Summer Weekend Highs And Lows

Hello friends and hello Monday. I have blood work this morning so am operating on no coffee. Not my favorite way to begin the week, but here we go. 

The weekend. It was up and down up and down. Let's recap with Holly(PinkLadyBlog) and Sarah(Sunshine and Books) who are hosting their regular Monday morning link party. 

Friday hubs brother and sister-in-law, along with two college friends of ours who also know the brother and sister-in-law, drove from Knoxville to hang out on the lake. They arrived mid-afternoon and we spent a few hours sitting on the patio catching up, chatting, and snacking on a Greek dip I'd prepared, which is always yummy. 

The Aperol Spritz has been our summer beverage. Pretty and delicious. 

Drone shot-

Ha. Not really. Hubs snapped it from the upper deck. 

Our friend works in the food business and he brought ribs that just needed to be heated and sauced on the grill. They're so good, but are not available in supermarkets so always a treat when they share. I'd made a pasta salad, cole slaw, and baked beans to have as sides and dinner was really good. 

After dinner we opted for a boat ride, and while it was initially a bit cloudy it cleared enough for an absolutely stunning sunset. 

Perfect temperature and a watercolored painted sky. 

Now for the down side...my mom ended up in the hospital Friday night and then had surgery on Saturday. Family and friends who've known you for ever and a day are the first to understand, so Saturday morning after breakfast I headed to the hospital and hubs manned the fort boat at home. I arrived just as she was getting back to her room so perfect timing. My sister, niece, and my nephew-in-law were there too, so she had quite the welcome. We stayed for a while, then left so she could rest. 

I got back to the house about two and did some dinner prep while I waited on the boaters to return. They picked me up at the dock and we rode for a bit, then came back to swim for a while before thunder rolled in. We moved up to the patio and the guys cooked dinner-

Hubs brother and sister-in-law brought steaks for dinner so hubs grilled those and we had baked potatoes and a yummy Caprese salad. 

Somebody is hoping for a taste. 

Question-how many non-lettuce salads can one make in a summer where lettuce is questionable?Apparently quite a few. We've slowly started back eating lettuce, but I buy the whole head, remove the outer leaves, and rinse the rest well. 

After dinner we sat outside and played cards and listened to music for hours. Such a fun night. 

Sunday morning everyone left after breakfast and hubs and I went back to the hospital to see my mom. We visited for a bit, then my sister and niece arrived to take the next shift so to speak. 

I find writing therapeutic. I find putting my thoughts into words brings clarity and helps me give voice to what I'm feeling. Life is rarely just one thing. It's highs and lows, joy and hardship, love and sacrifice and people who walk beside you through it all. 

A little Monday gratitude list because every life needs one: 

~the gift of a mother in every season 

~siblings who love each other through life's easy moments and the hardest ones too

~friends and family who raise a glass to all the years that came before and all that lies ahead

~the beauty of creation reminding me He cares about the details of our lives 

To add your link or read more weekend recap posts, hop on over to our hostesses with the mostest-eses and join the fun. 

Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 668

Here are the questions to this week's Hodgepodge. Answer on your own blog, then hop back here on Wednesday (August 26th) to share answers with all your friends and neighbors. See you there! 

1. How do you feel about the transition from lazy summer days to a busier fall routine? 

2. Your favorite cookie? 

3. What's something you've learned from a culture different than your own? 

4. Food critic, film critic, book critic, art critic...which hat would you most like to wear? Tell us why. 

5. What's a small, random thing from your childhood that you still remember clearly? 

6. Insert your own random thought here.  

A High-Flying Hodgepodge

Hello Hodgepodgers. Come on in. I've got the a.c. running on high. If you've answered today's questions add your link at the end of my post, then hop over and leave a comment for the blogger before you. Here we go...

1. August 19th is National Aviation Day...do you like to fly? Last time you were on an airplane? The date is chosen in honor of the history and development of aviation, and celebrated on the birthday of Orville Wright. Have you ever been to the Kitty Hawk area of North Carolina? The city of Dayton in Ohio (their birthplace)

I don't love to fly, but it is often the best way to get from point A to point B so I deal. The last time I was on an airplane was back in February when I flew from South Carolina to Philadelphia to spend time with my mama. She lives just a car ride away now which makes visiting much easier. 

I've never been to Dayton, but I have been to Kitty Hawk. We spent some of our summer holidays in the Outer Banks when my girls were growing up, and we stayed in Kill Devil Hills one time which is right beside Kitty Hawk. 

The first flight actually took place in Kill Devil Hills but Kitty Hawk was the nearest post office so got the claim to fame. We saw the monument there on one of our trips, but mostly spent our time on the beach, in the water, climbing the dunes, and checking out the little shops. We love the area but getting in and out is always a bit of a nightmare in terms of traffic. 

2. In what area of your life do you tend to 'wing it'? Is this an area you should be winging? 

Lately it's been dinner, or maybe cooking in general. There's been a lot of 'let's see what I can make with what's on hand, is low labor, and won't heat up the kitchen to excess'. Honestly it's been working out okay but come fall I need to get back to better meal planning. 

3. A favorite book, song, or movie that relates to flight in some way?   

Book-The Huntress by Kate Quinn. The novel follows three storylines across WW2 and into 1950. Nina the Soviet pilot, Ian the war correspondent turned Nazi hunter, and Jordan a Boston teen and aspiring photographer whose father marries a soft spoken German woman Jordan suspects is a Nazi murderess. I like Kate Quinn's writing and this was a good read. 

Song-Watching Airplanes by Gary Allan. He's a country artist I think is underrated. He's had some great songs and I like his voice. We saw him as the opening act for Brooks and Dunn many many years ago and he played without breaks. Really good, and this particular song is one of my favorites of his. 

Movie-Fly Away Home This one is about geese in flight, but also the young girl who helped them 'fly away home'. If you've never seen this film its a really good one, and is based on a true story. 

4. Soft serve, gelato, sherbet, frozen yogurt, or good old fashioned ice cream...what's your pleasure? Your favorite flavor? How often do you indulge? 

My answer would depend on my mood. I'm not big on frozen yogurt because I feel like it sometimes has a bitterness to it, and the texture is a little bit off for me. I love soft serve and gelato and would say those are my favorite. 

It's hard to choose a favorite flavor but if we're talking ice cream I love strawberry, rocky road, and coconut. If we're having gelato I love the stracciatella, which is a sweet milk or vanilla base with shards of dark chocolate throughout. 

I do like to go out for ice cream, but I never just sit down with a bowl of ice cream at home. 

I eat ice cream very rarely. Hubs on the other hand.... 

5. I never get tired of______________________. 

Seeing our flag flying against a bright blue sky...

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

I'm in the very early planning stages for a trip out west. Has anyone been to the Little Bighorn Battlefield? How about the new Roosevelt library in North Dakota? The Tetons? If so send your travel tips my way. Thanks! 

Mid-August Everyday Images

Linking with Kym today for her Everyday Images party and Joanne for Talking About It Tuesdays. 

I really enjoy the snippets of everyday life this photo challenge offers, and I also like having a place to drop random snapshots that reflect life in this season. I like reading the prompts and then looking for something in my world that fits. It's a bit of a creative mental exercise, and who doesn't need that now and then. 

Okay, here we go. The most recent prompts are-

dessert~gradual~on the road~imperfect~tangled~selfie (quarterly)~restful 

dessert-

We had our August wine dinner last week with a Spanish theme. Don't judge the quality of this flan by the quality of this photo because the flan was absolute perfection. 

We had a guest presenter who did a wonderful job presenting the wines and the stories behind them, and I told hubs I wanted to buy some of this one mostly because the bottle is pale blue and so pretty. 

I help teach Mah Jong in my neighborhood and one of the new learners makes beautiful cookies and brought me this lovely box of treats as a thank you. 

Chocolate chip shortbread and flip flop sugar cookies. 

Both are scrumptious and I so appreciate a thoughtful gesture like this one. 

gradual

We love a home improvement repair/project of some kind, and we've had one happening here-

Gradually. Over the course of a few days. 

Actually what I said a minute ago was a lie. I dislike home repair projects and hubs walks around the house and yard in search of them. This is a good thing most of the time, because homes require upkeep. Ours is nearly ten years old (can you believe it???) so there will be some things that need doing from time to time. 

The joys of home ownership. 

Shoutout to roofers working in this heat. We had to have our chimney repaired due to a blah blah blah and it required two different groups of people to make it happen. One did the flashing/roofing portion and the other reattached the stone. 

I can tell you right now my hubs is going to have a lot to say about the inaccuracy of my explanation, but just know a repair was necessary and a repair happened. 

Gradually. 

Having the incorrect rock delivered didn't help, but they corrected the order and it's all good now. 

on the road

I live on a lake. If you're boating this is the road-

imperfect

I'm going to call this one perfectly imperfect. This Japanese Maple sits beside our waterfall and currently has a single bright red branch. Giving us a peek into fall I guess. 

No worries. It was 97 degrees here this weekend so fall is not in a hurry. 

tangled

We had a bit of a breeze happening on Sunday, albeit a scorcher that felt Saharan in nature, and our flag got itself wrapped around the pole. I perched on the very edge of the narrow side of the dock, leaned way out in a precarious manner, phone in hand, while hubs yelled things like 'don't fall' and 'I could do that for you ya know'. 

Got it! 

selfie (quarterly)

True story. Selfie taking is not in my skill set. Hubs offered to snap a picture but I said that goes against the very definition of the word so here ya go-

It only took me six tries to get one I could call a small success. 

restful

Lake life man. It's restful. 

Unless you have ten people on your roof, scaffolding attached to the side of your house, and a cement mixer in the drive. Otherwise, yes it's restful. 

Okay, now scroll through your camera roll and show me what ya got. 

Is It Hot Enough For Ya?

When someone asks that question it's usually rhetorical so I won't bother answering.

Except to say it's hot. In the words of my grandma it's 'hotter than blue blazes'. Did you know blazes is a 19th century American term for hell? I didn't either, but I checked the trusty internet so it must be true. Also, it's been really hot. I don't remember getting heat advisories when I was growing up, but we get one pretty much everyday in the month of August. 

Question-are we surprised at the heat in August? I'm gonna say no. 

We had no plans this weekend. Whoohoo! Honestly I'm on some meds for my sinus/cough thing and they make me sleepy so there was a nap in the middle of the day Friday which was very necessary. 

We had workers at the house most of Friday, literally on the roof, trying to wrap up a chimney repair that will actually now be wrapped up today. Hopefully. 

They were noisy and it's a messy job so I pretty much stayed inside, read, and rested. I'd made stuffed peppers on Thursday so we had leftovers for dinner Friday night. Hubs and I watched a movie-Arthur the King and we liked it. Heartwarming and based on a true story. 

Saturday morning we went out for breakfast then hit the grocery store. I hadn't been to the market all week so it was time. We had plans to come home and take the boat out, and we got everything ready including ourselves, when hubs texted from the dock saying he heard thunder so it's a no go. 

It died down but the sky was still questionable so we floated for a while which was nice. Hubs grilled a steak for dinner and we spent the evening listening to music. 

Sunday morning was church, a quick lunch at home, then we made another attempt at boating. Daughter1 and Little Miss came over to swim and get in on the boat ride and we always love that. The boys had baseball so they hung out with Dad until it was time for practice. 

Daughter1 brought some pawpaws she'd gotten I think from her in-laws. Have you ever had a pawpaw? I had to look them up to see how you know when they're ripe and also how you eat them. 

Apparently in moderation because according to what I read too much will upset your stomach. They belong to the custard apple family and you can't eat the skin or the big black seeds. They only grow in 25 states with ours being one of them, and are not available in the grocery store. Supposedly they taste like a cross between a banana~ mango~cantaloupe. I'll let ya know. 

We motored to the gas dock but didn't stay out long because we were melting. We came back to our dock and spent the afternoon swimming. So nice. 

Daughter1 and little miss went home late afternoon and hubs and I watched an episode of the new season of Reacher before dinner. I made a simple pasta dish with fresh tomatoes from our plants, chopped shallots, garlic, and olive oil combined with some pasta and topped with basil from the garden, a little mozzarella, and a sprinkling of parm. So easy and delicious. 

We talked for a brief minute about kayaking to the island to watch the sunset, but it was still in the 90's, the air was thick, and it all sounded like more than we had in us. The dog days of summer are here and they're howling. 

So how was your weekend? 

Linking with Holly and Sarah for their weekly Hello Monday blog hop. 

Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 667

Here are the questions to this week's Hodgepodge. Answer on your own blog, then hop back here on Wednesday (August 19th) to share your answers. See you there! 

1. August 19th is National Aviation Day...do you like to fly? Last time you were on an airplane? The date is chosen in honor of the history and development of aviation, and celebrated on the birthday of Orville Wright. Have you ever been to the Kitty Hawk area of North Carolina? The city of Dayton in Ohio (their birthplace)

2. In what area of your life do you tend to 'wing it'? Is this an area you should be winging? 

3. A favorite book, song, or movie that relates to flight in some way?   

4. Soft serve, gelato, sherbet, frozen yogurt, or good old fashioned ice cream...what's your pleasure? Your favorite flavor? How often do you indulge? 

5. I never get tired of______________________. 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Love In Motion

I spent a chunk of last week at my Daughter2's house in Tennessee while she and her hubs were on a cruise around the Greek Islands. Swoon! 

Let's pause for a quick sidebar-

That now married momma of two pictured above made a trip to Greece when she was 14 years old. The girls loved swimming in the sea, tasting octopus for the first time, shopping in the market, seeing the historic sites, eating their weight in yummy Greek salads, and roasting under the white hot August Athenian sun. 

Such a fun week for all of us. 

Carry on. 

Daughter2 and her hubs had planned their trip as a bit of a mile marker anniversary celebration (5 years), and because of the distance and travel involved their time away was about ten days. When she first mentioned the trip to me I'm pretty sure my first reaction was, 'TEN DAYS!! WHO'S WATCHING THE KIDS FOR TEN DAYS?!!" 

Yes, in all caps. 

Sometimes things come out of my mouth and I wish I could rewind, but there I said it because seriously, who is watching the kids for TEN days??? As it turns out the plan from the get go was her in-laws would cover five days and we'd cover five days. 

Much better. 

You know once upon a time I was a speech pathologist with over 75 students on my caseload and now I panic at the thought of being responsible for two that are related to me for ten days. Ha. True story though. 

Her two littles are, in a word, busy. Also lightning fast, stinkin' adorable, chatty, curious, and lovable. Keeping up with them requires a clear head and the endurance of a marathon runner. These days I have neither, but I am the Nana and Nanas can do hard things for the people we love. Plus hubs is a great teammate and has an endless array of tricks, funny faces, funny voices, creativity, and muscle so all is well. 

Except! Hubs as you know sells real estate on the lake and he's been working with an out of state client for several weeks who, as timing would have it, would be coming to the lake the very weekend we would be in Tennessee. Bother.  

I mean it's fine because he put a lot of work in for the client and needed that in person time with him, but also it meant I'd be on my own for the last two days of keeping everyone in high spirits until mom and dad came home. 

The thought was daunting. This is how you know you're not young anymore. 

As it turned out everyone did great, the kids too lol. Their momma had left a little gift for them to open each day and I brought a couple of things with me so we'd have new things to play with and distract us. 

Hubs and I drove over to Tennessee last Tuesday and we had one night there with the in-laws still in the house. We enjoy them very much and it was nice to catch up with them once the kiddos went to bed. We ordered pizza for dinner because everyone loves pizza and chatted before calling it an early night. 

Sleep is key. 

They left first thing Wednesday morning and hubs and I took the grands to the Creative Discovery Museum.  Wait. First hubs dropped their dog at daycare. Did I tell you we also had their dog? And our dog? And our dog is not feeling his best these days which makes us wobbly. 

If your kids are not yet married, just know one day you'll be taking care of their dog. That's how it works. 

The Discovery Museum is fabulous. We arrived just as it was opening and beat the crowds that my daughter told me come later. It's really well done, organized, clean, child focused, and lots of space for imaginative play.

Sugar would have been happy to feed and rock baby dolls all day long in the housekeeping section. 

We were home for lunch and then rest and I'd planned ahead and made a pan of chicken divan before I left the lake, so dinner just needed heating and eating. 

Thursday morning the kids have swimming lessons and we were almost late because you forget how long it takes to get out of the house with all the things, plus the kids, plus getting everyone into the car seats, etc. But we made it and hubs got in the pool with them so I was able to just cheer from the sidelines. 

One gift my daughter left was a gift card for donuts so we stopped after swimming and got donuts in this lovely shopping center very close to their home. There's a really nice common area in the center and we let the kids run and play and coincidentally one of their neighbors was there too so all the kids had fun together. 

Afternoons were mostly rest and outside play and usually a show watched while we got dinner ready. Friday morning was meet the teacher day at their new preschool and I told hubs to go ahead and get on the road back to the lake and I'd be fine managing this. And I was. Such a sweet school and everyone's excited. 

We left there and I stopped at Publix to pick up subs for lunch and popsicles because August needs popsicles, and then it was home for the afternoon. I'd brought a new Young, Wild and Friedman play dough kit with me (Reptiles) and I cannot say enough about how wonderful these kits are. I brought that out Friday afternoon and they played with it for a couple of hours Friday, twice on Saturday, and again on Sunday. 

There was a lot of rain over the weekend, but we managed to get outside some each day. We went to the neighborhood pool one day and I took them for ice cream Saturday afternoon. We took a walk each evening which they enjoyed and it seemed to make them more ready for baths and bedtime. I know it did me.  

I arrived home Monday afternoon with two broken fingernails, a mystery bruise on my leg, in dire need of a nap, and a full heart. I love that we're able to give the parents a break now and then. I remember how much I appreciated and needed that when I was in the heavy lifting years of parenting and I want to pay that forward now that I'm the grandparent. 

I think it’s important to make memories together as a family, but also to make time for each other as a couple. Getting away from the everyday craziness of work, parenting, keeping up with the house, and everything else gives mom and dad a chance to reconnect and just enjoy being together.

One of the best ways to keep a family happy and whole is to temporarily escape from them, miss them, recharge, and come back refreshed and eager to resume the routines of daily life. Opa!