Thursday Sorts Of Things

That's code for unimportant, only slightly interesting, random thoughts. And since it's Thursday I'll aim for thirteen -

1. I had to buy a new phone yesterday. I've been putting off a trip to the 'phone store' in much the same way I put off a trip to the dentist. Nearly as aggravating.

Here's how it went down-I called the day before and made an appointment. The gentleman confirmed my requested time and asked what I was interested in purchasing. He said I should ask for him by name when I came in (for the sake of this story we'll call him J) and he'd have the phone I wanted out and ready to go. Great! Yay! Perfect!

Also too good to be true.

When we arrived at the phone store nobody knew anything about a scheduled appointment and J wasn't even there. He'd gone home an hour earlier. I feel like this is par for the course when you go to purchase a new phone.

On the bright side, J's stand-in was super helpful and even managed to switch my plan to something less expensive with better service so I guess in the end I'm glad J was a slacker-ha!

2. On the less than bright side I spent an hour today trying to get my screen protector registered. It only required three live chats with the manufacturer and one call to Verizon.

3. Let's randomly change topic now because this is a list of completely unrelated stuff. I recently started an exercise class with some women in my neighborhood.

4. In case there's any confusion, I didn't start the class as in create the class. I started the class as in I attend the class. If you know me you weren't confused. ahem

5. In other activity related news, I've been playing Pickleball. Have you ever played Pickleball? I'm still learning and there are a lot of rules (I think you know how I feel about rules), but I'm enjoying the game a lot.

6. I guess you could say it's a cross between tennis and ping pong. For the record, I stink at tennis but I play a mean game of ping pong. The racket? paddle? is graphite, slightly larger than a ping pong paddle and the ball is similar to a Wiffle ball but its a Pickleball ball. We play on a tennis court with Pickleball markings which are slightly inside the tennis lines so less running. Whoohoo!

7. I still seem to end up running a lot.

8. When I told my Daughter2 I was playing Pickleball and that I really liked it she said, and I quote,

'That's great Mom because you're not, you know...' 

Not what? Coordinated? Ha-she's right! But I am getting a little bit better every week.

9. Course we didn't play this week because it was raining. I mean RAINING!! Again. Still?

10. Boating season is winding down but hubs and I did squeeze in a ride on a sunny 65 degree day a couple of weeks ago.

Yes I'm in jeans and a vest because even when it's sunny there's wind when you're moving. Hubs would want me to tell you he was wearing shorts and a t-shirt. 

11. Nothing nicer than leaf peeping from the water on a blue sky autumn day.

12.  I am a fan of the big blue heron.

13. And autumn in general.

"Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting and autumn a mosaic of them all." ~ Stanley Horowitz

A Wednesday Medley

Howdy. It's been a while. I say that nearly every time I come here but that doesn't make it any less true.

Once upon a time I hosted a blog link up on Wednesdays. It was a warm and friendly group and we really got to know one another through this little mid-week party. When I retired The Wednesday Hodgepodge, a blog friend who had been participating for years picked up the baton and has carried on posting questions for bloggers to answer every Wednesday.

This is the first time I'm getting round to it, but I need to jump back in somewhere. Since random is my writing love language today feels like that day. If you'd like to play along visit Terri at A Friend From Florida for all the deets.

Here we go-

1. With the holidays coming, what is your most essential appliance to help you prepare for the celebrations?

I won't be cooking Thanksgiving dinner this year as we're celebrating the holiday with Daughter2's future in-laws. The groom's mama is a wonderful cook so I'm excited for turkey and all the fixins'. Do they say fixins' where you live? I like the word and it feels appropriate when we're discussing  Thanksgiving dinner. 

I will be cooking Christmas dinner in my own house this year, and there will also be an abundance of cookie baking happening in the weeks leading up to the big day. I'm going to say my range is my most essential appliance. I love it, particularly for baking. The confection setting allows me to bake six trays of cookies at the same time, and each tray is evenly cooked. No turning trays or shuffling pans around. Definitely a plus if you bake a lot of cookies. Or have a Daughter who bakes a lot of cookies. 

2. What is your favorite (clean) word?

Hodgepodge of course. 

3. Are you a good judge of character?

I guess so. I'd like to think so anyway. I also think it's easy to misjudge people so I'm big on granting second chances to make a first impression. 

4. What is the last thing you took a picture of?

The view from the corner of my screened-in porch on a wet autumn day-

We love to eat out here, but that hasn't happened much lately. We've had a wet fall but it's still gorgeous and it's not snow so not complaining. 

5. Tomorrow, November 15th, is Clean Out Your Refrigerator Day. How do you intend to celebrate?

I guess I'll clean out my frig which is something that needs doing on a pretty regular basis. Actually my frig isn't too bad at the moment, so I think it might be more of a Clean Out Your Freezer kind of day here. 

6. Tell us something random about your week.

It's nice to see so many familiar 'faces' in the Wednesday Medley. Thanks Terri for keeping us moving forward! 

Pretty As A Picture

It's a gray and rainy Monday here in the upstate which means it's the perfect day to share a few engagement pictures. Credit for all these gorgeous shots goes to photographer extraordinaire Chris Isham.

Did you take engagement pictures when you got married? I don't think that was a thing in the 80's, or if it was I missed it. We took wedding photos which were lovely, but seriously posed. Today's photographers aim for less stiff, more natural movement which I like so much better.

Engagement pics seem to happen mostly outdoors, either in a well loved city or out in nature somewhere. Daughter2 and her fiance enjoy hiking and the mountains so that seemed the perfect choice. Their reception will be in the small big city so we'll have downtown shots on their wedding day.

The bride told the photographer they'd love a mountain shoot and mentioned how much she loved a location he'd used in another bride's session. He liked that idea a lot, but then said if they were game he had an even better spot.

'Do you mind driving out a little bit'? 

No, she didn't mind.

Okay then. This spot is 2+ hours from town so 'just a little bit out' -ha!

Totally worth it though-

I feel like this next one could be a print advertisement in Town and Country Magazine-

One more...they look like they're on top of the world here-

Because they are.