Friday, September 30, 2022

September Snippets

 Dad (GG) spends MUCH time at this table poring over the newspaper. The paper has just raised it's price by $7 and frankly, I don't think it's worth the price....BUT for the hours of pleasure it gives Dad it IS worth the price. Most days he's plotting what he wants to buy from the classified ads. We've had some close calls...dogs, boats, cars, houses, jewelry...it is actually sort of fun to see what captures his interest each day. 

I filled Mom Mary's antique blue canning jars with twinkling LED lights last year. This year I replaced the batteries. Embracing fall and prepping to enjoy the magic of winter. 


Everyone was busy or working...Michael, Stacia and I opted to play Farkle.  It was a bit sad that GG can no longer enjoy Farkle. 

The colors didn't show as they did with the naked eye, and I refuse to digitally add color. I LOVE the fall colors when they parade with the snow on the tops of the mountains. The yellows and oranges are marching up the sides of these snow-topped mountains. 

My friend, Dorothy, posted this photo for me while she was on vacation. Dorothy lives in England, and this is a casual cream tea from the National Trust. In any event, I love the photo and it shows English scones are round and they do indeed list.  I love the reflection in the tea pot. It made my day just to see that Dorothy thought of me. LOL 
📷 by Dorothy

I continue to be amazed at the comparison between the Kuroda (Japanese) carrot and the Scarlet Nantes. 

It's a blast to visit the chicken yard since the new flock of chicks have matured. Lots of new eggs. Tiny ones continue to show up in the yard which clues is in that there are still some just starting. We continue to get 12 - 17 eggs a day. 

Fall bike rides - it doesn't get much better. Olivia is turning into such a beautiful young lady. 
📷by Carrie

Then there was the morning I slipped and fell in the chicken yard. This batch of hens are EXUBERANT. When I open the door in the a.m., they all CHARGE out the door with great noise and excitement. I fell. They charged me as I had the bowl with their scraps. What a mess. This is AFTER I hosed off. 

I love how the snow is coming down our montains. It isn't down to the treeline yet - but it's getting close. This was taken Sept 21st. We are guessing 2 - 3 weeks until snow in our yard. This photo doesn't do the fall colors - they've been gorgeous! 

We kept the community going after Women's Conference by having a potluck on Sunday. We had an abundance of eggs when we got home. This will make the world's smallest deviled egg. ::snort:: 

We pulled it together. These ones peeled eggs and Allie turned them into her famous deviled eggs, while I baked caramel apple and pumpkin spice cookies (two kinds - not one). I also threw together broccoli, salmon, rice, cheese, mayo and made salmon slop which all got eaten at the potluck. 


There's been a grizzly in our area. He has been eating turkeys, getting into chicken coops and crossing the river to town. Now, he's back out here. A friend's husband saw him in their woods. Their woods back up to ours - sorta - Michael says they are 200 yards up from us.... If I posted the map you'd be truly impressed - but I don't plan on posting a map with street names online. LOL On the 26th Millie began to bark and alert. Stacia saw something brown in our woods - heading for our neighbors. Michael and he got on the phone and determined it was these moose. 

I love fall. 



Wednesday, September 28, 2022

An A+ Day

Some days are simply perfect - A+ days. We've had a few of those days this week...mixed in with the sore throats, busy schedules, cancelled meetings and meetings kept.  We woke up one day with a desire to celebrate Allie: her journey and the nearing completion of her first round of college classes. 

Why, yes, we DO look for reasons to celebrate. Everyone needs a good party. Lunch found many of us at the restaurant in town with a table big enough to seat us all spur of the moment. Liv and Carrie, Nolan, Arielle and Benny joined Nolan, the girls, Michael, Dad and me. We love the family who runs the restaurant, and, on this day, Allie scored a cinnamon roll nearly the size of her face! We split it the next morning for breakfast.  

We all made sure not to eat past 80% so we could head over to our town's local ice cream shop after lunch.  Alex, Cory and the little boys and Bre and kids joined us there. We took over the establishment...and they seemed happy for our business.


Such hard choices

CoRielle, Danny and Little Buddy 

CoRielle and BreZaak live within walking distance of the ice cream shop. All the kids were excited about their unexpected walk - and the final destination. 


Carrie, Stacia and a photo bomber

Michael and Dad - we opted not to have ice cream as they
have no sugar free - solidarity with Dad

Livie, Allie, Jamin and Nolan 

BreZaak's kids 

The gang

Cousins - Annie, Bella, Gideon and Benny 

The only grizzly I care to meet! 


We cherish days when we can gather so many dear gherkins at the drop of a hat. We don't take the blessing for granted after all our years of wandering. We ended the night playing a bit of Pando. 

It was an A+ day! A day we'll remember with smiles for years to come. 

Tuesday, September 27, 2022

Time with Grandblessings!

CoRielle's boys were quick to jump help me one morning this week. What the lack in attention to detail they make for with exhilaration.  Oh yeah, I remember. It's easiest to get chores done when the little ones nap. LOL 
Little Buddy and Danny 

Benny and Danny - Danny stayed the course with
the water

The broom was great fun. 

Still washing dishes. 

After work came books and play! 

Bre had an OB appointment this week and I was happy to play with their kids as well. The kids were quite impressed that neither Alaska nor Hawaii were on this globe. 

The kids talked me into getting the bag of tents out. Oy VEY. I have nothing but respect for young moms. I told them we would NOT be doing this again. LOL We did eventually get them all back into the bag. Such a small bag that explodes to fill the entire family room. LOL 

Monday, September 26, 2022

An Afternoon Drive

 Michael came in and found me. 

GG was taking a nap and Alex was willing to watch him.  Stacia was "introverting" and Allie and Nolan were working. 

"Let's go out in the RV and pretend we are retired and go explore anytime we want." ::snort:: 

Some of you know we ARE retired. 

The first two summers we were up here we were busy moving into our place, and BreZaak were living in the RV the next year. Then we had Dad move up. We tried a couple of trips with him, but it became apparent the steps were too hard for him to navigate. After the surgery 2 years ago, it is definitely out of the question. So we have this dream boat - which we haven't been able to enjoy. 

Michael suggested we take the RV out for a drive and then bring it back and park it for the winter. Always a sad moment...but this time we went out and pretended we could hit the road. 

We dreamed of what we would like to be doing in 5 years. We processed together some of the things we were doing in this season. It was a good drive. 





Unfortunately, we HAD planned to take GG to a hymn sing at CoRielle's church, but I am glad we let him sleep and hit the road. It was good for our souls. 

Sunday, September 25, 2022

Reflecting on This Gorgeous Fall Day

After church and its subsequent potluck, we had an hour before Allie needed to be at work. The girls and I have been looking for an opportunity to make it to Reflection Lake this fall.  We were all in the car. Michael humored us and off we went. He and GG sat at the head of the trail, by the lake, and reflected. We zipped around the trail as fast as we could. 

It was good we did this. I think there will be far fewer leaves in a couple of days. We ran into 4 or 5 groups of photographers with clients.  Everyone was out catching the last of the colors. It feels like snow may arrive in a "couple" or "few" weeks. 


It was a beautiful day after a meaningful weekend and we had to take a "funny" selfie. We took a serious one too. 


We took a bit more time to process the words from the conference that each of us felt were "just for us." 


                                            We were happy to have caught some of the colors. 


Stacia has a knack for spotting rocks! She found this heart and had to show Allie and I where it was. 

Ah, fall! We love fall! 



And, I love doing life with these two young ladies. 


We arrived back at the trailhead and Michael already had GG in the car. We hopped in and made it back to town and to Allie's work with minutes to spare. Perfect!