Barn Mosaics

We spent the last 7 days of February with our kids in Northeastern Washington. We saw many great scenes like these from the road. The photo above is of a barn that you will probably see in many different seasons as it happens to be one we have to pass to get to our kid’s home.

This mosaic above is on our road trip to Dan and Jamie’s along Highway 395 after getting off I-90 and heading north of Spokane.

This series in the mosaic above are on the road on our way back home just off Highway 395.

This last barn with the quilt was taken off Interstate 90 in Cle Elum. We are just on the East side of Snoqualmie Pass and the area that can be the most troublesome in our journey about an hour and a half from home. Thankfully on this day we didn’t encounter anything that hindered our journey. We are always thankful to God for traveling mercies.

Some of my family favorites from our time in Eastern Washington. History being made with family.

Linking up to The Barn Collective with Tom the Backroads Traveller and

Mosaic Monday with Maggie at Normandy Life.

Our end of the week and weekend was not ordinary at all and we were called upon to care and support someone we love. I won’t share the story because it’s not mine to share on social media. We spent some time in an emergency hospital waiting room where we were exposed to a lot of drama from other people waiting to be cared for and a couple others who were just there to cause trouble. We got to see one of those people escorted out and into a police car. Most of all we experienced caring and kind nurses and doctors and public safety officers who were as thorough as they could be to give help. I was struck with how challenged police officers, fire fighters, doctors, nurses and other staff people are in the whole public service areas of our communities.

Hope you all had a good weekend whether it was ordinary or crazy!

This is the day that the Lord has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Psalm 118:24 (ESV)

Safely Home

A funny thing happened while we were in Colville. We weren’t able to drive home on Tuesday as planned because of the conditions on the pass. On Tuesday while doing errands with our daughter in law we stopped at the Toyota dealer and bought a used Rav4(2014). It was a local trade in and well maintained. Our daughter in law even knew the people who traded it in and gave us a thumbs up. We drove home today and are pleased with it’s performance. Since our kids and soon to arrive granddaughter live across a mountain range from us we thought this was a good purchase for future trips. I was even able to drive it up our kids snowy road to their house on the way home from the dealership.

On Wednesday morning we felt confident in our new ride to make the trek west and over the pass and on to home. One last look at the snowy view on our way down to the road from our kids home.

The last stretch before reaching the county road that is plowed. We made it home without any problems at three in the afternoon. Our return trip for the birth of Addy will be in just a couple short weeks.

Goodbye to February and hello to March and hello to the days leading up to Easter (Lent). Hope to do some visiting to your blogs the rest of this week.

Road View Report

So happy to report our drive over Snoqualmie pass was uneventful and smooth sailing.

The Ryegrass rest area was our first stop to change drivers. From this point to Vantage there was an Elk migration warning. We kept a keen eye on the road and the hillsides for Elk but didn’t see any.

The worst conditions we had were on Division driving through Spokane where the potholes were huge! Hwy 395 also had some potholes to watch for. Yikes. This winter has really taken a toll on the roads!

We made to our son and daughter in laws just before sunset and this is the view from part of their driveway (minor road) after switchback #1 and before switchback #2 and #3 that leads up to their home. Glad our 2 wheel drive did not get stuck in a rut on the driveway!

Today Dear is starting to paint the nursery and a dresser and toy box truck. I’ll be taking the dog for a walk when I see the outdoor temperature gauge rise above 20 degrees. Here’s a “good morning” view from Dan and Jamie’s world.

Being on the road most of the day yesterday made for a dismal amount of steps for me. We’ll see what today yields. I hope to get around to blogs later this afternoon. Hope your Thursday is starting nicely. So pleased the sun is shining today and it’s not snowing here right now. How’s it in your corner of the world?

Walking Five…

…not the walking dead.

Last Friday Dear and I ventured out to the Sammamish River Trail for a walk. We walked until the raindrops were hitting us in the face. With our walk by the end of the day my fitbit registered 13,858 steps. Here’s a trail photo.

Saturday morning we walked on boardwalks and walkways at Juanita Bay Park. At the end of this day I had 13,372 steps. Here’s a photo from Juanita Bay.

On Monday we walked part of the Centennial Trail in Snohomish. It was sunny. I registered 13,113 steps by the end of the day.

On Tuesday we walk/hiked the North Trail at St. Edward State park. It was more of a huff and puff walk. By the end of Tuesday I had 12,130. I thought I should have gotten double credit in steps for this hike.

On Wednesday the rains returned with a vengeance so we ventured out from home when there was a slight break in the precipitation. Hoodies up! At the end of Wednesday I registered 12,614 steps.

I’m hoping to keep up with over 10,000 steps every day. I’m also hoping to drop a few pounds. This will be a slow process as I’m not counting calories just increasing my activity. Time will tell if this might work long term for controlling weight gain.

1. Thankful that Dear and I can walk in safe places. 2. Thankful we can still move in this way. We have aches and pains but not debilitating. 3. Thankful for the beauty of God’s creation that we see on our walks. 4. Thankful for some sunshiny days between the rainy days. 5. Thankful for time together to talk and to laugh and to see new things none of which drain the pocketbook.

Linking up to Five on Friday with Amy at Love Made My Home and Friday’s Fave Five with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story.

Twice in December

Twice in December we drove north to the town of La Conner to enjoy a meal and a stroll.

We enjoy the farm scenes that we pass along the way.

At the end of December we celebrated Katie’s birthday at Anelia’s which features some good Polish fare and other light dishes.

At the beginning of December we ate at the Oyster and Thistle for our anniversary.

I’m linking up to Mosaic Monday with Maggie at Normandy Life.

I’m also linking up for The Barn Collective with Tom The Backroads Traveler.

We had a cold quiet weekend mostly with small projects accomplished and started. I lasted just a very short while outside starting the Apple Tree Pruning. It didn’t take long for my hands to complain from the cold. I’ll be doing that project in short shifts. The Pear tree needs pruning also. January is full of events for us at this Old House.

Today at the Mennonite Girls Can Cook blog I posted a French Onion Soup for two recipe. I was inspired by the soup I had at the Oyster and Thistle in La Conner in the mosaic above. Happy Monday!

2016 January-June in Mosaics…

January: Dear started a consulting job from home. We celebrated January birthdays. A business trip to San Francisco with reunions with old friends from my college days.

February: Our Lenten Rose bloomed early. We had a Superbowl party with a Chinese New Year theme with souvenirs I bought at San Francisco’s Chinatown. We also enjoyed a Valentines day lunch with a view in Bellevue.

March: We had a sister’s weekend. We celebrated my Medicare birthday in Bellingham with the Mennonite Girls and our hubbies. Dear and I had an overnight in Vancouver, B.C. to continue celebrating my birthday. Katie and Andrew celebrated their 5th anniversary!

Easter landed at the end of March and deserved it’s own mosaic. Our family was all together. Kulich baking, Seerney Paska, Easter egg hunts and Raclette all happened during Easter weekend.

April: We took a quick trip to Eastern Washington to work on some projects at Dan and Jamie’s. Late in the month I went along with Dear on a business trip to San Antonio, Texas. While there I drove to Austin to meet up with my brother’s family for a few hours.

May: Mother’s day with the kids on this side of the mountains. Dear and I took a road trip to Whatcom Falls and on the way home enjoyed stopping at a restaurant on Chuckanut Drive for lunch.

May: Two trips across the line to Canada to meet our play writer and later to meet a favorite blogger who gives so much encouragement to us Mennonite Girls, Rosella.

June: I flew down to be with family and enjoy my sister’s open house in her new digs.

June: A trip to Leavenworth where our family and our new daughter in law’s family enjoyed a weekend together eating and river rafting.

June: Father’s day brunch downtown Seattle with a photo op on Queen Anne Hill overlooking downtown Seattle.

June: We finished off June with a road trip to Yellowstone National Park and Cody Wyoming with stays in Montana coming and going. June really was packed full!

Six full months of blessings with people we love and trips to places we had never seen before. I’ll share July to December later. Dear’s consulting job ended in June and we began our time of wondering if we were unemployed or if we were retired.

How are you spending the last days of 2016? We are planning a little get together on New Year’s Eve after the Peach Bowl between our Washington Huskies and Alabama. We are the underdogs and will be cheering our Dawgs on to victory. Time will tell. Win or lose we will ring in the New Year with gratefulness to God for all He has done this year in our lives and the lives of our friends and family.

Anniversary Jaunt…

…a short excursion or journey for pleasure.

Yesterday the 7th of December we took a little drive north to La Conner for a anniversary meal together a day late.

Cheers to us and our 42 years together!

Our choices off the lunch menu were Puttanesca above for the mister and Beef Bourguignon below for the missus.

We shared a bread pudding for dessert.

The day was very crisp, cold, and clear.

Later today they are forecasting snow for our neck of the woods and several school districts are releasing students two hours early so buses don’t get stuck. We have our Small Group Christmas Potluck tonight and I hope that our guests will be able to make it up our hill if it snows and home again safe and sound. We are putting off buying our Christmas tree until the freezing temps we are having change to more normal temps next week.

Do you have snow yet? Do you usually get snow?

Concrete, Washington

On a road trip we took early in October we drove through the little town of Concrete along the Cascades Highway and Skagit River. Concrete is a town in north-central Skagit County, Washington, United States. The population was 732 at the 2010 census.

St. Catherine Catholic Church.

Community Bible Church

Mount Baker Presbyterian Church

Concrete Assembly of God. This is one of three oldest wood structures in Concrete that survived several fires prior to 1921. After all the fires the city decided to use their ample supply of concrete for future commercial buildings.

How Concrete Got Its Name

Early settlers came to the Baker River in 1871, originally calling the settlement on the west bank “Minnehaha.” In 1890, the townsite was platted by Magnus Miller, a post office was set up, and the name “Baker” was adopted. On the east bank of the river, the community that sprang up around the Washington Portland Cement Company (1905) was named “Cement City.” After the Superior Portland Cement Company plant (1908) was built in Baker, it was decided to merge the two towns, and in 1909, after much discussion, the new community settled on the name “Concrete.”

The Concrete Fire Dept. and Police Dept. stand side by side sharing a mural on the front of their buildings.

I’m linking up to InSPIREd Sunday with Beth and Sally and to Monday Mural at Oakland Daily Photo.

We are having a quiet Saturday as predicted. All outdoor surfaces are wet but not puddly. The rain is just a mist so far. Have you started shopping for Thanksgiving day? I haven’t yet since we are going to friends for the big meal. We are thinking of making our own turkey after Thanksgiving on the Traeger grill this year. Time will tell. Hope your weekend is going well.

Sedro-Woolley

Sedro-Woolley was founded on a can-do spirit brought by hard working folks as they made their way into the great forests of the area. This tradition of hard work and community was well documented by photographer Darius Kinsey whose works are on display in town and at the Sedro-Woolley Museum. The downtown is decorated with historical murals, large cedar statues carved by chainsaw and hand finished, and attractive gas lamp replicas.

This mural artist signs his name with a Bible verse. On this one it’s Psalm 46:10

“Be still, and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!”

This signature is hard to see but it’s Fredrick Sutliffe again and the Bible verse posted on this mural was John 3:16~

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

Until it closed in October 2010, Holland Drugs of Sedro-Woolley was the oldest continuously operated business in Skagit county outside of LaConner. Its roots began in 1889 in the old town of Sedro on the north shore of the Skagit river as one of the first businesses near Mortimer Cook’s original general store. Seventeen-year-old Albert E. Holland arrived in old Sedro on July 15, 1886, and was immediately hired by Cook to be his clerk. Holland parlayed his original drug store into one of the largest pioneer fortunes in Sedro-Woolley.

1 John 4:8 ~ ^“Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.”

This looked like the newest mural on the side of a Mexican Restaurant.

The Bible reference from Fredrick on this one is Rom. 6:23 ~ ^“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

This very large mural is painted on the side of a building that defines part of the outdoor space called Hammer Heritage Square in honor of the Hammer family, pioneers here from the 19th century.

The artist signed his work in the form of a wanted poster. Madd Artist. Name: John Maddox-Alias: The Bald Dude-Last Spotted: Fighting the Mural Deadline-Crime: Brush onslaught with the intent to paint- Gang Members: I won’t list them all. At the very bottom it says In Memory of Bill Bowley +.

This chain saw carving by Phil Finton won 4th place in 1999 at the Loggerodeo Chainsaw Carving Contest.

Loggerodeo is an annual event held on July 4th in Sedro-Woolley, the chainsaw carving capitol of Washington State and the Pacific Northwest.

Daddy’s Little Logging Princess. I didn’t get a closeup on who carved this one. There were several other carvings along Metcalf Street in the historic business area of Sedro-Woolley.

Sedro-Woolley was a fun stop on Dear and my Fall drive in the early part of October to areas of the Skagit Valley. It would be interesting to head out to this town on the 4th of July with ear plugs to see the chainsaw carving contest in action.

I’m linking up to ABC Wednesday for S is for Sedro-Woolley. Thank you Mrs. Nesbitt and Roger’s team of ABC’ers for keeping us all in line.

I’ve decided to add one more link for this post called Our World Tuesday.

Speaking of saws, there is a noisy one in action in our basement today as Dear is framing out a niche that has needed attention for a long time. He will be adding shelves to the space that I get to fill up. That’s dangerous. Before and after photos to come after completion. Yikes! Thanksgiving is next week!

Discovery Park Seattle

We woke up to a beautiful day on Friday November 6th and decided to explore a part of Seattle we had never been to before. Discovery Park is located in Seattle’s Magnolia neighborhood, and is the largest park in the city. Entry is free. The Discovery Park Loop Trail is a designated National Recreation Trail, 2.8 miles long with an elevation change of just 140 feet. It passes through both forest and open meadows, offers extensive views, good prospects for bird watchers, and can be hiked or jogged year-round.

We walked to the highest point on the Loop Trail. A sign points right toward a viewpoint near the old chapel that looks out over the South Meadow. What you see from this viewpoint is the Puget Sound, The Olympic Mountain Range and Bainbridge Island.

The little white World War II chapel perched on the hill at Discovery Park has been given historic landmark status and given a second chance to remain standing on a spot that overlooks Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains. Before there was a park here, this area was Fort Lawton and it is thanks to the fort that this large park is available to Seattlites who wish to explore an urban trail.

While Fort Lawton was a quiet outpost prior to World War II, it became the second largest port of embarkation of soldiers and materials to the Pacific Theater during the war. The fort was included in the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure list. Fort Lawton officially closed on September 14, 2011.

One of our goals while at Discovery Park was to see the light house on West Point. We stopped at the visitor center and asked about driving to the lighthouse and we were happy to learn that since we were 62 or over we could get one of 8 special parking permits to park at South Beach close to the West Point, otherwise we would have had to hike there. If we were prepared it would have been easy enough for us to take the South Beach Trail and walk/hike but on this day we were happy to drive.

The West Point Lighthouse has a Victorian-era Beacon. It was built in 1881.

North Beach on Shilshole Bay.

South Beach on the Puget Sound looking towards the West Seattle Bridge with Mt. Rainier barely visible. Squint and you can see it.

This last mosaic is a photo of South Beach with a couple navigating the rocks on the left of the photo. I zoomed in on my photo to get a closer look at them. When I took this photo I didn’t realize we’d have a nice encounter with this couple. They had hiked down to the beach. When we made it to our car and started back to the visitor center to hand in our parking pass we saw them starting their walk back and we decided to roll our window down and ask them if they wanted a ride back. They were happy to accept and we learned they had just arrived the day before to the Seattle area from Milan, Italy. They were here for a very short time to see their daughter who was attending a special course at the University of Washington. We were happy to share our experiences in Milan with them. They were navigating our city by bus and other public transportation.

We would like to visit Discovery Park again in the future to see more of the park in a different season.

I’m linking up to Mosaic Monday with Maggie at Normandy Life. Click over to see more mosaics from around the world.

We have enjoyed a quiet weekend with a mix of rain, high winds and a little sunshine. We were home mostly except for church this morning and have eaten all of our meals in. Why do I feel like I need a pat on the back for that or that you even need to know that? Hope you had a good weekend in or out!

The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b.

To honor and encourage

Category Archives: Washington State