Listen to Vicki Van Slykes Playlist

It's Christmas Time Again

We had a great evening with Dustin, his wife Ranae and the boys.  HO HO HO

 This little stove was my present from Santa.


Tidings of Comfort and Joy!!!

Little home in the snow

Thanks for the Photo Katie :)

I was wondering how it would look.

From the Air

Tahuya River

Our River in summer

Summer Days

My summer break has zipped by quickly--I'd say it's hard to believe how quick it all felt, but it's that way every year.

We did run up to Washington to visit our beautiful valley, and made progress on our place up there ( which is always good).

While we were there we stayed with Bob's sister, Katie, and her Husband, Walt. They are always wonderful hosts and so kind to us when we visit. Together we all went to check out the Farmer's Market in Olympia.

Beautiful Plants and Flowers.

Katie and Walter discuss organic meat.

Bob inspects the produce.

We also got to visit with family we don't see so often--

Katie with Little Lily Ann.

Great Uncle Bob with the young'uns.

The Place looked great. Walter does such a nice job of watching over the place for us and he even mows the grass for us--What a great neighbor :)...

Wild Flowers in Our Meadow :)








The Tahuya River Reflecting on the trees around her.

White Christmas

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas...And it was Grand!


We were given a wonderful gift this year by Victoria and Linda (Bob's sister and her partner).

They gave us a trip to visit them and share in their traditional Norwegian family Christmas. They live in Minneapolis in a beautiful neighborhood filled with wonderful, old houses that were such a treat to see.

Their home is a perfect place for company--It was originally a duplex with one large home unit upstairs and one the same size downstairs. They gave us a room with a comfy warm bed ( down comforter and all) for sleeping, and the cozy downstairs kitchen, where I read and had coffee in the morning. They fed us like royalty while we stayed with them. The place was great. We had lovely times together and quiet time apart.

The Cozy downstairs kitchen.

Ice cycles hung outside the window upstairs.


The festive home across the street looked like it should be on a Christmas Card.

















We had time to walk in the snow and time to practice our numbers for "the program" before the big night came. Linda and Victoria managed to come up with two guitars and a mandolin for us to use while we were there, so all we had to bring were the tuner, picks and capos and such. These items fit easily in carry-on luggage so we didn't even have to check bags.

Victoria and Linda did all the hard work--things like decorating, and cooking and blowing the snow off sidewalks and driveways. We were "restful" and happy.






We walked in the evening snow one night and loved it.

The whole week was fun and Christmas Eve we celebrated with Victoria's son and his family. We had a perfect dinner. There were gifts and we all were a part of their annual Christmas program.
We had a very good Christmas, and a safe flight home. And now we have the memories of our White Christmas with all the beautiful snow falling just outside the windows like you hear tell of.