Love, Laughter, and Life

Adventures With a Book Lover


12 Comments

Haiku Moment: lace decor

you didn’t plan for

winter’s ice fog descending

yet look – lace decor

lace decor by Angie Quantrell

Winter 2026, Yakima Valley


2 Comments

Happy Everything!

It’s been a minute or two since I’ve posted. So Merry Christmas! Happy New Year! Hope the time you spent with family and friends was beautiful and blessed.

December was exceptionally busy, and January is off to the same start. But you’ll be happy to know that so far I’ve gotten the year correct when I’ve needed to write it down. 2026! If this year goes as fast as 2025, I better start practicing writing 2027, because I’ll need it next week.

I’m just back from an enriching trip to Birmingham, Alabama. (This year I made it, unlike last year when an ice storm in Birmingham sent me back home from Denver.) I went for the January Board Meeting at National Woman’s Missionary Union (WMU), but it was anything but boring. It was inspiring and filled with great connections, ideas, discussions, planning, information, and fun. Loads of fun! And good food.

I still haven’t landed on a word of the year. But I did read this verse today on K-love, and I think it might be a great focus verse for 2026.

“Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.” -Ephesians 3:20 NLT

I think that will set up my year quite nicely.

We’ve had an unusually warm and weird winter. One mild snow event, bucket loads of rain, warm weather, foggy sock-ins, and that’s about it. Well, maybe wind and occasional frosty mornings. My daffodils are coming up. Pansies are still blooming, and buds are appearing on a variety of plants. The good news is that the reservoirs are filling with water from all the mountain rain, which will be helpful this summer.

Forward and on! Hoping you have a fantabulous 2026!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2 Comments


Leave a comment

Sunday Peace

Grayland Beach, WA


4 Comments

Haiku Moment: pumpkin heart

orange on green surprise

heart shows garden trick, fall joy

love me some pumpkins

pumpkin heart by Angie Quantrell

Yakima Valley


7 Comments

2025 Pumpkin Report

Pumpkin Displa

Like last year, the “new seeds” portion of the pumpkin crop was off to a slow start. I repeatedly replanted several sections of the various garden areas I have. Not to great results.

Monet and pumpkins

BUT the “toss out some old pumpkins and let them rot and self-seed” portion of the crop performed with glee! Pumpkin glee!

pumpkin patch after first frost, before harvest

Keep reading to find how many pumpkins were harvested in 2025!

during the pumpkin harvest

Especially productive was the raised bed we have way out in the pasture. That’s where I left several pumpkins from 2024: a white one my son surprised me with after a trip to a pumpkin farm stand, a smaller orange one, and one of those tiny pumpkins. They rested in the bed over winter and sprouted early. Hundreds of sprouts. I had to rip out handfuls to give room to the rest. By pumpkin harvest day, the spread was huge! We actually had to curb the growth as it headed over to the horse pasture (not ours) next door. It took many hours to harvest them. And then more moving them, ripping out the vines, stepping gently to find any lost ones.

I love my pumpkins!

Also productive were the tiny pumpkins planted (but also I left some from 2024, so it’s a toss-up which ones actually sprouted) in the sunflower forest bed. I love these, because they vine and grow up. We had them climbing pumpkins, shrubbery, and some of the pine tree (which began as a twig with roots from the Arbor Day Foundation, and is slowly taking over said sunflower forest and patio). I love discovering where these cuties show up.

I had a little help

I had some muscle to help haul in the heavy wheelbarrows!

wagon for the animal farm next door

We even ended up with a wagon of rejects (partially eaten) for the animal farm on the other side of the pasture.

40 for church potluck

Plus 40 in the trunk to go to church for a potluck!

Finally, here are the 2025 pumpkin harvest totals! Drum roll please . . .

2025 Pumpkins on Display

White pumpkins: 17

Tiny pumpkins: 67

Orange pumpkins: 158

For an amazing grand total of 242 PUMPKINS!

So thankful for a wonderful harvest! Can’t wait until next year!

Just for fun, check out totals from last year here.


Leave a comment

Sunday Peace

pumpkins, Bible verse, Romans 12-18, peace
Fall Pumpkin Harvest

Yakima Valley


4 Comments

come fall

come fall, my breath eases

garden chores relax

cozy becomes theme of the day

sweaters resurface from storage

colors vibrate with final goodbyes

crisp air invigorates

dew dampens pant hems and ankles

caws and honks sing seasonal music

rustles dance through dried sunflowers

zinnias fade and go to seed

pumpkins dangle from spent vines

birds fatten, cats fluff, people bundle

tea and scarves and throws

beckon me to breathe,

embrace

all that is autumn

come fall by Angie Quantrell


2 Comments

Haiku Moment: fall hurrah

garden end begins

sunlight dwindles, weather cools

final fall hurrah

fall hurrah by Angie Quantrell

Yakima Valley


Leave a comment

Sunday Peace

Yakima Valley, WA