Thursday, August 27, 2020

Three Things August

Since I can't talk about the weather every day I decided today I'd participate in this fun little hop I saw on Rebecca's blog (Knit By God's Hand). It's a nod to another month winding down, the good, the bad, and the ugly. The plans, no-plans, and the cancelled plans too since it's been that kind of summer. Bonus! You get to hear what I've been eating and googling this month. You're welcome.

Also, I think we know I could (and probably will) talk about the weather every day.
It's gorgeous here at the moment btw.

Okay,  here we go-

Three things I like about August
1. Sunday evening sunset kayaking with the neighbors
2. my knockout roses still a-bloom
3. it's almost my birthday : )

Three things I dislike about August
1. flies-they've never been a problem before but this summer they're a nuisance. Thanks 2020.
2. chaos, law-breakers, and violence in America's cities
3. we're still not doing much in person with our people

Three goals for the rest of August (guess I better get busy-ha!)
1. buy a birthday gift
2. mail a baby gift
3. finish the book I'm reading-Irreversible Damage by Abigail Schrier.

Has anyone read this one? It's really disturbing and it's non-fiction.

Three things I thought I'd use more this year
1. my car
2. my calendar
3. my guest room

Three things I never thought I'd use as much this year
1. ZOOM
2. hand sanitizer
3. a face mask

Three things I'm into right now
1. FaceTime with the grands
2. Home Chef
3. Coffee with the sunrise from my back deck


Three things I've googled lately
1. best baby/toddler board books
2. home owner's insurance comparison quotes
3. matching family Christmas pajamas

Three foods I've survived on in Corona summer
1. watermelon (let's be honest...this is what I survive on in non Corona summers too)
2. home grown cucumbers
3. tomatoes right off the vine...so thankful for my daughter's in-laws who've kept us well supplied

Your turn...leave me a comment if you play along. And if these questions don't suit you feel free to change 'em up.






Wednesday, August 26, 2020

The Dog Days Of A Summer Hodgepodge

Welcome to another edition of The Wednesday Hodgepodge. If you've answered today's questions  add your link at the end of my post, then be sure to leave a comment for the blogger linking before you. That's how the Hodgepodge rolls-






1. The Hodgepodge lands on National Dog Day this year (August 26th). Do you own a dog? Did you have a dog when you were growing up, or maybe some other kind of pet? Would you say you're more of a dog person or a cat person? Neither is okay too : )

Do we own a dog? Trick question-ha! Technically no, but we have two living with us and one will likely stay on as ours once our daughter and her family return stateside. We haven't set that in stone, but he's so happy here and loves the lake so I imagine he's going to stay with us for good. 



Plus they might have to wrestle hubs down to get him back even though he sometimes makes us a little bit crazy. Don't all dogs sometimes make you crazy? 

Daughter2 will be taking her sweet pup with her into married life many states away. 



And we'll cry in the driveway because her dog never makes us crazy. 
Well almost never. 

I grew up with a dog in the house and am definitely a dog person. I'm allergic to cats. 

2. Last time you felt 'dog tired'?

That's extra extra tired, right? Utterly exhausted as opposed to the normal 'age I am' kind of tired? I probably haven't felt dog tired since the Asia jet lag we experienced back in the fall. 

Although there was one morning this summer hubs and I pulled weeds in the high heat and ridiculous humidity and I pretty much felt like I'd been run over by a truck the rest of the day. 

3. It's said you can't teach an old dog new tricks. When did you last prove this idiom true or prove it wrong?

I feel like I mostly prove this true, but every now and then I figure out some trick of technology (usually with a lot of help from my girls) and when that happens I feel like I could rule the world. It's the little things people.

4. A favorite book, television show, or movie featuring a dog. Why did you love it?

Without a doubt my favorite dog book is Where The Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls, which I've sobbed through more than a time or two. Pretty sure to qualify as a good dog book tears should be shed in the reading. 

Why do I love it? It's an old fashioned-never gets old story of a ten year old boy and his coonhounds living in the Ozark Mountains, which sounds like it might be boring but I assure you it is not. The writing is so wonderful and the story nestles right into that part of your heart where the memory of childhood remains. You really just need to read it for yourself. 

5. Last time you had reason to (literally or figuratively) exclaim 'hot diggity dog'?

This phrase is defined as an exclamation of surprise or delight so I'm going with earlier this summer when our soon-to-be son-in-law asked Daughter2 to be his bride. Hot diggity! 


6.  Insert your own random thought here.

The weather, like so many things this year, has not been super stellar. Still we are taking advantage of pretty sunset skies when we can and Sunday was one of those days.


In 2020 find beauty where you can. 



Tuesday, August 25, 2020

Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 383

Here are the questions to this week's Wednesday Hodgepodge. I think you know the drill, but in case anyone is new I'll go ahead and re-state the 'how-to's. Answer the questions on your own blog, then hop back here tomorrow to add your link to the party.  See you there!



1. The Hodgepodge lands on National Dog Day this year (August 26th). Do you own a dog? Did you have a dog when you were growing up, or maybe some other kind of pet? Would you say you're more of a dog person or a cat person? Neither is okay too : )

2. Last time you felt 'dog tired'?

3. It's said you can't teach an old dog new tricks. When did you last prove this idiom true or prove it wrong?

4. A favorite book, television show, or movie featuring a dog. Why did you love it?

5. Last time you had reason to (literally or figuratively) exclaim 'hot diggity dog'?

6.  Insert your own random thought here.

Thursday, August 20, 2020

Time Passages

In yesterday's Hodgepodge I asked readers what they were doing five years ago, and decided I'd make that more or less the subject of today's post. When not a lot is going on in your corner of the world you have to reach a little for blog content.

After I asked the question it occurred to me that we've been at this whole Corona mess for five long months (feels like years) so I started wondering what we were doing just prior, and decided to take a peek back at that too.

Five months ago...we were in the first few days of everybody stay home !!! Stay far and away from everybody else in the entire world including your own extended family !!! Now in our house we'd been discussing the virus for a solid two months prior as it hit South Korea hard in January. A friend reminded me yesterday how we'd had a conversation back then, so concerned about my daughter and her family, never imagining we'd be in the same boat just a short time later.


Five months ago hubs and I drove home after spending a long weekend with friends in Florida. Things were open when we headed down, but closed by the time we headed home. The shutdown happened almost overnight. We ate lunch at Chick-fil-a coming back and it was only their first or second day of strictly take out. Of course Chick-fil-a is awesome and handled the upheaval like it was no big deal.

I don't know if anyone imagined in March we'd still be slogging through this insanity five months later, yet here we are. Who's over it?

Five years ago...I wrote a post entitled Retirement Day 187. Currently we are in Retirement Day 2000 so I guess time really does fly when you're having fun. By the way, it's going swimmingly.


Except for the pandemic and the unrest across America and the general nastiness online and the no travel-no-houseguests-no making plans, but other than that it's going swimmingly.

Five years ago we took a fun trip up the East Coast to attend a friend's daughter's wedding.


We drove from New Jersey to Prince Edward Island Canada and thoroughly enjoyed eating our weight in lobster rolls, the staggering beauty of Maine and PEI, and in-person time spent with real life friends.


Also, five years ago I apparently still took pictures with a good camera and not just so-so pictures with a phone.

I would so love to jump in the car and take a road trip somewhere new and pretty and not give a thought to hotel cleanliness, gloving up to pump gas, masking up to get out of the car, or doing math to calculate how many gallons of hand sanitizer we'd need for the journey.

Five years ago we sold our house in New Jersey and spent six weeks living with my mama before heading south. I'm sure she was ready for us to take all our stuff and get on with things, but five years later would give anything to have us back in her house for six weeks.


Six days even.
I haven't seen my mom in person since January.

While we were living with my mom our old and beloved dog died. Five years later her name is still mentioned on a fairly regular basis with an ache in our hearts and smiles on our faces.


NJ winters could easily last into summer, but this photo wasn't actually taken in August. I like it though, and it is five years old. This beautiful pup was something else and when she was gone we said we'd never have another. Letting them go is too hard and we travel too much and have too much company and blah blah blah.


About that same time Daughter1 brought a puppy into her Washington State home and now that puppy is a five year old dock diver living his best life on a Carolina lake. Go figure. And his mama is raising our two favorite boys on the other side of the world, which is something else we didn't see coming five years back.


Five years ago we moved from New Jersey to South Carolina. Not to this house, but to a cozy apartment just across the parking lot from Daughter2's cozy apartment. Those were the days!


Well maybe not really 'the days' because it wasn't a huge amount of space, and we were so anxious and excited to get this house built, but also yes it kind of really was 'the days'. Apartment living meant we didn't have to think about home maintenance and repairs, dock maintenance and repairs, boat maintenance and repairs, catching beavers before they destroy the landscaping, and a host of other assorted bits and bobs that go hand in hand with home ownership.


Then again, there were no early morning lake sunrises where the sky turns pink before your very eyes, no magical light dancing on the water, no boating to dinner, no big porches for napping and reading and enduring this weird season that in 2015 we didn't know was coming, and for that I'm grateful.

Five months may have dragged, but five years have flown.
Time is funny like that.

"The best thing about the future is it comes one day at a time." 
attributed to various speakers...true for us all

Wednesday, August 19, 2020

High Five From The Hodgepodge

Welcome to this week's edition of the Wednesday Hodgepodge. If you've answered the questions add your blog link at the end of my post, then leave a comment for your neighbor on the list. Here we go-


1. Five years ago this month hubs and I relocated from New Jersey to the Palmetto State. What were you doing five years ago this month?

I mentioned we moved, but when I glanced back at my photos I saw a few other things were happening too. I have some thoughts so instead of writing a short answer here I think I'll make this the subject of my Thursday post. Why use fifty words when you can use 250? 

2. What was the last 9-5 job you worked? Tell us about it.

It has been a long time since I've worked a 9-5 job. The last full time job I held was serving as the Director of a local church preschool in the state of Maryland. To put it another way that was four moves ago. 

I loved it though. I remember standing in front of a crowded sanctuary filled with parents, and telling them I was leaving. I got so teary I could hardly speak. It was a job that was well suited to my temperament and training, the people were wonderful, and it was a really nice place to work. 

3. Plead the fifth, high five, take five, it's five o'clock somewhere, or the big 5-0...which number five phrase relates to your life in some way currently? Tell us how.

Hmmm...maybe the big 5-0? I wrote a whole post about that decade here (Check Engine Light), and with another big birthday coming up fast I suppose the calendar turning has been on my mind.  

4. During this season of spending so much time at home, what distractions get in the way of being your most productive? Or have you been extra productive since this whole thing started?

Definitely not standing in the extra productive camp. I need a little pressure to get things done and the past few months have (in a sense) been pressure free. No deadlines, no company coming, no trips  to plan, nothing to shop for...everything feels like it can be done another day.  

I do meal plan, grocery shop, cook, and all the basic household chores get done, but I'm not one of those people who've learned to speak Italian, took up painting, or reorganized their attic just because they've had a lot of time to fill. I'm more of a let's read a book on the porch kind of pandemic survivor. 

5. Give us a list here of your top five anything.

Not sure if this is my top five, but here are five Instagram accounts I enjoy following, all pretty much politic-free. I am so over that side of social media. 

Chateau de Gudanes-the ongoing restoration of an old chateau set in the south of France. 
Cristin Cooper- a semi-local instagrammer sharing southern style, home and all things beauty
Half Baked Harvest-NYT best selling author of HBH Super Simple Cookbook
National Trust -protecting special places and outdoor spaces in the UK
Ruth Chou Simmons-mom to six boys, artist and author, founder of @gracelaced

6. Insert your own random thought here.

Life feels like a whole bunch of random lately, which is maybe why I've been struggling to fill this question #6 space the past few weeks. We had friends come for dinner Tuesday night (on the patio because 2020) and I made a delicious creme brulee for dessert. How's that for random? I use the recipe found here.






Tuesday, August 18, 2020

Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 382

Here are the questions to this week's Wednesday Hodgepodge. Answer on your own blog, then hop back here tomorrow to share answers with all the other world wide webbers. See you there!


1. Five years ago this month hubs and I relocated from New Jersey to the Palmetto State. What were you doing five years ago this month?

2. What was the last 9-5 job you worked? Tell us about it.

3. Plead the fifth, high five, take five, it's five o'clock somewhere, or the big 5-0...which number five phrase relates to your life in some way currently? Tell us how.

4. During this season of spending so much time at home, what distractions get in the way of being your most productive? Or have you been extra productive since this whole thing started?

5. Give us a list here of your top five anything.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

Thursday, August 13, 2020

2020 Tom Foolery

It's been a couple of weeks since I've blogged anything more than the weekly Hodgepodge, so thought I'd play catch up here today. Talk about what's been been going on in our little corner of the world.

So what has been going on?

Well there's a pandemic. Did you hear? Ha! Whew. It's getting old, isn't it? I heard someone say it's starting to feel like a heavy wet blanket across the shoulders and I think she's right.  Today when I got up I thought, "I need a day off." From what though? It's not like we're doing all that much but I feel like I need a day off anyway.

Earlier this week, or actually I guess it was last week, but who really knows because everyday is a lot like the one before, and a-ny-way...I opened the sliders to greet the morning, steaming cup of coffee in hand, took a deep breath, and yuck. The air smelled so fishy.

We live on what is one of the cleanest lakes in all of North America and it never ever smells fishy, but this day it was definitely smelling fishy. I looked out towards the dock and saw a huuuge turkey vulture eating breakfast, right there on our shoreline.

Raise your hand if turkey vultures kind of skeeve you out? Yeah.

I told hubs he needed to walk down there, because I don't care if it is 2020, investigating and dealing with dead stuff is a man's job. It was in the handbook we were given when we said I Do.

There wasn't a handbook, but I do have a mental list of rules and this is one of them, which hubs knows so he walked down there and then yelled for me to bring the camera. Hmmm. I yelled back, 'Is this going to be something I can't unsee?' and yes it was, but I brought the camera anyway.

Y'all. This vulture was chowing down on the biggest catfish I've ever seen. His head was the size of a basketball and with his mouth wide open he looked even bigger. Hubs dealt with it, but all I could think about was how a vulture casually dining on the worlds biggest catfish right in my backyard is pretty much 2020 in a nutshell.

Let's change topics. We had an earthquake. I know! We were sitting on our deck early Sunday morning and we felt the rumble, the deck shook a little which was a bit disconcerting, and our hanging lanterns started swaying. It lasted long enough to make you think, and we found out later a quake measuring 5.1 on the scale had it's epicenter about three hours from us.


We also were treated to a rainbow last week which I guess balances things out. We've had so many rainbows this summer, so many crazy rainstorms where the sun keeps right on shining, I guess even the weather doesn't know which way is up right now. I do love a rainbow though, and while this one wasn't quite as vivid as the last it was still so pretty. After the weather cleared hubs and I hopped on the boat to catch the sunset because we knew we'd get a good one.


We were right.

This has nothing to do with the weather or unusual occurrences (unless you count people coming over for dinner as an unusual occurrence), but we had some friends come for dinner Monday evening (outdoors of course) and I baked this salted caramel butter cake that was as delicious as it sounds.


I took this right after I poured the caramel butter sauce over the cake, and after it cools you remove it from the pan and drizzle the top with a salted caramel syrup. So good! You can find the recipe here. 

In other delicious news, this little guy is all of nine months old now and he is such a joy.


Big brother started a little preschool program two mornings a week and we are just loving watching them both grow and learn and discover something new about the world every day.


The distance stinks, and hubs and I might throw tiny little pity parties for one another now and then, never in the same moment though, which helps. My daughter is wonderful about keeping us connected, which we appreciate more than words can say.


Sunday evening we kayaked with a few neighbors over to a nearby island because you never ever tire of sunsets on the lake and this one was a beauty.


The temperature was perfection, the night quiet, and the lake still. With every exhale you feel your cares float further and further away.


When life is fragile and uncertain it helps to know the One who sets the sun.

Wednesday, August 12, 2020

In The Middle Of The Hodgepodge

Yup. Still here. Still smack dab in the middle of a strange season, still at that thing we know and love called The Wednesday Hodgepodge. If you've answered this week's questions add your link at the end of my post. Then be a good neighbor and leave a comment for the blogger linking before you since that's what good neighbors do. Here we go-


1. August 12th is National Middle Child Day...are you a middle child? If not, where in your family do you fall in terms of birth order? Do you hold true to the typical characteristics of oldest-middle-youngest-only child? (A quick list can be found here) Elaborate.

Am I a middle child? Sort of. What's the middle of four? I'm the third child, but the middle daughter so I think that qualifies. 

As far as holding true to the characteristics of the middle born, I'd say mostly yes. I'm for sure a peacemaker which seems to be a trait common to all the lists I checked. I'm also independent, make friends easily, know the importance of alone time, and can sometimes be a tad melodramatic. I know how to negotiate and compromise, but will add that I cannot recall ever feeling left out in terms of my family. 

2. Tell us about a time you felt like (or you actually were) in the middle of nowhere.

I read something a journalist I follow (Salena Zito) said when reporting on the last election and it was this-

"...In my estimation, there is no patch of geography in this country that is the 'middle of nowwhere'. This is America; everywhere is the middle of somewhere." 

It was an interesting reflection on how the people living in the middle of America, in a multitude of ways, are regularly and unfairly maligned as being 'less than' the people who reside in our large coastal cities. 

Anyway, back to the question...there have been quite a few places but probably standing in the middle of the moors back in 2007 tops the list.  



It seemed like hubs and I might be the only two people on earth. 

3. What's something you're smack in the middle of currently?

Besides a pandemic? Wedding planning. The two live side by side in 2020. 

4. What's a food you love to eat that has something delicious in the middle?

The first thing that popped into my head was an ice cream sandwich so I'll go with that. A jelly donut would be a close second. 

5. Share a memory from your middle school days, or junior high if that's what your school dubbed kids somewhere between grades 6-8.

Back in the day we called it Junior High, and in our town that meant grades 7-8. In grade 6 you were still in the elementary school and you were king. Grade 7 brought you back down to earth. I disliked grade 7, but cannot tell you precisely why. Everything was awkward and confusing. Somehow the world was right side up again by the time grade 8 rolled around. 

Thankfully my mom did not include a bunch of pictures from that era in the scrapbook she made me, but here's one for you...



Appropriately I am in the middle. The one in the pink mini skirt with legs the size of toothpicks. 

6. Insert your own random thought here.

I have a collection of random thoughts (in my head) that I planned to compile into a blog post on Monday, but then Monday came and went and now here it is Wednesday and I still haven't gotten to it. I'm thinking Thursday is the day, so my random thought currently is I don't have a single random thought today, but if you pop back here tomorrow I'll have more than a few. 

Life, time, and blogging are all a little wacky in the age of Corona. 



Tuesday, August 11, 2020

Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 381

Here are the questions to this week's Wednesday Hodgepodge. Answer on your own blog, then hop back here tomorrow to share answers with the universe. See you there!


1. August 12th is National Middle Child Day...are you a middle child? If not, where in your family do you fall in terms of birth order? Do you hold true to the typical characteristics of oldest-middle-youngest-only child? (a quick list can be found here) Elaborate.

2. Tell us about a time you felt like (or you actually were) in the middle of nowhere.

3. What's something you're smack in the middle of currently?

4. What's a food you love to eat that has something delicious in the middle?

5. Share a memory from your middle school days, or junior high if that's what your school dubbed kids somewhere between grades 6-8.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

Wednesday, August 5, 2020

Schooled in The Hodgepodge

Welcome to this week's edition of the Wednesday Hodgepodge. If you've answered today's questions add your link at the end of my post then go leave a comment for the blogger linking before you. There's the bell....

1.  What's happening where you live in terms of schools opening? How do you feel about it?

Currently schools here are set to reopen in about three weeks with both in-person and virtual options. Families have to commit to one or the other for at least a semester.  God bless the teachers navigating all the unknowns, fearful parents, angry parents, normal first day of school jitters, and so much ??? 

How do I feel about it? Well I don't have children in school so in theory the plan shouldn't affect me at all. However this goes down though, I think we all will eventually feel the ripples, perhaps even a few big waves. Teachers, parents, kids of all ages, and the people in charge are in my prayers right now. 

2. What's something you still do 'old school'?

Use a paper calendar, send real greeting cards, bake from scratch...lots of things. 

3. August 4th is National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day. Will you/did you celebrate by baking a batch? Eating a batch? Nuts or no nuts? Homemade or store bought? Soft and chewy or do you prefer your cookie to snap when you bite into it?

First things first, homemade all the way! Soft and chewy and skip the nuts. Course if you've already added nuts I won't say no. Actually oatmeal chocolate chip are my favorite. 

While I like the idea of baking a batch, I definitely wouldn't eat a batch. I'd eat just one. Or two. Maybe three. 

4. What are you starved for?

Peace in our cities. 

5. Anything new and interesting on your August calendar? What is one thing you're looking forward to this month?

Honestly no, but that's okay. It's summer and we're enjoying the lake,  a lot of porch sitting, dinners from the grill, moonlight, casual weirdly spaced get togethers with one or two friends and neighbors at a time, all outdoors where everyone brings their own everything to keep it cootie-friee. Perhaps one day we'll look back and say, 'well that was interesting'. 

6.  Insert your own random thought here.

Has anyone read American Dirt? What did you think? 



Tuesday, August 4, 2020

Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 380

Here are the questions to this week's Wednesday Hodgepodge. Answer on your own blog, then hop back here tomorrow to share answers with all your friends and likely a few random strangers too.


1.  What's happening where you live in terms of schools opening? How do you feel about it?

2. What's something you still do 'old school'?

3. August 4th is National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day. Will you/did you celebrate by baking a batch? Eating a batch? Nuts or no nuts? Homemade or store bought? Soft and chewy or do you prefer your cookie to snap when you bite into it?

4. What are you starved for?

5. Anything new and interesting on your August calendar? What is one thing you're looking forward to this month?

6.  Insert your own random thought here.

Monday, August 3, 2020

Check Engine Light

In other words...welcome to your fifties.

Relax, it's not all bad but there are a few things that catch you by surprise when you hit your fifties, and number one on my list would be how things don't work the way they've always worked. How you go to bed feeling perfectly fine and wake up with some inexplicable ache or pain that in our house are dubbed 'sleep injuries'.

I've written posts about my 20's (here), my 30's (here and here) and my 40's (here), and wanted to hit this current decade before the next rolls in. Barrels in? Eases in? Really hoping it eases in, but since this is 2020 it will probably barrel.

Also, lest anyone's confused, my birthday is NOT today. Carry on.

Once you turn 50 your temple is in need of some significant maintenance, starting with your roots that abruptly and quite rudely need tending all the way down to your mysteriously aching feet. The bigger thing though is there's this thought that niggles at the back of your mind, slowly making its way forward and you kind of scratch your head and think, wait, what? I'm not old. Am I? You have to admit you're not exactly young either, and you need to make peace with that.

It's a process and I bucked and kicked a little at the start. It took me a couple or four years to find my rhythm with this new age, new season, new me that's still the old me inside but definitely not the old me in the mirror, at the eye doctor, or the gym, the salon, the dermatologist or a host of other places.

We're always being told you can do anything, be anything, it's never too late....but when you hit your 50s you know that's not quite true. Yes you can, and I think should, step out of your comfort zone at any age, learn something new, be bold and be brave, but also there's your back to think about and how you like going to bed at a decent hour and why can't I remember a person's name when I only met them five minutes ago?

In writing these decade posts it's been interesting to look back and see what all transpired in the course of ten years. I started my 50's with the most fabulous fun surprise weekend in one of my favorite cities on the planet-New York.  I wrote about it here so won't rehash that now, although I wouldn't mind reliving it in person one day.


When everyone calms down I mean.

At the start of my new decade we were living in the wilds of Northern NJ, a hop skip and jump from the Big Apple. One daughter was a very recent college grad embarking on a career path, and one daughter was still a college student. Nothing makes me realize a decade's come and gone in a flash more so than reading back that last sentence.


I loved my girls college years, their friends, having them at home for breaks, long talks in the kitchen as we cooked holiday meals together, maybe not so much the moving them forty gajillion times in ridiculous heat and suffocating humidity, but those years were awfully sweet in terms of watching them become full fledged adults.

While in my 50's our extended family experienced the devastating loss of one we held so dear and it marked these years in a way very few things can. I was reminded over and over during this decade that God truly is near to the broken hearted.

Time has a way of steam rolling ahead. My girls finished school, one added a Master's Degree to her resume and one married, birthed two babies, moved to the other side of the world.


We retired relatively young, and I say we because even though hubs was the one who retired on paper,  we're a team and we both had to figure out what our new everyday would look like. Also, we moved south and built a house which wasn't aggravating or stressful at all. Ha!


I've traveled a lot in my 50's, made lots of new friends, still treasure the old who knew-me-when, and drum roll...I was given the best title in the world-Nana. Be still my heart.


And now it looks like I'll be rolling in to the next decade during a pandemic.
With a side of crazy because people have lost their ever lovin' minds.

As the decade winds down I can say I've grown accustomed to the new old me. Some days there's still a level of frustration at not being able to jump high and fly fast because in my head I can still jump high and fly fast, but mostly I like knowing God isn't finished with me. That He gives me new mercies every single day, more chances to be a better wife-mother-sister-daughter-friend than I was the day before.

I drop that ball a lot, but I keep picking it up, re-planting my feet forward. If there's anything I've acknowledged in my 50's its that time is fleeting and you never get it back.

So I rage against time, not with botox and plastic surgery, but with grace and forgiveness for others yes, but also for myself because that's where true contentment is born.

I wake up every morning and before my aching feet hit the floor I sing to myself an old camp song...'this is the day that the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it...'  Some days the WILL! has to be capitalized and exclaimation pointed, but in this season I know with a certainty I haven't felt since my 20's, that how you view your life is a choice. I choose joy.


I want to be grateful for the gift of each new day and for the long list of things I love starting with my hubs who has retained his boyish charm, my beautiful daughters who are solid in their faith, their compassion, and their integrity, granchildren who light up every corner of my heart, and the beauty of creation right outside my window.


The proverbial 'they' say 60 is the new 40 and since I absolutely loved my 40's I'm saying cheers to this next new decade looming large in my front window.

Saturday, August 1, 2020

Saturday Summertime Sweetness

The world is a bit of a drag these days, but rest assured there's still sweetness to be found. Catching up on some of that goodness here today and not mentioning the long list of things making me crazy. It's a choice y'all.

Let's roll it all the way back to last weekend when we trekked over to a semi-nearby South Carolina town and my daughter's future in-laws. Fun fact-both my girls m-i-l's have the same first name.


Anyhoo, celebrations in the age of Corona are a lot of work and a bit of a brain drain. The hostess has to think about a thousand little details that would never have occured to anyone in the pre-virus days of hosting parties.


Things like space between tables, disposable towels in the powder room and disposable masks too for anyone needing to come inside. How to serve food without anyone actually touching the utensils (a masked server with a gloved hand because hi it's 2020), and of course the weather is a worry because we need to be outdoors and it's a bazillion degrees in July, and we want people to come, but not too many people and whew! It's a lot.


Flowers and hand sanitizer as seen on Pinterest. Well maybe not but it should be.


In spite of all the hurdles daughter2's future in-laws did a wonderful job of making the whole event feel so special and I know the bride and groom felt well loved and well celebrated.


Even the sky on our drive home was cheering them on.

The soon-to-be-marrieds came back to our house for a couple of days and spent most of that time packing up Daughter2's belongings for her move north. Not going to elaborate on that because this post is all about sweet things, remember? I might mention it some other day when I'm telling you about all the things that make the mothers of grown children simultaneously sigh and smile, but that day is not today.

We enjoyed a lovely leisurely dinner one night at a place on the lake, and I'm here to tell you going to dinner by boat is definitely sweet.


The sun was setting as we motored home and it was an all around picture perfect evening.

Tuesday hubs and I met neighbors for tacos at a spot we enjoy. You eat at wide tables on the patio and the servers wear masks and it's not completely normal but it did feel almost normal. As normal as things can feel in this very strange season.

Speaking of not normal we've had some wicked storms this week, but the upside to all that is this-


God keeps His promises.

Yesterday hubs and I packed a picnic lunch, loaded up the boat, and headed to one of the beachy islands in our lake. There are many, but we'd never set up in this particular spot before and we loved it.  All tucked away in a cove away from boaters and people and everything.



The weather was sunny, hot, and humid aka perfect for swimming, fishing, and reading...


Forgetting for a moment all the turmoil in this upside down world and counting our blessings instead.