Wednesday Hodgepodge Mardi Gras Style- Vol 17

Welcome to the Wednesday Hodgepodge and our own little Mardi Gras...be sure to add your link to the bottom of my post and click around to see how the rest of the internets answered...

here are mine-

1. The season of Lent begins on March 9th this year...do you participate and if so, in what way?

I didn't grow up in a denomination where 'giving something up' was common, but I can appreciate the meaning behind that idea. I do like to focus my head and heart in the days leading up to Easter so I usually find a devotional to read that is geared towards that. This year I ordered a book called Bread and Wine-Readings for Easter and Lent which is a collection of writings featuring C.S. Lewis, G. K. Chesterton, Martin Luther, and more.

2. Traditionally pancakes are eaten on the day known as Shrove Tuesday which is the last day before Lent (March 8th this year) So....butter and syrup? Blueberry? Chocolate chip? Ewwww, no thanks!! What's your pleasure when it comes to eating pancakes?

I like pancakes any old way but blueberry are my favorite. With syrup and a side of crispy bacon. Did we have pancakes last night? No, but if we had they'd have been blueberry.

3. Spring is coming. (It is coming, right?) What's your favorite springtime flower and do you suffer from seasonal allergies? That's two questions I know but they're lightweights.

Tulips...I love them and they are one of my favorite flowers period. I bought an unusual bunch in the market the other day...green and really lovely!

I've always had seasonal allergies but this year I don't even care...I am so ready for spring I say bring on the Allerest and the Visine AC and the sunshiny warm weather please.

4. "Our opinion of people depends less upon what we see in them than upon what they make us see in ourselves." Author unknown. Agree or disagree? Why?

There are definitely people in my life who cause me to take a hard look at myself but certainly not everyone I know falls into that category. And I think when I am immediately drawn to a person its not necessarily because of something in me...it's generally due to some quality they posses. That quality could be something I lack or something I have in abundance.

I guess what I'm saying (see, even I don't know what I'm saying) is that for some of my relationships the quote rings true, for others it does not. Does that make sense? I hope so because answering this one strained my brain.

5. Since it's "March" and also the season of Mardi Gras...have you ever been in a parade? What's the best parade you've ever seen?

I've never marched in a parade but my favorite ones to watch are the slightly hokey home town 4th of July celebrations. I think of all those summers spent living in small town Maryland sitting on the curb with my little girls as the fire trucks and swim teams and scouts passed by. Candy was tossed, balloons were set free and miniature flags were waved to the sounds of a high school marching band....

Oh be still my heart.

Once the parade wrapped up we'd head to the pool for an afternoon swim before packing a picnic dinner and making our way over to the Naval Academy grounds..a

nother parade, this one with marching military men...

Afterwards my girls would comb the grass in search of four leaf clovers, turn cartwheels in the setting sun and hula hoop until it was dark....

We'd snuggle close together on a blanket and watch fireworks rain down on the beautiful Severn River.

I love a parade.

And summer.

And blonde headed blue eyed little girls.

6. You would jump up and down and shout for joy right now if someone told you_________?

...those same sweet girls, now fully grown, were standing just outside my front door.

7. How clean is your car on the outside? Inside? Is there junk in your trunk?

Have I mentioned the weather here lately? Yeah. Rain, snow, and sleet combined with salt on the highways do not a clean car make. We have rain with a chance of snow forecasted for Thursday so I'll probably wait until the weekend to have it washed. The inside isn't bad although it could use a good "Hoovering" due to the aforementioned rain, snow, sleet and salt you encounter everywhere you go around these parts.

For the record-there is absolutely no junk in my trunk.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

My mother in law has a birthday this week. I wrote a post about her this time last year which you'll find here...go ahead and click over...you know you want to.

I'm blessed in the m-i-l department...Happy birthday m-i-l!