Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Over Here-in the Wednesday Hodgepodge Vol 21

Welcome to this week's edition of the Wednesday Hodgepodge, the day we link our answers for all the world to see. If you're visiting today from the A-Z blog challenge you'll find today's letter in #8. And you're very welcome to join the Hodgepodge today or any Wednesday. Answer the questions on your own blog and then link back here at the bottom of my post.


1. National Read a Road Map Day falls on April 5th. Would people say you have a good sense of direction? Do you rely on a GPS when you drive somewhere new? When was the last time you used a map?

Ha. I might win the prize for absolute worst sense of direction in the Hodgepodge today. I am directionally challenged. I think either you've got a good sense of direction or you don't and I don't. I'm not sure how I got along before the sat nav (GPS) became mainstream...probably used my head more. I had to read a map just recently but I can't remember where we were going. (see! I told you!) Actually I'm not great at the map thing either because reading a map + the motion of the car=feeling green.

I feel I must add here that after almost 27 years of marriage and literally thousands of trips with me at his side my hubs still can't believe I don't know where I am or where I'm going much of the time. He says crazy things like, "Just look where the sun is in the sky." Huh? And, "We were just there yesterday...how can you not remember which road we took?" And, "I think you might have trouble finding your way out of a paper bag." He's right. Incidentally...there is no prize in the Hodgepodge.

2. What's your favorite cookbook?

I may have a bit of a cookbook obsession so this one is really hard. Two that I use often would be Feast by Nigella Lawson and The Barefoot Contessa At Home. I also love Junior League cookbooks which are typically best of the best sorts of recipes. And my girls gave me a cookbook for Christmas from a restaurant in SC that we love called Soby's (New South Cuisine)...beautiful pictures to go with delicious recipes. Their shrimp and grits are the absolute best!

3. What painting would you like to 'walk into' and experience? Why?

"Le Jardin de Monet, les iris" by Claude Monet

Claude Monet (1900) Musee d'Orsay, Paris

Why? Well, for starters, if I were 'in' this painting I'd be standing in a beautiful garden in the lovely French village known as Giverny...Monet's Garden paintings were taken from his own garden. Mostly though, there is something about a beautiful garden that inspires and soothes and speaks. See #8.

4. What annoys you more-misspellings or mispronunciations?

I find them both a teensy bit annoying but mispronunciations are the worst. If a person mispronounces a word all I can think about is that word. Forget whatever it is they're trying to tell me...in my head I really want to correct them. We all have our issues, don't we?

5. What is something your mother or father considered important?

Living with integrity. That is also important to hubs and I.

6. Do you like or dislike schedules?

I like schedules but I love flexibility. I make a schedule for myself most days...it helps me accomplish tasks that I'd put off otherwise and it helps me feel productive. I can let go of the schedule when needed though and I have no trouble living free as a bird when we're on holiday or when someone calls and says 'Lets do lunch.'

7. Let's have some fun with National Poetry Month (that would be April)...write your own ending to this poem-"Roses are red, Violets are blue...."

Roses are Red
Violets are Blue
I am more than ready
To bid winter adieu!

If you'd like to read the history behind that little ditty you'll find it here.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

I'm using the random thought today as my A-Z blog challenge post...you can read about that here or click on the A-Z button on my sidebar. It's a lot to write two big posts in a day so I'm giving myself ( and you too) a break on Wednesdays. Or at least this Wednesday. Plus today's letter is E and it's obvious I'm going to say E is for England, right? Instead of a long wordy blurb here (oops-too late) I'm going to post a picture that makes me supremely happy-


Our English garden. There is a quote I read once that says this-

"Many things grow in a garden that were never sown there." Thomas Fuller

I don't know if Mr. Fuller meant that in the literal sense but I like to think of it another way. When I consider all the life lessons I learned while living overseas I realize that many, if not all of them, were examined and contemplated and absorbed while sitting in this beautiful garden. I am quite certain my whole family feels the same.

31 comments:

  1. Just look at where the sun is in the sky?!?!
    He's talkin' jibberish!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I have the same issue with cookbooks. The painting is gorgeous! And I think we should "do lunch." What's 1200 miles?

    ReplyDelete
  3. That's YOUR garden? Stunning!!! And I can so see why you'd want to be inside the Monet painting. Roses are red, violets are blue, we love our irises and Impressionism, too.

    I am so w/ you on mispronunciations. I can't concentrate on anything the person says after their mistake.

    It was the "mispronunciation" part of your hodgepodge questions that let me see see how I could do double-duty with this meme and the E word of the challenge today. Thanks! Cuz two long blog posts would probably NOT get read, so why write them?

    ReplyDelete
  4. I used to get sick while reading in the car, then I read in the Reader's Digest that if you hold the book up in front of you and not look down, you won't get sick. It works!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh I love your poem! This weather is starting to get me down. Looks like alot of rain in the forecast. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE your English garden.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I chose Monet too....there is nothing like one of his paintings. I also misread question number 4. Both of them drive me nuts....I am a language teacher....so I picked a third one. LOL...some teacher I am. Loved the garden in England picture. I love England, Ireland, etc.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I have no sense of direction as well - I also want winter to leave but we are having rain and rain melts snow this is GOOD. Great questions and great post. Thank you Joyce.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I need GPS now living in a rural area landmarks are far and few between. Turn left a the goat farm if you get to the haystack turn around. In Utah I had the mountains to guide me e/w/n/s etc..here I'm clueless! Monet is my favorite...I love visiting Monet's gardens in Paris my favorite. Have a wonderful Wednesday!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Must get to Paris. Hubby has been, but it never worked that I accompany him. Monet has always spoken to my soul, and so sometime in the future I will make the pilgrimage!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hello from your directionally challenged equal! I know exactly how you feel!!!

    I also know what you mean about getting hung up on the mispronounced word and missing the rest of the conversation!LOL

    I absolutely love the photo of your English garden. What a beautiful place!

    Have a great day, I'm off to the rheumatologist with my daughter. It's her first visit.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I really almost used one of Monet's pieces for #3! I love the impressionists' work, and there's something so restful and soothing about Monet's landscapes.

    Thanks again for hosting this fun meme!

    Have a wonderful Wednesday!

    ReplyDelete
  12. That painting is really a wonderful place to "be" in.
    I`m enjoying some quiet time in Asuncion, before I hit the shops. Hope you`re warming up soon!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Know how you feel-I swear-I have no sense of direction and when I go by a landmark-they change it. Loved the pic of your garden.

    ReplyDelete
  14. What a beautiful garden! Thanks for hosting, glad I found some time to join you again this week:)

    ReplyDelete
  15. I don't know, I might be pretty close to you in being directionally challenged! I am so happy for the invention of the GPS!

    That Monet painting is lovely, as is the garden photo at the end.

    I am about the same with schedules.

    Love the poem! We've had a few springy days, but it is cold again this morning. Not as bad as in some places, but enough to turn the heat back on.

    ReplyDelete
  16. My obsession isn't with cookbooks, but with dessert cookbooks. I have maybe 3 "regular" cookbooks. But cookbooks with a focus on cookies, cakes, and desserts in general are my weakness.....

    I am so with you on your Roses are Red poem!

    ReplyDelete
  17. I'm not much on reading maps either, partly because I also get sick reading in the car. My husband thinks I'm nuts because I have to turn the map so it's facing the way we're driving. Does that make sense?

    ReplyDelete
  18. Yeah, my sister says the same thing about the sun in the sky thing. I can't do it either. ha

    Love your answers and the questions were a lot of fun this week. Thanks for doing HodgePodge for us.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Ahhh...your English garden is lovely!!! You have had the most amazing experiences, Joyce!!! What a fortunate woman you are!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Oh, I love that Monet painting. Gorgeous!

    ReplyDelete
  21. Sorry you can't read a map. I know that the sun in the sky would do me no good! Love the garden, absolutely perfect. Enjoyed reading your answers, enjoy the rest of your week.

    ReplyDelete
  22. #4-I hadn't really thought about it, but I hyper-focus on mispronounced words, as well. Our pastor always mispronounces 'frustrated' by saying 'fustrated'. When this happens I can't focus on anything else. Sometimes I can't even tell you what he said after that point.

    ReplyDelete
  23. I love your English garden, and I absolutely adore the Hodgepodge! Thanks so much for doing it--otherwise I probably wouldn't be posting at all! : )

    ReplyDelete
  24. I think we tie for #1..LOL
    I would love to sit and relax in your English garden. It is beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
  25. I almost chose that Monet painting too, but decided that putting a person there would ruin the peacefulness... stange but true.

    I love your E-post English gardens are one of the things that I miss the most about living there, especially now that we live in Las Vegas where the only thing you can grow are rocks.

    ReplyDelete
  26. The english garden is beautiful. Oh to sit out there with a book under the sun with a glass of lemonade.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Newest follower! I hope you will follow me back :)
    http://madeofsnails.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  28. We picked different paintings of the same place. How funny!

    ReplyDelete
  29. Well, I feel so much better knowing that someone else is as "directionally challenged" as me. Goodness, it is pitiful!

    Ah, Shrimp and Grits sounds like a good Southern recipe. Yummy!

    Happy Wednesday!

    ReplyDelete
  30. I love your answers, especially #1. Have a great week.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Good stuff. I may be late to the party, but I'm going to try to join this hodge-podge.

    ReplyDelete