Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 572

Here are the questions to this week's Wednesday Hodgepodge. Answer on your own blog, then hop back here tomorrow to add your link to the party. See you there! 

1. Thursday is National Walk To A Park Day. I know these celebratory days are mostly made up, but some are fun to think about. Do you live close enough to a park to walk to one on Thursday? Will you? The most famous park in the world is Central Park located in NYC. Have you ever been to Central Park? What did you think? If you haven't been is this a place you'd like to see? 

2. Something you've done recently that turned out to be a 'walk in the park'? 

3. Can you parallel park? Do you have to do this often where you live? 

4. The colors of fall...red, brown, russet, golden bronze, golden yellow, purplish red, light tan, crimson, orange red, and scarlet. Are these colors you like to wear? Is this your season in terms of color? What about your home? Would we see these tones in your home decorating? 

5. What part of history do you find most interesting? Elaborate. 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Weekending

Good Monday morning friends. Joining Holly and Sarah today for their regular Monday morning catch up. Hope you had a nice weekend. Here's how ours looked-

Thursday. Our first full day home from vacation. I was up early and out the door to the volunteer slot I work every Thursday. I stopped for gas before remembering my usual spot that takes my grocery points is cash only due to Helene. 

This is our lake and those are the Blue Ridge Mountains. So much staggering beauty. So much pain and heartache. 

I know the scope and geography are hard for people unfamiliar with the area to understand, but you should know this is not a case of people being told to evacuate, and instead deciding to ignore the instruction and ride out a hurricane, hoping for the best. That isn't what happened here. These are people who have been overwhelmed by flash flooding, rain, wind, and a literal mountain of water. 

If you're looking for a way to help consider a donation to Samaritan's Purse. They are a trustworthy organization with boots on the ground in the most devastated areas. 

Life is never all one thing, although there are times it certainly feels that way. It's awkward to write about the mundane when we're on the edge of this disaster and know so many directly impacted by it. I'm going to continue with my regular posts but will likely mention the storm fallout from time to time for the next little while. 

The weekend. 

We had our monthly wine dinner Thursday evening and yes we did indeed attend a five course wine dinner our first day back from a two-week holiday. I admit I was tired and not all that excited to go, but it was super delicious and we sat with people we didn't know prior,  so it ended up being a lot of fun. One couple at our table were getting ready to go on an African safari which is something we've talked about. The Mrs. did say there are six different bush flights on their trip, so I'm gonna have to think really hard about whether their itinerary is one I'd want to follow. 

I didn't capture every course in pictures (I blame jet lag), but I got a few. This baked brie appetizer was sooo good. 

Friday I went to the grocery store for real. The stores are a bit hit and miss right now, particularly meat and dairy, and one of our main stores is still cash only so a long way to go. My frig was pretty empty when we left town, but anything I did leave was lost. Besides food for the week I needed to start restocking the basics...mustard, mayonnaise, salad dressing, that sort of thing. 

I had to throw away all the food in my chest freezer, which should have been fine but the gfi tripped and it didn't reset when the power returned so ugh, what a mess. We had to empty the freezer then pull it out of the garage and drain the icky liquid inside, then scrub it clean before we could get it going again. Fortunately I had a Good Ranchers order arriving over the weekend so we're pretty well re-stocked for meat. 

Friday night friends invited us to their house for dinner and cards. Our next door neighbors came too and we had a wonderful meal and lots of fun playing a card game called Swoop. Somehow when we looked at the clock it was 1 am and I cannot tell you the last time I was up at 1 am. I blame jet lag. 

Also I made an apple crisp to take for dessert and here's proof-

I forgot to take a picture when I pulled it out of the oven but trust me, it was yummy. I followed this recipe-The Best Ever Apple Crisp-and will definitely make it again. 

The Friday night sunset from their dock was a beauty. 

Saturday morning hubs and I took our coffee out to the new patio space beside the waterfall. We don't have any furniture there yet but the weather was beautiful and the light golden. 

We pulled a couple of chairs from the dock over to the patio space and sipped our coffee with a waterfall soundtrack. I love it. 

We're still waiting on a guy to come back and install the griddle and connect the water to the sink in the BBQ bar before we break it in. These projects are a little bit 'if you give a mouse a cookie he's gonna need new patio furniture to go with it' if you know what I mean. 

We'll make do with our current stuff until we figure out what we want for the new outdoor dining space. It's a lot bigger than I thought it would be and my current outdoor table looks dinky in there. Plus the plan going forward is to cook big breakfasts and dinners out there when our grands are here and there's a lot of them lol. We need a bigger table.  

We also need an electrician to come out so we can hang a fan and get some twinkle lights in, and like I said...that mouse needs at least ten somethings to go with his cookie. 

Saturday night we went to a party at our neighborhood clubhouse-a low country boil. Yes three nights home, three nights out. We hit the post-vacation ground running! I forgot to take a picture (it's the jet lag I'm sure) but for those who don't know a low country boil is usually shrimp-corn-sausage and red potatoes boiled in a big pot with seasonings. It originated in the Carolinas and it's delicious. Friday was a gorgeous day, the temps still feel summery here although it's supposed to cool off later this week, and we had a great time catching up with some of the neighbors we haven't seen in a while. 

We didn't stay late because the Vols were playing Arkansas Saturday night, and we needed to be home for that. Our hometown team also had a big game happening at the same time so there was some channel flip flopping. Yay for the hometown team who pulled off a win. The Vols were not so lucky. 

Sunday afternoon we went for a boat ride. Officially autumn but still 80 degrees so why not? The lake is so pretty this time of year. 

We putted around the neighborhood to see if there was any visible damage and saw a few huge trees down in several places. Overall we're very lucky here. There weren't a lot of boaters out and we flew down to the far end of the lake for fuel. Our usual closer marina had only gotten their power back on Friday and they were without gas anyway. 

After buying gas we flew back down (up?) the lake to my daughter1's in-law's dock. They were home so we tied up and went inside to visit for a few minutes, and of course we never leave there empty handed.

 

Hubs grilled some flat iron steaks for dinner and we ate on the screened porch which has a birds eye view of the new waterfall. It was a lovely way to end the day. 

I'm off to the dentist this morning which is not my favorite thing, but I'm determined not to whine about it. Life is so hard for so many right now, and I feel fortunate to be able to get in my car with a full tank of gas and do something as ordinary as go to the dentist. 

Have a nice Monday everyone! 

Helene

I began this post thinking I'd wrap up our UK trip with a few stray thoughts still lingering, but then I started writing and ended up here. 

Hurricane Helene. 

Many of you have reached out to ask how we fared and I thank you for that. Honestly being out of town during a very major hurricane is both a good thing and a bad thing. We were literally an ocean away from it all, which meant whatever was happening was completely out of our control. 

Honestly we're never in control of the weather are we? 

Or many things we tell ourselves we can control, but especially the weather. 

We have wonderful neighbors who kept us in the loop, who checked on the house and the property, and who let us know we had no big trees down and no obvious damage. Our yard was covered in tree debris and we were without power for a few days, but it was restored by the time we arrived home Wednesday. Many in our area are not so lucky. The girl bagging my groceries today said they won't have power until Tuesday, fingers crossed. The storm happened September 26th. More than a week ago. 

I'm in South Carolina, in what is called the Upstate (so not the coast). We're just a hop, skip, and a jump from the beautiful NC mountains and we love the natural beauty and the many charming towns that dot the landscape there. 

Some of those towns are literally gone. Washed away. There one day and just completely gone the next. 

I don't feel like the media is adequately portraying the devastation, the tremendous loss of life, work, home, and nature that have happened here. It's hard to understand how a hurricane hits the highest point east of the Mississippi, but that particular geography complicates rescue efforts and help getting to people in need. 

This is turning out to be larger than Katrina in terms of scope and the death toll will rise as areas yet to be accessed are finally reached. Eight days in and people are still unaccounted for. 

One of my favorite things about America is the way her citizens rally in times of trouble and we are for sure seeing that here. Individuals, businesses, fire departments, and the like are collecting much needed items and pick up trucks are finding a way to get supplies over the mountain. Churches here have partnered with churches in the hardest hit areas to meet specific needs, volunteers are flying helicopters and small planes to both rescue the stranded and also drop essentials into remote areas. I saw a video of a woman getting her insulin via a drone drop which seems crazy but that's where we are. 

Many parts of Asheville and the surrounding small towns have no water and it's going to be that way for quite some time. Major highways are washed away and the rebuild for the interstate is expected to take more than one year. The major highway running from our area through NC and into Tennessee is going to be shut down for at least a year. 

And yet, in the midst of something hard to comprehend people are kind. They're generous. Their hearts are hurting and broken for people they don't know and this is the America I love. People doing practical things like making meals for the linemen and first responders, donating diapers and formula and get this-benadryl-because apparently the bees are really angry and out in force in some places. 

There are organizations on the ground like Samaritans Purse, the World Central Kitchen, and Operation Airdrop that all need donations to do what they do. If you can help in that way know it matters. The cost of recovery after Helene is estimated to be something like 34 billion dollars. 

It's easy to feel helpless in a situation such as this, but we are not helpless. And we are not alone. 

"God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging..." Psalm 46:1-3

Coming Full Circle

Our last full day in the UK was Monday. The forecast was for a mostly rainy day, but as my daughter told my grandson, 'if we don't go out when it rains here we'll never go out'. So out we went. It does rain a fair amount in England, but it's generally manageable in that you can go about your day if you have a proper jacket, proper footware, and a brolly or hood. 

As we were driving along my daughter asked me if it felt weird for me to be sitting in the passenger seat while she sat on the 'wrong' side of the car and navigated roundabouts and single track lanes and new places and parking. 

Yeah. A little. 

Teenagers. Sigh. 'Twas a sweet season. Mostly lol. 

We moved to the UK when Daughter1 (on the left) was fifteen. She actually first learned to drive here at the age of seventeen, on a manual no less, sitting on the right side, driving on the left. We hired an instructor and he pulled into our driveway and she climbed into his small slightly dinged car and he told her to go. She had not the first clue about how to make that vehicle go. 

Never in a million years could I have imagined that one day she'd be living back here again, driving me around the English countryside with three kids in the backseat, yet here we are. When I look at this moment I'm struck by how very much God loves us and knows exactly what we need in our current circumstances to make us ready for the future He has planned. 

On Monday we visited Wimpole Estate, a country house begun in 1640 that sits on 3000 acres of park and farmland now owned by The National Trust.

Absolutely fabulous. 

Wimpole is listed in the Domesday book of 1086. At that time there was a moated manor house with a 200 acre deer park around it. The estate was held by the Chicheley family for 250 years beginning in 1428 with Henry Chichele who at the time was Archbishop of Canterbury. 

The last of his family to hold the house was the politician Thomas Chicheley who was responsible for the 'new house' completion in 1650. It changed hands a few times through deaths and marriages and financial strains and such until finally in 1938 George and Elsie Bambridge purchased the home. Elsie was the daughter of Rudyard Kipling and used her inheritance from him and the royalties from his books to make some much needed refurbishment to the house and grounds. 

She did an excellent job. 

We had the nicest day here and all of us agreed this was one of our favorites. There's what's called a home farm on site with rare breed farm animals and the property is spectacular. So very well maintained and cared for.  Protected too which is always good in an era of development. 

I love a black barn, and these had that charred look-

They have a great layout in the barnyard and stables for you to get close to the animals. 

Baby pigs y'all! Just two days old and I totally get why Fern had a fit and would not let her father take Wilbur for 'fattening up'. 

Sheep are always my favorite and there were whole herds in the pasture and some in the barn too. 

There were also all sorts of chicken breeds we'd never seen before, cows, ducks, donkeys and enormous Shire horses which are beautiful too. They're a rare breed and the farm is working to keep the breed alive. 

The property is extensive but they've cut beautiful pathways all around and you can even walk out into the pasture where the sheep roam. 

And then there's the house, which is stunning. We were able to visit upstairs, the main level, and the basement too, which had quite the Downton Abbey feel. 

The library was amazing-

And of course they have their own chapel-

There are several cafes and a restaurant on site and we had lunch in one of those. There was a small drizzle or two throughout the day, but for the most part the rain held off and that's so often how it is here. It was a wonderful way to wrap up our stay in this beautiful country. 

My blog is where I 'dump' things...thoughts, pictures, opinions, memories and hopes. I know these posts have been the equivalent of inviting people over to see slides from their holiday, and I appreciate you following along. I do have a few stray thoughts that I'll mush into one more post before resuming regular life here. Have a great day everyone! 

A Poetic Hodgepodge

Welcome to October and the first Wednesday Hodgepodge of the month. If you've answered today's questions add your link at the end of my post, then leave a comment for the blogger before you. We all know comments keep the blog world cozy. Here we go-

1. Hey, it's October...what's one fun thing on your October calendar? 

We'll be traveling for a wedding later this month, we have a wine dinner on the calendar, I have a facial booked, and my women's Bible Study starts back up after an extended summer break. These are all things I'm looking forward to in October. 

2. Thursday is National Poetry Day...do you like to read poetry? If so, what's a favorite poem, or whose poetry do you especially enjoy? 

I do like to read poetry. Sometimes I try to memorize poetry and wish I'd done more of that when I was a little younger and my brain had space and ability. One of my favorite poems is  Annabel Lee by Edgar Allan Poe. My dad used to recite it from time to time, and I always think of him when I hear it. I love the children's poem Wynken, Blynken, and Nod by Eugene Field. 

In terms of more contemporary poets I love following Laura Wifler on Instagram. Her writing is absolutely beautiful (@laurawifler)

3. Tell us about something you've seen recently that could be described as 'poetry in motion'. 

I haven't seen any ballet lately, but I have seen flowers dancing on the breeze. That feels a lot like poetry to me. 

4. What's one song on your autumn playlist? Do you have an autumn playlist? If not, pretend you do. If yes, then feel free to share more than one. 

 Songs on my autumn playlist are not necessarily specifically about the season, but they do tend to be 'moody' because that says fall to me. One song on my list?  So Far Away by Carole King. 

5. Share a quote that inspires you this time of year especially. 

"Autumn shows us how beautiful it is to let things go." author unknown 

6. Insert your own random thought here.  

Spent Monday in the English countryside with our girl and her crew. A rainbow on the drive home made the sweetest ending to our UK travels. Cheers! 

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Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 571

Here are the questions to this week's Wednesday Hodgepodge, our first in October. How is it already October??? Answer today's questions on your own blog, then hop back here tomorrow to share your answers. See you there! 

1. Hey, it's October...what's one fun thing on your October calendar? 

2. Thursday is National Poetry Day (first Thursday in October)...do you like to read poetry? If so, what's a favorite poem, or whose poetry do you especially enjoy? 

3. Tell us about something you've seen recently that could be described as 'poetry in motion'. 

4. What's one song on your autumn playlist? Do you have an autumn playlist? If not, pretend you do. If yes, then feel free to share more than one. 

5. Share a quote that inspires you this time of year especially. 

6. Insert your own random thought here.  

Hullo Monday

Linking up with Holly and Sarah for their regular Monday morning chat about how we spent our weekend. Ours was fun and full. Here we go...starting with Thursday because I've told you before I feel like the weekend starts on a Thursday. 

Plus we've been on holiday so everyday is the weekend right now. 

Thursday the boys had school so hubs, Little Miss, Daughter1 and I decided to go into Cambridge and see what we could see. We've been in a couple of times since we got here, once for tea on my birthday and once for dinner at The Eagle. 

After walking the boys to school we hopped on the bus to get to the city center. It's not far, but as I said in an earlier post, the bus is easier than finding a parking space. There are 31 colleges that make up the University of Cambridge, and we started our day with a visit to the King's College Cathedral. 

Yes, another cathedral. This is England after all, and I'm here to tell you stepping inside one of these magnificent buildings never gets old. This one is particularly spectacular-

King's College was founded in 1441 by King Henry VI and is known for it's cathedral. 

Little Miss pointing out baby Jesus in the painting. She is absolutely precious. 

Also a bit of a firecracker, an excellent traveler, and so much like her momma our hearts can hardly handle it.

We came out of the cathedral and into a space known as The Backs. This is a park like area that's  basically the backside of the various colleges that run alongside the river Cam. 

We punted here one long ago Father's Day weekend, but this time we just admired the beauty. 

It was a gorgeous day. My daughter wanted us to visit the Wren Library at Trinity College so we headed that way next. Christopher Wren attended Oxford, and is the architect behind so many of England's most beautiful buildings, with this library being yet another. 

Wren Library has been open to visitors since 1695, but in 2024 visiting is only permitted between the hours of 12-2, with just 15 visitors allowed inside at any one time. It's a working library for the students of Trinity College so everyone is considerate of that. 

What a treat. I'm so glad to have seen this, something most visitors to Cambridge may not know is even something you can do. It's a beautiful space. There were students working in the carrels along the side of the room, and they all had stacks of ancient books piled high beside them. Everyone is on a computer, but pretty sure they're not taking notes from Wikipedia. 

I'd like to be a student here. 

We saw a Winnie the Pooh manuscript gifted to the college by A.A. Milne himself. He was once a student at Trinity. We saw a Shakespeare folio, and several pieces by Lord Byron who also studied here. One piece was a letter Byron had written his aunt at the age of ten, and in it he says it's the very first letter he's ever written. His penmanship is perfect. 

Remember when people wrote letters. Sigh. 

We stopped for lunch at Nandos which is an old favorite. My daughter and I reminisced about trips to Nandos in the shopping area where we lived when she was a teenager. It was like our UK Chick-fil-a fix when there was no chick-fil-a. 

It's actually nothing like chick-fil-a other than the fact that it's chicken and it's delicious. 

We caught the bus home so Little Miss could have her nap and we could collect the boys from school. We had one of our favorite dinners Thursday night, one we'd been looking forward to since we arrived. We ate at The Dumpling Tree and had our fill of crispy duck. We used to get this a couple of times a month when we lived in England, but haven't found it this way anywhere near our home in the US.

If you're not familiar this is duck (they served it sliced, but we used to get it shredded) on a small thin pancake, topped with thinly sliced cucumber, thinly sliced green onion, then finished with a dollop of plum sauce, rolled up and enjoyed. 

It's so good! We also ordered steamed dumplings (Max's favorite food), spring rolls, and a cucumber salad in some sort of sweet and sour style sauce that was really yummy. We walked home and I was wishing once more I lived where I could walk to dinner and then walk home. 

Friday the weather was supposed to be mostly rainy so we opted for an indoor activity. We got back on the bus (all of us except my son-in-law who had to work) and went back into Cambridge to visit the Fitzwilliam Museum. 

It's fabulous! And free, which is always nice. There are more than half a million objects, artifacts, and works of art  in this museum and it's all beautifully displayed and easy to view. 

They had color sheets for the kids to find various items in each room, with space to draw what they saw and everyone enjoyed the morning. 

The armor was a favorite of all the boys, but there was an entire room of porcelain I could have lingered in a little longer. We had lunch at a cute spot near the museum called Fitzbillies which is a bakery on one side and a cafe on the other. 

I had eggs benedict England style-a crumpet instead of an English muffin and ham instead of Canadian bacon. Delish! We bought some Chelsea buns to take home too. 

It was drizzling when we came out of the restaurant so we ducked under cover at Pembroke College. This is the third oldest of the Cambridge colleges, founded in 1347 by the Countess of Pembroke. It was the first college to have it's own chapel, which just happened to be open. Visitors were invited to stop in so we did-

Another beautiful space. 

We were home for naps and rest before heading back out to the main street for dinner, which was another favorite-Indian food. Hubs has been waiting for this meal since day one and it did not disappoint. We ordered poppadoms to start and the toppings were served on this cute little tabletop cart you could roll. 

We laughed about the first time we had Indian food in the UK and the server asked if we wanted poppadoms. This was 20 years ago and we had no idea what poppadoms were, but eventually hubs just said sure, bring us some poppadoms. Then the server asked how many and hubs randomly said four even though we had no clue what we were getting. England is where we fell in love with Indian food. 

Saturday morning found us back on the futbol pitch. The sun was shining but it was chilly and we enjoyed watching the boys attack and defend and improve their skills with the ball in this exceptionally well-run program. 

My daughter and son-in-law had plans for a date day/evening so after lunch they headed to catch a train into London and we were left in charge of the littles. Nana played a lot of Uno. And chess. I have not played chess in decades, but I liked it and my 7-year old grandson knows all the rules. I told hubs we need to play chess when we're back home. 

We walked around the corner and picked up pizza for dinner, got everyone bathed and eventually to bed before the parents came home. They had a nice time together, but both said London was positively mobbed, and I guess that's just how it is now. 

I will have more to say about that in a later post, but we actually opted to hang out in Cambridge and the nearby countryside instead of going back into London this trip. Everything is a lot in terms of walking, transport, laundry!, etc. and then you add three kids to the mix and you've got to include some low key hours into your life or you'll be dragging everywhere you go.  

On Sunday we walked to a nearby pub for a fabulous Sunday roast (some of us had roast beef, and some turkey) and it was every bit as good as I remembered. Potatoes roasted in goose fat and a light and airy Yorkshire pudding make this a pretty perfect meal. 

We hung out at home afterwards, I wrapped two birthday presents and a few Christmas presents I brought with me, played more Uno (!!!), sort of organized my suitcase in preparation for the trip home, and caught up on my blog. 

And that was my weekend. How was yours?