Christmas Past and Present

This year for Christmas I was feeling especially nostalgic.  I kept thinking about Christmas and the traditions my family had when I was a kid.  So, I decided to incorporate a few into our holiday.

I guess having my daughter live so far away and getting to come spend Christmas with us started all this, or maybe it was we just didn't have much money for Christmas this year...who knows, but I told the kids about how my family would open gifts on Christmas eve...even Santa gifts (our stockings) but for Santa to be able to come we (my brother and I) had to leave the house.  So my dad would take us driving around to look at the lights on the houses.  That is still something I love to do.  When we lived in Baker every Sunday night for the month of December we would drive around our little town with our kids and look at the lights.  Anyway, here we haven't been driving around looking at lights, but we do see lights at our Festival of lights.  Here are few pics...

So, that was tradition number one we did this year.

Next, I kept thinking back to when we would go to my gramma's house for Christmas and she would always have a stocking for us and it always had an orange in the toe.  She also had the orange slice candies (the gumdrop ones), nuts, the red peppermint candies, the big gumdrops, and the English licorice sitting in a big bowl on the coffee table.  I put oranges in the stockings as well as the candy.

We then had our dinner and just enjoyed being with each other.  I say it was a great Christmas...simple, relaxed, and we were all together again.

Beth

Life Happens

I had pretty decided that I wasn't going to do this blog anymore, but I changed my mind.  This past year has been interesting for me.

I had previously posted about my job, well, about my boss anyway and his compliments.  I worked in an insurance office as the office manager.  It was an okay job, better at the beginning than at the end.  No, I am not going to complain about my boss.  Anyway, last summer he was really sick.  I am talking he almost died and since he is older, he decided to sell his business.  So as of last October 1, I was unemployed.  I really don't mind not working.  I like being home taking care of my house and knitting.

This wasn't the only change to take place job-wise in our family.  In January my son started a new job at a local auto shop.  He was laid off in November, at least part of the time until two weeks ago.  Hopefully things don't get that slow again.  My husband switched jobs from hauling sewage to longhaul trucking.  Then my daughter, after our trip to Montana, got a job in Ekalaka and moved there.

I tell you what, last fall was very hard on me!  My husband is gone most of the week, my son works and then has church activities in the evening, my daughter moves away, I lose my job...talk about not feeling needed anymore.  However, I did not sit around and feel sorry for myself like I would have in the past.  I started going to Oasis, a Bible study at my church.  I absolutely adore the ladies in my small group.  I have even made a new friend.  It is a lady I have known for awhile but I guess we didn't think we had that much in common or something.  Anyway, knitting brought us together.  We started a knitting group together and we do a few fun things like go to yarn shops together.

Last year wasn't all bad.  We had great camping weekends and hiking days throughout the summer.  We grew even closer as a family.  You can check out our year in more detail here.

No, I still haven't found a job, but that is okay.  If God wants me to have one He will provide, for now I am changing things up at home.  Oh, I have become the editor of Gathering at the Well a Bible study at http://www.titus2atthewell.com/, come check us out.

Beth

Sometimes I Get Homesick

There are times when I get very nostalgic and sometimes a little sad when I look at pictures from the past of great times with friends and family, when I am missing the parts of the farm that I actually enjoyed.  Don't get me wrong...I don't want to go back to the farm or Montana.  I love living in Roseburg and I love my house.  Sometimes though, I really miss the farm.  I miss my chickens and milk cow.  I miss living really simple.  I miss my big garden.  I just get a little homesick.

Eastern Montana

Living here with all the hustle and bustle (I know Roseburg is considered a town, but it feels like a city to me after living in rural Montana for so many years), traffic, things to do, work, sometimes I miss the quietness of the farm, the stillness of the early mornings before we get going on our day, the solitude, the wide open space.

Then I look out my living room window and see the beautiful trees lining the streets, I turn a little and there is Mount Nebo.  As I sit here writing it is quiet and still in the house and outside, it so peaceful and beautiful it takes my breath away and I just have to say a prayer of gratitude that God would bless me so abundantly with such beauty.  I truly am thankful every day that God has brought me to such a beautiful place.

View from my living room window.

We recently had the opportunity to become caretakers of a Ranch 50 miles East of Roseburg.  It was beautiful.  The drive to the ranch is beautiful.  We would have had chickens and a garden and could have gone back to a simpler way of life.  It didn't work out financially for us but I am okay with that because if I am honest with myself, all the things I am missing about the farm in Montana are what made us want to leave.  The wonderful stillness and solitude really translates to lonliness and isolation and I don't want to go back to that.

Drive along Hwy 38 to the ranch we had an opportunity to be caretakers of.

We actually have more family time now than we did on the farm.  We go hiking together, we go to the coast together, we walk around our neighborhood together.  Yet, we still find time to be alone and have our quiet time, to recover from the busyness of life.  My house is small, my yard is small, but I do have a garden, I know people who raise chickens, beef, pork, lamb and have bigger gardens where I can buy fresh local produce and meat.  To me this is the perfect place.

Fall Creek Falls hike

Oregon Coast Lighthouse

I said I miss living simply, I guess just because I live in town doesn't mean I have to have a complicated life.  I can still live simply.  I can bake my own bread and make simple, good meals with the fresh ingredients I buy from local farmers.  I can spend time alone in the early mornings with my Bible and a pot of tea in my backyard and enjoy the stillness of the day and the view.  This really is the best of both worlds.

View from my backyard

What makes me feel better when I get homesick for family and friends in Montana is the payoff I get with my family... I get a lot  more smiles.

These smiles make me happy.

Little Town on the Prairie

Ekalaka is a quiet, little town at the end of Highway 7.  I had traveled to Ekalaka every year when I was growing up to visit my grandparents who lived there.  I fell in love with it.  I have always loved the sweet smell that it has in the summer, the way it smells after a rain, and the excitement of a summer storm.

Today a lot of the buildings are gone.  The stores have closed, the buildings empty and eventually torn down.  There used to be a grocery store, bar and restaurant, and hardware store at the end of the green patch on the left.

Each summer when we would come to visit we would make at least one trip to town from grandmother's ranch.  Part of the town visit involved going to the Super Valu grocery store, through the back door.  Being from a larger town this was a novelty for us.  We only had grocery stores where you entered through the front door.

From here you can see the blue building which used to be called the Mainline and was green, it is now NAPA. There is a restaurant in the middle and a bar on the end of this block.

The Mainline was another place we loved to visit.  Grandma would buy us candy, a lot of candy so we would have a supply back at the ranch.  I always bought a candy necklace.  They were my favorites.

The Old Stand Bar and Wagon Wheel Cafe, used to be one building but they burned down over 20 years ago.  These are new buildings for Ekalaka.

The Old Stand Bar and Cafe was one of the places I hung out after we moved to Ekalaka.  It was while I was in high school that the building burnt down.  It was sad, the old buildings had a lot of character.  The new Old Stand was built with a dance hall in the back, it is now a restaurant.  I loved the dances in the back.  The restaurant is good though.  My favorite treat there is the corn nuggets.  I miss the corn nuggets.  So far I have only found one place in Oregon that has corn nuggets and that is in Bandon.

                                                                                    

The Main Street Market.  Now the only grocery store in town.

The Guest House Motel, owned and operated by my dear brother and sister-in-law

Scott and Denise Elmore.

It is a great place to stay if you are every in Ekalaka.  Scott and Denise have worked hard remodeling and updating the hotel since they bought it in the 90s. 

The local firehouse.

At the other end of town stands the courthouse.  I think this is my favorite part of town.  I love how the trees surround it and make it cozy and inviting.

This is a small tour of my favorite little town.  It may not be growing, have great shopping, but if you want to visit a nice quiet, relaxing place try Ekalaka.  It is full of history, has a great museum, and a lot of points of interest to visit.

My Favorite Family Food

My family (the Harmons) have a special dish that we make occasionaly. It is a Norwegian dish called Crub or Krub.

Not too long ago my mom was here visiting and I was teaching my son how to make it. We were discussing why it is called crub. No one knew so I decided to look it up on the internet. Well I found out the name could possibly be a regional variation. Our dish is also called coumpa (koompa) or klub (cloob) depending on where you are from.

What is this dish you ask? It is potato dumplings. They are oh so yummy. It is basically ground potatoes, flour, and salt, made into balls and then boiled. Some people add a piece of ham, bacon, or side pork to the middle. My family leaves the meat out. We make the potato dumplings and serve them with bacon or side pork grease with the meat on the side. We always make enough for leftovers because they are great the next day sliced and fried and then buttered. I will not add the recipe here as I don't have a written one. This has been passed down for generations by just teaching how to make it to the next generation. However, I found a really neat blog that has a recipe...http://troublealwayshasadoor.blogspot.com/2006/07/coumpa-recipe-norwegian-potato.html. This site also has some other recipes that look good and are gluten free.

I hope someone is brave enough to try this very delicious recipe. If you do please post a comment and let me know how you liked it. I would also like to hear from other crub or potato dumpling lovers out there.

Compliments

I don't usually receive to many compliments about anything so it is very uplifting to be complimented at work. I have only been at this job for three months and I seem to be picking it up quickly. Just about every afternoon when I leave my boss tells me, "don't get into any trouble I need you tomorrow." He also tells his clients and friends (in front of me and when I am not there) how he could not run the office without me. I appreciate what he says very much. Maybe there are times I am not so average.

A Proud Heritage

I have always been proud of my heritage, especially on my dad's side of the family. We are descendents of Ijakalaka a Souix woman. It is interesting to be able to track my family back several generations. It is like getting to know them.

Clara Russell Trenk

Ijkalaka and David Russell's Daughter

My great grandmother

Grace Ethel Trenk Elmore

Daughter of Clara Russell Trenk

My grandmother

My grandmother and her brothers and sisters


Romaine Russell Spicer on the far left. Myself and my son David on the back right.

John Russell, Ijkalaka's son

Allen Elmore son of Grace Ethel Elmore

My dad

My grandmother and me.

Me

So this is at least part of my family. There are no good pictures of Ijkalaka that is why I did not add any. She worked hard all her life and had a small town named after her, Ekalaka, Montana.