Twice in December

Twice in December we drove north to the town of La Conner to enjoy a meal and a stroll.

We enjoy the farm scenes that we pass along the way.

At the end of December we celebrated Katie’s birthday at Anelia’s which features some good Polish fare and other light dishes.

At the beginning of December we ate at the Oyster and Thistle for our anniversary.

I’m linking up to Mosaic Monday with Maggie at Normandy Life.

I’m also linking up for The Barn Collective with Tom The Backroads Traveler.

We had a cold quiet weekend mostly with small projects accomplished and started. I lasted just a very short while outside starting the Apple Tree Pruning. It didn’t take long for my hands to complain from the cold. I’ll be doing that project in short shifts. The Pear tree needs pruning also. January is full of events for us at this Old House.

Today at the Mennonite Girls Can Cook blog I posted a French Onion Soup for two recipe. I was inspired by the soup I had at the Oyster and Thistle in La Conner in the mosaic above. Happy Monday!

Prayers for Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge

To remind me to pray for the people of Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge I’m re-posting about one of the days from Katie and my road trip from Seattle to Jacksonville, North Carolina in May of 2014. We were driving her and a lot of her stuff back to Camp Le Jeune in anticipation of Andrew’s return from Afghanistan.

Praying for this area of our country that is burning. Praying for rain and containment. Also praying for the people who have lost everything. Not forgetting to pray, too, for the Firefighters and First Responders.

From May of 2014…

We left Hendersonville, Tennessee after a stop at Starbucks and filling up our gas tank at a Kroeger Grocery store Station. Kroeger in Washington is either our Fred Meyer stores or our QFC stores.

Right about here on the road our clocks turned forward an hour and we were now in the Eastern Time Zone!

We really weren’t prepared for our drive through Sevierville and Pigeon Forge and the strange sights we would see.

This was promising but then we drove into the bizarre world of Pigeon Forge.

What!?

The Hatfields and the McCoys!

The Titanic?

We weren’t able to make it to Rushmore and this did not make up for it!

A Bavarian Denny’s? This town had an amazing amount of dinner theaters of different genres to experience. There were some great looking miniature golf properties but so many other ~~tacky~~ unusual properties.

We did not divert our path further to go to Dollywood.

Now this was more like it. This was the scenery we were expecting on our Smoky Mountain Detour.

This was in the town of Gatlinburg. This town had a lot of candy shops, donut shops, fudge shops, taffy shops and Whiskey shops.

Ripley’s Aquarium was also located here. I’m scared to think of what kind of creatures you would see in there.

We bought a sandwich here and headed out to our destination on this day which was Asheville, North Carolina.

We laughed real hard when we crossed this river 8 times during our detour!

We made it to Asheville at 5:30, checked into our hotel and then got ready for our dinner reservation at the Omni Grove Hotel on their Sunset Terrace. That experience will be a future post!

We are so happy to be here in Asheville for a two day stretch. We spent most of the day at the Biltmore Estate properties today and walked our feet off. We are chilling in our hotel room tonight having a picnic in our room instead of heading out to eat. The weather was beautiful today. Tomorrow we drive our final miles on this road trip across the U.S.A.

Thanks to all of you bloggy friends for following along with us on this journey across the U.S.A.

Now back to 2016 I’ll be linking this post to signs, signs with Lesley.

The Buckeye State

Ohio country roads. We didn’t make it to the larger cities in Ohio like Cleveland or Columbus. On this drive we were headed to the airport in Detroit to fly back to Washington State.

It was always a treat to see a horse and buggy although it was scary to see scenes like this next one.

A tanker passing the buggy on the road.

Millersburg

We stopped at this General Store near Sunnyslope before we drove through Nashville, Ohio.

Word of Truth Bible Church in Nashville, Ohio.

First Presbyterian Church in Loudonville was having a Ham and Bean Supper. Loudonville is in the heart of Mohican Country.

Just after Hayesville we connected to Highway 30 to head west and connected to 75 north onward to Michigan. We stopped in Toledo, Ohio for lunch. Toledo was the largest city we navigated on this trip.

Holy Toledo! Many of us have heard the expression, but where did it come from?

The origin of the exclamation “Holy Toledo!” is the subject of much speculation. One suggestion is the name came about because of the heavy concentration of churches located on Collingwood Boulevard, according to the Greater Toledo Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Also, the City of Toledo, Spain, after which the American city is named, is often called “the Holy City of Toledo.”

Other suggestions of origin are not religious, but may be more likely. Holy Week has always been the worst week at the box office for show business; old-time Vaudeville actors contended that any week in Toledo was Holy Week. Toledoans Joe E. Brown and Danny Thomas popularized the term as they became nationally known performers.

This Ghost Sign says Lucas County Board of Elections.

After driving around this area looking for a spot that was open to have lunch we settled on the Ye Olde Durty Bird. It was open and there was parking across the street. Sometimes those are the best reasons to choose a spot in a downtown area. Thankfully it was good.

Time will tell if I link up to any memes this weekend. Got some laziness going on. How’s your Saturday going?

I will link up to InSPIREd Sunday and to the Barn Collective and to Monday Mural and signs, signs.

Thank you to Beth, Sally, Tom, Oakland Daily Photo and Lesley.

Roads Less Traveled

All these roads, signs, and fences are from our trip to Amish Country at the end of September. These roads are in Holmes County, Ohio.

^{Matthew 7: 13-14 –}“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”

Linking up today for ABC Wednesday with Mrs. Nesbitt, Roger and the team. R is for Road Less Traveled.

Also linking up later in the week to signs, signs with Lesley and Good Fences with TexWisGirl.

Holmes County Ohio

While in Holmes County, Ohio, Mrs. Yoder’s was recommended to us for a meal so we stopped here for lunch breaking up our country drive. The food was plentiful and at a good price. Many locals were eating here rather than tourists.

A fun fall display at Troyer Country Market. “The foods in our Amish Wedding line originate from time-tested Amish recipes and have out-of-this-world flavor,” Vogt said. “The Amish Wedding line is all about foods that are naturally good with clean-label ingredients. Read the ingredient list on our jars, it’s what you don’t see on the label that proves what’s really good inside.”

Linking up to signs, signs with Lesley and to Good Fences with TexWisGirl.

We came home from Eastern Washington yesterday. It was a 5-1/2 hour drive and

today we have been working at filling up some yard waste bins with the leaves that fell while we were gone.

Do you have to rake leaves? Dear used a leaf blower that sucks up and mulches the leaves. It’s noisy but it gets the job done. We aren’t done with leaves yet because more will fall from the maple, apple tree and pear tree.

Shipshe Flea Market Signs

When we were in Shipshewana we spent some time at the Flea Market and saw these signs and other merchandise.

The Time Out chairs cracked me up.

“I had a Fit Now I gotta sit” and Time Out ~ “Have Mercy on me O Lord For I’m in Trouble”

There were lots of items I wanted to bring home with me but alas my suitcase wasn’t the size of a pick-up truck.

I bought this Celebrations sign with discs and hearts to add for our family birthdays and anniversaries.

We are being threatened with a mighty wind storm and lots of rain to blow through our region. We have been busy “battening down the hatches” at this old house. We’ve mowed and cleaned out the planters and soon we’ll have more leaves to deal with because of the mighty winds. Hopefully we won’t lose power. Hope y’all are enjoying Fall!

Linking up with Lesley at signs, signs.

Signs in Amish Country

While in Indiana we drove the Heritage Trail on Sunday September 25th and stopped for a meal in Nappanee where there had been an Apple Festival in mid September. These apple signs were on the streets in the downtown area.

This old bank building with Metzler’s Shoe sign on the side of it caught my eye.

One thing we learned about Amish country is that not many businesses are open on Sundays. When we got to Nappanee and decided it was lunch time we hoped to find an open restaurant. Hunters Hideaway was recommended to us for lunch and we went with the recommendation and had great service here.

It’s hard to corral 14 people and decide on a spot to eat but we were pleased to stop and be refreshed here. These are 8 of the Mennonite Girls with 6 our our husbands. Betty, Charlotte and their husbands were still on the road and arrived at our hotel by the time we finished our Heritage Trail drive.

I’ll be linking up with Lesley for signs, signs.

Fallish Signs…

Putting up a few things for fall inside this old house and outside there are plenty of “signs” of Fall, too.

Autumn/Fall is upon us. This is a season I welcome with open arms and a nice cozy sweatshirt, not to mention a very busy rake!

Linking up with Lesley for signs, signs.

Signs, signs…

It’s good to heed the courteous sign that the Montgomery Family has erected. I saw this sign in Colville, Washington across the street from the County Courthouse. I suppose I should have taken a photo of the tree. Oye!

Busy day here at this old house with some small projects done that I’ve been putting off for too long. Yippee for being able to cross them off my list. While I was working a chuck roast has been cooking in the slow cooker. Boy does it smell good in here.

Linking up with Lesley for signs, signs.

Here, There and Everywhere…

Here are some fences and signs and other things that Dear and I have seen together as we travel here, there and everywhere.

On the Kitsap Peninsula in Washington State.

Signs from Fort Langley, British Columbia.

A fence along the river in Fort Langley.

All is well with our electrical at this old house. Today, Wednesday, is a shopping day with our daughter. The neighborhood kids are rising early for the start of school in our district. Thursday is the first day of an Estate sale at my neighbors so cars and people will be filling our street. Friday is Dear’s birthday and we are meeting our western Washington kids for dinner. So far the weekend is free. How’s September shaping up for you?

Linking with Lesley for signs, signs.

Also linking with Tex*Wis*Girl for Good Fences #129.

The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b.

To honor and encourage

Tag Archives: Signs signs