Category Archives: Washington State

A Day in the Life

Joyce From This Side of the Pond made this announcement; “ I’m hosting a link up here for anyone interested in sharing a Day In The Life post. These are always fun to read and help us remember all the ways we’re connected as we go about the everyday ordinary business of living. Hope you’ll join us! 

Joyce’s plan going forward is to do these seasonally, so maybe four a year.  Watch for the next date sometime in the early part of 2026.

This is the first she’s hosting and my first endeavor. I chose to share the events of my day on Veterans Day, November 11, 2025 which was Tuesday. I took a couple of the morning photos on Wednesday which show accurately what happened on Tuesday, too.

Up at 5am and my dear hubby makes my coffee when he sees my groggy face walk in.

Our Bunn coffee maker excels at a fast brew time.

Coffee in hand this is my morning first stop. Yep it’s still o’dark’thirty outside.

The rest of these photos were taken on Tuesday, A Day in the Life. 🙂

I had an early eye appointment in Spokane and we set out from our home at 7am. It was a foggy drive. It takes roughly 1-1/2 hours for us to get to Spokane. We arrived a little early for my appointment and since Trader Joe’s is across the street from the office we did a little shopping.

Check in and wait times were over the top on this day because the offices are introducing a new computer system, ugh. We did have a nice chat with a man who was waiting with us. Come to find out he had a connection to a couple who are part of our church.

With eyes dilated we stopped at Hobby Lobby (no purchase), Home Goods (2 small items purchased), and Costco for gas and to order new glasses (big purchase$$). We also bought a King comforter and some real maple syrup that were both on sale.

This is Master’s Brewery in Deer Park. We usually stop here on our way home from Spokane for a meal. Deer Park is about 20 miles north of Spokane and on our route home.

Stroganoff Soup was the soup of the day and we enjoyed it with a salad and bread stick. The daily soups at this spot are always excellent!

I’m adding many views from the road home from our lunch stop. We had about 55 miles more to go to get home.

These shots are from us coming down into Chewelah.

Chewelah is about 20 miles from Colville and it has the only stoplight we encounter once we are on Highway 395 from Spokane and  before we reach Colville.

Coming into Colville. We love seeing the big C on the mountain along with the Cross.

Stopping to pick up mail even though it is Veterans Day and there is no mail delivery. LOL!  That’s our home in the distance. We made it home at about 3pm.

We had a delivery to our front door while we were gone. It was a very heavy box. We drug it in and then emptied the contents in our entry and brought all the parts into one of our spare rooms. Assemblie will commence on Wednesday. Mystery will be revealed soon.

Greg had a meeting at church that started at 4:30. While he was gone, I worked on this tough puzzle. I’m a glutton for punishment.

Time to put my feet up and enjoy a little ‘Escape to the Country’ until Greg came home. I noticed that people all across the states were posting photos of an ‘Aurora’ event in the night sky. When Greg got home at 8ish, we went on the deck to try to capture some of the images.

This is one of my favorites. What an end to the day!

“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.” Psalm 19:1-2

Thank you for coming along for this day in my life.

Last Monday with Friends

Ken and Heidi flew to Spokane from Southern California to visit Greg and me at our home in Colville on November 1st and flew back home on the 4th.

The photo above was taken in Texas in 2023.

My friendship with Heidi started way back in 1969 while we were both in our college years. We attended the same Russian Baptist Church and were in Choir together. We were in the same high school but were not close friends then. The second year of college our friendship blossomed and we took a trip together to Michigan and the East Coast. (That’s another epic story) This trip was the first time ever that I was on an airplane. We were friends before we met Greg. Heidi got in a singing group that Greg was part of and I met Greg during one of their concerts. After we were married, Heidi lived with us in Huntington Beach for a time. During that time she met Ken. All this to say, we’ve all been friends a long time and have experienced lots of life side by side.

This photo above is from George Washington’s Mount Vernon home in the early 70’s.

Now we’ll jump to our time together just a week ago.

Heading out from our driveway we had a circular tour planned to give our friends a taste of what our area is all about. First stop, just minutes from our home,  Douglas Falls.

It was verified right away that none of us are good at taking selfies. (Where is Auntie Lolo when you need her?)

From Douglas Falls we continued into Colville and gave them a glimpse of some neighborhoods and the golf course where the walking trail is. On into town and to Main street for a little shopping in small town USA. Ken and Heidi made some purchases and we had some good chatter in both The Milk House and Barmans.

We drove the length of Main street continuing north through Kettle Falls to connect to State route 25 N. It would be about 40 miles to the Frontier Border Crossing into Canada and then just 10 miles further to get to our destination, Rossland B.C.

Along the way we had to stop for our friends to take in the mighty Columbia River. See that puff of cloud in the distance? I had to zoom in to get a better look.

 

Photos to document the sites we saw and who we saw them with.

We enjoyed all the fall color along the way, especially the Larch/Tamarack trees, below.

After crossing the border we were in the town of Rossland B.C. in no time finding a parking spot and doing a little exploring before enjoying lunch. First stop at the statue for one of the main things Rossland is known for, skiing.

From Rossland Arts Council:

Have you gotten a selfie with Olaus yet? Captured in many visitor’s photographs of downtown, this iconic statue has watched over Rossland since Winter Carnival 2013.

More information about Olaus can be found here.

This is how Rossland Tourism describes the town.

Rossland is located in the beautiful Kootenay Rockies Region of British Columbia, and is home of Red Mountain Resort and Big Red Cats, the world’s largest cat skiing operation. With the addition of Grey Mountain at RED Mountain we now have one of the biggest ski resorts in western Canada. Located on the Powder Highway, in the Kootenay Rockies, Rossland offers both summer and winter charm. An unpretentious community which still offers a unique and authentic experience to all of our visitors.

The raven sculptures in front of the library have a story to tell, too.

The Storytellers was Rossland’s first public art piece commissioned by the Rossland Council for Arts and Culture (RCAC). Installed in 2008 on the lawn of the Rossland Public Library, the artwork includes two abstract metal trees with five ravens perched among the branches.

Right next to the ‘storytellers’ was this beautiful mural.

“The local wildflowers and the big poppy symbolize peace and commemoration with the iconic local mountains in the background. This peaceful image is tied to the local area and its people,” said Toews. “Just as many gave their lives fighting for our freedom, a gift that keeps giving, the alpine meadow flowers bless us with their beauty year after year. At the first mountain frost the flowers give their lives as some Rosslanders did during WW1, WW2 and Korea.” 

The last art stop for us before we went to lunch was the ‘sphere of influence’.

Sphere of Influence rolled into the empty lot between Columbia Avenue and Sourdough Alley in spring of 2015, just as the snow was melting and the bike season was heating up. The large, airy bubble of repurposed bicycle parts has been demanding attention ever since. 

We missed taking photos of some of the other art pieces along the main thoroughfare through the town of Rossland. Maybe next time I’ll seek them all out. Here’s a link to the first time we drove through Rossland in 2019.

We had a delicious lunch experience at the Flying Steamshovel even though someone got locked into their stall in the ladies room and had to have an employee come and rescue them.

On the way out of town we stopped at the grocery store and made a few purchases.

We headed home across the Border and we all noticed how both border crossings were with agents who seemed less than happy in their interactions with us. I’ve never had such sad encounters in all my crossing experiences.

Back to our country bungalow we introduced Ken and Heidi to our favorite game, Skyjo. It’s a game you can play and enjoy conversation, too.

On Tuesday morning after breakfast and packing up, we drove Ken and Heidi to the airport going on a scenic route which eventually had us meandering along the Spokane river.

Ken and Heidi had little sunshine during their visit with us but that is okay because they get plenty of that in Southern California.

We dropped our friends off at the airport and headed into Spokane to do a little shopping at Costco. After Costco we headed north on highway 2 for a late lunch in Elk. After lunch while traveling backroads back to Highway 395 we chuckled at this sight in front of us.

Hope those ties hold!

Thanks for taking the tourist journey with us!

Four Days, 864 Miles

We drove to Bothell on Thursday and enjoyed the evening with our West side kids. Laura made a crockpot of chili and some cornbread for us to enjoy together.

On Friday we drove across the border to Abbotsford B.C. to celebrate the 50th Wedding Anniversary of one of the Mennonite Girls. Some of us ‘girls’ joined Lovella at her home. She volunteered to bring finger sandwiches for the open house and we helped her fill them. We transferred all the sandwiches to the party and added them to the dessert spread that Anneliese had prepared.

It was a great celebration of H & Anneliese’s 50th wedding Anniversary.

On Saturday we drove back to Bothell bright and early.

We spent another evening with our kids and enjoyed a meal out.

Early Sunday morning we left for home and were happy to get over the mountain pass and finally see some sunshine through the rain.

Things got brighter and windier the farther we traveled east towards Spokane.

We made it home safely and are thankful for all the good catch-ups we had with our Washington family and with our friends in Canada. Our Border crossings were good both ways.

I’m behind on visiting you, my bloggy friends. Thanks for all your comments on my recent posts! I’ll be catching up little by little…

A Sunday Drive

After church and lunch on Sunday we headed north on Hwy 395 to State route 20 W and made a left onto Inchelium-Kettle Falls Road south along the Columbia River all the way to the Reservation town of Inchelium and then onto Gifford Ferry Road.

Along state route 20 we saw more of the fire devastation.

There are no towns along the twenty seven miles we drove along this route from Kettle Falls until we got to Inchelium.

Along the way we encountered rain showers.

Entering the small town of Inchilium on the Colville Indian Reservation and further on we hit the end of the road at the Inchilium-Gifford Ferry launch.

The ferry crossing is free and the small ferry holds approximately 8 vehicles.

It was a smooth ride.

Arriving in Gifford we headed north along Hwy 25 through Daisy and Rice and on to Kettle Falls and home. Daisy and Rice are very small communities.

Our neighbor’s tree greeted us in all it’s autumn glory. Soon all those leaves will fall.

We enjoyed our little Sunday drive even in the rain. We like to learn about the areas around us. It was fun to experience that little ferry across the Columbia river.

Cedar + Elm at The Lodge

Before I move on to today’s post I wanted to let you know that our home is safe and evacuation levels have stabilized but the fire is still burning.

On Friday September 5th Laura and Katie treated me to tea at Cedar + Elm at The Lodge at St. Edward Park.  

There was live music and the artist had a beautiful mellow voice which made for a pleasant background of music.

When we were done with our leisurely tea we walked about the Lodge.

Lady of the Lake of Arthurian legend.

Thank you to Laura and Katie for the nice treat and lovely afternoon together. Thank you, too, to Josh and Laura for always being so hospitable to us.

We spent last Thursday on the road to travel to Bothell then spent the next three full days on the Westside. We met up with friends on Thursday and Saturday.  On Saturday morning we attended a conference with Paul Tripp on Suffering. It was such a well spent 2-1/2 hours! On Sunday evening our westside kids treated us to dinner to celebrate Greg’s birthday a couple days early. More about those events at a later date.

It has been a relief to be out of the smoke filled air in Colville for these few days. We are on the road back to Colville today and hope the air quality improves each day to come.

Pend Oreille County

On Thursday June 12th, we hit the road early in the morning to explore a part of the state we’ve never been to before. We were on paved roads and primitive roads. We were in and out of ‘service’. I’m gathering my photos and thoughts and will post soon.

We are following world events right now and the tensions in the Middle East.

Yesterday Jan shared this verse for Truth for Today. It is a good encouragement.

In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, O Lord, will keep me safe.

Psalms 4:8.

Christmas Party Travels

Our annual Mennonite Girls Can Cook Christmas Party for the B.C. girls and me was graciously hosted by Bev and her husband. We traveled up north and across the border to Abbotsford on Monday afternoon. Greg and I stopped at Anneliese’s home to drop off our luggage and for our ride to Chilliwack for our celebration.

Bev set a beautiful table with place cards to guide us to our seats for the meal.

Photos were few and far between but I pieced some together to give us some visual memories.

We sang ‘Praise God From Whom all Blessings Flow’ at the beginning of our meal.

Soup was made by Judy, Salad by Kathy (oops no photo), assorted buns by Lovella, Potatoes by Marg, roasted vegetables by Anneliese, Meat cooked to perfection by Harv and Bev, dessert by Julie (no photo) but the memories of it make my mouth water.

The girls escaped to the living room after the main meal and before dessert for our gift exchange. After some good exchanges of gifts and conversation we regrouped at the table for dessert. We made it back to our hosts home for the night several hours after our usual bed time full and happy.

Sunrise in Abbotsford on Tuesday morning was beautiful. Anneliese made a lovely breakfast for us before we headed back across the line to the states. We chose to travel highway 9 for a distance before we connected up again on the interstate.

We made some stops in Washington and enjoyed lunch at our old Mexican favorite in Kirkland. Had a relaxing afternoon and evening at our kids’ home. Early on Wednesday morning we left for our final leg home.

Snoqualmie pass was in good shape for traveling. We didn’t have rain and our visibility was excellent until we reached the Ryegrass Safety Rest area.

Thankfully the dense fog only lasted for a few miles and we had clear skies the rest of our way home. We are always thankful to God for safe travels.

While we were in Western Washington this little guy broke his first board at Tae kwon do!

Breathing a sigh of relief to be done with our December travels and now getting caught up with what needs to be accomplished before Christmas day. First on the list is our Christmas cards. I was so surprised to walk right up to the counter at the post office to buy some stamps. Hopefully I’ll complete the cards today while listening to Christmas CD’s.

God rest ye merry gentlemenLet nothing you dismayRemember Christ our SaviorWas born on Christmas DayTo save us all from Satan’s pow’rWhen we were gone astrayOh tidings of comfort and joyComfort and joyOh tidings of comfort and joy

Wishing you comfort and joy as you prepare.

The Roads We Travel

On Sunday our children’s choir started our services off with a preview of their upcoming Children’s Christmas play/musical. It is always a treat to have the children perform. As soon as the service was over we hit the road for our trip to the west side of the mountains.

We made a quick stop in Spokane to get a sandwich for the road before we reached I-90 for our 284 mile stretch to Bothell.

For most of our eastern Washington journey we were happy for sunshine and clear roads.

It’s a family tradition that when we spot the Columbia River and Vantage Bridge we send out a group text with the words, ‘Roll On’. Everyone knows exactly where we are and will be able to calculate when we’ll arrive at our destination.

From this point we would be starting our ascent up and through the Cascade mountain range.

On the eastern slopes the skies changed. We were patting ourselves on the back for replacing our windshield wipers the day before.

At Snoqualmie Pass I snapped this shot before our descent into Western Washington.

We made it to Josh and Laura’s house and had a good catch-up before we met up with Andrew and Katie for Thai food to continue our Anniversary celebrations. Josh and Laura baked a cake for all of us to enjoy after dinner. We have some very thoughtful kids.

Soon we were all ready to put our heads on our pillows for the night.

That reminds me of this sweet photo that was sent to us of JJ after a long morning of shopping this past Saturday on the Eastside.

Hope you all have time to rest and contemplate all that this season holds for mankind.

A portion of the Nicene Creed;

We believe in one God,
the Father almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
begotten from the Father before all ages,
God from God,
Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made;
of the same essence as the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven;
he became incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary,
and was made human.

Over the River and Mountain Range

We had a beautiful drive through Eastern Washington across the mighty Columbia river and over the Cascade mountain range to the Puget Sound area of Washington.

We had a 2nd birthday celebration for Dear at Rare Society in Mill Creek with our Westside kids. On Monday we had the first celebration with our Colville kids and Grands. It was good to touch bases with everyone before we head out of the country.

Soon we will be in Bonnie Scotland. I hope to be able to share postcards from our days before I recap our trip when we return. Cheers!

The 2nd July Wrap-up!

My niece’s family (my sister Kathy’s oldest daughter) drove up to Bothell to visit our kids on the Westside of the Cascades. It was nice that Andrew was able to enjoy the group before he had to fly off for business the rest of the week.

Many of the usual touristy things were experienced.

A walk onto the Edmonds/Kingston Ferry for ice cream in Kingston.

A ride on Lake Union where Katie’s barge was spotted.

A Seattle Sounders Game!

On Thursday of the vacation week this crew and our crew from Colville met up in Leavenworth, a Bavarian themed town on the Eastern slopes of the Cascades. It was a long drive for our Colville kids but worth it to spend time with cousins.

Addy loves her cousin once or is it twice removed?

Our grandnephew who in the blink of an eye will be done with college!

Long drives are worth it to see Uncle Joshie!

It was a blistering hot day so a little walk to the river to cool off was called for.

Cousins and cousins by marriage with a wonderful bond of love.

Our two daughters-in-law who we love dearly and are so thankful for.

The guys went for a more dramatic shot but soon it was crashed by….

…Miss Addy!

Time for ice cream for another way to cool off.

And then. all too soon, it was time for both groups to head in the opposite directions for home.

Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity! It is like precious oil on the head, running down on the head, running down on the beard,…Psalm 133.