Evening at the Park

Last week, we took Diesel took the park to get out of the house! Diesel thought he was in heaven because he got to ride in the car, water the flowers, and we gave him a piece of our pizza we couldn't eat!

Here are some more pictures form our favorite park! It was really smokey that day due to wildfires in the area so the photos aren't the best.

Here's some pictures from earlier this summer at the same park!

This big guy goes just about everywhere with me!

It's so lovely here!

Gallivanting on the Palouse

(photoquarry.net)

A week ago, we took a short road trip to the Washington Palouse. The Palouse is the area of Washington and Idaho characterized by rolling hills of golden wheat.

The Palouse extends from the Moscow, Idaho area to around Walla Walla, Washington. The word Palouse originated from the the Palus tribe. French Canadian fur traders changed the name to "pelouse" meaning "lawn." Later the name changed to Palouse.

It is gorgeous! The most beautiful rolling hills I have ever seen! Every few miles you'll see a small farm tucked inside a valley or a farmer harvesting the wheat on his combine. It is picturesque!

 I left from Spokane and headed down Highway 27 straight to Oakesdale.

This about the extent of the town of Oakesdale:

One thing that makes Oakesdale one of my favorite little towns of the Palouse is The Old Mill. It is owned by MaryJane Butters.

You can read more about this historic flour mill here.

Beautiful Sites on the Way to Tekoa

We peeked in this deserted old house.

And then we found this gigantic angry bull staring at us from his flimsy little corral!

So we got the heck out of this place and on the road to Tekoa to find lunch.

After lunch, we were moving on to Latah.

Not much to see in Latah...

So we moved on to Fairfield.

Not much to see in Fairfield, either...so we moved on to Rockford! (I knew there would be good stuff here!)

We LOVED the Hurd Mercantile! Some fabulous finds!

After Rockford we took Valley Chapel Rd. Where does this go, you ask? To Valley Chapel, of course!

Another one of my all-time favorite places of the Palouse!

I LOVE this place! It is surrounded by wheat fields as far as you can see. Perfect place for a country wedding!

We took some great pics here, too!

We had a splendid time exploring the Palouse. If you ever get the chance, I highly recommend a road trip through the Palouse. There are many, many more sites to see!

Happy Birthday Nana!

Today would be Nana's 92nd birthday!

 Maria Meurs was born August 19th, 1918 in Albany, New York to Simon & Grace Meurs. Nana's family was Dutch and originated from Skagen, Holland. Nana met Papa, Giles Davis Clark, Jr., in Albany when  they were teenagers. They lived down the street from each other and secretly passed love notes until they were old enough to marry. (I'll blog about that soon!)

My family says I remind them of Nana. Nana inspired me from a very young age to cook and bake. My favorite memory is making cookies with her.

This is how I remember Nana.

Nana was known for hosting fabulous dinner and cocktail parties. She loved to cook & bake! Nana hand wrote hundreds of her recipes on beautiful note cards. In December 1996, my mom put those recipes together in a cook book that she had printed and bound for her sisters and for Papa. It's my favorite cook book of all time! (I'll share some of those recipes soon!)

Nana passed away in 2001. We miss her dearly! I wish she was here to cook with me and help me garden. I cherish the memories I have with her in her kitchen, the recipes she left for us, and the beautiful photos of her!

Love you, Nana!