My Pumpkin Brain Hodgepodge

Since Joyce brought up pumpkin in her Wednesday Hodgepodge questions for today, I borrowed this photo from our daughter-in-law at the first pumpkin patch visit of this Autumn.

1. Thursday (Oct 13) is National Train Your Brain Day. What do you do to keep your brain in tip top shape? Is it helping?

Bible study keeps your brain sharp. When my Mother-in-law was living with us and signs of dementia started showing she was the sharpest when she was studying her Bible everyday and attending a Bible Study weekly. The Holy Spirit in followers of Jesus Christ illuminates the Word of God for us and helps us to discern and gives us understanding. The Word of God is living and enduring and it keeps my brain in tip top shape while teaching me how to live on this earth.

2. You can sit with anyone in the world and ‘pick their brain’…whom do you choose? Tell us why? 

If we are talking about a living person…

Patricia MacArthur, wife of John MacArthur one of my favorite living pastors who is 83 and still preaching at the same church he started at 53 years ago. She has lived through ministry and suffering and I know there is a lot of wisdom to glean from her.

If I could choose someone who has died…

I’d choose my maternal grandfather who I never got to meet because he was killed in Persia after my parents immigrated here and before the rest of my mother’s family immigrated.

3. What’s something happening in the world (or your corner of it) right now that you have trouble ‘wrapping your brain around’? 

Well you have opened up a can of worms here for sure. There is so much happening in this world that is unbelievable to me.

Calling good evil and evil good.

The whole gender identity stupidity.

The Border Crisis

The escalation of crime with no punishment for wrongdoing.

I can go on and on…

4. On a scale of 1-10 where do you fall in the pumpkin fanclub? (1=blech, 10=make it all pumpkin all the time) Tell us something delicious you’ve tasted recently that had some pumpkin in it somewhere. 

I’m pretty much in the middle. I enjoy some things pumpkin but mostly baked items like cookies and bars or a good spicy soup. I’m not a fan of drinking pumpkin flavored coffee or any kind of flavored coffee, etc.

5. Share a favorite song, book, or movie with an autumn title, setting, or vibe. 

I drew a blank on this one. I know I’ve read books or book series that included fall but nothing with that theme in the title. I did find this song by Nat King Cole…

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Speaking of Autumn…

I took this photo in Woodstock, U.K. on the grounds of Blenheim Palace on September 22nd of this year, the first day of Autumn. Winston Churchill was born at the Palace in the Autumn, on November 30th, 1874. He didn’t live at Blenheim but his parents were visiting Blenheim and the Mrs. went into labor and he ended up being born there. There are many tributes to him at the Palace and on the grounds and in the village of Woodstock, too.

Thank you Joyce for the Hodgepodge.

 

Market Day

On Tuesday some of the crew had a shopping day in Woodinville and then we re-grouped with a couple carloads going downtown on the way to deliver Melissa to the airport. She had to fly home on Tuesday for work responsibilities.

My sister Kathy and I stayed behind. We picked up Katie who was done with her workday and enjoyed lunch together at La Corona our favorite Mexican joint on the west side of the Cascades. Sadly because of COVID our favorite waitress only gets 3 days of work and Tuesday was not her day. After lunch we shopped for some dinner items and headed back to Josh and Laura’s to relax before we started cooking dinner. Taco night with pies for dessert.

A very random shot of the clean up after dinner.

On Tuesday night I was feeling under the weather so I made the decision to stay away from the rest of the family gatherings on Wednesday and planned to drive back home on Thursday morning instead of Friday. Even though I didn’t get the chance to see Liliana at La Corona on Tuesday I was able to see her on Wednesday and it was good to get caught up with her and the owner of La Corona. It’s not an easy time for restaurant owners and their waitstaff.

It was good to see Lily!

Wednesday was pumpkin patch day for the rest of the crew.

Are you going to a Pumpkin Patch this year and do you have a Corn Maze near you?

Back in Colville we had our first good frost and this week is bringing more freezing temps so we’ve disconnected all our hoses, closed the crawl space vents, and rolled up the patio cover cloth. On a dry day I’ll be clearing out all the beds and our burn pile will be stacked and ready for the burn ban to be lifted.

Happy Thanksgiving Day to our Canadian neighbors and Happy Columbus Day here in the USA!

The Patch 2019

As we finished up at the Maze and Patch the rain started to gently fall. We patted ourselves on the back for coming early and leaving before the crowds arrived and the rain came down. We headed home for sandwiches and it didn’t take long for the guys to come home from hunting because of the rain. Naps were in order for the grands and some of the guys, too.

I’ll leave you a verse from God’s Word, The Bible, and a prayer from Spurgeon inspired from this verse:

Thou, O Lord God, hast spoken it and with thy blessing let the house of thy servant be blessed forever. (2 Samuel 7:29)

…Lord, we cannot doubt thee: we are persuaded that every word of thine is a sure foundation for the boldest expectation. We come to thee and say, ‘Do as thou has said,’ Bless thy servants’ house. Heal our sick; save our hesitating ones; restore those who wander; confirm those who live in thy fear. Lord, give us food and raiment according to thy word. Prosper our undertakings; especially succeed our endeavours to make known thy gospel in our neighborhood. Make our children thy children. Let thy blessing flow out to future generations, and as long as any of our race remains on earth may they remain true to thee. O Lord God ‘let the house of thy servant be blessed.’

Corn Maze and Pumpkins

So much has happened in 7 days and I’ll start a little catch-up by going back to last Sunday and our time at the local Corn Maze and Pumpkin Patch. While the guys were hunting the gals and JJ made a visit to the Corn Maze and Pumpkin Patch. Lots of photos and few words. Did I mention…lots of photos?! I’ll start with the Corn Maze and then add another post about the Pumpkin Patch.

Katie is the best maze navigator and Addy was interested in hearing her instructions as to where we should go.

We stopped at each marker we found and put up the appropriate number of fingers.

 

Along the way in the maze they gave you easy ways to exit if you needed an easy out.

We made it to station #8 and at this point Addy wanted to be carried which made it a little more difficult to soldier on so we took the next Easy Out we spotted and headed to the Pumpkin Patch.

JJ was content and contemplative about the whole experience.

We are making a slow transition back to life as normal after our trip to California for the amazing conference we attended. I hope to catch up with all your blogs early this new week. As happens frequently when traveling, we are experiencing an attack on our health from being confined in airplanes and rooms with many people who are spreading their germs and illnesses with the rest of humanity.

Hope the tornado warnings in the Dallas area were without injury to anyone. We were happy to hear our family members were okay and got the all clear. Praying October ends well for y’all.

Interrupted Hodgepodge

1. What does/did Halloween look like at your house this year? Did you decorate? Pick pumpkins? Carve pumpkins? Expect trick or treaters? Wear a costume to a party or event? Make a costume? Feel glad you didn’t have to come up with a costume? Cook a Halloween themed treat? Eat all the leftover candy?

Minimal decorations on the front porch that I’ve collected over the years. Not much but enough for me. I’m working on this post in between the doorbell and knocks and shouts of “trick or treat”. So far we’ve had 35 costumed cuties.

We went to the pumpkin patch a couple Sundays ago with the newest member of our family and she was the cutest pumpkin in the patch.

This is the closest we came to costumes this year. We were at a favorite garden store today and they had these props to take photos with.

2. What are you waiting for? Elaborate

We are in the process of replacing counter tops, sink, cooktop, and back splash. All the old back splash has been removed so things are looking a bit untidy around here as we wait on the quartz guys to template and prepare and install the quartz for us. Then dear can get to work on the back splash. (Is that two words or one?)

We’ve now had 40 trick or treaters at the door.

3. Do you wish you were friendlier, braver, more creative, more athletic, or something else? Explain.

How about skinnier. I’ve put on a lot of weight since I hit 60 and I don’t like it much.

4. When it comes time to paint are you a do-it-yourselfer or do you hire someone? What was the last paint job completed at your house? What room most needs painting now? How do you feel about wallpaper?

Dear’s father had a house painting business and Dear was trained well. Dear does all the painting at this old house and any of the houses we’ve lived in. No room in this house is in desperate need of painting. After we gut our master bath that will be the next room that will get a fresh coat of paint. We haven’t wall papered anything in any house since our 2nd home in 1976. I can enjoy wallpaper but hate removing wallpaper.

44 trick or treaters so far and #44 really needs to go home and go to sleep, just a little cranky.

5. What is one specific thing you felt gratitude for in the month of October?

I am so grateful for our first annual family hunting trip at our son, DIL, and Addy’s home in northeastern Washington. All of our kids, spouses and our little grand were together under one roof for a few nights and we had a great time.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

We have so enjoyed the fall colors this year in our area. So thankful to God for all the seasons of the year and the beauty that we can find in each one.

Dear and I walked the river trail on Sunday afternoon and I have a lot of photos to share from that walk. The reflection of this tree in the river was beautiful.

Thank you to Joyce From Across the Pond for asking the questions for Hodgepodge Wednesday. Thank you to everyone who takes the time to read my posts. I appreciate your visits!

Just when I thought cranky #44 was the last trick or treater we had another wave and we are up to 51! It’s after eight and all is quiet in the neighborhood so I think I’ll turn off the lights and call it a good night with 51!

Before I could turn out the lights 4 tall teenagers came by to grab a handful of candy so our final count was 55!

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.

A Little Diversion…

Yesterday Dear and I decided to take a short road trip to the cities of Duvall and Carnation. We enjoyed beautiful fall colors in the mist, a few fun shops and some good eats. I’ll show more of what we saw soon and I’m happy to say I finally have some more barns to share along with fences and signs.

Here’s Dear, outstanding in his field. Sorry couldn’t resist that one! We had a full day yesterday and I hope to be able to visit more of you today.

Have you been to a pumpkin patch yet?

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
P1050585This 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
mac&cheese 014We 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
Alton to Cotswolds 239This 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
To Windsor 141
November 6th ~ Pumpkin
November 7th ~ Friend
2014-06-25 The Girls
November 8th ~ Table
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!

Pumpkin Patch…

It’s Autumn, the season of orange, brown, and yellow. A wonderful time for hearty soup and hot drinks. The scents of wood burning, cinnamon, pumpkin, and hot apple cider fill the air. I love this season of cozy blankets and nice wooly sweaters. Instead of Alphabe-Thursday Teacher Jenny is asking for some Fall photos to share for the rest of October. Katie and I stopped at a local small pumpkin farm and took these shots…

It seems like the colors are finally changing here in the Northwest. On Friday I’ll be headed out again on an overnight to British Columbia. I’m joining several of the Mennonite Girls Can Cook for the Westcoast Women’s Show in Abbotsford, Canada. We will be signing books at the Winks Home Garden and Gifts booth at the show. We will be at booth #490.  On Saturday and Sunday we will be on the kitchen stage with special recipe demonstrations.

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