Just Like That Groundhog...

The Hodgepodge keeps popping up here every Wednesday. 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. Otherwise we'll have six more weeks of winter.  

Here we go-

1. The Wednesday Hodgepodge landing on Groundhog's Day sounds about right. Besides the Hodgepodge what else lands on your calendar just once a week? Is it as much fun as the Hodgepodge-ha!? 

I attend a Women's Bible Study every Wednesday morning and volunteer in a local soup kitchen every Thursday. Are these activities as much fun as the Hodgepodge? Pssht...nothing is as much fun as the Hodgepodge, is it? 

2. The Winter Olympics begin on Friday, surrounded by much controversy. Will you be watching? Why or why not? Have you ever been to China?

Let's start with the easy part...have I ever been to China? Yes. Not Beijing, but Shanghai which I thoroughly enjoyed. That trip was ten years ago and the world was not what it is today. 

I feel for the athletes who spend their whole lives preparing and have no control over where the Olympics are held. But y'all I also feel for the Uyghurs who have been placed in 're-education camps' while the world stays mostly silent. Didn't we decide that wasn't who we wanted to be all the way back in 1944? 

These days it is so hard to weed out the truth in our news, but if the stories coming out of these camps are to be believed then what are we doing? Then there are the issues of Covid, the athletes privacy, etc. Ugh. The Olympics rightfully get 24/7 coverage most years but I am not sure how much, if any, I will watch. 

3. Something in your life lately that has felt a bit like an 'olympic event'? 

Not to sound like a broken record, but I might need a medal when these house projects wrap up. Assuming they wrap up. They're not even huge, just painstakingly slow in getting everything that needs getting, and then installing everything that is eventually gotten. I ranted about mentioned it in my post Monday. 

4. Do you like fondue? Sweet or savory? Restaurant only or do you own your own fondue set?

I do like fondue, particularly if it's served in a charming French ski town high in the Alps. My kitchen is okay too I guess. We never go out for fondue, and rarely make it at home. For a while we made fondue on New Year's Eve and that was always fun, but we haven't done that in several years. I have two pots, one is traditional and one is designed for chocolate. If I can only have one I want the cheesy kind, and now this post has me thinking we need to have a fondue night. 

5. Give us five short (2-3 word) phrases to sum up your January. 

Brrrr....

Let's write

It's a BOY!!!

Let's read

Beauty in a winter sky

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

I made a delicious parsnip-butternut squash soup Monday evening using this recipe from Love As Food. Y'all. I am not a food blogger, nor will anyone every mistake me for one. When I cook I'm a bit of a mess, my kitchen is a mess, and I forget to take pictures. 

Except one. I took one. 

We both loved the flavor, really really tasty. I loved the texture of the soup but hubs wanted it thicker so I'll adjust something next time. Also, the recipe says to use your blender and it seemed like my immersion blender would work just fine, but see note above about my messy kitchen. Next time I'll use my big blender. 

Happy February to you all! 

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Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 450

Here are the questions to this week's Wednesday Hodgepodge. Answer on your own blog, then skate back here tomorrow to add your link to the party. 

Side note-I've signed up for a #28daywriting challenge hosted by Anita Ojeda. She's keeping it simple, just post something every day in February. I'm not great at that everyday thing, but since I'm working to develop discipline, focus, and consistency in my writing I'm giving it a whirl. 

And also giving myself a break on Tuesdays or Wednesdays, since I already host this weekly link-up. I'm posting Hodgepodge questions on Tuesdays and answers on Wednesdays, which may not always be deep but they are fun. It counts. Hop over to Anita's site if you want to know more about the challenge. 

Now back to your regular programming-

1. The Wednesday Hodgepodge landing on Groundhog's Day sounds about right. Besides the Hodgepodge what else lands on your calendar just once a week? Is it as much fun as the Hodgepodge-ha!? 

2. The Winter Olympics begin on Friday, surrounded by much controversy. Will you be watching? Why or why not? Have you ever been to China?

3. Something in your life lately that has felt a bit like an 'olympic event'? 

4. Do you like fondue? Sweet or savory? Restaurant only or do you own your own fondue set?

5. Give us five short (2-3 word) phrases to sum up your January. 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Adventuring Into The Hodgepodge

Welcome to our end of September Hodgepodge. So glad you've landed here today! If you've answered this week's questions add your link at the end of my post. And before you run off say hi to your neighbor on the linky list because being neighborly is what it's all about.

  

1. What pets did you have while growing up? Tell us a little something about them.

We had a wire haired terrier for most of my growing up years. I think she was about six years old when we got her from a friend's neighbor. The woman had remarried and her husband said he was allergic to dogs. I remember going to their house to pick up the pup and her son was sobbing as we drove off with their dog. Still not sure the new husband was actually allergic to dogs. ahem. 

Misty was already very well trained by the time we got her, and while all dogs have one bad habit or another overall she was a wonderful pet. One of my favorite memories of her was the time we came home from church and she came slinking down the stairs, playing it all cool and nonchalant. She was a terrier so had a 'beard' and stuck to the side of her beard was one of those gigantic lollipops my sister had gotten at a fair. The whole thing was stuck to the side of her face, stick and all. 

She loved to play Frisbee, ride with her head out the car window, and 'try' to drink from the hose. She lived to the ripe old age of 16 and was loved to the end.  

2. What is one thing you absolutely must accomplish today?

Groceries! And I need to finish booking hotels for an upcoming trip, change the sheets in the guest room, reschedule a doctor's appointment, and answer the Hodgepodge questions of course.  

3. Where were you ten years ago? What were you doing there?

Ten years ago hubs and I were living in a little village outside of London. Daughter1 was here in SC beginning her sophomore year of university, and Daughter2 was home in England with us just starting her senior year of high school. High school! Whaaaat???

Italy, Summer 2007

I spent my days volunteering with the American Women's Club, the PTA, and Young Life. Also traveling, lunching with friends, hiking in the pastoral English countryside, drinking proper tea, popping into London at least once a week, and pinching myself that this was my life. 

4. September 26th is National Dumpling Day. Did you celebrate? Apple dumpling, xiaolongbao (steamed Chinese dumpling), chicken and dumplings, pirogi, matzoh balls, or gnocchi...which dumpling on this list would be your dumpling of choice? Have you ever made homemade dumplings of any kind?

I didn't celebrate, but am not opposed to it either. I'm a fan of everything on the list but xiaolongbao is my favorite.  I think I had an order every day we were in Shanghai.  

I've made apple dumplings and homemade gnocchi but it's been a long while since I've made either. 

5. 'There are two kinds of adventurers: those who go truly hoping to find an adventure and those who go secretly hoping they don't.' William Trogdon

So which kind are you?

I think we know which kind I am-ha! Actually here's my answer-I'm an adventurer who goes secretly hoping they find adventure, just not too much of it. 

6. Insert your own random thought here.

The new TV season has begun...what are you watching? We typically don't watch a lot of TV here, and as a result I'm often out of the popular culture loop. I'm okay with that by the way. 

We watched the season premier of  The Good Doctor and hubs and I both really liked it. We'll keep watching. I'm also recording Navy Seals and thought the first episode was just okay, but we'll stick with it for now. 

Daughter2 and her boyfriend like Survivor and she's convinced me to give that a try this year too. Hubs and I watched for several seasons way back when, but haven't seen it in years. The teams this season do look interesting-heroes, healers, and hustlers-so maybe I'll give it another chance. 

My secret guilty TV pleasure is The Making of the DCC. My girls and I all watch it and we love it. I may give up on the NFL, but I do like to see the intense competition that goes on in trying to become  one of the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders. It's nearly over for this year, but I'm sure it's available somewhere. 




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Sky Blue Hodgepodge

Welcome to the Wednesday Hodgepodge! Grab your coffee or your tea or your ice water with a slice of lemon and settle in for a chat.  Be sure to add the link to your own answers at the end of my post.  Here we go-

1. When I look at the sky I feel ______________________________________.

...anything is possible. 

I'm completely enamored of the sky. A soft summer blue, a deeply royal cloudless October, a pale hopeful white it's gonna snow in January...they all make me feel quite a lot. 

2. If you had to run for political office, which one would you run for? Do you have any real desire to actually do this?

Sometimes I feel so frustrated with our government I think I'd like to get in there and do something, but isn't that how most politicians begin? Then somewhere along the road from idealism to accidentally-making-it-a-career they lose sight of why they ran in the first place. Not all, but most. I'm for term limits.  If there were term limits, then maybe.

When I think of which office I'd run for, I'm stumped. School board? No. City council? Even at the local local local level of government politics seems to rule the day, so no. Mayor? Maybe I'd start there. If I were starting anywhere. Which I'm not. Next question.

3. What scent makes you think of home?

freshly mown grass, laundry right out of the dryer, a turkey roasting in the oven  

4. How often do you take a step back to think about where you're headed in life? Do you need more or less self-reflection?

I think in this empty nest stage of life a bit of self-reflection is warranted. Too much is never a good thing, but I do like setting goals, knowing my purpose, and figuring out new ways to use my gifts, no matter what season of life I'm in. 

5. July is National Ice Cream Month...besides a cone, what's your favorite food item to top with ice cream?

I'm going with a brownie. A scoop of vanilla ice cream atop a warm brownie is one of the best things I know. I haven't had a brownie in eons, but when I do it will be topped with a scoop of vanilla.  

6. What might your autobiography be called?

If I tell you now, you won't be surprised when I write it. 

You think I'm kidding. 

I have a title, I just need the story, and it wouldn't be so much an autobiography, as a memoir. That's as far as I've gotten. 

7. Your least favorite mode of transportation? Why?

Ferries. 

Why? I don't know what it is about ferries, but I cannot ride one without wanting to lose my lunch.  I'm always pretty susceptible to motion sickness, but ferries really do me in. 

Here I am on the ferry from Capri to Amalfi. It was chilly up top, but I'd ridden over down below and (barely) lived to regret it. I told hubs I didn't care what the weather was doing, I was making the trip back to Amalfi up top. He thought he was hilarious taking my picture, and I look a little mad, but I'm not. It was blowing a gale and water was pelting my face. My stomach was a-okay though, and that's all I cared about in that moment. 

Here I am (barely) recovering from a ferry ride to an island off the coast of Hong Kong. I'm the one nursing a Sprite. We rode a ferry over to a fishing village. 

That smelled like fish. 

Which is not what you want to smell when your stomach is rebelling against a ferry ride.  

So yeah, ferries. 

8.  Insert your own random thought here.

So it's that time. Time to begin the great mother-of-the-bride dress hunt, and I'd like you to weigh in on something. If the bridesmaids are in long gowns should the mothers be as well? Or can we wear short without breaking some kind of unspoken law of etiquette? The only request my daughter has is that we both wear the same length. She doesn't want me in short and his mom in long or vice versa.