitude for her part in saving the life of a sick child. The young nurse was called out to a lonely farmhouse in the depth of winter and stayed for several days until the child recovered when the impoverished parents gave her the tapestry. Many years later on the death of her husband the nurse unrolled the tapestry and had it framed as a memorial to her husband.

After our visit to the church, which we really enjoyed, we walked down a few blocks to enjoy a snack of mussels and fresh bread at Jackson’s Hole and Grill. We walked back to our car and drove to the cemetery and then headed back home to the U.S.A.

Nelson Memorial Park

While we were in Nelson B.C. one of our stops was at the Cemetery on the edge of town. It had been a long time since we’d been to an old cemetery like this one.

We were the only ones in the cemetery besides the gardeners.

A grieving wife…

These always make me sad. I can’t imagine the grief of losing a child.

While driving in the Kootenay areas in B.C. we noticed lots of street names in rural areas that were Russian names. I had forgotten about the large Doukhobor settlements in this part of Canada.

We grew up with some Lazeroff’s in Montebello, California.

This was the military section of the cemetery with maple leaves on most of the headstones.

The strangest headstone we saw in this cemetery.

On the way out we saw this sign. Oops! Glad we didn’t bump into him/her!

We had helpful advice from the Visitors Center who gave us the directions to this cemetery and a map for a self guided history walk of the city. We spent time at the Anglican church viewing their beautiful stained glass windows and enjoyed a snack at Jackson’s Hole and Grill before we headed back to the Border. I’ll be sharing the photos from the Anglican church soon.

We Crossed the Line…

Since Dear is retired now and soon he’ll be all wrapped up in building his shop we decided to take advantage of “free time” before the shop materials arrive to enjoy a day across the line. (that was a long sentence w/o punctuation) We crossed the border into Canada at a new to us crossing, Paterson, just north of the town of Northport in Washington state. We crossed the line at about 7am and we were the only ones crossing at this time in the morning.

British Columbia welcomed us with a few rules and cautions. Now we would have to think in kilometers.

Rossland is a city in the West Kootenay region of British Columbia, Canada. Tucked high in the Monashee Mountains, Rossland is at an elevation of 3356′. Its population is 3729, though it fluctuates from season to season. The population is at its peak during the winter.

You have entered the center of an ancient volcano rich in minerals…

Rossland was our first stop in Canada with intentions of having breakfast at a restaurant called Fuel. It was housed in a refurbished gas station. I didn’t take a photo of the building but I did take a photo of our Eggs Benedict.

It was very good. We arrived in town at 7:30am and the restaurant didn’t open until 8am so we drove around the picturesque/quaint town.

The main road through town.

Born a Norwegian, Olaus Jeldness left his home country as a teenager for greener pastures in first the U.S., then Canada, then again in the U.S. Along with him, he brought his love for and adeptness at downhill skiing.

Play not for gain, but for sport.
Leap not for gold, but glee.
Oh! Youth, play well thy part
Whatever life’s gain may be.

You can read more about Olaus Jeldness here.

Nelson artist Cedar Mueller constructed Rusty, a nearly life-size sculpture of a horse, in classic pose from scavenged steel…

The Rossland Council for Arts and Culture also commissioned the installation of “The Storytellers”, a sculpture of ravens in trees, created by Andrew Raney from Salmo, outside Rossland’s public library.

This one is called the Sphere of Influence. By Carl Schlichting (Slocan Valley, BC, 2013) The Sphere was leased for 2015. A perfect Sphere, constructed out of almost 200 old steel bicycle rims…

There were several other sculptures that we missed on this trip.

I enjoyed this little town and it’s close enough that we might take another trip in the future.

On our way back to the USA after visiting Nelson which I’ll share photos of in a future post we stopped in Rossland again and did some deli shopping at their local grocer, Ferraro Foods. They make their own delicious salamis. I took another photo of the main drag in the afternoon light.

Sorry to those of you who because of WordPress  are having issues commenting.  I don’t know what to do to change that. 😦

Hope you all have a good weekend.

Eleven Years and Counting…

On Wednesday, June 5th, eight of the Mennonite Girls Can Cook gathered at Lovella’s for a luncheon to celebrate our 11th year together.

Lovella provided all the oh so delicious food except for that beautiful cake that Anneliese made and brought to share.

Prayer For Friendship

You have blessed us, O God,
with the gift of friendship,
the bonding of persons
in a circle of love.

We thank you for such a blessing:
for friends who love us,
who share our sorrows,

who laugh with us in celebration,
who bear our pain,
who need us as we need them,
who weep as we weep,

who hold us when words fail,
and who give us the freedom
to be ourselves.

Bless our friends with health,
wholeness, life, and love.
Amen.

This poem by Vienna Cobb Anderson was shared with us by our dear Betty who lives in the same Province as Charlotte so neither of them could be with us for this celebration at Lovella’s home. The weather did not hamper our wonderful time under the tent. Our time and our ongoing friendship is all this poem expresses.

Reflecting Back On May

British Columbia, Canada May 2018

The Seattle Japanese Garden 2017

P1060302

San Antonio River Walk 2016

Chewelah, Washington May 2015

Bellefontaine 142Bellefontaine Cemetery St. Louis, Missouri May 2014

British Columbia, Canada, May 2013

I’m still working through cleaning up my blog because of the Photobucket change of policy which resulted with them replacing 8 years of photos with ugly black and grey boxes asking for money to release my photos. I’ve made it to 2010 and have miles to go before I delete all those boxes. In the meantime I have these highlights from past posts in May. So much to be thankful for over the years.

We are in a warm weather pattern right now with just one wet day predicted this week. Right now a high of 75 degrees expected for Mother’s Day! We had a nice mostly quiet weekend here. The highlights of the weekend: time with Josh and Laura on our deck after the Sounder’s game, church on Sunday morning, and an afternoon meal on Sunday with friends in Kirkland. Hope you all had a good weekend.

Round Trip to Canada

On Thursday Marg hosted eight of “the girls” who live out west at her home in Canada for brunch. This event was planned because of my and Dear’s imminent move farther away from the Frasier Valley MGCC’s. The trip that now takes me a couple hours or so will take upwards of six hours in the future. We all contributed to the meal and we were not lacking for anything. I did not get photos of all the dishes we enjoyed. We missed our two Manitoba girls.

Marg’s little granddaughters helped her set the table. They said “we are the little Mennonite girls”. After we got up from the table we went outside to enjoy our sweets.

The day was beautiful and after a little while we got so warm we had to move into the shade. Besides eating we had some heart to hearts and some good laughs sharing around the circle.

A few of us were able to meet up at the #tulipsofthevalley in Chilliwack to enjoy the last few days of tulips in their glory.

We enjoyed swinging with the tulips, too.

Girls just want to have fun!

I left Canada around three and at the border crossing I was picked randomly for a full car search. Oye. I still managed to make it home by 5:30 for which I was grateful.

Hope May is starting well for you.