Fun Week!

Welł, all good things must come to and end, or so the old saying goes.  Our girls are flying home tomorrow, clear to the other side of this big country.  I'm going to miss them so much.  The sticky kisses. The toys all over.  The HUGE hugs.  Mandy has been so busy while she's been here.  She's outside mowing the grass right now.  She's done all of the mowing, cooking, cleaning and laundry while they've been here.  I'm very spoiled and now I'll have to go back to work.  :-)  Papa and I will be so lost.  We adore our girls.

Just look at this face.  We finally took her to the lake to swim last Thursday. It was the last day predicted to be warm enough while they were here.  The smoke has been too bad to be outside, but on this day we had strong winds with gusts up to 60 mph.  It blew the smoke away somewhat but also made the fires explode around here.

She danced and twirled with her princess suit on.  Can you see the sparkles on the skirt? She calls them "farkles".  Gosh I love her.

And then...finally we took the golf cart, (which she loves), and went to the water.

This is Brandy and her daughter Stella.  They camp about 3 trailers down from us and  Piper just loved them.  Stella played with her and watched her all day.  She even sat with Piper while she ate her lunch.  We have met the nicest people since we've been camping here.

Can you tell she was having fun?

On Saturday we took her to breakfast at this train car.  At least we tried to, but there was a 30-40 minute wait for a table. Too long for a 2 year old.  They blew the train whistle for her and gave her a balloon anyway.  She adores trains.  I thought it was really sweet of them to be so nice when we didn't even stay to eat.  Can you see her purse?  She takes it everywhere with her, just like Mommy and Grandma.  :-). We still went out to eat but not at such an exciting place.

They bought Papa this shirt from Annapolis.  He's a big fan of the TV show NCIS and Mark Harmon who plays Gibbs.

Piper has never had a donut...until yesterday!   Papa took her to the store and they picked out a dozen donuts for breakfast.  It was a tradition he had with Caleb until Caleb was diagnosed with Celiacs disease.  No more donuts for Caleb, but now it's Pipers turn.

She dove right in...

Mmmmmm.  Chocolate.  She's Grandma's girl for sure.

She's quite the artistic eater!

On Saturday the girls had a reunion picnic with several of Mandy's friends and their kids.  One flew up from Los Angeles.  Three drove over from Portland, OR., and two still live here in Spokane.  While they were occupied we drove to the lake so Dennis could fill the gas tank on the lawnmower there and I could take inventory of the food we had there since I'm heading up there tomorrow to stay a few days.

This is what happened on our way home!!!  Hallelujah!  RAIN!!  The winds were blowing very hard and we were in a high wind advisory.  The rain only lasted a ahort time but what we got was wonderful.  It wasn't enough on Saturday to help much with the fires but it also rained for several hours yesterday and that DID help.  The one closest to us is still only 35% contained but that's better than before.  We still need LOTS of rain so please keep up the prayers.

Tomorrow is also our 37 wedding anniversary.  I'm heading to the lake in the morning and I'm going to grill steaks for us when Dennis gets there after work.  Hopefully I'll be there until Thursday morning, then home for Bible study.  Friday morning will be back out at the trailer until next week sometime.

I really don't want to be home once the girls are gone because I will see them everywhere I turn.  It happens every time one of the kids leaves.  I can't bear the reminders.

I am feeling better all of the time.  Still not 100% but I'm better.  I still have problems with my left arm and get short of breath but I think my stamina is improving.  I thank you all for your prayers and well wishes.

Piper is waking up from her nap so I'm going to close and play with her.  I want every minute I can with her and I'm sure you understand.

"Cast your cares on the Lord and He will sustain you; He will never let the righteous be shaken." Psalms 55:22

Blessings always,

Betsy

Piper & Mommy are here!

I haven't been around very much this week because this little girl and her Mommy are here.  We've been busy...

Getting kisses.

Building garages out of Legos for her cars.

And just "goofing" around.

We've gone out to breakfast.

And yesterday the smoke went away long enough for us to go to the lake and wade in the water and take a boat ride.

I found this cute hat a couple of weeks ago.

I love this face.

There has been a little time for knitting after Piper has gone to bed so the shawl is coming along nicely.  It is actually grey, I don't know why it looks blue in this picture.  I have about 280 stitches on the needles at this point.

The fires are still raging and we were stuck inside most of the week.  Friday the smoke was particularly bad.  We couldn't see anything here in town.  At 2:00 in the afternoon it looked like it was 9:00 at night and you needed your headlights.  People who have lived here their entire lives have never seen anything like this.  It was smokey all week, but Friday was the worst.  Yesterday was lots better but today is hazy again.  It depends on where the wind is blowing.  It seems that the eastern 2/3 of the state is on fire and for the first time in history they have asked for civilian volunteers to help fight the fires.  It's all so sad.  We're praying for rain.  It's been a long time since a raindrop fell here.

I hope you're all enjoying the last days of August.  School will be starting soon and summer will end before we know it.  Many people are longing for fall but honestly, I feel like I lost most of this summer with this silly pacemaker surgery and recovery.  I would like a few more months of warm weather...with NO fires please.  I am doing much, much better.  I'm moving my arm more all of the time, still not as much as the other side but it's improving.  Still some pain, but not as bad as before.  All in all, I guess I'm lucky that this technology is available.  They "interrogated" the pacemaker at my Tuesday cardiologist visit and it's working as it was designed to, or so they tell me. :-). 

Please keep the firefighters in your prayers as they fight the fires around the northwest.

"Ah, Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you."  Jeremiah 32:17

Blessings,

Betsy

FIRE!!!

Happy Monday morning to all of you!  It has been a sad weekend here in Washington State and around the entire northwest US.  At least two people have died as a result of the horrendous fires here.  We've been here 23 years and I've never seen a fire season so bad. 

We had planned to have friends out to the lake Friday night for dinner, but the smoke and wind were so bad we decided to relocate the dinner to our house.  I am so glad we did.  When we arrived at the trailer Saturday morning, chairs were blown over.  The tablecloth pinned to the table was gone, gone, gone and flowers were blown completely away!  I'm happy to have missed that particular storm.  But all of that wind didn't help the fires any.  At one point we couldn't even see across the street at home because of smoke.  What minor trials these are though, compared to the people in the paths of these fires.

Saturday Dennis and I decided to drive north from the lake to Colville, WA to visit the farmers market and have lunch.  There was lots of smoke and haze, but not too bad. We had no idea that we were driving right towards one of the bigger fires until we saw this as we rounded a curve in the road....

Sorry for the blurry pictures.  All were taken with my iphone as we drove down the highway.  See the column of smoke?

It just kept getting worse...

We went past Addy, WA where the fire was burning right outside of the town.  A few miles further down the road we found this little store with fresh produce and antiques.  I bought peaches and sweet corn and then browsed a bit.  The older lady who owns the store said her son and his wife actually discovered the fire burning outside of Addy in the picture above.  He is a firefighter and thought if they had found it even 5 minutes earlier they may have been able to put it out, just the two of them.  With the wind though, it was a lost cause.  The fire was about 1/2 mile behind this store when we were there and burning steadily towards it.  I sure hope it survived the weekend.  It was so cute and full of treasures.

Lots of vintage needlework.

A pile of suitcases.  I think I would have been packing everything into these cases and running out the door if I owned the store.  The lady was remarkably calm though.

So much pyrex.  I have several of these pieces that were received as wedding presents.

We tried to keep going toward Colville but finally gave up and turned around because the smoke was so bad Dennis could barely see the road.  This was the scene when we turned around.

I used no telephoto lens on this.  No zoom.  This is how close the flames were to us.  I was ready to go back to my little trailer.

The fire covered several mountains by the time we drove back through Addy.  It is all so sad.  On the news this morning they said there are are no more firefighters available in Washington.  They are trying to bring in more from around the country but Idaho, Oregon and California are also vying for the resources available.  It's all SO sad.

Here is an old fire tower just outside of Chewelah.  I don't think it's used anymore.

We saw horse trailers and utility trailers everywhere from people evacuating their homes and bringing their animals with them.  Emergency shelters are popping up everywhere.

On a lighter note, does anyone know what this would be used for?  We saw it in a field by the highway just outside of Chewelah as we drove by.  It appears to be some sort of oven.

Sunset last night.

The red glow is from the smoke particles in the air.

On a much brighter note, this is a shawl I started yesterday for a Christmas swap I'm in for a book club on Ravelry.  I'm enjoying it as it is a pattern I've made before and has easy repeats.

Tomorrow I go to the electrophysician, who put in the pacemaker, for my 6 week check.  They will "interrogate" my pacemaker and make sure all of the settings are working well.  Hopefully he will release me to my own cardiologist then.  I'm still tired easily and my left arm doesn't work as well as my right, but I'm getting there.  I can raise it above my head a little now which is great progress.  I so appreciate all of your sweet comments, prayers and love you've shown me throughout this strange time of my life.  I truly love you all.

Mandy and Piper are flying in tomorrow for two weeks.  Yippee!!!  The fun we will have.  It's sad that our air is so nasty, (even being deemed in the "unhealthy" range), because of the smoke.  It makes being outside for very long difficult.  I know we'll have fun anyway.

Have a wonderful day my friends and enjoy your week!

This verse reminds me of the firefighters who are out there on the front lines fighting all of these terrible fires.

"This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters."  1 John 3:16

They are laying down their lives for complete strangers every fire they respond to.  Thank you to all of these brave men and women.

Blessings,
Betsy