Fall Happenings at the lake.

Life has been full of beauty this week for me.  Look at the blooms right behind our trailer at the lake this week.  Of course it was 26 degrees this morning, so I don't think they will be lasting very long.  I need to enjoy them while I can.

So pretty.

Volunteers that we dug out from under Larry and Nita's trailer and transplanted them this past spring.  My favorite color!  Purple~

So dainty and small.

And the sunflowers against the blue, blue mountain skies.  Happy, Happy!

Barry picked me another bouquet last night from the garden.  He plans to plow it all under this week before he leaves October 11 for Arizona for the winter. Look at these perfect petals.

I am in awe of God's handiwork.

Yesterday there was the first annual Granite Point Park Dog Parade.  Usually dogs aren't allowed in the main part of the park.  Since this was the last weekend it is officially open for the season, they let the dogs in.

This is Mattie, Paul and Lori's sweet, sweet dog.  They camp on the other side of us from Larry and Nita.  We've been friends for over 23 years now.

And my fairy princess Chloe.  We couldn't find a purple skirt to match her fairy wings like Mattie has.  She's never been dressed up before and the wings didn't faze her a bit!  Yes, I know.  We are THOSE old people and their dogs.  :-)

And Sophie with her little pink ribbon around her neck.

Chloe won first place!!!!  Well of course she did!

Friday night sunset.  I was just about 2 minutes too late to get the full effect of the beautiful colors but I think this is really pretty too.  We took a last ride on Paul and Lori's boat and then put it on the trailer and pulled it out of the water.  All boats have to be in by Sept. 30 and then the docks are pulled up to shore so the ice doesn't ruin them over the winter.

I finished the blanket in time for the bridal shower today.  It ended up being about twin size instead of full size but I made it in 4 days so I think I did pretty well, don't you?

Dennis is mowing the grass here at  home and then we're going back to the lake.  Usually we stay there most of October, even though the park is officially closed, but we have a little getaway planned in the middle of the month.  We don't want the water lines to freeze while we're gone so we'll probably close up and winterize two weeks from today.  Sniff.  Sniff.  I always dread this time of year.  So, since it's supposed to be in the 70's this week during the day, we plan to stay out there this week until Thursday.  Of course, Dennis has to drive in for work and I have physical therapy on Tuesday and Thursday so we have to leave sometimes, but can always return by the afternoon.

Yes, I said physical therapy.  Here I go again.  It's just been one of those summers.  When I had my physical last week I told the doctor that my back spasms from last fall were back and worse than ever.  I didn't want to admit it.  I haven't slept more than 3 hours at night for almost 6 weeks now.  Off he sent me to physical therapy because he and the therapist both think I have not one, but three pinched nerves in my back.  I have NO idea how that happened.

This has officially been the most painful and not fun summer of my life.  But...I have hope that the physical therapy will fix me and I'll be fine by the end of it.  Right?  Right.  I have to believe that or I would sit down and have a good cry.  I know I have lots of cheerleaders out there in blog-land and I appreciate each and every one of you.

I have always been healthy and have no physical problems to speak of, so this summer has been a real trial for me.  I don't like to ask for help.  I like to help others and take care of my own house, etc.  I'm ready to hire a cleaning lady to do a deep fall cleaning for me.  I say that, but I won't.  :-)  Would you?

Anyway.  I get to go to the lake in my little trailer and sit and knit this afternoon.  Who could ask for more?  Unfortunately with all of the inactivity this summer, I have also gained weight.  Bleh.  It will get better.  I know it will.  And we have that little getaway planned with my wonderful husband in a few weeks.  It's only about 5 days, but it will be fun.  He won't have to go to work and I get him all to myself.  Now that will be a treat.

I hope you all have a lovely week and enjoy the fall, (or spring), wherever you may be.

"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.  I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well." Psalm 139:13-14

Blessings,

Betsy

Random Musings

Happy Monday evening my friends.  We had an absolutely amazing late summer/early fall day today.  The sun was shining and I raked 4 HUGE bags of pine needles up at the lake after a doozy of a windstorm yesterday.  I think I may have overdone it a bit as the area around my pacemaker is really sore tonight.  When will I ever learn?  Dennis is NOT happy with me.  He says I need to call him at work and ask his permission to do stuff like that.  :-). Guess what he would say? Absolutely No.  And then he would do it.  He works hard enough, he can't do things I should be able to take care of too.

So anyway, we went to the fair last Wednesday after he got off work.  I went early and checked out all of the needlework since I didn't think it would interest him very much.  He walked to the fairgrounds after work. It's about a half mile away from his office.  We ate Philly cheesesteak sandwiches for dinner and had huckleberry ice cream for dessert.  Then we wandered around and checked out all of the fun things that are found at the fair.

Look at these cuties in their coats to keep their fleece clean for judging.  I mean really.  Look at that face!  I want to give it a kiss and a squeeze.  :-)

This was a miniature fairy village in a dishpan.  So imaginative.

For Bible Study last week I made a Pumpkin Cheesecake dessert.  Oh. My. Goodness.  It was delicious.  If anyone is interested in the recipe let me know and I'll post it next time.  I don't know how to do the link thing.  One of the cool things I learned with this recipe was to put the cream cheese mixture in a ziplock bag, cut the corner off and squeeze it on top of the filling since it would be difficult, if not impossible to spread.  This is what it looked like before I put the topping on.  As it heats it spreads over the pumpkin filling.

And here it is after baking.  It doesn't look like much...but it is delicious.  You put whipped topping on top of each piece when you serve it.

I started a new blanket last Tuesday...

That turned into two baby blankets, each about 40 inches square with the border on.  I haven't blocked them yet in these pictures.

I did an easy border of chain stitch on them.  They don't have recipients as yet.  I'm trying to decide whether to donate them to the hospital or the Emergency Children's shelter here in Spokane.  What do you think I should do?

This was the lake this morning while I was raking the pine needles.  There was no wind and the lake surface looked like a mirror.  

I just found yesterday that there is a bridal shower at church next Sunday.  Uh-oh!  I always, always make the girls a queen size wedding blanket from squares like the one below for their shower.  No way do I have time to do that no matter how fast I crochet.  So. I've decided to just try to make a throw for the sofa.  Instead of 30 squares I'm making 12 plus the border.  If I have time I'll try to make it bigger.  So far I have 5 done with another about halfway completed.

Now to end with a few pictures of Miss Piper that Mommy sent me via texting.  I am so grateful for FaceTime and texting.  They baked cookies today for the first time together.  Piper measured the flour and sugar, mixed the eggs and poured everything into the mixer.  

She even scooped a few cookies.  She is getting so big!

This one was last month.  Blowing bubbles on the deck.  I love her silly self.  I can just imagine her singing at the top of her lungs in this picture.

And last night.  Some friends went to Anne of Green Gables home last week on vacation.  Mandy has always loved the books.  They brought Piper back this hat and wig and now guess who she's dressing up as for Halloween this year?  Anne of Green Gables.  That's Brad, Mandy's husband, sitting there barely awake.  He's been working some long, long hours at work.  Their friends also live right on the Cheasapeake Bay.  The land you see on the left on the other shore is all owned by the Smithsonian Institute and will never be built on.

And now my friends, I'm off to bed.  I have my annual physical exam tomorrow morning.  Fun times.  I've definitely had my fill of doctors this summer.  I hope you all have a wonderful remainder of the week and enjoy these last days of summer.

 "I will say of the Lord, "He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust." Psalm 91:2

Blessings,

Betsy

Reading a little...or maybe a LOT!

Hello my friends!  It's turned into fall overnight here in Eastern Washington.  We have rain predicted for Thursday, but this is what it looked like on Friday and Saturday.  Temperatures in the 80's and 90's.  Today is supposed to be 63!  Quite a difference.  It was a wonderful weekend at the lake though.  Lots of families getting in one last weekend of waterskiing and jet skiing.  I don't do either but I like to watch others.  :-)

I have been doing lots of reading this past week.  Here are a few of my favorites.

Some of you might remember Teresa posting on her blog about the sourdough cookbook she had and the yummy pancakes or flapjacks she made while on vacation a few weeks ago.  Well, she inspired me to send away on Amazon and get my own copy.  You can tell this was a well loved copy but it only cost $1.99.  Even if I never make a recipe, the reading is very entertaining.  I do plan to make a starter soon and try some of the foods that are in this book.

I also got two new magazines.  The Country Gardens is amazing and will be one I keep in my library.  Country Living has lots of goodies in it for fall.

Someone donated about 30 of Karen Kinsbury's books to the church.  This first series has two books that I read this week.  I finished "Ever After" last night and I cried and cried as I read it.  "Even Now" is the first book and was really good too.  They aren't new books, I think they were published around 2005.

There is another HUGE series of about 15 books but the only one I don't have is the first one.  The library doesn't have it either and I really don't want to buy it when I already have the others.  I may just read the rest of the set without the first book...but sometimes that backfires and you don't have any background on the characters.  Oh well.  Meanwhile, I've joined a read-a-long on Ravelry and we're reading the first book in this trilogy.  I went ahead and bought the entire trilogy because it was cheaper than just getting the first book!  I just started it last night.

As you can imagine, all of this reading has left little time for crafting.  I did get several more inches done on the zig-zag blanket at the trailer.  I think I have about 12 inches left to do before I call it done!

Tonight Dennis and I are going to the fair!  I haven't been to the fair in years.  One of my friends has 8 items in the knitting category.  She keeps encouraging me every year to add some of my things to the fair, but I never remember in time.  Maybe next year.  I'm looking forward to seeing all of the handwork and food.  The homegrown vegetables always amaze me at their size. 

That's about it.  Not much exciting happening here this week.  We're planning a little getaway next month and I'm looking forward to that.  Within a few weeks it will be time to close the trailer up for the season.  That's always a sad time for me but there is always next year,  right?

I hope you are all having a lovely week and enjoying life to it's fullest.

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes."  Romans 1:16

Blessings,

Betsy

One Week

It's been one week since Mandy and Miss Piper left and I still miss them.  I came home from the lake about noon today and the house was SO EMPTY.  So, I got myself busy and went shopping.  First for yarn, because what makes a knitter/crocheter happier than new yarn?  Then for groceries.  Not so much fun, but necessary, none the less.

This was the lake on Saturday.  After Saturday the rain began.  And it rained off and on again on Sunday and Monday, but you won't hear me complaining.  Not at all because we needed the rain.  The fires are still burning, but the fire crews are gaining on them.  But when I woke up this morning and it was still sprinkling and COLD, I decided to come home and get a few things done.  Tomorrow I think I'll head back up there because it's supposed to be sunny.  I'm taking the carpet cleaner and cleaning the carpets in the trailer.  That's if Hubby will let me do it.  He's afraid I'll hurt myself, and I admit, it will be the most rigorous thing I've done since my surgery.  It's getting to be the time of year to begin getting things ready for fall and closing up.  No I don't want to believe it, but it will come whether I want it or not.

Nita was sitting in front of her trailer on Saturday enjoying the sunset.  It was a beauty.

I took these pictures last night.  The flowers were a week old and look how perfect they still are.

My anniversary flowers are still pretty too, but this is a bad, bad photo of them.

This is our youngest son, Alex, who works at Keio University in Tokyo.  He was playing the flute in the Nebuta festival in Aomori in Northern Japan.  He lived there for several years and wants to move back.  It's very rural and he likes it there much better.  He is one of the only non-Japanese that is allowed in the festival.  That speaks as to his involvement in the community.  That is NOT his hair, well, it's his hair but it has some time of whitening on it for the festival.  His hair is brown like his Dad's.  I miss this boy.  I had planned to go to Tokyo to visit him in October, before the summer of illness.  Now my cardiologist says no way can I go for awhile anyway.  It's been two years in August since I've hugged this boy and we miss him very, very much.  He does face-time with us almost every weekend for which I'm grateful.  And SO glad it's free!!!!  We usually talk an hour or more.

This is the never ending sock yarn zig zag blanket that I've been working on at the lake.  It stays at the trailer and wasn't touched for several months, but I put about eight inches on it last weekend.  I like all of the different colors.  What do you think?  It's about 30 inches wide and almost 4 1/2 feet long at this point.

This is a project I started last spring at home and this is as far as I got with it.  The squares are about 6 inches each.

I plan to make more squares with these two purples and some cream and grey.  My favorite colors but I don't know what I'll do with it when I'm done.  This was my yarn purchase for today.

Amazon brought me this book on Friday.  I've never had a Mollie Makes before and I really like some of the projects inside.  Look at that blanket on the cover!  Oh my goodness!

Some edgings for flannel receiving blankets.

Of course no crochet book is complete without a ripple blanket.

I picked the last of the green beans about a half hour ago.  I'll freeze these and pull up the plants tonight.  I sure didn't get as many beans as usual this year.  It must have been something in the weather.  I amended the soil before planting but they just didn't produce.

I also made a big bowl of macaroni salad for dinner.  That Tupperware bowl and lid was a wedding shower gift from 37 years ago and it's still going strong.

We're also having hot dogs made by a friend of Brad's dad in Wilbur, NE.  They sent us out some meat awhile back.  This is the last of what they sent.  We had some yesterday for lunch and we'll finish them tonight.  Nothing like the hot dogs you buy in a store.  These are all meat and you can surely taste the difference.


The last picture is of strawberries given to me last night from Barry at the lake garden.  I put sugar on them and bought shortcake cups at the grocery store for dessert tonight.  Yum


Since Blogger is being difficult and not letting me write UNDER the picture to end the post, I'll close here.  I hope you're all having a lovely week and I appreciate each and every one of you.


"The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: "I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness."  Jeremiah 31:3


Blessings,
Betsy

At the Lake

Happy Thursday to each one of you.  Here in the U.S. we're getting ready to celebrate Labor Day weekend, which is considered to be the last hurrah of summer around here.  For me, I hope to spend lots of the next month or two at the lake since I've missed most of the summer between my pm surgery and the smoke.

Our 37th anniversary was Tuesday and as a not very nice gift, Mandy and Miss Piper left at 6:00 a.m. to fly home to D.C.   This was the little Miss waiting for her hot chocolate to cool enough to drink at the airport after we dropped her off.  Starbucks has a coconut milk hot chocolate that she loves, which is nice since she can't have any dairy.  Look at those tired eyes.  It was about 4:30 a.m. and she was a trooper.

Looking out of the airplane window.

And yesterday, home in her kitchen cooking away.  I gave her the apron while she was visiting and she's putting it to use already.  Mandy said they've had a tea party already and Piper "baked" the cookies.  The poor thing was fussy the last hour or so of the almost 6 hour flight.  Sneezing and just fussy.  She said her ears hurt at landing for the first time ever and she's flown several times.  Yesterday she woke up with a full blown cold.  Gosh, we miss her.  Last night I found Papa going through his phone just looking at her pictures. 

I went to the lake immediately after they left Tuesday morning.  I could not stand to stay in the quiet house another minute.  Everywhere I looked, I saw my girls, so I escaped.  Dennis wanted to take me to dinner somewhere nice for our anniversary but I offered to grill him a nice steak at the lake and he jumped at that.

Last night, after we ate dinner, we walked down to the community garden.  With all of my "stuff" this year, I didn't plant anything.  Barry, the man who works down there every day who is in his mid 80's was there.  He retired from the resort two years ago but still does all the gardening in a huge plot.  He sent us home with a half dozen ears of corn, a bowl of strawberries and this beautiful bouquet.

I'm holding them as I sit and wait for Dennis who had gone to the camp office for a minute.  Chloe is intently watching for her Dad who is just beyond the playground.  She wouldn't leave me though.

These were some beautiful flowers that Dennis got for me.  Simple.  Just the way I like it and purple, my favorite color.

I took these this morning before I came home.  The blue sky is back at the lake.  At the bottom is the garden I told you about.  Where you can see dirt on the right is where the potatoes were planted.  This garden usually supplies the food bank for several small towns around Loon Lake.  For some reason the potatoes had blight this year and not one potato was harvested.  Very sad for the people who worked so hard and for the people that depend on this garden for their winter food.


It is SO GOOD to see blue sky again though.  I didn't think the smoke would ever be gone.  It may come back, because the fires are still burning.  The fire closest to us here in this picture, is about 7 miles away as the crow flies.  You wouldn't know it in this picture though would you?  The wind has been from the SW and blowing the smoke away from us.

Another of the view from our trailer.

My geraniums by the front of the trailer are doing well though, even with my neglect this summer.

I came home about 1:00 this afternoon to do laundry and we have Bible study tonight.  Tomorrow I'll go back, bright and early to spend the weekend there.  We will come back to town for church on Sunday as Dennis is giving the sermon this week.  We usually do come back for church every weekend.  It's only 25 miles so not far at all.  Then I hope to go back to the lake in the afternoon for a few more days.

There is a definite chill in the air here...it was 41F this morning when we woke up.  We went from 90's last week to highs in the 60's this week.  I much prefer it this way.  I read two books and knitted on my zig zag sock yarn blanket while being cozy inside during the past two days.  I forgot to take a picture of it, but it's growing quite well. The wind was blowing and I didn't like that because of the fires, but I was cozy and warm inside my trailer.  I love it there.  It's my HaPpY place. 

Please continue to pray for the people who are threatened by these fires and for the firefighters and support people.  They are all exhausted.  I feel guilty for lazing around but I really don't know what I can do to help.  Except pray.  Military helicopters and tankers were flying back and forth over the lake while I was there so I know that they are actively engaged in fighting the fires along with our local resources

.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend

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I have rested on this verse a lot the past few months and I hope it will give you peace too.

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28

Blessings,

Betsy