Category Archives: Washington

Everyday Images ~December Prompts

December Prompts – Everyday Images #77
I’ll be linking up with Kym at A Fresh Cup of Coffee.
(at home, collection, love, white, traditional, pine)
~~~~~
at home (monthly)
collection
love
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”
white
traditional
Christmas cards are a tradition that I enjoy and cherish. Hope it doesn’t completely die out!
pine
Pine bough garland around our front door of our former home.
Currently at our home we are surrounded by evergreens but they are more of the fir variety and not pine.
~~~~~
Hope all is well in your corner of the world as you anticipate Christmas and all that it means to humanity.
We’ve had this little tin for years and the scenes go well with the Bible verses from Luke.
~
“And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, ‘Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.’
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
(Luke 2:8–14, ESV)
This last scene comes later in the Christmas events before Joseph, Mary and Jesus flee to Egypt to escape King Herod’s evil plans. The Wise men and Joseph are warned by God about Herod.
My little tin also has a scene with a Little Drummer Boy which comes from a popular Christmas song but isn’t in the Bible.

Looking Up and Back

On Tuesday November 11th I was able to capture some of the colorful night sky with my phone camera.

“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

During this past week we got some photos of our loved ones via text. I am so grateful this kind of communication is available at our fingertips.

Addy getting a kick out of herself and her Skyjo skills! She was “getting ready for her victory dance”.

Katie and Laura on the other side of the mountains at ‘nail time’ that they enjoy together. Our westside beauties!

Woohoo! Look at who is Clubber of the month. Great job, Addy, memorizing all your verses! Baba and Gramps are thankful you enjoy learning about our God and Savior and storing up Scripture for your heart and mind.

Leaving off with a beautiful sunset viewed through the window at Addy’s Irish Dance studio on Thursday the 13th.

What are some of your ‘thankfuls’ this time of year?

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!

Remember, Remember the 5th of November

We’ve had a few days of showing our friends from Southern California around our parts and even took a little trip into Canada with them. I’ll share all the fun in a future post.

Time for the first Hodgepodge of November, thank you, Joyce! 

1. Besides Thanksgiving, something on your November calendar you’re looking forward to? 

We have been gifted tickets to the Nutcracker and we are also going to enjoy a performance of the Messiah in Spokane.

2. Dictionary.com’s word of the year is ‘6-7’. Huh? 

Is it even a word??? I had to consult the internet to find out it’s meaning because apparently I’m old and this particular slang is not part of my vocabulary. Is it part of yours? According to the article I read, it’s a viral term, more of an inside joke with an unclear meaning driven by social media.

What do you think?       Oye is what I think.

Dictionary. com says it’s selection each year is a ‘linguistic time capsule reflecting social trends and events, but they also admitted to being confused by ‘6-7’. Some say it means so-so and is sometimes accompanied by the up and down hand motion we associate with the phrase so-so.

What word do you think would have made a better choice? 

3. What’s a food, trend, activity, or thing people love but you think is just so-so? 

Cruising on the high seas in a little city called a cruise ship! Specialty coffee drinks. Sushi.

4. Are you a tea drinker? Hot or cold? How do you like yours and at what time of day? Do you like flavored teas or teas billed as calming, energizing, healing, etc? 

These days I’m a morning coffee drinker. I’ll enjoy teas if I go to high tea or other tea experiences but tea is not an everyday thing for me.

5. The November Hodgepodge has always included a weekly gratitude question. Here’s the question for today-what are three things that make your heart sing? 

  1. Being with family, part or whole.

2. Listening to a sermon from the Word of God. Here’s a quote I saw on Sunday at Tim Challies Blog;  

“Preaching is the miracle of God communicating himself to a fallen world through the words of a fallen man.” Brian Edwards

 “Each Sunday, he (God) communicates to fallen men through fallen men to save his people and to sanctify them. What a miracle!” Tim Challies

If you are interested in reading the whole article, click on Tim Challies Blog, above.

3. Trips to the United Kingdom.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

We have adopted the first line of the Guy Fawkes Rhyme and repeat it on November 5th because it was on November 5th of 2022 that Greg had his stroke. By God’s providence. Greg survived and he survived well. There are lingering difficulties as we continue to live with the ‘thorn in the flesh’, but we thank God that Greg’s life was spared and trust God with our future.

Here’s some history about Guy Fawkes Bonfire Night in the UK the Rhyme is included below.

Remember, remember, the 5th of November,
Gunpowder, treason and plot.
I see no reason
Why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.
Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, ’twas his intent
To blow up the King and the Parliament
Three score barrels of powder below
Poor old England to overthrow
By God’s providence he was catch’d
With a dark lantern and burning match
Holler boys, holler boys, let the bells ring
Holler boys, holler boys
God save the King!

 

Our Country Bungalow in Early Fall

This past week I walked out to the street to get a photo of the snow on the mountains across the way from our home. When I turned around to walk back I took these shots of our country bungalow in our current season.

We are enjoying a packed weekend in our state along with an overnight trip to our neighbors to the North in Canada. Next weekend we have some visitors flying in from Southern California.

Happy Saturday!

 

Singing Apples and Leaves Hodgepodge

Wednesday Hodgepodge has rolled around again, thank you, Joyce!

1. ‘The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.’ How does this saying ring true in your own family, either the one you grew up in or the one you made? 

In the family I grew up in, singing was something my parents enjoyed and that has been passed down to me and most of my siblings. Singing at church and singing when we had company over was a regular thing. Singing in choirs, singing in quartets, trios, duets, singing in Russian and in English, singing for recordings, and for me, singing in a Christian ‘rock’ band. Greg and I met because of that group.

The Russian Sacred Singers of Los Angeles are a group of California young people of Russian background. They sing in English and Russian under the inspiring leadership of director Leonard Wozniuk. The unique bi-lingual choir responded to our challenge to record their selections for radio use. Today, their joyful singing is heard world-wide over several short-wave radio stations and over local broadcasts in North and South America.

I’m on the bottom right, my sister, my cousins, and best friend complete the row.  Second row on the left are two more cousins. The director is my brother-in-law. The Russian Choir and the Rock band were active in the 70’s!

Greg and I are on the right end of this photo. The photo was from somewhere in England, possibly Liverpool.

2. Something you’re nuts about these days?

Time spent with family.

How about something that’s driving you nuts? 

Stink bugs are in abundance this year! This is a male stink bug. The females are rounder in the body.

Stink bugs, especially brown marmorated stink bugs or BMSB, are notorious for invading homes when the weather starts to cool. And while they aren’t interested in stealing your food or sucking your blood, their offensive odor is just as annoying to homeowners.

3. What does abundance mean to you? 

These words from Jesus from the Amplified Bible:

The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance [to the full, till it overflows].

Jesus is my abundance and I thank God for his plan of salvation through Jesus and for the Holy Spirit who helps me have faith and belief in the triune God.

4. Caramel apple-caramel cake-caramel corn-caramel sundae-caramel macchiatto…what’s your caramel treat of choice? 

5. What’s a childhood memory that always comes to mind as the leaves start to fall? 

Growing up in southern California did not afford me many memories of fall, at all. We moved to Washington state in 1988 and that is when I became more familiar with fall color and having to rake leaves! Our children were young enough that they are now the ones with childhood memories of leaves!

6. Insert. your own random thought here. 

Our Grands are growing up with four seasons and lots of leaves! These photos were from a few years back while helping their Granny blow the leaves into a pile for the city to pick up.

‘

I’ll (leaf) leave you here. 🙂

The Road We Traveled

Our route for this one day road trip took us along Hwy 395 north across the Columbia River and then along the Kettle River to Boulder Creek Road. It was about 25 miles to Boulder Creek Road from home and then another 22 miles on Boulder Creek before we dropped into Curlew at Hwy 21. The Boulder Creek part of our trip took us over the Kettle River Range. In Curlew we crossed the highway and continued on Kettle Road along the Kettle River north to Customs Road crossing the Kettle river and continuing north to the Midway Border Crossing. This was another 16 miles.

There were warning signs along the road about range animals.

Approaching the highest elevation of our journey we met up with a slow full cement truck but luckily he pulled off a little after the pass and we were on the road alone again.

This section of the range was devastated by a fire in the recent past.

Back in lower elevations we dropped into Curlew.

We drove through the historical section of the little town.

It was very sleepy with no one about and few businesses still in operation.

Back along the Kettle River we continued up to the Border crossing.

We got to the tiny border crossing way too early so we circled back to try to find some spot that might include some restrooms.

Hooray for Beal Park and their humble offering.

The reflected views on the Kettle river were nice.

The Kettle River begins its journey to the Columbia River at Holmes Lake in British Columbia. It first enters the U.S. at Midway in Ferry County, Washington. It then loops down, south east, to Curlew, WA.; then heads north east to Danville, where it crosses back into Canada. The Kettle River then re-enters the U.S. at Laurier in Stevens County, where it proceeds south to join with the Columbia River, near Boyds, Washington. 

Back to the Border and we were the first crossing of the day. I wonder just how many crossings they encounter?

We enjoyed seven and a half hours with our friends at a campground about 1.4 Kilometers from the border crossing (that is under a mile) before we turned around and reversed our route home. (I shared our time with more photos here)  Those hours seemed to pass quickly. The campground was situated along the Kettle River. This road trip seemed centered on the Kettle River.

Our border crossings coming and going were both pleasant exchanges with the agents.

We saw more of the fire damage on our way home.

We were across the border by 4:30 pm and home by 6pm. It was a good full day.

The Great Exchange #4

We are calling the long weekend of July 17th-20th, The Great Exchange. Dan flew west and Laura flew East, exchanging planes.

After the celebration at Yep Kanum Park in Colville we gathered at our country bungalow for some water fun and for dinner.

After cooling off in the water, we enjoyed an Asian noodle dish with chicken that was easy to throw together and a salad. We had a blueberry lemon loaf for dessert with a dollop of ice cream.

Sunday morning we gathered at church filling a row and then came back to our place for Greg’s famous Swedish Pancakes with little smokies and fresh fruit.

Addy and JJ have moved on to enjoying Legos.

There was some epic tug of war battles under the dining room table! They left our bungalow with more events planned before Auntie left for the airport.

Time with Auntie was coming to a close.

Meanwhile on the other side of the mountains.

Saturday morning started early with a game of golf for our boys and Jamie D. These three have been friends since elementary school.

The brothers weekend was a relaxing hit!

We are so thankful to the LORD for our two beautiful daughters in law.

It was time to say goodbye. Auntie LOLO drove Dan and Jamie’s truck to the airport, parking it for Dan to pick up when he arrived on his flight. He had driven LOLO’s car to Seatac for her to be able to drive it home when she arrived. That was the plan anyway but there was a huge glitch to this great plan.

Both of their flights were part of the huge Alaska Airlines Snafu on Sunday night. All flights were grounded with no hope of them traveling this night. LOLO found a hotel next to the airport to spend the night in and Dan drove back to Josh and Laura’s for the night. They decided the best thing for the two of them to do on Monday morning was for each of them to drive and meet up halfway, exchange cars and continue to their homes. That worked great and they were both back at their own homes in the early afternoon.

Sometimes you just have to go with the flow and find a new plan. Thankful it worked out in a good way for both of them to get home safely. Thank you, LORD!

Today, a week later we are heading to the airport to pick up my brother and his son for a 4 day visit here. We have some events planned and are looking forward to extended time together. I will be scarce on the internet for several days. Enjoy the last days of July, everyone!

Hello Summer Views and News

We’ve had a mix of blue skies and rain showers for the beginning of summer. It has been a banner year for our clematis varieties.

The yellow day lilies are always the first of the lilies to bloom.

Addy and JJ had fun at Golf Camp. We visited the camp on Wednesday held at the Chewelah Golf and Country Club.

On Thursday they were able to play nine holes of golf.

On the other side of the mountains, the Seattle Sounders had tournament games with international teams and Josh and Laura were able to attend.

Our kids had uninvited visitors on their mountain. The farmer/rancher was called to lead this girl back home…but she must have told her friends that the grass was greener here because later in the day this crew arrived. There are fencing repairs needed by the owner of these cows.

We finally decided to give this Mexican restaurant a try since the ownership and management changed. We gave it a thumbs up. For our small town with limited restaurants it’s interesting that we have three Mexican Restaurants.

We are still enjoying the many shades of green with pops of color on our property.

We had some rain on Saturday and on Sunday in the late afternoon we had thunderstorms and a real good soak.

This Monday morning would be a great time to do some weeding since the soil is very wet and softer than usual.

Quote of the week:

“Never start with your problems. Never! Never start with earth; never start with men. Always start in heaven; always start with God.”
(Martin Lloyd-Jones, Seeking the Face of God: Nine Reflections on the Psalms)
Psalm 71:1 In you, O LORD, do I take refuge…

Pend Oreille County Part 2

We were so surprised at the lack of vehicles and people on our little road trip to our neighboring county. We took this drive on Thursday June 12th, 2025. After our breakfast and shopping in Metaline Falls we continued North on Highway 31.

It didn’t take us long to get to our next stop. We took a left turn off of Highway 31 onto National Development Road 3165, also called East Side Road. Crescent Lake was a good marker for the road and guaranteed you couldn’t miss it.

It was a short drive to the parking area for Boundary Dam Vista House. Again we were pleasantly surprised with the nice restroom facilities and parking and well maintained trail to an overlook.

There was an indoor viewing house with windows all around and some great information posted. We were surprised to learn that Seattle City Light owns and operates the dam that is 390 miles from the city of Seattle. What surprised us even more is the fact that the electrical current leaves Boundary Powerhouse crosses Washington State and reaches Seattle IN LESS THAN A SECOND!

We took some photos of the dam from the Vista House before we walked the 750 steps to an outdoor overlook.

Looking north towards Canada.

This was another sign inside the Vista House. I’m glad we planned and left the house instead of just wishing on this day. One more display caught our eye. It was hard to photo with the glare but I took it anyway.

Great information and nice historical tribute.

Looking south…

We exited the Vista House that we had all to ourselves and started our 750 foot walk to the outdoor overlook.

Looking South on the Pend Oreille River.

Looking North to Canada.

Back up the 750 Feet to the parking lot. We enjoyed a few wildflowers.

We were inspired to take this trip because of the next photos our son sent when he had to work out in this area for several hours. His photos were taken in May with different cloud cover.

I’m saving our next stop for another post.

Thanks for coming along.