June | 2022 | Love, Laughter, and Life

Sending many thanks to Vivian Kirkfield and her blog and website, Vivian Kirkfield – Writer for Children, and R. Skyler Lambert, Editor and Marketing Manager at Star Bright Books, for sending me a copy of both of these adorable picture books! They have been quite successful with my learning-to-read grands.

Comments from the Peanut Gallery:

Gage (just completed first grade): Can I keep these? Can I take these in the car? (They lived in the car for weeks so he could read them on the way to and from school.)

Autumn (just completed kindergarten): Read this to me. What’s a pinwheel? It’s that flower! (giggle) They’re hiding!

Why I Love These Books:

~adorable stories, 2 per book

~just right for beginning readers

~large text which makes it easier to read

~engaging illustrations and text

~spot-on situations to capture the attention of readers

~cute animals characters!

~sturdy construction

Thank you, Vivian and Skyler! Two thumbs up from this household!

June 26, 2022
by Angie Leave a comment

Sunday Inspiration

Photo by Angie Quantrell,

Near Fort Simcoe, Central Washington

June 26, 2022
by Angie 2 Comments

Thwarting the Invaders (Garden Tails)

Just look at all of that corn, beans, and radishes!

Oh. Wait. You can’t see anything but a few stems and missing row of radishes. That’s because we have invaders. Of the rabbit-y sort. The ones who LOVE almost everything in my garden: corn, radishes, green beans, parsley, kale (they really adore kale), and another leafy green similar to chard. All gone.

Plus. Holes. They love excavating as well. I think they can smell the new corn kernel seeds I planted, because several holes line up exactly where I replanted (and replanted).

Ignore the weeds. I gave up in frustration.

We have bunnies (formerly known as pets). People have dumped them. So now between the neighbors and us, we have a colony. A fluffle. We are happy that most of them live beneath the neighbor’s outbuildings (while 4 live at Taylor and Jamie’s as actual pets). But the green pasture is alluring. And the used-to-be growing garden a delight.

Two black bunnies edge nearer to the the pot of gold at the end of the garden rainbow. Grrrrr.

So today. Take that. And that. And THAT!

We installed a bunny barrier. It’s not tall, but we only need to deter Peter Rabbit, Cottontail, Flopsy, Mopsy, Benjamin, and their buds from free ranging the garden beds. We hope.

The question is, besides onions, garlic, basil, several chocolate cherry sunflowers, a few green beans, and a marigold or two, what is there time to replant (time number 4 for some items) that will mature before the frost?

Sigh. It was looking so good! Grumble grumble. Back to the drawing board.

June 19, 2022
by Angie Leave a comment

Sunday Inspiration

Photo by Angie Quantrell

Umptanum Creek Falls, Central Washington

June 12, 2022
by Angie Leave a comment

Sunday Inspiration

Umptanum Creek Falls Trail, Central Washington

Photo by Angie Quantrell

June 11, 2022
by Angie 5 Comments

Central Washington Hike: Umptanum Creek Falls

What a beautiful hike!

Whether spelled “Umptanum” or “Umtanum,” it was gorgeous! Here is the view from the bottom of Umptanum Creek Falls. The clamber down was pretty slicky-slidey in dirt, but worth the effort. The crawl back up was even more tenuous! I noticed someone had tied a rope between two points on the south climb back up around. We didn’t use it, but look for it if you choose that way to get back to the top of the falls (the way back to the car park).

Proof of the “Umptanum” spelling. No potties here, friends, so plan ahead.

Evidence of a previous fire lines both sides of the trail. I found the stark black a beautiful counterpoint to the spring greens and gray bark.

Umptanum Creek is such a pretty, quiet little stream!

From the bottom of the falls. We had a wet, drizzly day (perfect to my way of thinking), so it was pretty chilly sitting at the bottom while we enjoyed the view.

This is the view from the top of the falls. The wildflowers were out in abundance! Gorgeous!

Pretty scenery along the way. We didn’t encounter very many people on the way to the falls, but the crowd was picking up on our way back.

Just starting to bloom!

Also…DUH dum…this looks like stinging nettles. There were huge sections of this plant lining parts of the trail. Just a heads up. I double-checked my photo with online sources and they look the same to me. We hiked with poles, so it was easy to push back plants as we walked through.

Honey? I want this in my back yard!

The hardest parts of this trails were: 1. getting there (pretty, but long drive from Yakima on a dirt road); 2. getting back up the steep hillsides from the bottom of the falls; and 3. no potties.

You can read more about this hike at Washington Trails Association.