Last Chance Weekend

Pudding Toes 

Come on ladies, you can do it. Jump on in!  I know I have more readers than have signed up for my special Give Away on an amazing book by a very hard to find author. All you have to do is leave me a comment and your name is in the pot. You may or may not mention this on your blog...but please do give it a go.  I don't care if your a first time reader or you drop by all the time.  I would love for anyone who would like to read this book to be included in the opportunity to win this Give Away.

For all the information on how wonderful Elizabeth Goudge is see my post below.  I will be picking a name and announcing a winner by early next week.

Also if you want a peek at Dan's Birthday Party you can head over to Woman Who Wine and see how we spent the day at a local winery.

I will leave you with Megan's latests picture of baby Avey at six months.  She is a little dumpling that we all are gleaning lots of smiles from these days!

Elizabeth Goudge Give Away/Treasure Hunt

On the way home from Montana we took it slow and easy.  A six and a half hour trip turned into....oophs ten!  We stopped in Missoula, just about one hour out of Philipsburg.  I was treasure hunting.  I have been looking high and low for a sofa table/drop leaf table that I could use for double duty. When we down sized I decided to skip a formal dining room and make do with a large great room/kitchen combo.  The only time I miss my formal dining room is about two or three days out of the year when we have all the family over for a holiday meal.  My solution (I know, I know... I am getting to my E.G. story here in a minute) was to find a sofa table that I could easily convert into extra seating for my holiday entertainment.  I have been on the hunt for...well three and a half years.  It turns out this was not such a simple solution. My quest for the perfect table has been harder then I would have imagined. Not one to easily give up my idea.  I have been looking everywhere I go. ( even made a side trip to Anaconda, that story my sister has to share about !!!) Hence the stop in Missoula, plus several other little towns along the way.  In Missoula I had no luck in finding my table after dragging my DH through three antique stores.  I even called a few in town while we had a great lunch at Sean Kelly's Public House (recommended)  I did however look at some of the books  in the antique shops.  After three floors in this one antique mall, crouching way down to look at the bottom shelf of this dusty old bookcase, putting on my glasses to see, I finally hit the jackpot and pulled out an Elizabeth Goudge book.  A hard copy of Gentian Hill 1949.

Now ladies this is truly a treasure and a find.  The last time I was able to find one of her books to purchase  was two summers ago at the beach in this crazy old bookstore that went on for miles and miles.  Click here if you want to read about that find.  Now at this point I could go on and on about this author, but my wonderful blogging buddy Sara has already written so many informative blogs about this author that I am sending you her way. Click on the last line to pop over to Sara's for a lot of info about Elizabeth Goudge.

The simplest way I can describe this author is that to me she is like Jane Austin writing about a later time period in England. She does a slow, deep character development, and can get very descriptive about a place. She also shares her faith in the most subtle of ways, and yet at times there it is and it grabs you right in your heart.  I find myself writing down some of her passages in my journal.

Renewal...the goodness of God coming down like dew
Everything God touches is changed.
Extraordinary reversals of God
Death to life, emptiness to liberty...He is himself reversal...loss turned to restoration, and decay to renewal at His touch.

The Scent of Water  Elizabeth Goudge

After my treasure find in Missoula I was a happy little gal.  As we were meandering our way back over I- 90 from the freeway there was this humongous sign  100,000 used books Montana Valley Book Store.  Should we stop...well maybe??? DH pulled over and we found our selves on a street asking the first and only pedestrian if there was a bookstore close by.  He pointed up the road and away we went.  Another large musty old bookstore with volumes and volumes of books on shelves high up to the ceilings. I quickly found the fiction, G...G... Goudge. Bingo two volumes of a great story The Pilgrims Inn, both library additions from 1948.

So there you have it, I am offering one of my copies of the Pilgrims Inn also known as The Herb of Grace to you my blogging friends. Some of you have often commented about reading one of Elizabeth Goudge's books.  If you would like a chance to win this give away, leave a comment and if you would like to help spread the word simply copy this picture somewhere on your blog with a link back to this post.  

By the way I did happen upon my table!!!!  Whoo hoo!  After a few more stops. We ended up in this little town of St. Regis and two amazing antique stores right off the freeway.  The first place I went into I found it.  The lady told me to first go check out the other store and then decide.  Only in Montana  : D  I knew the minute I saw it though that this was the one.  It came with four leaves and opens up to seat at least eight.  Perfect!  Now I have to decide how to refinish it. Keep it stained, painted black or cream. I will see what the wood really looks like when I sand it down.

This was the little bird thingy I found in a shop in Philipsburg that my sister I  both had to have :/

A description by Sara of several of her titles including Gentian Hill, The Dean's Watch and  A City of Bells

To read about all things Elizabeth Goudge go this website

Some fall out door decorating

Making Princess Cakes

Ever since Eden's birthday she has been serving us pretend princess cakes and tea.  Well this nana could not help but dive in and support this charming activity. 

What a load of fun we had. We also made up some real cupcakes for everyone to enjoy that day. Pink ones of course :)

She quickly figure out that the salt/flour playdough I made wasn't as tasty as the sugar sprinkles we topped our pretend princess cakes with.

When I was in Montana and saw this little paint your own tea set...how could I refuse.

Maybe this week will get to do this project

Here is my other little dumplin...Ms. Avey Rose!

I must say this Nana gig is just getting better every day :D

Fall on the Columbia

(These are click able...to see geese taking off from the water)

Well I am home from Montana and this is what greeted me this week. I was driving along the river road, and just had to pull over and start snapping pictures. At the same moment another lady pulled over just after me and we were both mesmerised with the scene before us. She had a fancy camera and I just had my snap and shoot. More and more I am thinking I would like to invest in a decent camera.
What I most love about the Tri Cities are the amazing clouds that pattern our sky.



Such a beautiful day!

Tomorrow I am bringing Meg out here with her camera. I hope with the babies and all she will be able to get some really good shots.

I found some treasures on my way home from Montana last week. I will be posting later this week about a give away for one of those treasures. Be sure to check back when you can.

I hope and pray you all are having a wonderful fall week !

Down Home in Montana

On our way to see my sister in Philipsburg Montana (Knitting Mania) we traveled for miles and miles and miles….to find a place to pee! Some suggested this Boston raised gal use a tree. Uhhh nooooooooo…. it wasn’t going to happen. I think we finally hit a proper rest room 15 minutes outside of Missoula. Seriously… they had signs for parking & fishing stops every little bit. But no flush toilets. My goodness! This was on a major freeway I -90 right through the middle of the state.
You know it just never occurred to me that if you were traveling in the U.S.A. you would have to plan to use a rest room or hold it for three hours. Okay, okay enough already about Montana’s lack of modern day conveniences. It was rather astounding, but what also has grabbed my attention just like it did the last time I was here 2002 is how strikingly gorgeous this country is. Big Sky Country does not even begin to tell the story.

On top of the hillside/mountain where my sister’s home is I took a few snap shots. The day was a little over cast and threatening to rain. After a wonderful lunch of hot tortilla soup and corn bread Chris and I went to town to do a little shopping. We had a wonderful time chit chatting it up with the town folks, and bought a few do dahs. It was so funny when I was rummaging around in this one shop and I kept eyeballing this funny little wired bird thing…just as I was deciding whether to buy it or not, my sister tells me she bought two of them one in each size. That did it; I had to have one too. I have no idea where I am going to put it? We tend to like similar things, and if one of has it, well…it is just a sister thing: D

Anyways the big moment of the trip was this. We were heading back up to the house. The boys were barbecuing dinner. We ran into this dark heavy low cloud of rain, but we could see that right in front of us the sun was shining. I was thinking how strange it seemed to have such an obvious weather change right in the middle of the road. In one car length the pouring rain turned into sunshine. We were so amazed. Then we saw it, a big bright rainbow, no it was a double rainbow, and we could see where it started and where it ended. We popped out of the car, and started dancing back and forth across the road freaking out just a bit like a couple of little kids. Then I got out my crummy snap and shoot camera and tried my best to capture the moment. I could see the whole rainbow, but could not fit the whole rainbow in my picture. We snapped away twirling around and round. We had a bunch of pathetic cows mooing all around us. They had just had their babies taken away from them that very morning, and it was a very sad day on the cattle ranch. But what a Montana hootenanny moment that was!!! It lasted maybe 5 minutes before the weather moved on and the rainbow dissipated. I was so wishing Megan could have been there with her fancy camera to have captured the moment. But you know it was a special moment for just my sister and me to have witnessed. It felt like a foretaste of glory divine. Thank you Jesus!

I have got to admit I can see how this country can get a hold of you and kind of grab you by the throat. Everything about this place is slow and easy. There is only one spot on a bend of one road on the way up to my sisters that we can make a cell connection for our phones. Internet…well I have to sit in one particular spot of the coffee house to get on line. I can see myself coming here for weeks in the summer just to sit on my sister’s deck and paint. I can’t wait till they get this place done so I can come home for some Montana reprieve from the real world where my life seems to be spinning in constant motion. Who knows I might get to see one of those double rainbows again touching down on either side of me , a place where God smiles over His creation.

Well we had a few more adventures today, but I will let my sister tell....the rest of the story :D

Fall Fluff

Last week I received a package in the mail from my cousin Kathy. A pretty simple looking padded envelope. What was inside? I couldn't believe it when I open up the package and out poured the leaves of my childhood. A million memories came flooding back into my heart. In our high desert terrain out here in eastern Washington the only thing that really colors up much...now don't you laugh...hehehe okay maybe a little...are the sagebrush and tumbleweed.
Yes we do have some deciduous trees, but they do not get brilliant and they certainly don't dominate the landscape. So forget the fancy store bought fluff, I have real New England leaves on my mantel.

Understated maybe, but they make my heart sing!

The last of the roses are looking a little scruffy, but never the less I will cherish them.

Japanese Anemone

I finally tackled my garden this past week. Here are some new babies I planted that I acquired at Molvaks on a very quick drive by when we were in western WA for a wedding a month ago. I love how the purple cone flowers pick up the purple in the hibiscus. They are definatley planted near each other.
So here is the before and after of just one rose. Everybody looked like a wild hairy armpit. I had some major whacking to do. Now we can get in the front door anyways :D

So I am all tidied up outside and in. This week we were preparing for a frost. Nothing really hit, but I have soooooooooooo much produce to process now. You will have to wait and see what I am up to with all that hoopla next week.

What to do with trouble...

Let not your heart be troubled...it was a little message from God one morning as I was just about to face a new day. Hmmm was it even in the Bible? Yes it was, and I can't tell you how those six simple words have changed my thought patterns for the last three weeks. As I pondered those words, they became a choice I was going to have to make over and over again in the weeks ahead. But the choice NOT to let my heart be troubled proved a great way to navigate...trouble. Sounds awfully simplistic I know, but for me God has used these words to help me grow into a new level of trust in Him.

As I was sharing this with a blogging friend of mine this evening who is facing a whole lot of trouble. I realized it maybe helpful to some other folks out in blogland. We all get to face various levels of trouble at one time or another. Some seasons can get pretty rough...I know. But here is the good news...

"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." John 16:33

Let NOT your heart be troubled!
These words are found 2x in John 14