Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Bridging to the Hodgepodge

I realize that in nearly every post I've written in the past month
or four,  I've mentioned the fact that I'm dealing with a very full calendar, and not enough hours in the day. But y'all...it's true. And I'll probably keep talking about it because I cannot believe we're already a week into May. Our weather didn't get the memo, and yes of course I'm also still yammering on about the weather because y'all! It's just barely spring here! And it's May!

Okay, enough shouting...how about a short weekend recap before I post this week's Hodgepodge questions? You can scroll on down to the questions if you must, but why would you?

I was supposed to fly home from South Carolina last Wednesday which would have given me a couple of days to get ready for weekend company, except my flight was cancelled due to-you guessed it-the weather. It was raining buckets here so my brother in law was the lucky duck who got to get up at 4:30 AM on Thursday to take me to the airport. I was home by 10 am, but essentially useless the rest of the day.  Not quite, but almost.

Friends we met in the UK who now live in TX were in the city last week, so on Friday afternoon they trekked out to the NJ countryside to see why the Garden State is called the Garden State.  They still don't know because spring has forgotten us.


We had a wonderful visit anyway. I took them to lunch at our local pub (rather they took me) and hubs ducked out of the office early, so he got to the house about the same time we did. Our friends had been to Eataly the day before so they came bearing Italian deliciousness including cheese, olives, prosciutto, and good bread. Everyone needs friends like these.


Saturday we drove them back into the city, and it was a beautiful day. We stopped at the apartment they were staying in, which coincidentally belongs to another couple we knew in the UK, so that was a fun quick catch up. The other couple had plans with family so they couldn't join us for the afternoon, but the rest of us decided to take advantage of the sunny skies and walk across the Brooklyn Bridge.


We rode the subway over to the bridge, which isn't as bad as non-New Yorkers imagine, and proceeded across the bridge with a whole lot of other people who had also experienced a little too much winter and not enough Vitamin D.


There is a lot going on as you traverse the bridge. The walking portion of the bridge is above the roadway so you're not dodging traffic, and the bridge itself is a pretty piece of architecture. About midway across you're treated to a nice view of the Statue of Liberty.


There are literally hundreds of locks attached to the bridge, the kind you put on a school locker back in the day. Attaching a lock to the structure is a tradition started on a bridge in Rome, and has now spread to other sites around the globe.


Visitors to the bridge "lock up their heart, and throw away the key'.
Literally into the East River.


Romantic, no?

Walking the Brooklyn Bridge is on my list of 101 in 1001 (see link in sidebar), and along with that I said I wanted to eat pizza at Grimaldi's, which is under the bridge on the Brooklyn side. Apparently I am not the only one with a list because have mercy! the queue to get in was ridunkulous. We scooted on down the sidewalk to another Italian place, and had a lovely meal there instead.


Since we couldn't eat at Grimaldi's we decided to make up for it by visiting another well known spot-The Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory. Everyone should have an ice cream cone eaten under the Brooklyn Bridge on a sunshiny blue sky New York afternoon. The best part is you have to walk back so in essence you've earned it, right?

Okay, for those of you who made it through my 'short' weekend recap, here are the questions to this week's Hodgepodge. See you back here tomorrow to share answers!


1. Share something you appreciate (or something you appreciated as you were growing up) about your mother.

2.  A quote most commonly ascribed to Plato reads "Necessity is the mother of invention." When did this last play out in your own experience?

3. Share one of the earliest memories you have from childhood.

4. When did you last 'hit the mother lode'? What was it?

5. What is/was your favorite dish mom made? Do you make that dish for your family/friends now that you're all grown up?

6. Mother May I? was at one time a popular children's game. It required no equipment or parts to play. What was your favorite childhood game where you could just turn up and play-no gear needed?

7. Which TV mom (past or present) is your favorite, and why?

8.  Insert your own random thought here.

16 comments:

  1. Looks like a wonderful weekend with friends! Have a great day!

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  2. Sounds like it was a nice weekend. CYA tomorrow. Blessings

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  3. I'm thinking that if you are not on a vitamin regime that you had better get on one ! You are such a busy woman and when you get into "wedding mode" you will really be busy.

    What a way to spend a weekend, can't even imagine have such lovely places nearby. Thinking we need to make a visit to the area as it is one of the few places we have not visited.

    Happy day!

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  4. Hi Joyce! My name is Heather and I wanted to know if you could answer my question about your blog! Please email me at Lifesabanquet1(at)gmail(dot)com :-)

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  5. I hope the spring weather comes your way. Here in OH, we have sun with the prediction of the temperature rising to 82° on Thursday. Hopefully this will move in your direction.
    Your weekend with friends sounds like it was very nice. Have a good week.

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  6. Looks like you had a great time with your good friends, and isn't that what friendship is all about?! How wonderful that they got to visit.

    I've been walking down a nostalgic lane all week in my blogs, so this Hodgepodge falls right in line with this week's posts! Thanks, as always, Joyce!

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  7. What a fun time shared with friends! Really makes me want to visit NYC now more than ever! See you tomorrow for Hodgepodge!

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  8. Definitely a busy week as well as a busy weekend. I enjoyed the visit to the Brooklyn Bridge as well.

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  9. Ashley lives fairly close to the Brooklyn bridge. Its on my bucket list also. Still waiting for the warm weather...I still think its cold here.

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  10. Hi Joyce,
    I have been meaning to comment here for awhile now. Congratulations on daughter1's engagement. I have been following her love story and was overjoyed to see that he popped the question. :) Life looks busy and full of happy times for you. Our son is graduating in about a month and plans for his graduation party have just about overtaken my life. It's coming along, though. I hope to get back to blogging one day. Hmmm.... we'll see. I sure miss it!

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  11. What a fun little fact about the locks attached to the bridge! This looks like a wonderful day out with 'old' friends!

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  12. I had no idea that the lock tradition is being carried onto the Brooklyn Bridge. I need to do that next time i'm in NYC. We have Grimaldi's here in Dallas area and its not my favorite. Lots of dough and not enough toppings to the edge. I sound picky i know. Great weekend for you.

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  13. May is super busy for us and I'm looking forward to it. Then in June I'm off to Florida for a few weeks and then 3 days after I return home we go to Mammoth Lakes, CA. I love the goodies they brought you. I see Miss Liberty, I hope to see her in person someday. Love the locks, I've seen them in Paris. What an awesome visit you had and how nice to see some other friends that you had in the UK also.

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  14. Oh my thanks for that ice cream link in Brooklyn! We're going to NYC next month and I will definitely go there! :) Have a great week! Happy moms day to you!

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  15. Very interesting about the locks. I've never heard of that tradition before. I can see how they might need to remove them once in awhile because the weight could probably become a problem. I'll have to do some investigating to see if it occurs anywhere around here. Sounds like you had a great weekend! Thanks as always for hosting.

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