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.

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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…

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

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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.

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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.

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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.

The Weekend Roundup “I”

Starts with “I.”

A Favorite.

Inside

This letter wasn’t an easy one for me but I know as soon as I visit other entries I’ll think, “why didn’t I think of that?”

Starts with I: Island

This was taken on Whidbey Island in Washington State looking towards Camano Island. Washington State has several lovely islands to visit. Some you can drive to using bridges and others you can enjoy with a ride on a ferry.

A Favorite:

Interesting scenes in Indiana that we don’t see here in Washington State.

Inside:

Inside Rory’s looking out to the Puget Sound in Edmonds, Washington.

Parting shot:  From Whidbey Island

Linking up with Tom for The Weekend Roundup “I”.

I’ll try and visit as many as I can this evening as Dear and I head out early again tomorrow morning for our 6 hour trek to Northeastern Washington with another truck and trailer load. This trip I’m following behind in one of our cars and we’re leaving it in Colville just bringing home the truck and trailer to pack up the very last load!

 

InSPIREd Sunday

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My last two churches from Ohio Amish Country happen to both be white. This first one is St. John’s United Church of Christ.

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The name of this simple church is Holmesville Church of Christ.

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I think the best feature on this country church is the belfry. We did not see any bats up there…

Bats in the Belfry: An antiquated term for insanity, madness. Belfry: the top of a bell tower on a church, where the bell is housed. Often infested with bats, who enjoy the darkness and seclusion of the place.
She’s got bats in the belfry, sqirrels in the attic, owls up in the loft.

Linking up to InSPIREd Sunday with Beth and Sally.

On the Way to Charm

One of the days we were in Ohio we drove to Charm, Ohio. These are some fences and farms we saw.

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It was a wet day with a few dry spells, the very last day of September. And now it’s November already.

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So far this is what November looks like here.

Facebook lit up last night and today about the Cubs winning the World Series in game 7. In general I’m not a baseball follower but doing something for the first time in 108 years is significant. I did manage to stay awake and see the outcome. I found these photos in my archives from my one and only time outside Wrigley Field in 2012.

Congratulations Chicago Cubs!

Thank you TexWisGirl for hosting Good Fences.

More Signs from Indiana

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All of these signs were seen on a Sunday along the Heritage Trail in Indiana mostly contained within Elkhart County. The Pillsbury’s flour sign was in Wakarusa.

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These last two signs are in Topeka, Indiana just south of Shipshewana next to Yoder Popcorn. There were a few places that would have been fun to explore but were closed on Sunday.

Linking up to signs, signs with Lesley.

Such a wet and drippy day here in the Pacific Northwest. Daughter and I had a fun several hours shopping at the Navy Exchange and Costco with a little lunch in between.

Amish Farm Mosaics

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I really thought these corn shocks were cool.

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“One of the most well-known ways of taking in corn is through shocking it. The first step is for the farmer to drive his team of horses, pulling a machine called a binder which cuts the cornstalks off close to the ground. The binder then makes bundles of corn which must be gathered by hand and stacked up in a teepee-style pile. Although the cornstalks are now dry, the corn is probably not dry enough to be stored safely.  The whole idea is to prevent the corn ears from falling on the ground and absorbing moisture. When the corn is dry, it will be gathered on a wagon and either shucked by hand or run through the corn picker.”

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I’ll be linking up to The Barn Collective at Tom the Backroads Traveler and to Mosaic Monday with Maggie at Normandy Life.

ht: Dutchman News

InSPIREd Sunday

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Central Christian Church in Elkhart, Indiana

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Grace Lutheran Church in Elkhart, Indiana.

heritage-tour-105We saw these two churches and a few more on our Heritage Trail Driving tour while in Indiana the end of September. I’ll add a couple more here that were quick drive-by shots.

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First Presbyterian Church in Goshen, Indiana. Goshen is the county seat for Elkhart County and the following photo is the courthouse.

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Linking up with Beth and Sally for InSPIREd Sunday.

Fences along the Heritage Trail, Indiana

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Linking up to Good Fences with TexWisGirl.

Can you believe this is the last Good Fences for the month of October? Here’s an October fence from our own backyard taken on Wednesday. We are in the midst of some very sloppy weather here in the Seattle area! I took this shot from our kitchen window.

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Happy end of October to all of you! Do you have a costume picked out for Halloween?

Sugarcreek, Ohio

I’m sharing a series of signs seen while in and around Sugarcreek, Ohio, with the Mennonite Girls Can Cook.

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We saw the signs that described Sugarcreek as The Little Switzerland of Ohio.

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We headed to downtown Sugarcreek for our book signing at The Gospel Shop on Main street.

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Sugarcreek is also known for having “the world’s largest cuckoo clock” which earned an Ohio Historical Marker.

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All the shops downtown have facades that try to mirror a Swiss Village.

On our travels around this area we passed these smoke stacks several times and I managed to get a photo on one of our drive-bys.

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Because of its abundant deposits of clay, Sugarcreek has also become one of the country’s leading makers of face brick. Its history goes back to 1910 when the Finzer Brothers Clay Company was started by the Finzer brothers, grandsons of Swiss immigrants who settled in Sugar Creek. Belden Brick, a company that originated in Canton, Ohio, bought the Sugarcreek company in 1946. Several of the buildings and many of the kilns that are used today were built and installed when the original company was founded in 1910.

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I’m linking up to signs, signs hosted by Lesley.

We are a soggy mess here in the Pacific Northwest today. Looks like we’ll have to gather soggy leaves tomorrow. Hope all is well in your corner of the world.

The Plain People

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Plain people are Christian groups characterized by separation from the world and by simple living, including plain dressing. This is a very simple definition of Plain People.

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This is a photo full post with most of the pictures of  Plain People I captured in the Amish/Mennonite Communities in parts of Indiana and Holmes County Ohio.

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This photo is a drive-by snap of a Barn Sale.

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Ending with this school yard photo of the children at recess.

I’m linking up to ABC Wednesday for P is for Plain People with thanks to Mrs. Nesbitt and Roger plus the ABC team.

Since these photos are mostly from farming communities I’m also linking up to The Barn Collective with Tom the Backroads Traveller.

Fall is living up to it’s name in our yard. Dear went out and rustled up all the leaves this morning and then the winds came and there are more leaves than before on the ground. That is the price we pay for the beauty of our changing seasons. It’s worth it.

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As I type I’m watching more leaves fall and it’s a lovely sight.