On Cloud Nine

Good Monday morning friends. I'm going to save my weekend recap post for Tuesday because today is a grandson's birthday, and you know the drill. 

In case you don't know the drill it's this-all my grands get a letter here when their birthday rolls around, and today is one of those days. 

Dear Mancub, 

Today you are nine. With every candle added to the cake you become a little more man, a little less cub, but you'll  always be the Mancub to me. The one who made me Nana and changed the way I see the world and my role in it. 

Nine years ago today we got the news that you'd arrived. It was a bit comical in hindsight, but on that day we worried your Auntie M to no end as she had been trying and trying and trying to reach us, but could not. We worried her so much in fact, that she was getting ready to phone a friend or possibly the police to drive out to our house to make sure we were still breathing. 

We were. Actually we were sleeping peacefully until your other grandmother phoned about 7 AM, her voice filled with excitement, asking how we could possibly be asleep at a time like this??? She told us she'd been awake since she got the call at 3AM!!

Uh. We didn't know? We're still not exactly sure what happened but my phone was right beside me, sitting on the nightstand with the ringer on and the volume all the way up, and your Pawpaw's phone was right beside him, sitting on his nightstand with the ringer on and the volume all the way up,  yet we slept on, oblivious. 

Apparently Auntie M (who was out in Washington hanging with your momma) had first phoned when your mom and dad went to the hospital, then several times after, then sent a number of texts, and left a couple voice mails too, but we heard nada. Nothing. Not a peep. We had 11 missed calls when we finally looked at our phones. 

We can't explain it still and to this day I say this was God's way of keeping our hearts and minds at peace while your momma was in labor with you. Once we finally woke up and WOKE UP you were nearly here. 

God is good. Hold fast to the truth of that all the days of your life. He shows His goodness in ways both large and small and often in ways we didn't expect, and for that we are so grateful. 

This year Nana and Pawpaw took you out for a celebratory birthday dinner. Just you. Your little brother and sister let us know they would love to come too, but we wanted to have some special time with just you. Don't worry, they'll get their turn, but you're the oldest so you get to go first. 

We went to a fancy place we love, and spoiled you a little with ice cold shrimp cocktail, a platter of your favorite Calamari, and a steak you declared was the best you've ever eaten. The restaurant staff signed a birthday card and left it on the table for you and there was a super sparkly candle on a fudgy brownie for dessert. 

You loved it all. We gave you your gift and told you lots of things we love about you (which by the way, is pretty much everything) and we know this will be a tradition we want to carry forward in the years ahead. 

On the drive to the restaurant I asked you some questions and wrote down your responses, and I know it will be fun to see how your answers change from year to year. 

And they will. Because you're growing up. 

We love having a front row seat to the boy you are and the man you'll one day be. You're smart. You're kind. You're sensitive to the feelings of those around you. You're curious. You're handsome. You're clever. You're the very best parts of your mom and dad and we know God has a plan for your life we can't wait to see unfold. 

Keep reading all the books, keep memorizing God's word, keep solving puzzles and building cool things, keep knocking baseballs out of the park. Keep loving your family, and caring about the feelings of those whose paths cross yours. Keep talking to Jesus and keep being you. The remarkable Mancub God made you to be. 

Know today and always your Nana loves you deep and wide xo 

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths. " Proverbs 3:5-6

Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 664

Here are the questions to this week's Hodgepodge. Answer on your own blog, then hop back here on Wednesday (July 29th) to add your link to the party. See you there! 

1. What was the last thing you celebrated? 

2 July 29th is International Day of the Tiger. Besides the wild animal itself, when you hear the word tiger what's the first  person-place-thing-whatever that comes to mind? 

3. The expression 'eye of the tiger' describes someone with intense focus, determination, and the drive to succeed. What area of your life are you currently bringing that kind of energy to?  

4. What was the last meal you cooked? 

5. Describe your July using exactly five words. 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

When The Hodgepodge Gives You Lemons

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

1. Do your goals and dreams energize or exhaust you? Elaborate. 

I tend to set smaller, more manageable goals these days, so I wouldn't say they exhaust me. In this season I want to live with intention and focus my energies on what's going to matter for eternity. I would say I do feel a greater sense of urgency about some things because time is a tickin'. For all of us actually, but once you hit a certain age you're more aware of it. 

2. July 23rd is national lemon day. Are you a fan of this flavor? What's a favorite dish or beverage you enjoy that calls for lemons? 

I love lemon flavored anything. One of my favorites. I make a lemon pasta with shrimp, a lemon garlic shrimp, sweet iced tea with lots of lemon (gotta have the lemon here!!), lemon crepes, chicken piccata, lemon bars, and good old fashioned lemonade. 

Oh and let's not forget icy cold limoncello made with lemons from our lemon tree-

3. "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade"...is this something you're pretty good at managing? Have you had to do this recently? If so tell us about it. 

I think I'm pretty good at this. I mean we don't usually have a choice, right? I'm normally that person looking for the bright side in every instance, which I think fits here. 

Now. I did have a situation not too many years ago, where I wish I'd been a bit better at making lemonade right off the bat, but will confess it took me a while to get there. Let's just say it was a learning experience and leave it at that. 

4. Something you love that is lemon yellow in color? 

The sun. Italian pottery. A bowl of lemons sitting on the kitchen counter. Daffodils.  A NYC taxi. 

5. How would you describe your attention to detail? 

Excellent if we're talking the written word. Something less than that if we're talking house cleaning. Hubs is a 10 in this department so I don't have to be. 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Who's watched  I Will Find You on Netflix? We're more than halfway through and it's good. I love Harlan Coben's books and the television adaptation of this one is well done. 

The Dog Days Of Blogging

The original saying is the 'dog days of summer' but blogging felt more appropos. I looked up the origin of the expression which has nothing to do with actual dogs and in short it means the hottest, most humid, lethargic weeks of summer, and hello mid-July. 

There's also a whole big thing about the stars and the constellation canis minor but we're too hot and lethargic to dive into that here today. 

We've been staying busy seeing friends, swimming with the grands, hosting dinner guests, and watching World Cup matches. I haven't spent a lot of writing or reading blogs either. I'll get back into a routine eventually but for now indolent feels like a very apt descriptor.

We had a nice weekend and I took almost no pictures. That's par for the course in the lazy hazy days of summer. 

Speaking of lazy...one or both of us had something every single night last week. Sometimes it just works out that way and we roll with it. For the record, hubs is better at rolling with it than me because he's a social creature and I need my pjs and 9PM  10 PM bedtime, but I rallied. 

We had our wine club dinner Monday evening, I played Mah Jongg Tuesday night, hubs was out Wednesday, clients he sold a house too took us out for a celebratory dinner Thursday night, friends invited us to their club for dinner Friday night and we had two couples here for dinner on Saturday night. We won't count the calories consumed but it's salads only this week. 

Except wait! We're not eating salad right now, are we? At least not any that contain lettuce. Bother. 

Hubs was grilling a Tri-tip on the Green Egg for our guests on Saturday and I had planned to make a salad, then thought I better shift gears. I ended up making a tomato-cucumber-avocado-red onion mix with a yummy vinaigrette dressing and that worked well. We have cherry tomatoes here and my daughter gave me cucumber from her garden so the produce felt safe. 

This is how crazy it is when you're retired. We wanted these two couples to come for dinner at our house and we had to sync our calendars way back in May if we hoped to get it somewhere on the July or August calendar. But we did it and it was a really nice evening. 

It stormed just as we were getting ready to eat and when I say stormed I mean the whole enchilada...a literal deluge with blowing winds, lightning, thunder, and just crazy. We've had a few of those this summer. 

I made the appetizer we had in a restaurant last week and it was good. My peaches were a little softer than I would have liked but still very tasty. It's simple-just peaches, proscuitto, olive oil, honey, chili flakes, chopped pistachios and a white balsamic drizzle over all. 

On Friday I was helping with a Mah Jongg lesson for some newbies and hubs took his best bud out paddleboarding. 

Where hubs goes, he goes. 

Friday night hubs and I shared these amzaing ahi tuna nachos. So good!! 

Sunday we went to church then I hit the couch. Hubs was showing a house and wanted to get in the lake after he wrapped that up, but thunder returned so we watched the World Cup final and ate leftovers for dinner. 

Nothing too exciting, but it's been nice to have time to catch up with friends. I know some people love great big gatherings, but my favorite are smaller more intimate dinners with just a handful of people at one time. Everyone can talk to everyone and it's just overall more low key. We're enjoying our outdoor space and hosting friends there and will definitely be doing more of that as we move in to August. 

So what were you up to this weekend? Something energetic or something more chill? We're always a little bit of both round here, which is how we like it. 

Linking with Holly and Sarah for their Hello Monday blog party. 

Hop over there to read more or add your own recap. 

Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 663

Here are the questions to this week's Hodgepodge. Answer on your own blog, then hop back here on Wednesday (July 21st)  to add your link to the party. See you there! 

1. Do your goals and dreams energize or exhaust you? Elaborate. 

2. July 23rd is national lemon day. Are you a fan of this flavor? What's a favorite dish or beverage you enjoy that calls for lemons? 

3. "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade"...is this something you're pretty good at managing? Have you had to do this recently? If so tell us about it. 

4. Something you love that is lemon yellow in color? 

5. How would you describe your attention to detail? 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

A Guilt Free 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 leave a comment for the blogger before you. Don't be lazy now. 

Here we go...

1. "Deep summer is when laziness finds respectability." Sam Keen

Do you feel less guilty relaxing in July than you do in January? Elaborate. 

Why does rest make us feel guilty? In this season of life I'm taking time to relax guilt free. We're not lazy people and while work is important rest is also essential. I enjoy having things on my calendar, both fun and commitment related, but I also love seeing some blank space to do nothing in particular. 

2. What's a telltale sign you're upset? 

I'm not someone who hides their emotions very well.  I cry easily and if I'm upset while talking I might cry. I try hard not to, but...

At other times I might go quiet, and since I tend to talk a lot going quiet is noticeable. 

3. July 16th is National AI Day. What are your general thoughts and/or experiences with AI? Have you purposely used it? Does it excite you, scare you, or worry you? What do you see as a benefit? How about something relating to AI you see as a negative? 

Well it's here to stay so I want to think about it at least a little bit. It's already tucked in to so many things we use every day so there's no avoiding it.  I listened to an interesting podcast recently on the topic and have linked it here (What Every Christian Should Know About Artificial Intelligence). 

A lot of people ask if I use AI to come up with questions every week. So far no, except in all likelihood something has slipped through the cracks. We just don't know (or always think about) all the spaces AI now inhabits. I come up with most questions off the top of my head. But I also have a book of questions Marilyn gave me, there are websites with questions, and I google topical issues to inspire questions, so it's a mix. 

I'd say AI is both exciting and worrisome. Like all technology there is the potential for misuse and actual evil and I'm sure we'll see that with AI too. Also I want to think and I guess the biggest negative I see is the temptation to become lazy in that department. I am rebelling against it as much as I can. 

Positives? I think if a summary is needed for something AI can be helpful and a real time saver. While it doesn't actually think it does consolidate a lot of information in a short amount of time and that's useful in a lot of instances. 

We want to take a trip out west and I was struggling with how to combine a couple of destinations without excessively long drive days so I popped my locations into AI and he/she/it? came up with a plan.  Since I'm not familiar with the geography in this particular part of the country I needed help and AI gave me a place to start.  

4. You're invited to a summer pot luck and are asked to bring an appetizer, salad/side, or dessert. Which category do you go for and what are you bringing? 

Depends on my mood, and possibly who else I know will be there. I would likely go for dessert because I like to bake and desserts hold up well in transport. 

5. It wouldn't be summer without___________________. 

A tomato sandwich, made with homegrown tomatoes right off the vine, slathered in Duke's Mayo. Yum! Haven't had one yet this summer, but it will happen soon. I need my daughter to share some of her larger tomatoes with me as we only grew cherries. 

6. Insert your own random thought here.  

So one of our state's senators passed away suddenly this week, and people are just vile. Sadly this is no longer surprising. 

I don't know how we've gotten to the point of celebrating the death of another human being in our country, but here we are. Lindsay Graham was from our local area and hubs and I met him in person once. He was really funny. Did we agree with everything he said and did? No. But he served our country in the USAF and raised his sister upon the death of their parents when she was just 13, and both of these things I do admire. 

I read a quote by Matthew Hennessey with the Wall Street Journal who said, "The best thing you can do when someone dies is say a prayer. If that isn't your thing, find something nice to say. If neither of those options works for you, there's a third option: Shut up." 

You don't have to agree with someone's politics to be decent in death. We need to do better. 

Everyday Images On A July Monday

Good Monday morning friends. July is rolling right along and I'm going to do a bit of a photo dump today, and link with the current Everyday Images photo prompts while I'm at it (hosted by Kym at A Fresh Cup Of Coffee) Kym shares prompts every two weeks and I'm typically getting mine posted just under the wire. She leaves the link up the whole two weeks, so it's not too late if you want to try these. 

I have some random snaps on my phone that need to go somewhere and a blog is a good place to save them. 

Question-Do I actually need to save pictures of my cherry tomatoes? 

I'm going to say yes. One of my favorite things about blogging is the look back at ordinary life it offers, and pictures help all the many words I use come to life. Here are the most recent photo prompts: 

~at home (monthly)~who I'm spending time with~what I'm working on~where I'm going~when I'm taking a break~why I'm happy today~signs~

at home...

We don't have a garden but we grow a few things in pots and our cherry tomatoes ripened while we were away. We're enjoying picking handfuls every day and adding them to salads or just eating them right off the vine. This picture says summer to me. 

who I'm spending time with...

Last week it was my mama as we celebrated her birthday with a fun dinner out. I haven't been with my mom on her actual birthday in a number of years, so this was special. My sister, niece, and nephew-in-law joined the party and my mom loved having family around the table. 

She had a piece of delicious peanut butter pie for dessert, with a candle of course. 

what I'm working on...

Recreating this appetizer for one. We had this in a restaurant on Saturday night and it was absolutely scrumptious. I have friends coming for dinner this weekend and I want to make this starter for them. It's prosciutto, fresh peaches, olive oil, honey, Calabrian chili flakes, and chopped pistachios, plus a little something green which I forgot to write down and now can't recall if it was mint or basil. Either would be good. 

And of course I'm always working to perfect the selfie. Not there yet. 

where I'm going...

This week nowhere. I mean here and there but nowhere out of the ordinary. Recently we went to the land where the palm trees grow-

Technically palm trees do grow in my state, hence it's nickname The Palmetto State, but these are Florida palms.

when I'm taking a break...

When you're retired you have the opportunity for a lot of breaks. Pretty much as many as you want. This is from our recent trip to the beach which I wrote about in great detail (here and here). This is definitely my idea of a break-a beautiful view and a book on my lap. 

why I'm happy today...

Many reasons, but one would be having grown up girls with very green thumbs. Daughter1 harvested these potatoes and sent a picture while we were away. I didn't get to taste them, but there's more where these came from (aka her garden) so hopefully I'll get a sample soon. 

And look at these carrots! Daughter2 dug these up from her garden last week, then made carrot top pesto which I didn't even know was a thing? She said it tastes a bit more like parsley than basil, but still a great way not to waste any of the produce.  Her kiddos were super excited to pull carrots out of their very own garden. 

signs...

This was at the entrance to the beach path at our hotel. I made sure to shuffle my feet, but we did not see any stingrays. We didn't see as many dolphins as we usually do either, but the water was clear and there were plenty of shells. 

Insert young middle aged lady with an old soul talking about birds here-

There were literally a couple of hundred of these Black Skimmers in one particular section of the beach just a short walk down from our hotel. A volunteer with the local Audubon Society was there taking pictures one day, and he told us more about them. 

I'd never heard of this particular bird before, but their lower jaw juts out and skims the water allowing them to grab fish as they fly by. This beach is a nesting place for them, and they come back every year. They lay eggs in the sand and then the parents teach the little ones how to fly. We saw several young birds trying it out which was really cute. 

A restaurant had this sign posted as we left one evening-

We miss you too St. Pete's Beach!

Linking with Holly and Sarah for Hello Monday today too because hey, it's Monday. Have a nice week everyone!