The Golden Season Hodgepodge

It’s Fall y’all and Joyce has a fresh batch of questions for Wednesday Hodgepodge.

1. Fall officially rolls into the Northern Hemisphere on Monday (9/22)…what’s your favorite thing about fall?

All the things! I like the weather, the changing colors, our local Corn Maze, Cider Fest, Thanksgiving, Flannel and the end of mosquito season.

2. What’s one thing on your real or proverbial autumn bucket list?

New England or Prince Edward Island would be nice to visit during the Autumn months.

3. Apples, pumpkins, sweet potatoes, butternut squash and cranberries are some of the top fall foods. Which one is your favorite and how do you like it prepared?

A Thanksgiving dinner favorite is sweet potatoes/yams baked in buttery brown sugar and marshmallows on top golden and delightful, a favorite of kids young and old.

A good butternut squash soup with a little spice is delicious!

Any on the list you don’t eat?

I can eat any of those things.

Which one have you had most recently?

I might have had dried cranberries in a nut mix the most recently.

4. ‘Fall is proof that change is beautiful’ is a popular sentiment. Would you agree or no? Elaborate.

I am a fan of Fall so I could describe it as beautiful. I also like the changes that occur from summer to fall. Not all change is beautiful and not all the changes from Summer to Fall are beautiful. This isn’t a sentiment that would come out of my mouth. That’s a little nitpicky but I’d share another sentiment for Fall like “Fall is the season for cozy hugs and warm mugs.”

5. Is there a spot near you where people go to see the leaves change color?

Around our parts you can see the Larches/Tamaracks in some nice groves that have taken on their golden hue.

Will you try to leaf peep somewhere this fall? Lonely Planet lists the following ten places as the best for leaf peeping…of those listed which would you most like to visit?

Stowe, Vermont~Shenandoah National Park, Virginia~Columbia River Gorge, Oregon~Zion National Park, Utah~Tennessee/North Carolina border~West Virgina~Northwestern Wyoming~Wisconsin Northwoods~Northern Nevada~Ozark Highlands Scenic Byway, Arkansas

We are closest to the Columbia River Gorge and that would be a nice Fall road trip.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

We were thrilled to hear on Tuesday that all evacuation levels were suspended for the Crown Fire which is the closest fire to us. We are so thankful for all the fire fighters that have been battling these fires. Thank you, LORD, for them and for the rain we received on Sunday!

Happy Autumn/Fall to all hodgepodgers and visitors here!

We’re Still Lagging Hodgepodge

Jet Lag ~ Jet lag is caused by a mismatch between a person’s normal daily rhythms and a new time zone. It is a temporary sleep problem that usually occurs when you travel across more than three time zones but can affect anyone who travels across multiple time zones. Jet lag can affect your mood, your ability to concentrate, and your physical and mental performance.

It’s time again for Wednesday Hodgepodge. Thank you, Joyce From This Side of the Pond for the questions!

1. What’s something that scares you?

Snakes, wild animals and stupid drivers.

2. Do you care where the food you eat comes from? To what degree?

I prefer local food especially when it comes to produce and fresh fruit. I want meat from U.S. ranchers. I prefer food canned and bottled and packaged that comes from the USA or Canada. Mexico is fine for certain products that we enjoy, too. I am not obsessive about it. I pray over the food I eat and ask God to protect me from evil. 🙂

3. What’s something you wish you’d spent more time doing when you were younger?

Memorizing more Bible Verses while my brain was sharp!

4. Let’s play autumn this or that….

Pumpkin spice or apple cider? Fresh pressed Apple Cider, please.

Corn maze or haunted house? Hands down…Corn Maze. We have an amazing Corn Maze in our town that we try to conquer every year.

Horror film or Hallmark movie? Hallmark Movie that is part of the Murder Mystery side of things.

Blanket or sweatshirt? Out and about, a sweatshirt. Inside on the couch, a blanket.

Watch football or watch the World Series? College Football but really and truly Futbol (Soccer) and especially English Premier League games and the Seattle Sounders MLS are my favorite games to watch.

Foliage-red, yellow or orange? This is hard but since I have to pick I’ll go with orange.

5. This time last year where were you and what were you doing?

We were at the Marcus Cider Fest last year at this time and this Saturday we will be at the Marcus Cider Fest again. Our kids entered their vintage Ford Thunderbird in the car show part of the Fest. There is a parade and booths and fresh apple goodies galore including fresh pressed apple cider.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

We are still recovering from Jet Lag from our trip to Dublin and England. We arrived home on September 27th. Jet Lag is real and especially for us older folk. We will live with the lag since we love traveling to that part of the world. We finally were able to hug our grands after three whole weeks apart. Our Colville kids came for lunch on Tuesday (yesterday). It was so good to have a meal with them and spend a couple hours with them. The Grands are growing so fast!

It will be nice to come around and see what all ye Hodgepodgers have been up to.

Barns, Pumpkins, Corn Mazes and More!

On Sunday October 15th the girls headed to Knight Farm to enjoy the corn maze and pumpkin patch. The Barn built in 1907 is on the Washington State Heritage Barn Register.

With corn maze map in hand (Katie’s hand) we set off for the maze entrance.

Katie masterfully led us to each checkpoint in the maze never making a wrong turn.

Addy started out awake and soon fell fast asleep.

We started at the bottom at station #10 and ended our trek at station #1.

When we were done with the maze Addy woke up and we picked out 3 pumpkins. One for daddy, one for mommy, and one for Addy.

Yep, the cutest little pumpkin in the patch!

While in the maze I spotted these farms with barns in the distance.

The guys were done hunting on Sunday with early success bringing a buck home just after noon. Andrew had to leave us all to drive the 350 miles back to Seattle so he could be in class on Monday morning. Dear, Josh and Dan started the hard work of prepping the venison while we were away at the pumpkin patch.

I spared everyone the full image of the buck in the back of our son’s truck but you can see the antlers if you look closely. One side of the antlers look like they are growing out of Joshua’s head. Andrew left before they had the celebratory toast.

Addy with auntie Katie before we got dressed for the pumpkin patch. She was interested in the guys excitement in retelling the story of how their successful hunting morning unfolded.

Linking up with Tom for The Barn Collective and Maggie at Normandy Life for Mosaic Monday.

Wednesday Wonder

Isn’t this a welcoming autumn driveway? I wonder who lives at the end of it. This was taken last Thursday when we arrived in Colville. Today is our last full day here and we’ll be heading home to rain, rain and more rain if the forecasters got things right. We had quite a wind event come through here yesterday that caused a few problems in the county but thankfully power stayed on here on the top of our kids’ mountain. I wonder how things are where you live.

I Love Fall Y’all!

To start the new season today at sundown I have fences, signs, and fall color for y’all!

The vines covering our neighbors fences are turning color already.

My Dogwood is ablaze in fall colors.

Even the cats on my daily walking route are sporting fall colors.

And at the end of my walk I found a couple of signs to throw in the mix.

Looks like we have a new baby in the neighborhood. I’m not sure if I’d want all the details on a sign in my front yard.

I’m linking to signs, signs with Lesley and Good Fences with TexWisGirl at Run*A*Round Ranch Report.

Our fall is beginning with lovely cool mornings and sunny days. Today we are experiencing lots of traffic snarls because the Chinese President is visiting our region and driving around a lot to his different events. I’m happy to be able to stay put at home with only short drives to the grocery store etc. on my list of things to do. Hope your Fall is starting well or if you are in the southern hemispheres, I hope you are enjoying your Spring.

Photo-A-Day ~ November

I’m joining Kati’s November Photo-A-Day Challenge with days 10 through 16.

Day 10 ~ Yellow

This is one of the tiles that are part of our back splash behind our stove top.

Day 11 ~ Outside my Window

Ha! First, I had to use some glass cleaner on my window before I snapped away.

Day 12 ~ Small

Day 13 ~ Large

The contrast between the large and the small…

Day 14 ~ Swirl

Day 15 ~ Animal

It’s November so I’m sharing the wild turkeys we saw in Eastern Washington while visiting our son. This part of Eastern Washington is known as the Turkey Capitol of Washington State!

Day 16 ~ Red

For red I’m going back to Windsor England with the Guard in their dress uniforms.

It’s late on Friday and it’s been a busy day for me. After my exercise class I powered up the lawn mower and mowed the lawn which consisted mostly of vacuuming up the fallen leaves from the Maple, Pear and Apple Tree. I’m wondering if this will be the last mow of the season or if there will be one more. I’m sitting with my feet up now and am happy that we have a quiet weekend ahead. We are still in a dry, very cold weather system with plenty of frost in the mornings. I’ve been amazed at all the winter snow photos from many of you. Our son had snow in Eastern Washington.

Love this photo of my pop, sister Lana, and niece Melissa from their Thursday night dinner together.

Have a wonderful weekend.

November Photo a Day Challenge

Since I’m having a hard time posting one photo-a-day I’ve decided to post days 2 through 8 of Kati’s photo challenge in one post. On November 1st I did post the first challenge prompt, my name starts with here.

November 2nd ~ Number

This is a special number for Dear and I this year. We were married in 1974 so on December 6th we celebrate 40 years of marriage. I thought it was fun that the Seattle Sounders are celebrating their 40th anniversary, too. We celebrated already this year with a trip to England but that won’t stop us from celebrating on the actual day, too.

November 3rd ~ Leaf

We had a very blustery, stormy day on Thursday of this week and I tried to catch a leaf falling. I’m glad this one was facing my camera for a second!

November 4th ~ Brown

This photo was taken at the church that was used in Downton Abbey for the weddings. The little town where some of the filming is done is called Bampton and we had a fun quick visit there reliving some of the scenes.

November 5th ~ Cozy

November 6th ~ Pumpkin

November 7th ~ Friend

November 8th ~ Table

Thank you Kati for the November Photo A Day Challenge.

We woke up to beautiful sunshine today. We had such a blustery day yesterday with a mix of brightness and darkness throughout the day. I managed to to fill a yard waste bin full of leaves in between rain showers. The wind gusts are of course made more leaves fall. Hopefully the dryness will last so we can mow the lawn for the last time till Spring. Looking forward to a weekend at home after being away last weekend.

Have a great weekend y’all!

O is for October!

“I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.” from Anne of Green Gables

October…one of my favorite months of the year. It’s when colors begin to change.

It’s when the regular season of MLS soccer comes to an end and when playoffs loom ahead!

In October we love to visit our middle son in Eastern Washington. The photo above is taken on his property.

When there is still a little color in some Autumn plants and the leaves are falling.

Oh my…the leaves keep falling.

At this old house I wouldn’t have to mow again except for the fact that I use the mower as a vacuum for the leaves.

I do love October even though it brings more yard work at this old house. The tree that drops all these leaves isn’t even our tree.

I’m linking up to ABC Wednesday that was started by Mrs. Nesbitt and continues on with the help of a great team.

Sing to the Lord of Harvest ~ Hymn

Sing to the Lord of Harvest

Sing to the Lord of harvest,
Sing songs of love and praise;
With joyful hearts and voices
Your alleluias raise.
By Him the rolling seasons
In fruitful order move;
Sing to the Lord of harvest,
A joyous song of love.

By Him the clouds drop fatness,
The deserts bloom and spring,
The hills leap up in gladness,
The valleys laugh and sing.
He filleth with His fullness
All things with large increase,
He crowns the year with goodness,
With plenty and with peace.

Bring to His sacred altar
The gifts His goodness gave,
The golden sheaves of harvest,
The souls He died to save.
Your hearts lay down before Him
When at His feet you fall,
And with your lives adore Him,
Who gave His life for all.

To God the gracious Father,
Who made us very good,
To Christ, who, when we wandered,
Restored us with His blood,
And to the Holy Spirit,
Who doth upon us pour
His blessèd dews and sunshine,
Be praise forevermore!

Words: John S.B. Monsell, 1866.