Falling Into The Wednesday Hodgepodge

Welcome to another edition of the Wednesday Hodgepodge. If you've answered this week's questions add your link at the end of my post. Be sure to leave a comment for the blogger linking before you because who couldn't use a little mid-week company these days? Here we go-

  

1. It's fall y'all. What's something you love about this season and also something you don't? 

Autumn is my favorite season of the year and I think there's a lot to love. The color, the light, the sky, blue jean weather, soups-stews-chili on the stove, a blanket on my lap, a fire in the fireplace, and Thanksgiving to name just a few. 

Something I don't love? Hmmm...how about election ads? 

2. When you think of the colors of fall, which one is your favorite? Is there somewhere you could easily day trip to see the leaves in all their glory? Will you? 

This is a toughie, but I'm going with gold. I loved my New Jersey backyard this time of year...

The color never got old.  The snow and ice and taxes did which is why we live in South Carolina now, but the color was a stunner. 

I live within a half hour of fantastic fall color in the Blue Ridge Mountains and would love to take a leaf peeping drive sometime this month or next. 

3. What's one thing you've let 'fall' by the wayside during this season of staying home and staying away? 

Housework. Oh the basics are getting done, but we normally have a steady stream of company in the summer months which is highly motivating in terms of really staying on top of keeping things pristine. Hubs and I home alone=not so motivating. 

4. If you're wearing a sweater is it most likely a cardigan, crew neck, v-neck, or zip up hoodie? 

A cardigan or v-neck most likely, especially if I'm seeing actual humans or we're going somewhere. For lounging around the house I love a zip up fleece. 

5. What's your secret to dealing with change? 

Less digging in of the heels, more surrender. Know that one day you'll look back and see all the ways God used change to grow you, to draw you closer to Himself. Know it's possible in hindsight, if not in present day, to  feel tremendous gratitude for this change you never wanted and were so sure you didn't need. 

6.  Insert your own random thought here.

"Live each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influences of each." Henry David Thoreau

Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 387

It's that time again, and 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. It's fall y'all. What's something you love about this season and also something you don't? 

2. When you think of the colors of fall, which one is your favorite? Is there somewhere you could easily day trip to see the leaves in all their glory? Will you? 

3. What's one thing you've let 'fall' by the wayside during this season of staying home and staying away? 

4. If you're wearing a sweater is it most likely a cardigan, crew neck, v-neck, or zip up hoodie? 

5. What's your secret to dealing with change? 

6.  Insert your own random thought here.

Yeehaw!

I'd call this post a weekend roundup except it's Tuesday.
Do we say Tuesday is part of the weekend now?

If you're retired you do.

Anyway, happy birthday to the hubs! This picture is from last year back when you could really celebrate life's milestones. No worrying about masks or hand sanitizer or gatherings of whatever size you wanted. 

Today is still his day though, and while we won't have a houseful like we did last year, won't have any daughters in the house like we did last year, or a fun lake party like we had last year, we'll still mark the occasion with a birthday dinner of his choosing and a homemade dessert. Topped with a candle because that's the law.

We had a fun couple of days this past weekend with shhh...out of town company. I feel like I need to whisper that or at least explain, because people feel free to weigh in on whatever anyone is doing right now. Rest assured we spent pretty much the entire weekend out of doors. 

Our friends haven't been anywhere and we haven't been anywhere so we decided to be nowhere together. They arrived from the Volunteer State late Friday afternoon, and hubs grilled wings on the Big Green Egg, his best batch yet if I do say so myself. We had a charcuterie board to go with and we sat on our deck and fell right back into our old ways of talking and laughing and remembering and it was so so good. 

True story-hubs and I spent nearly every weekend of our first year of married life at their house and we're all still exactly the same. I didn't take a single picture so you'll have to trust me on that. 

Wait. I did take one picture of... guess what? 

The evening sky. 

The weather was supposed to be stormy on Saturday, but the wind blew those clouds right on out of here and weather wise it was one of the most beautiful weekends we've had all summer. We spent the day on the water boating and swimming off the dock and the sun shone and it was Grand. 

Yes, with a capital G. 

I made a pot roast in the crock pot Saturday because I thought we'd have rain but it ended up being the perfect thing. I was able to enjoy the whole day outside without worrying about dinner and I don't know why I don't use my crock pot more in warm weather. Of course we dined al fresco since that's our favorite thing, and also because it's 2020.  

Our friends headed home late Sunday morning then hubs and I boated over to Daughter1's in-laws house to catch up in person, everyone on their own raft. We ended up talking and floating for hours. Summer has been so weird and we were overdue for a full weekend of lake living. 

Also we never tire of talking about all the fun things our grand boys say and do and agreeing on how completely adorable they are and how we're the luckiest of the lucky. 

Speaking of adorable...this little guy is ten whole months old.

He's still chill, still darling and daring and precious, and still 7000+ miles from his Nana. And I know the mancub would love to be here sitting on his Pawpaw's lap today, helping to blow out the birthday candles...

...but a kiss blown from the other side of the world is pretty great too. 

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

photo credit: Sincerely Shannon 

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.

photo credit: Sincerely Shannon 

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.

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. 

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.

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.

Moving Into The Hodgepodge

Welcome to the Wednesday Hodgepodge! Yep, we're still at this nineteen weeks after I brought it out of retirement to carry us through the mostly at-home time we thought was temporary. Hmmm...not feeling so temporary is it? What a world!

If you've answered this week's questions add your link at the end of my post then jump over and leave a comment for the person linking before you on the list. Or everyone on the list if you've got the time. Here we go-

 

1. Last time you moved house? Something you've learned in moving house?

We moved into our current home a little less than four years ago. 

Something I've learned moving house? Well pull up a chair because I've done some moving and I've done some learning. I looked at my blog tags and found I've written somewhere in the neighborhood of 88 posts labeled moving house so obviously a topic close to my heart.

I think the post linked here sums it up quite nicely. 

2. Move mountains, move along, make a wrong move, moved to tears, get a move on, move up, move over, move out of the way, move the deck chairs on the Titanic, move it!...pick one and tell us how it fits your recent circumstances.

Make a wrong move? What is the right move to make in the age of information overload, misinformation, non-expert experts, biased reporting, and so much unknown. 

3. What have you been doing to make yourself move (aka stay fit-active) during these strange times?

Baking doesn't count, does it? 

Yeah. There was a bit too much of that sort of 'exercise' happening in the early days of Corona, but my daughter the bride has us on a plan now and we've been sweating for the wedding side by each on the screened-in porch for the past month. Surely working out in the heat and humidity counts double, doesn't it? It must count double. We're doing a 100 day meltdown via Beach Body and let me just tell you, melt down is an accurate descriptor. 

4. This week's calendar includes celebrations for the following foods-

National Coffee Milkshake Day (Sunday), National Creme Brûlée Day (Monday), National Milk Chocolate Day (Tuesday), National Chicken Wing Day (Wednesday), National Lasagne Day (Wednesday), National Cheesecake Day (Thursday), and National Avocado Day (Friday)

Which one on the list would you be most inclined to celebrate? Which would you be most inclined to skip?

The one I'd most like to celebrate would be National Creme Brûlée Day, but see question #3. If that's off the table I'm going with the avocado because I can make that work with my m.o.b. dress goal. 

I'm most inclined to skip the lasagne. Maybe if you asked me this question in the dead of winter I'd answer differently, but with temperatures near 90 and the humidity making it feel like something more than 90 a plate of lasagne is not at all appealing. 

5. Next week's Hodgepodge lands in August! I know!! Raise your hand if you feel like July flew by in the blink of an eye? Now bid farewell to your July acrostic style. If you don't know what that means click here.

No jetting anywhere, unusual times, loud voices, yearning for hugs and handshakes and in person connections with the people we love...

J-Just
U-Us
L-Loathing
Y-this Yucky virus

6.  Insert your own random thought here.

I am loving this song-

Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 379

Rolling into another week with the Wednesday Hodgepodge. Answer the questions on your own blog, then hop back here tomorrow to share answers with the whole wide world. Here we go-

1. Last time you moved house? Something you've learned in moving house?

2. Move mountains, move along, make a wrong move, moved to tears, get a move on, move up, move over, move out of the way, move the deck chairs on the Titanic, move it!...pick one and tell us how it fits your recent circumstances.

3. What have you been doing to make yourself move (aka stay fit-active) during these strange times?

4. This week's calendar includes celebrations for the following foods-

National Coffee Milkshake Day (Sunday), National Creme Brûlée Day (Monday), National Milk Chocolate Day (Tuesday), National Chicken Wing Day (Wednesday), National Lasagne Day (Wednesday), National Cheesecake Day (Thursday), and National Avocado Day (Friday)

Which one on the list would you be most inclined to celebrate? Which would you be most inclined to skip?

5. Next week's Hodgepodge lands in August! I know!! Raise your hand if you feel like July flew by in the blink of an eye? Now bid farewell to your July acrostic style. If you don't know what that means click here.

6.  Insert your own random thought here.

Hot Hot Hotdgepodge

Welcome to this week's edition of The Wednesday Hodgepodge. It's a hot one here in the Palmetto State, hence our theme. If you've answered today's questions add your link at the end of my post, then be a good neighbor and go leave a comment for the blogger linking before you. Thanks for playing along today-

1.  Do you think the pandemic has had any kind of positive impact on your mental health? Explain.

Hmmm...I will say I've honestly appreciated the slowdown to an always busy jam packed calendar. I think too, the opportunity for rest and reflection without feeling like I should be doing a hundred other things has been good for my soul.

2. A hot mess, hot under the collar, in hot water, hot button, hot diggity dog!, hot shot, hot seat....choose one and tell us how it applies to your life currently.

I live in the southland so I'm going with a hot mess. 
As in America is a bit of a hot mess these days. 
Bless her heart. 

3. Speaking of the hot seat, do you work well under pressure or do you actively avoid high pressure situations?

If we're talking about accomplishing tasks and getting things done then yes, I work well under pressure. If we're talking confrontation then no, I do my absolute best to avoid it. 

4. Hotdogs-yay or nay? If you said yay how do you like yours? Did you know July is National hotdog month?

I do love a hotdog, make mine with mustard and relish please, except hold the hot dog because I rarely indulge these days. 

5. I read here a list of America's coolest Southern towns. They are Marfa Texas, Greenville South Carolina, Abindgon Virginia, Athens Georgia, Bentonville Arkansas, Florence Alabama, Oxford Mississippi, Abita Springs Louisiana, Wilmington North Carolina, Monroeville Alabama, McMinnville Tennessee, Natchez Mississippi.  How many on the list have you seen in person? Which town on the list would you most like to see?

Well one of these cities is near and dear to my heart and I happen to live nearby. I don't want to say which one because it's made a lot of these types of lists and is becoming something of a destination for tourists. Besides the one I'm not mentioning I've also been to Abindgon Virginia but it's been a while. 

Of the cities listed I'm most interested in Athens, Bentonville, and Oxford. 

6.  Insert your own random thought here.

"It is almost impossible to watch a sunset and not dream." Bernard Williams 

Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 378

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

1.  Do you think the pandemic has had any kind of positive impact on your mental health? Explain.

2. A hot mess, hot under the collar, in hot water, hot button, hot diggity dog!, hot shot, hot seat....choose one and tell us how it applies to your life currently.

3. Speaking of the hot seat, do you work well under pressure or do you actively avoid high pressure situations? 

4. Hotdogs-yay or nay? If you said yay how do you like yours? Did you know July is National hotdog month? 

5. I read here a list of America's coolest Southern towns. They are Marfa Texas, Greenville South Carolina, Abindgon Virginia, Athens Georgia, Bentonville Arkansas, Florence Alabama, Oxford Mississippi, Abita Springs Louisiana, Wilmington North Carolina, Monroeville Alabama, McMinnville Tennessee, Natchez Mississippi.  How many on the list have you seen in person? Which town on the list would you most like to see?

6.  Insert your own random thought here.

Hodgepodge Sweetness

We are rolling right along through summmer and the weekly Wednesday Hodgepodge...if you've answered this week's questions add your link at the end of my post, then go say howdy to your neighbor. That's what keeps the wheels a-turning.

1. The sweetness of summer...where have you found it recently? If you're in the Southern hemisphere, feel free to find some sweetness in your winter.

Well I've written three posts (so far) about summertime sweetness which you can read here, here, and here. In a nutshell though I'm finding sweetness in the beauty of nature and my adorable grandsons. 

I 'borrowed' these pics from my Daughter1. Sweet! 

2. Take your sweet time, sweet tooth, home sweet home, short but sweet, the sweet smell of success, sweet talk...choose a sweet idiom and tell us how it fits your life currently?

It's 2020, right? Then home sweet home it is. 

3. Sweet as honey, sweet as sugar, or sweet as pie, which phrase do you use when a sweet phrase is called for? What's the last sweet treat you indulged in?

Of the three phrases listed I think I tend to say sweet as pie. As far as sweet treats go, my sister and brother-in-law were here for an outdoor brunch on Saturday and my brother-in-law celebrated a birthday a few days earlier. Daughter2 wanted to bake him something, and since it was breakfast she opted for coffee cake. 

My brother-in-law likes carrot cake so she made a scrumptious carrot coffee cake with a cream cheese glaze. The best part of the cake though, was the topping under the glaze,  a buttery streusel. Yum! Sadly I did not take a picture, but you can find the recipe here. 

4. First thing that comes to mind when you hear the word fidget?

Church? I kind of remember my parents whispering down the pew for us to 'stop fidgeting'. I might still fidget a little in a church pew. I mean if we were actually having church in church instead of online, then you might find me fidgeting. Church from my couch not so much. 

5. Share with us one of your favorite childhood travel memories.

I have quite a few, so it's hard to choose just one. We did not travel the way people travel now. Travel was a treat and not a regular occurrence, which is perhaps part of what makes those trips memorable. 

One of my favorites was a road trip from our home in the Garden State all the way to East Tennessee.  We were dropping my sister off at uni and visiting colleges along the way too as my brother was starting his Junior year of high school. 

I guess I must have been almost 11 and my younger sister was almost 10. We didn't book hotels ahead of time, and we kids begged my dad to stop at various lodgings based solely on the look of their pool. I think he mostly obliged. 

It was also my very first trip to the Smokies, Gatlinburg, and a place some seven years later I'd call my home. In fact I'd marry me a Tennessee boy, but of course nobody had any inkling of that back then. Back then we were all about a hotel with a great pool. 

6. Insert your own random thought here.

People are so creative...did you see this story of the 14-year old girl from Libertyville IL who has done chalk drawings featuring her 9- year old little brother every day during quarantine. So clever!! You'll find the link here.