Tag Archives: Snowshoeing

‘Soups On’ Hodgepodge

My Russian heritage borsch.

Chinese Egg Drop Soup

Mexican Chicken and Corn soup

xmas-stuff-004

French Onion Soup

Is anyone hungry?

Hello Wednesday Hodgepodge. Joyce has a new set of questions for us. Thank you, Joyce!

1. At the end of every year (or at least since the mid-1970’s) Lake Superior State University posts a list of words they think should be banished from the Queen’s English for misuse, overuse, and/or general uselessness. You can read more about the decision making process here, but this year’s list includes-

cringe, game changer, era, dropped, IFKYK (If you know you know), 
sorry not sorry, skibidi, 100%, utilize, and period. 

Which of these words/phrases do you use regularly or even just every now and then? How many did you have to look up? Which of these words would you most like to see banished from everyday speech and why? Is there a word/phrase not on the list you’d like to add? If so do share, then tell us why. 

I’m sorry I looked it up, skibidi should be flushed down the toilet! It’s the only one I had to look up.
I have used sorry not sorry or game changer but not in an excessive way.

2. Your favorite soup? Do you make this one yourself or is it from a can? 

Sirloin Soup

Soup in general is a favorite of mine and not from a can. When we are on our way home from a shopping/doctor day in Spokane we stop at a restaurant in Deer Park that always has a soup of the day and I’ve enjoyed every one. When we are sick with a cough or sore throat we love to order Hot and Sour soup to go from a Chinese restaurant. Greg makes a famously good Tomato Rice Soup. I really can’t pick a favorite favorite. While in Scotland I added a new favorite with Cullen Skink!

3. How do you feel about winter? What’s one winter activity you look forward to? 

At my age winter activities are not high on the list. If anything it would be snowshoeing if I can get in and out of the snowshoes without getting a cramp! It is fun to walk through deeper snow!

4. The Pantone color of the year for 2025 is mocha mousse (sample pictured here). What say you? The website describes it as ‘a warming, brown hue imbued with richness. It nourishes us with its suggestion of the delectable qualities of chocolate and coffee, answering our desire for comfort’. Is this a color I might find in your home or wardrobe? Is it one you might add in some big or small way in the year ahead? 

We have a variety of mocha mousse on many of our walls here at our country bungalow. As far as wardrobe goes I have a couple items that would fit in that category. No additions in this year.

In a similar, but not really vein…if I were to offer you a choice right now of either a cup mocha or a cup of mousse which would you say yes to? 

If I have to choose I’ll go with a cup of mocha but I’m a black cup of coffee kind of gal.

5. Which of the following winter related idioms can best be applied to your life in some way right now? Choose one, then tell us why you chose it.  

snowed under, on thin ice, tip of the iceberg, chill out, break the ice, snowball effect, not a snowball’s chance in hell, get cold feet, the cold shoulder 

Right now I’m hoping for a snowball effect with my goals to be more comfortable in my clothing come Spring and Summer. Between eliminating, adding movement, starting on a plan and some encouragement I hope to achieve my goal of comfort.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

My Bible reading program for 2025 will be connected to this devotional.

“In Everyday Gospel, Paul David Tripp, ….encourages you from God’s word through 365 brief readings. Exploring Genesis to Revelation in a year, these practical reflections connect the transforming power of Scripture to everything you will experience in your Christian life.”

There is a suggested daily Bible reading and then a devotional to go with what you read. Asking for grace to accomplish my goals and that these goals keep me reverent and teachable.

Here are some thoughts from John Piper on reading the Bible through in a year.

Pray for your heart to be inclined, for your blindness to be removed, for focus instead of distraction and for excitement instead of boredom. Pray for illumination…don’t get bogged down. Expect your Faith to be deepened and strengthened, hope and joy more unshakeable and expect to meet God and see the glory of Christ in God’s Word!

One more tip for your 2025 goals from our pastor, “Ask for grace to accomplish your goals.”

Snowshoeing 2022

Our snow is getting deeper with no significant melt off so it was time to pull out the snowshoes and to practice getting them on and trekking through the deep snow to retrieve the mail.

Mail retrieved and heading back to the homestead. The only treacherous part of this journey is crossing the street to the mailboxes.

I decided to blaze some trails in the back acres, too, since the shoes were already on.

Snowshoeing is a great winter exercise and the only way we can walk on our property when we get significant snow like we’ve had this year.

Current tidbits: Woke up in the wee hours to temps at 9 degrees F, brrr. It’s in the teens now and the forecast is for a 26 degree high today.

Our Colville kids are coming for dinner. It will be nice to catch up with them. Pot Roast is going in the oven for a slow cook this afternoon. They’ll bring along a salad.

I’ve been watching World Cup Soccer and the championship game will be played on Sunday between Argentina and France. I’m rooting for Argentina along with our Russian Argentinian friends. The game is early enough on Sunday that I will be able to watch before it’s time to head to church because of the time difference between us and Qatar. They are 11 hours ahead of the Pacific Coast. Any other soccer fans out there?

Our church service this Sunday will consist of the Children’s Play. It is called It All Happened in the Country. The children have been practicing for a couple months. I’m looking forward to the story they present. Another round of snow is predicted on Sunday.

The days are ticking down to Christmas. Ten more days to Christmas and sixteen more days in 2022! Hope all is well in your corner of the world.

Blazing the Trails

I’ve enjoyed a couple days of snowshoeing in our back acreage. On the first day it was overcast and snowing lightly.

Tuesday the 4th of January.

After I blazed some good trails the turkeys flew in and appreciated my path.

On the next day (Wednesday Jan 5th) the sun was out and I worked on compacting the trails.

A rear view of our country bungalow.

We had 5-6 more inches of snow since I made these trails. After shoveling the front walk on Thursday I did a little more snowshoeing to make a path to our variegated willow to throw out some bird seed since with the snow cover the birds have a harder time finding food.

Joseph is now completely buried along with Mary and the Manger.

Time to shovel off the deck again. This will be a record year of snow accumulation for us here.

How are things in your corner?

Staying on Course

Last Friday after Dear finished up with some work responsibilities we loaded up our snowshoe gear and headed south about 30 miles to the Chewelah Golf and Country Club. I read on our community page that they had opened up the course for snowshoeing and cross country skiing with no charge. It was turning into a beautiful sunshine filled day.

We found a parking spot inquired in the Bar & Grille about where we should set out from. They were very friendly and gave us a map of the course and rules to abide by.

It was strenuous forging our own trail in the deep snow but so much easier to keep going because our fingers were not freezing this time around. Warmer temperatures and better hand gear.

I caught up to Dear so we could take a selfie. We saw the other kind of deer high stepping (prancing) in the trees some distance from us.

We tried to stay in the tree line to avoid water features and the greens. We went 20 minutes out and then turned back. It was easier on the way back to follow the tracks we had made.  We were the only people on the course that we could see. After getting our gear loaded back in the car we headed into the Rusty Putter for lunch. The workers in the Rusty Putter were happy to see us and were very bored friendly. We were the only customers in the place.

I snapped some of the scenery on our drive back to the highway and north again to Colville.

The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.

Day to Day pours forth speech, And night to night reveals knowledge. Psalms 19:1-2.

We had another snowfall yesterday, 7 inches, and this morning our very kind and industrious neighbor plowed our drive for us again. So many things to be thankful for in purchasing this particular property.

Hello March Five!

Hello March! But before we move into this new month I’ll look back to the last few days of February with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story and post Five favorites from the past week.

On Tuesday Dear and I donned some warm gear, packed our snowshoes and poles and headed east on state route 20 toward Tiger/Ione to find some snowshoeing trails.

We stopped at Beaver Lodge and got some good advice on where to go to find these trails.

A few miles beyond Beaver Lodge we found our stop in the Gillete Recreation Area, Frater Lake Sno-Park. This extensive area has 138 miles of groomed snowmobile trails. Welcome to Frater Lake Sno-Park Groomed Trail System and it’s 16 kilometers/10 miles of groomed cross country ski trails. Tuesday happened to be bitterly cold and we did not last long on the trail because our fingers started to freeze. We met the trail groomer in the parking lot before we started out but other then her we were the only people out. She told us that even with her hand heater she was having a hard time keeping her fingers comfortable. We decided we needed to consider some added good protective gloves and face protection to our snowshoeing gear and after 20 minutes of shoeing we headed back to Beaver Lodge to enjoy some warmth and a meal.

The photo above is the view standing at our table. Sitting down all you could see was the snowbank.  When we got back to Colville after lunch we stopped at North 40 and bought some good gloves and balaclava like gear for our head/face. We’ll be more prepared the next time we head out. A beautiful day which included a road trip, some exercise, good eats and shopping.

These old hands of ours are able to wear our original wedding bands again. I haven’t been able to wear my band for 33 years. When our daughter Katie was born, Dear bought me a diamond and we had it set into a wedding band/ring that I’ve been wearing until a few years ago when it became too tight, too. Sigh. We had that ring sized a couple years ago and I am wearing it again. Now we finally decided to get our bands sized so we could start wearing them again. The reason we hesitated so long with the bands is because of the intricate details that we thought would become distorted if they were made larger. The jeweler in Colville felt he could stretch them and keep the integrity of the design. He did a great job and we were very pleased with his work. I also had two other rings sized, an opal and a birthstone ring.

Last Saturday the kids came over for dinner and it was fun to watch Addy in the role of Cinderella scrubbing my cabinets, appliances and floor. I have a whole post dedicated to her techniques published on Wednesday. She’s definitely a favorite.

Speaking of dinner, this slow cooker carnitas recipe is really good and we all enjoyed it on Saturday night and for some leftovers during the week, too. It yields enough for at least 8 people. I’ll need to add that to the recipe. I ended up freezing some for later.

For my fifth favorite I went through the epistles in the New Testament and recorded each of the doxologies/benedictions at the end of these letters. Some were very short. Some were longer. Since I’ve been in Hebrews this week on the 5 day a week reading through the Bible in a year plan, I’ll share Paul’s benediction from Hebrews.

“Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.”

For the weather record we got more snow Wednesday into Thursday. I’ll be doing some more snowshoeing in our back acres. Hope you all have a peaceful weekend.

 

Mosaic Monday ~ Snowshoeing

We bought snowshoes at Costco last week and I’ve been walking around our property getting used to them. When you have snowy winters it’s hard to get regular walking routines in. At least that’s the excuse I’m going to use. Ice is also a danger and at my age a fall on ice isn’t recommended. We live in the country and there are no malls to walk in. I’m encouraged with my first three tries in the snowshoes.

Here’s hoping I can use this new form of winter exercise work off all those hibernating calories.

So far, Dear has to help me get them on. Getting them off is easier.

We had a full day yesterday and then in the evening someone was in the kitchen with me…

As ominous as this figure seems to be, she’s just my dear granddaughter, Addy.

Baba’s vest and Gramps’ hat.

Later she switched outfits and became Cinderella. Those photos will come later.

So thankful for the time we had together with Dan, Jamie and Addy on Saturday evening. They came for dinner. Also so thankful for my Dear who patiently puts my snowshoes on for me and tightens them just right.

Linking up with Angie for Mosaic Monday.