For April I’m challenging myself to an A-Z photo a day excluding Sundays and in addition to any regular posts that come to be. Disclaimer: this has been a lot more than a photo a day. It has been more like a theme for the day.
Today is Saturday the 26th of April and we are on the letter W. Today is the 2nd day that I’m participating in a flea market in downtown Colville. Hopefully I’ll recoup the charge for my space.
W is for Waves.
Waves at Emma Wood and other Ventura, California beaches.
The plan for our Monday in Texas was to visit the Fort Worth Stockyards. Steve dropped us off close to Exchange Avenue where the cattle drive would take place at 11:30 A.M. While he looked for a parking spot we moseyed over to find our spot in the crowds waiting to see the cattle drive. This happens twice a day.
The crowds dispersed and we poked into a few shops to see the western ware.
Everything a tourist might need to take home for a souvenir.
We started looking for a likely spot for our lunch rendezvous with our brother Leonard. He was driving out after a couple of meetings to enjoy lunch with us.
We made reservations at Hotel Drover’s 97 West Kitchen and Bar.
We had time to walk and do a little more shopping before Leonard met up with us at the restaurant.
We enjoyed the ambiance of the restaurant and had great service.
Full and satisfied with plans to eat again at dinnertime we made our way to our cars and headed back into Dallas and Flower Mound.
If you have never been we recommend the Historic Stockyards at Forth Worth for a visit. I’m glad we were able to visit on a cool day that started misty and improved for our visit.
After our wonderful tour with Jimmy on Monday September 23rd we were ready for lunch. We took the steps down Advocate’s Close and found the Devil’s Advocate.
Fish and Chips one more time before we left Scotland.
After our lunch we could face the stairs to go back up Advocate’s Close to the Royal Mile.
Our destination would be Holyrood Palace which is at the opposite end of the Royal Mile from Edinburgh Castle.
Located on the Royal Mile, the Mercat Cross holds a prominent position within the Old Town. Its proximity to other historic sites, including St Giles’ Cathedral and the Museum of Edinburgh, places it at the heart of Edinburgh’s cultural and civic life.
The Mercat Cross holds significant cultural importance in Edinburgh’s history. It was not merely a market hub, but also the focal point of civic gatherings and proclamations. Its distinctive octagonal structure, adorned with a unicorn and the royal coat of arms, reflects the intersection of commerce and monarchy in medieval Edinburgh.
The John Knox House is on the Royal Mile.
John Knox’s House dates from the 15th century and has been largely unaltered since the 1550’s when the Mosman family, Goldsmiths to Mary Queen of Scots, remodeled the house. John Knox, leader of the Scottish Reformation and founder of the Presbyterian Church, only lived here for a short period before his death in 1572.
The ground and first floors of the house are presented as a museum about John Knox, the evolution of the Protestant faith in Scotland, and the conflict between John Knox and Mary Queen of Scots. There are a few audio commentaries and lots of written information to read.
On the second floor of the house, you see a wood-paneled apartment that is preserved in the state that John Knox would have known. This is the most interesting part of the house.
We found the Secret Garden through an archway along the Royal Mile and had to take a photo of the Thistle
After the garden we finally were at the end of the Royal Mile at Holyrood Palace.
Holyrood Abbey was founded by David I, King of Scots in 1128, and Holyrood Palace has served as the principal residence of the Kings and Queens of Scots since the 15th century. Queen Elizabeth II spent one week in residence at Holyrood Palace at the beginning of each summer, where she carried out a range of official engagements and ceremonies
This beautiful doorway was a perfect photo op and it became Josh and Laura’s Christmas card.
We bought some souvenirs in the shop at Holyrood.
The Palace of Holyroodhouse Fountain
The Palace of Holyroodhouse, commonly referred to as Holyrood Palace, is the official residence of the monarch in Scotland. The palace stands at the bottom of the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, at the opposite end to Edinburgh Castle. Holyrood Palace is the setting for state ceremonies and official entertaining.
We walked back along different roads to Grassmarket and then up Victoria Street.
Looking down Victoria Street.
Since this is the last of my posts from Scotland I wanted to add Greyfriars Bobby in the Kirk. We saw this spot earlier in this day. Do you know the story behind Greyfriars Bobby or have you seen the old movie?
Our last full day in Scotland was another record breaking steps day. Goodnight to Monday September 23rd.
On Tuesday September 24th we had coffee and breakfast snacks at the Black Sheep before we checked out and called an uber to take us to the airport for our flights home.
We loved our time and what we experienced in Bonnie Scotland. Cheerio.
As the saying goes here is what has been going on right here in Colville.
We made it out in the cold to the Rotary Trail on Tuesday last week. We lasted for a good 30 minutes before our faces got too cold to go on. It was invigorating.
Our backyard quail have been visiting regularly.
JJ is enjoying Taekwondo. His uniform was a Christmas present. He also started Basketball and is enjoying it. These indoor activities help to give him the added exercise he needs when winter weather keeps him inside.
All the Christmas bins are up and away. This morning I’m having a house cleaner in for the first time ever. That appointment got me motivated to do some organizing and clearing surfaces here. That snowballed into me working on the kitchen cupboards and the pantry. While doing that our pile of garage sale items got larger and larger. I have only put a dent into downsizing our possessions but it feels good. At least I didn’t vacuum before the cleaner comes! 🙂
This will be a busier week than usual with meetings, appointment in Spokane, more meetings and a birthday dinner here on Saturday. How is your week shaping up?
On Saturday the 28th of December our kids and grands started the day off with a nice walk along the Rotary Trail in Colville. Andrew and Katie left for home right after the walk but Josh and Laura hung around for a few more hours before heading back west.
The resident eagles still grace the tops of the power poles.
She didn’t get those two front teeth for Christmas!
Thank you, Laura, for all these wonderful photos!
After the kids left I pulled out one more puzzle with a Christmas Carol theme and was able to finish it before the New Year rolled around. This one wasn’t tough and was fun to complete.
2025 has started quietly for us at our country bungalow. On New Year’s day I made Eggnog pancakes with a Vanilla sauce that we enjoyed on that day and then we had enough left over batter and sauce to repeat that breakfast on Thursday. The recipe was good and you can find it here. I chose this recipe because we had a lot of left over eggnog.
On Thursday we pulled down all the Christmas bins so we could put Christmas away but then we got side tracked in the kitchen re-organizing several of our cupboards and our pantry. Our garage sale/donation pile is getting larger and larger! Several very outdated items got thrown out, too. Friday (today) will be put away Christmas day.
Enjoy your first weekend of 2025.
Saturday morning the 17th of August we hit the Rotary Trail at 9am.
JJ was determined that Uncle Joshie would get him a Cat Tail from the trail.
The Battle of the Cat Tails!
Father and son #1. Our 2nd son was working this Saturday.
After our walk Greg and I headed home while the rest of our crew headed up to Bayles Mountain. An outing on the water was planned for after Dan’s work hours. That post is coming soon.
The Rotary Trail runs along and through the golf course and it is beside the high school and our little Colville airport. We noticed this huge craft at the air field. We’ve had several air resources around to help with the fires in our region.
Back to the current Saturday we had a nice amount of rain overnight and a lot of wind. There were many power outages around our county. Thankfully we weren’t part of any outages. Hopefully the storm aided instead of created more fire danger. The Fair is in town since Thursday and runs through Sunday. Greg and I went to the Fair on Thursday morning. Boise Cascade, a local company, pays for the first 1200 fair goers on Thursday and we were 2 of those 1200! There is a Fair parade this morning and I’ll meet up with our Grands for that. Other than that it will be a quiet Saturday.
Mornings around here are feeling more and more like Fall. Enjoy your last full weekend in August.
The Great Jungle Journey is our Vacation Bible School theme for 2024!
The theme verse for the week: To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. 1 Timothy 1;17
The Jungle Theme has been a hit! It’s such a treat to get a sweet hug at my station each evening from these two!
Craft and Science time outdoors under a shade cloth with misters!
I had to zoom in across the parking lot for these photos that are not sharp. A fun science experiment and a craft to take home.
There is a memory verse for each night of VBS.
Day 1: In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.- Genesis 1:1
Day 2: They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt, there is none who does good, not even one. -Psalm 14:3
Day 3: Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth. And from there the LORD dispersed them over the face of all the earth. -Genesis 11:9
Day 4: But to all who did receiver him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. ———John 1:12
Day 5: He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. – Revelation 21:4
We have had up to 185 children each night and 140 volunteers working with the kids and behind the scenes. Our amazing kitchen crew feeds the volunteers and their children dinner each night.
Besides VBS this week, Greg and I have been continuing our early morning walks on the Rotary Trail.
What’s new for you this August?
On Monday of this week we started early morning walks along the Rotary Trail in Colville. The trail circles the Golf Course. These are some photos I took with my phone on two different mornings.
Smoke from fires have made sunrise and sunset interesting.
A hawk
There is usually only one eagle perched on these polls but on this day I had a twofer.
Now for a smoky sunset…
This was on Tuesday on our way home from a class we are taking at our church on Biblical Counseling. Our windshield needed a good cleaning!
Some Olympic competitions have been televised already. I’ve watched a couple Olympic soccer games and we’ll see if we sit down to watch the opening ceremonies on Saturday.
We have cooled down as of yesterday and it was a nice relief.
Happy Friday everyone. Hope you have a nice last weekend in July! Here we are this Friday morning on the trail. My, what long legs we have.
This continues the post of our walk over hill and dale from Grassington to Hebden and back to Grassington along the River Wharfe. The whole walk was closer to 6 miles than 4 miles but the steps that Laura’s device clocked were 20,077! This was on Thursday September 21, 2023.
We left our cozy Pub and headed through the village towards the River Wharfe.
The Old School Tea Room, Hebden. Family run, traditional but quirky tea room. Gifts, crafts and cards also available. School dates back to 1874 and the old bell still chimes every hour! (Laura, we missed going in here)
Hebden suspension bridge: The bridge, next to stepping stones, was built in 1884 to connect Hebden with Thorpe after a man drowned trying to cross the Wharfe. Nearby Burnsall Bridge, also on the river, had been swept away in a storm the previous year. The new bridge was built by the Hebden blacksmith using 262 yards of redundant steel rope from the old lead mines. It was restored in 2014/15.
If my hips were any bigger I wouldn’t have been able to squeeze through here! 🙂
The water at Linton Falls was in full force due to the storms the day before.
It was tempting to go down this lane and investigate Linton Church and village but our feet said no.
Back in town we treated ourselves to some famous Love brownies and got a recommendation for dinner and made reservations. As if we didn’t have enough steps in already to strolled in town and did some last minute shopping before we got ready for dinner.
Our dinner this evening at the Grassington House would be in honor of Greg’s 70th birthday, a treat from Josh and Laura.
Cheers to Pops on 70 years!
It was a lovely dinner and an American couple from Utah stopped by the table for conversation since they noticed we were from the States, too.
After dinner we took some evening shots for our memories.
We were thankful for being able to walk in sunshine with glorious blue skies and fluffy clouds and to see the wonderful landscape of a portion of the Dales. Capping the evening off with a delicious meal was a nice treat.
Although there was talk of taking part in Quiz Night at The Devonshire we all opted to tuck in and rest our feet and legs and get ready for Day 8 of our trip.
On Thursday September 21st, day seven of our travels, the fire alarms went off in the Inn while we were getting ready for breakfast. Yikes. I was happy to be dressed when one of the owners knocked on our door to check our smoke alarm. After a full check of all the rooms in the Inn it was determined that there was a faulty wire somewhere that set off the alarm. The noise stopped and we finished getting ready for our breakfast.
I ordered the American Pancakes on this morning and they were excellent. The coffee was decent, too. After breakfast we headed out from town for a 4 mile walk or so we thought.
We learned that the day before our glorious sunshine filled walk there was lots of rain and flooding. Again we were so thankful for Providence in our timing. So thankful for blue skies, fluffy clouds and nice temperatures for walking.
Once we were off the paved road we begin to see what the storm left behind. At this point we could call our walk. Around the puddles and through the Dales.
We spotted some grouse ahead…
After seeing them we felt like we were going off track so we headed back.
We were confused on which way to go to get to Hebden. We saw another walker and she pointed out the way or the direction we needed to go and we bumbled our way through someone’s field and finally made it to this sign.
Over the Stile we went and continued on.
We were happy to see our first destination in sight.
I wanted to call this walk, ‘Sheep Shite and Mud Puddles’, because we had to really work at dodging all three.
We were thrilled when we made it out of the fields.
A few more mud puddles to navigate.
We made it to this Pub just before it opened for the day.
We enjoyed our time here very much. It was nice to sit a spell and enjoy some good food. Josh had the Pheasant Burger and got a chance to compliment the chef on the goodness of it.
From here we would make our way to the Dale Way trail along the River Wharf to get back to Grassington. That will be another post.
The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b. 