Category Archives: Winter

Budapest Pre-Cruise

We arrived in Budapest on the afternoon of Friday February 27th. There was an AmaWaterways Kiosk just outside of the baggage claim area where we checked in and met a few of our fellow river cruise passengers before it was time to board our bus to the hotel. When making our arrangements for the cruise we chose the 2 day pre-cruise option and we are so glad that we did. On our bus ride to the hotel we were able to get our first glimpse of the Danube.

When we arrived at the hotel we were pleasantly surprised at the luxury level of the hotel.

The Matilde Palace is a luxury hotel and part of the Marriott properties. This is not the type of hotel we would book for ourselves. There were automatic buttons for everything including the curtains and sheers.

Matild Palace, an iconic gem of Budapest, was envisioned in 1902 by her Imperial and Royal Highness, Maria Kotild of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha as part of the twin Kotild Palaces, a beacon of the Bell Epoque Era. Standing proudly beside the Elisabeth Bridge, these two majestic landmarks were designed to inspire and sere the social heart of the city. Over the decades, Matild Palace has borne witness to profound historical moments. From the grandeur of its early days to the trials of two world wars and the Hungarian revolution. Following a meticulous restoration, it emerged reborn in 2021 as a masterpiece within Marriott’s luxury collection.

Today, Matild Palace invites guests to immerse themselves in art nouveau inspired rooms and suites, and dine in exquisite venues led by the globally acclaimed Chef Wolfgang Puck.

Before dinner we had a meeting with our Tour Director for some general information. I thought I had made dinner reservations on Friday evening at a restaurant in town but come to find out it was for Saturday night instead of Friday night. We shifted our plans and headed up to the rooftop bar in our hotel and had some charcuterie and lovely views of the town at night.

 

Saturday morning we woke up early. Breakfast was included with our pre tour package. The hotel puts on an amazing buffet along with items you could choose off of a menu. We were really impressed with all of it and with the honey comb that was part of the buffet.

The breakfast view of the Elizabeth Bridge.

We had an early morning walk on streets next to the hotel. We tried to get some local currency at a bank ATM and the transactions would not go through. We hoped this was just a local issue.

So many grand buildings with impressive architecture.

The back entrance to the Matilde.

There was a excursion on Saturday morning that we were part of and into the tour we broke off to be able to buy tickets to see the inside of St. Stephens Basilica. I’ll share those photos in another post. We had time on Saturday to be on our own and also on Sunday before it was time for embarkation on the AmaMagna.

Back to the Present:

Monday afternoon was JJ time here while Addy was at dance lessons. While we were away he had to go to dance with his mom and Addy which was quite boring for him. He kept asking how many more days until we would return.

Today is St. Patrick’s Day and we will be enjoying a corned beef and cabbage meal later in the day.

We are still in recovery mode and I’m forcing myself to stay awake till at least 8pm. Hopefully sleep patterns will return to normal, soon.

Currently

I’m enjoying the sun on the snow and how it sparkles.

The snow crown on the bird bath caught my eye. I like it even better with the sunshine on it.

Before our snowfall I got some shots of Quail. They love our Silver Spruce Bush.

When we step out on our deck at times upwards of twenty quail will fly out of that bush!

It wasn’t planned but when JJ arrived on Monday afternoon, his mom mentioned we were twins and needed to take a photo!

Today is Women’s Bible study morning and I made some Date Nut loaves to slice and share with the ladies. I’ll share the recipe and photos if they turned out good.

Before I close off this post I’m going to give you some unsolicited advice.

Do not buy furniture with a black finish if you do not like to dust! 

If you are under 60, celebrate the fact that you can still get up off the ground easily.

When I have to kneel down it is a major event for me to get up again.

Enjoy the rest of the week!

Triple Tuesday!

We’ve got the trifecta of celebrations happening here for this jam packed Tuesday.

There’s Fat Tuesday/Mardi Gras and Pancake Tueaday/Shrove Tuesday and this year it is also Chinese New Year/Lunar New Year!

Here is how I’m melding all these celebrations tonight.

Our dining room table is set for company we are having this evening. I pulled out the Chinese souvenirs I bought in San Francisco’s China Town back in 2016.

Our menu’s nod to the Chinese New Year will be Egg Drop Soup for our starter course.

My nod to Mardi Gras and the Fat Tuesday are my fleur de lis napkin rings.

Wanting to also fit in the Pancake Tuesday tradition, for dessert we are having ‘Russian Pancakes’ or better known as Blintzes.

I mentioned yesterday that there was talk of snow. We ended up getting a good 4 inches of snow on Monday!

It’s melting already.

These two sent me a selfie with the Vintage Valentine Day Cards I sent them.

The love continues!

The Irish Dancers that our Addy is part of are dancing tonight in town at a Mardi Gras celebration.

Are you giving a nod to any of these celebrations?

 

Thankful

Some things I’m thankful to God for on this Thursday…

We had some nice clear weather for our safe trip to Spokane and back again. It was also warm enough to shop without a coat to and from the car. We detoured from our usual route home and stopped in Elk for lunch. From Elk we drove on backroads to Loon Lake and then north again to Colville.

This stoplight in the town of Chewelah south Colville is the one light we encounter for over 50 miles as we traveled! Once we get to Colville we encounter one more signal before we reach our home.

One of our stops in Spokane was at Trader Joe’s. They had loads of tulips for sale. I chose the 10 stem option for $6.99. Twenty stems were $12.99. I love tulips! God created so many different flowers for us to enjoy.

We stopped at Hobby Lobby for Valentine Day goodies, HomeGoods to replace a large casserole dish, (One of mine got a crack in it) TJMaxx for a baby shower gift, and before we finished up at Costco for gasoline and some other necessities we went through the new car wash across the way from Costco. What a treat to have a clean car!

Our Winter Women’s Bible Study starts today. I’m looking forward to studying about Heaven, When Faith Becomes Sight, with other women in our church.

Posting this a little later than usual. What are you thankful for today?

 

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

17 And 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.

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.

Super Sunday 013

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.

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February 004

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.

Alice day S.F 030

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…

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.