A Cheesy Hodgepodge

The first of the short month hodgepodge is here. Thank you, Joyce!

1. The Winter Olympics kick off on Friday, February 6th…on a scale of 1-10 how excited are you? (1= eh and 10=watching every event all day every day).

I’ll say a 5 as in I’ll enjoy what I stumble upon but I’m not carving out a lot of time to watch.

What’s your favorite Winter Olympic sporting event?

Ice Skating is probably the favorite but downhill ski events are exciting, too.

The most exciting of all time was the 1980 US Hockey teams defeat of Russia. Then two days later they defeated Finland coming from behind to win the Gold medal in Hockey. We kept stalling leaving for church to watch that one!

2. In other sporting news, the Super bowl (American football’s championship game) will be played on Sunday, February 8th.

Since you mentioned the Super Bowl, we will be watching this year since our home team, the Seattle Seahawks are playing. We will switch off the half-time show and watch TPUSA’s half-time show instead.

So tell us…what’s your superpower?

Blogging. I started blogging in 2008 and it is still something that I enjoy and comes easy for the most part.

3. Are you a romantic?

Nope

4. Blue cheese-yay or nay? Yay

How about feta? Yay

If you said yes to one or both, what’s a dish you like that calls for one of these?

With Feta in mind, Gyros! (photo at the top of this post) Greek Salad. With Bleu Cheese in mind, Wedge Salad. Bleu cheese dressing. In the past we’ve enjoyed focaccia bread brushed with olive oil and topped with red onion and bleu cheese, then toasted. It is a tasty treat. There are some great sauces with Bleu cheese that are delicious with steak.

5. What’s more important-doing what you love or loving what you do?

These two are the same in my mind. I’m sure I’ll read some better answers that clarify this thought.

A verse did pop up in my memory bank.

Colossians 3:17

¹⁷And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

Yesterday I posted some photos on my blog of some changes we made in our family room that has improved our prospect. Do you watch British programs like ‘Escape to the Country’? I’ve enjoyed the comments made about a room’s ‘prospect’ on that show. Usually they are talking about windows like a double prospect or triple prospect.

A good prospect offers an expansive, open, or clear view, enhancing the perceived, or actual, aesthetic and comfort value of a space.

That is how we feel about the minor changes we have made in this much lived in space. Our prospect is improved.

In the daylight hours…

Ground Hog Day

Will winter linger, or Spring prevail? When I wake up and hear the prediction, I’ll add it here.

Update: Looks like Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow so 6 more weeks of Winter.

I’m chuckling because my calendar already tells me that the first day of spring comes in the 6th week from now!

Happy February everyone!

Here is what things looked like on our travel to church on Sunday, the first of February.

As you can see it has been pretty dreary and our mountains are hidden.

These shots are out our slider to the back acres.

It seems all our snow moved east for now!

Soon this dreary landscape will be transformed again to all the joy that Spring has to offer.

We made some adjustments to our family room furniture arrangement and moved around some lamps and wall-art. So far we are enjoying the new minor changes. It will be fun to see what our grandkids think about the changes when they are here this afternoon. I’ll try and remember to take a photo of them in the midst to share.

January Photo Prompts

Joining in on Kym’s Everyday Images on this last Thursday in January.

You will see her photo prompt and underneath will be the photo I selected for the prompt. I’ll add the link once it goes live this morning.

Out for a walk (quarterly)

I walked out to take a panorama photo of our property. It was too cold to stay out for long. No snow anywhere to be seen which is a bit unusual.

Logo

A Logo and brand of small appliances I’ve counted on for over 50 years!

At home (monthly)

Another panorama shot on my phone camera inside our home. I’m practicing.

Inside and/or Outside

The road we live on going north beyond our driveway at the orange triangle.

Good food

A cottage cheese, egg and spinach bake for our January month of eating intentionally.

Curlicues

There are many elegant curlicues on this amazing church building in Edinburgh.

Texture

This church door and arch has lots of texture.

Texture refers to the way an object feels to the touch or looks as it may feel if it were touched. Texture is one of the seven elements of art.

I’ve been a fan of photo taking since my junior high days. It was always a shot in the dark as to whether your photos would turn out. Once done with a roll of film we had to turn it in to a photo processing venue and then wait for a while to pick them up and see how they turned out. What a difference the whole digital camera option is! Instant viewing and in an instant you know if you have to re-do the shot!

Hope all is well in your corner of the world.

Winter Sunshine Roundup

On Friday I took some photos of our country bungalow.

We finally got some sunshine and blue skies here. But…

Baby, it’s cold outside!

At the Irish dance studio it is cold inside, too. The dancers appreciate the coolness once they are dancing hard.

Friday was lovely on the other side of the state, too. We got this sunshiny photo from J & L enjoying the sun.

While being cozy inside, I finished the World of Jane Austen puzzle. It was fun to put together.

Here’s a closeup of some of the details.

I’ve been practicing with the panorama feature on my phone.

In the kitchen, I’ve been trying some easy lower calorie high protein meals for us. It’s been an adventure.

Late Breaking news on this Sunday is that our Seattle Seahawks are going to the Super Bowl LX. Brings back some memories.

The photo above is from 2014, the last time the Seahawks won the Super Bowl. In 2015 they went to the Super Bowl again but lost to the New England Patriots. This will be a repeat match-up. Truth be told we are fair weather fans. We don’t typically watch NFL Football. That said, we will root for the home team again this year from our comfy seats in front of the TV.

The photo below is from 2014, also. Greg worked in downtown Seattle back then and this was the building he worked in at the time with the nod to the 12th man. If you know, you know. Congratulations to the Seahawks for reaching another Super Bowl.

This is what it looked like in our family room the last time the Seahawks won the Super Bowl.

Back to the present…

Hope all of our bloggy friends and family in the path of the arctic blast are doing well and have power! Stay safe y’all.

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.

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…

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

Our Road On Sunday

It has been, for the most part, a snowless winter for us here in Colville. This was our drive on our road home from church and lunch on Sunday January 18th with reflections on our sermon.

Our sermon was on Psalm 25. A Pattern of Prayer: Dependence on God and expressing and reinforcing that dependence in prayer.

God is always reliable and worthy of our trust. Our prayers should express trust.

God gives us our next breath.

We cannot live spiritually without God’s help and without waiting on God with patience.

I’m asking God to give me a teachable heart and guidance to live Godly while I put myself under God’s Truth.

God’s character is to be merciful to sinners. It is good to admit our sinfulness and receive fresh mercies every morning.

Turning into our driveway at the orange reflective triangle for a quiet Sunday afternoon.

Thanks for coming along on our drive home with some main thoughts from our Sunday sermon.

The Birthday Finale

Today is our firstborn’s birthday and that brings our family January birthdays to their finale. He is a joy to us and to so many others.

Happy birthday, dear Joshie! Here’s to a year filled with many good things and lots of love and growth in the Lord.

Every good and perfect gift comes from above.

Glad we could celebrate you in person back in December.

Here’s a celebration from a few years back.

Seahawks are in the playoffs so this collage with you sporting your Seahawk Jersey seemed appropriate to share.

Of course soccer and the Sounders have a lot of extra loyalty for you and our whole family.

You are loyal fans when they are home and away.

I love that you and Laura made it all the way to Toronto to see the Sounders win the MLS cup!

Family times at the games are a great memory.

With FIFA World Cup coming to the USA again it brings memories from 1994 when the USA hosted this popular world event. Seeing prices and how hard it is to get tickets for games this year makes the fact that both you and Dan got ticket packages for less than $100 for a few games in each package seem like a miracle. Not only did you get tickets but we were able to meet the whole U.S. team at their practice field and their hotel. What fun that was to experience.

Hopefully, tickets will become available for you this time around!

Another memory is popping up for the year.

Looking ahead to October, this experience from 1997 comes to mind. You and Dan have been back to Hawaii since 1997 but it will bring back memories when we are all back there together again. I won’t be renting any beach rafts this time around!

Hope you have a special day today and that you know how much you are appreciated and loved.

Go Sounders…oops…Go Seahawks!

Winter Hodgepodge

I’m keeping up our Christmas and New Year cards for a little while longer.

If it’s Wednesday it is time for answering a new set of Hodgepodge questions that Joyce From this Side of the Pond is asking.

1. What kind of winter person are you-snow lover, fireplace snuggler, winter adventurer, or indoor hibernator? Elaborate.

I’m in the winter of my life here on earth and need to adjust to that reality. When we lived in southern California winter walks on the beach were my favorite. Living in NE Washington State my winter adventures are more in the fireplace snuggler or indoor hibernator realm. Slipping on ice is something that we really need to avoid at our age. I’ll still walk on the beach in winter if given the opportunity.

2. The Pantone color of the year is cloud dancer, described as a gentle, billowy off white shade. The color symbolizes ‘peace, clarity, quiet reflection, renewal, and a soft reset’. Of the terms just listed which do you need most in your life this winter?

I’ll go with renewal, to restore to a good state.

3. Every cloud has a silver lining, on cloud nine, head in the clouds, storm clouds gathering, or cloud of suspicion...which ‘cloud’ idiom do you most relate to currently? Explain.

Personally, ‘every cloud has a silver lining’, is my choice. My present and future are secure in my relationship with the God of the Universe so I can rest and see that He will keep me to the end not matter what storms brew.

State of the world, ‘storm clouds gathering’. So much evil intent and noise going on. Law and Order is being challenged like it never has before. Hats off to Ice, Border Patrol, Police Officers and National Guardsmen for keeping their cool as they do their jobs while subversive lawless individuals try to impede, attack and even kill them.

4. coconut, cauliflower, cottage cheese, mayonnaise, onions, ranch dressing…of the white foods listed, which would be the hardest for you to give up? Do you like all or any of the foods on the list?

I can enjoy all of these white foods but the one that would be hardest to give up is onions. I love the flavor that onions add to meat, vegetables, salads, sauces. I could go on. I enjoy raw onion on a burger. Caramelized onions are so good!

5. Thomas Wentworth Higginson is credited with this quote-

“How many lessons of faith and beauty we should lose, if there were no winter in our year.”

Agree or disagree? Tell us why.

There are lessons of faith and beauty in every season including winter. I’m so happy for having all four and learning and growing in each season.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

Our Spider Plant has really taken off and it started tiny.

Have you seen these flower arrangements made out of wood? There is a gal in our area who makes them and sells them at one of our local stores and at Craft fairs.

This one is in one of our guest rooms.

Happy Hodgepodge y’all. See you soon.

Partying

Our church hosted a Princess Pajama Party this past Friday evening. It was a fun night for girls and their moms from our church and from our community. There were all sorts of stations of fun. Addy chose the Lego station and she along with some friends each built part of this Princess Lego Castle.

Granny, Addy and Mama chose some animal facials.

Addy won a prize for her coloring.

On Saturday on the other side of our state, our Westside kids all enjoyed our son’s annual employee appreciation party. Our daughter works for her brother so she gets in on the fun, too. Josh and his partners treat their employees well.

The theme was 80’s – Prom Night. It was fun to get photos from the event.

JJ has his own special party every Monday afternoon at Baba and Gramps’.

He found that our family room ottoman was just the right size for a cozy spot to watch TV.

I tried introducing him to the Lone Ranger which was okay for a bit but then we moved on to Silly Symphonies.

Here’s my kind of party…

I started my World of Jane Austen puzzle which was a Christmas gift from Andrew and Katie. This will be a fun one to put together.

Today is massage day. What does your day hold?

I’ll come around later to see what my blogging friends have been up to.

Boxing Day 2025

On Boxing Day (just a week ago)

After our traditional Swedish Pancake breakfast, the kids gathered at the Rotary trail for a walk. Greg, who is half Swedish, does the honors of cooking the pancakes at every special family gathering.

We all look forward to his Swedish Pancakes with Little smokies. They are enjoyed with sour cream and real or not so real Maple syrup plus fruit syrups, especially boysenberry which has been impossible to find in recent years!