A Sandsational Hodgepodge

Welcome to the Wednesday Hodgepodge. So glad you've joined us this week. For those of you who are new, answer the questions on your own blog, then add your link at the end of my post. Before you run off, leave a comment for the blogger before you because comments make the world go round.

1."The cure for anything is salt water-tears, sweat, or the sea." (Isak Dinesan) Would you agree? Of the three, which has 'cured' you most recently?

Agreed. I cry easily and there have been many times a good cry has made me feel better. It's a release of pent up emotion and I have a tendency towards penting up, so crying can be a good thing. 

If I'm feeling angry about some little something then a good long walk or swim definitely helps take the edge off. I'm not sure if it's the sweating or the thinking I do while sweating, but either way exercise helps.  

And the sea. Well of course. Is anyone going to tell me they don't feel better about life while sitting beside the sea? Of the three, most recently the sea has cured what ailed me. 

2. What's something you can't eat without salt? Do you normally salt your food a lot, a little, or not at all?

I guess there's nothing I can't eat without salt, but there are definitely two or three foods I think need salt. Mashed potatoes for sure, and a plate of home grown sliced tomatoes are both much improved with a little salt.  

I don't add salt to my food, and we don't keep a salt shaker on the table. I salt less and less as I'm cooking these days, but if a recipe calls for salt I make an assessment as to whether its critical to the dish or not. I dislike overly salted foods and assume people can add salt if they want. I use a lot of seasonings other than salt, because I also don't like my food to be bland. 

3. Sands of time, bury your head in the sand, built on sand, or draw a line in the sand...which sandy phrase could best be applied to something in your life right now? 

I've been home exactly six days this month so sands of time is probably most applicable. What day is it again? 

4. A favorite book, movie, or song with an island setting or theme?

Anne of Green Gables is my favorite book and takes place on Prince Edward Island so I'll go with that. Another island favorite would be Bill Bryson's Notes From a Small Island. His book is set in Great Britain, which we sometimes forget is an island. 

Castaway is probably my favorite island movie, but I like Couples Retreat a lot too. 

As far as songs go? Barbados by Poco. 

5. Yesterday-did you run your day or did it run you? How so?

I'm answering these questions on Tuesday evening, which means yesterday was Monday. I was at the mercy of the airlines on Monday flying from Antigua to Miami and finally to Charlotte NC landing there at midnight. We spent the night in Charlotte before driving home today so I'd say my day ran me.

6. You're on an island holiday. Will I most likely find you parked in a beach chair, shopping in town, on the back of a jet ski, or snorkeling off the back of a catamaran?

Parked in a beach chair with a stack of books. Mostly. I was on the back of a jet ski last week and I love to swim so spend a lot of time in the water too. 

7. What do you think we humans most take for granted?

Time, mainly that we'll always have later, tomorrow, next week...

Several things have happened in recent months that remind me life is unpredictable and we need to love our people well right now. 

8. Insert your own random thought here.

Best random ever right here...I'm going to be a grandmother! Daughter1 and her hubby are having a baby this summer! We are over the moon and I'm sure to be talking about it way too much here on the blog, but I'm going to be a grandmother! 

I really want to write that in all caps. 

In my head it's all caps. 

Hodgepodge, eh?

Welcome to a middle of the week, middle of the month, Wednesday Hodgepodge! Raise your hand if you 'get' my post title today. If you've answered the questions, add your link to the party, then go say hi to the neighbors. Here we go-

1. What's your favorite time of day? Why?

Early morning. I love the quiet, the color of the sky at sunrise, and most especially that first cup of coffee. I love the way the whole day lies ahead of me, filled with possibility. 

2. Waffle iron, toaster, coffee maker, mixer, blender...which small appliance most needs replacing at your house?

Can you tell I recently attended a bridal shower? I'm going with a blender because we are currently without one. 

3. It's National Grouch Day (October 15th)...what's something that makes you feel grouchy?

I'm kind of like a toddler, in that if I haven't had enough sleep I can get a little grouchy. Also, like a toddler my move is much improved with a nap. 

Do we actually need a day devoted to all things grouchy? Hoping there's a National Be Cheerful Day on the calendar somewhere too! 

4. Ever been to Canada? Is that a country you'd like to visit? According to Trip Advisor, the top ten best destinations in Canada are-Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Quebec City, Victoria, Calgary, Niagara on the Lake, Niagara Falls, Whistler, and Halifax.Which city would you most like to see?

I've been to Prince Edward Island which I absolutely loved (and wrote about here), and then en route home we drove down through New Brunswick into St. Andrew by the Sea, St. John, the Bay of Fundy, and the Reversing Falls, before heading into Maine. It was a wonderful trip. Our friends who live on PEI have a daughter getting married next summer, so we are making plans for a trip back that way in 2015.

I've never been to any other cities in Canada, but would happily see them all. Tops on my list at the moment are Vancouver and Whistler. 

5. What was your favorite food (or one of your favorites) when you were a child? Is that still a favorite?

Bologna, egg salad, and marshmallow fluff (not all together!).  

I could not begin to tell you when I last had bologna, but I'm pretty sure it's been decades. I don't eat marshmallow fluff these days either, unless it's in the form of Christmas fudge, and even that I haven't had in years. Egg salad is still one of my favorite foods. 

6. Do you cry easily?

Yes.  I sometimes wish I didn't, but tears form pretty easily for me, both the happy and the sad. 

7. Have you started your (gasp!) Christmas shopping? If so when, and how much? If not, when will you even begin thinking about it?

I've started, mostly just a few smaller stocking stuffer gifts, but they're our favorite anyway, so important. And it wasn't so much a deliberate decision to get started early, as it was happening upon items that made me think of a friend or family member and instead of doing what I normally do...say I'll come back later...I bought. We have a wedding happening right after Christmas this year, so I feel like it would be in everyone's best interests if I'm a little bit ahead of the game in holiday preparation. See question #3-ha! 

8.  Insert your own random thought here.

I'm going to recap the bridal shower in tomorrow's post. It was too much to squeeze into a random thought, even for me. ahem. So how about I post a fall foliage shot here instead, because we can never have too many of those, can we? 

It was a gray drizzly day here on Tuesday, but the colors are glorious all the same. Here's what I see outside my kitchen window-

...outside my family room window-

...when I pull up the driveway into the garage-

"Even if something is left undone, everyone must take time to sit still and watch the leaves turn." ~Elizabeth Lawrence

Just Coasting

Otherwise known as vacation, part 2. We left PEI Wednesday morning and drove about 4 hours into New Brunswick. We were not too excited about getting back in the car but the drive was positively lovely. My husband says taking a car trip with me is like riding in King Tut's tomb. I must have all my 'stuff' around me. I need it all y'all. It's the books that tell me what we're seeing (or missing as Mr. Leadfoot zips by the little brown signs), my phone of course because as sure as I don't have it right next to me daughter1 and/or 2 will call and I'll annoy hubs trying to dig it out of my purse (or the black hole as he likes to call it). Then of course there are the twizzlers (which need no explanation, duh), maps, as in my twenty pages of google maps just in case the sat nav leads us astray. And the Atlas that is approximately 3 feet tall because I have midlife eyesight these days and because the google maps and the sat nav might both be wrong. And sat nav is gps in case you're not up on what the Brits call it.

Anyway....as we meandered along the coast we saw not one but two bald eagles overhead. My husband really wanted to see a moose on this trip and we saw alot of signs telling us to watch out! because apparently they are way bigger than our car but...sigh...not a moose in sight.

Enroute to the adorable village of St. Andrews by the Sea we stopped in a town called St. John to see what is known as The Reversing Falls. These are caused by the enormous rise and fall of the tides in the Bay of Fundy, which are the highest in the world. Basically the low tide leaving the bay runs into the new high tide coming into the bay and this combination makes a higher wave coming in so it is like a reverse fall. And it is crazy. And you can take a wild boat ride right through the middle of it all.

After we peeled ourselves away we headed on to the very quaint little village of St. Andrews by the Sea. Even the name is cute. We stayed in a pretty little inn and oh yeah, we had another lobster roll lunch sitting next to the sea. Ho hum.

I did sort of wonder how I would ever go back to a sandwich lunch??? Blech.

Thursday morning we were up and on the road again, headed to Bar Harbor Maine. Before arriving in Bar Harbor we made a short stop to see the island of St. Croix which is located in the middle of the St. Croix river and is viewed from the park across the water.

The island forms part of the international boundary between Canada and Maine. A French settlement was established here with Champlain playing a part in that and it was one of the first efforts by France at establishing a year round colony in the territory known as Acadie. You didn't know this was going to be fun and educational did you?

Still coasting....Let me just say that I always wondered about people who talked endlessly about vacationing in Maine every summer. I mean the water never really gets warm and the air doesn't really get HOT but, after two days in Bar Harbor I totally get it. It is just so utterly beautiful. The Acadia National Park is situated around Bar Harbor and there are breathtaking views and stunning scenery everywhere you look. Oh, and seafood. I don't think I mentioned the lob-stah. Fab-u-lous! We walked out on Sandy Beach in Acadia and there was indeed a real live person swimming. And yes indeed the water temperature was 54 degrees. I was in a fleece.

On this trip I was reminded once again of why I don't like visiting places filled with steep rocky ledges with my husband. Or 'the mountain goat' as he is sometimes called. He just loves to get as close to the very edge of nothing-ness as he possibly can.

And sometimes in response to my hyperventilating he'll say something reassuring like,' Don't worry....there's a big rock ledge just below." Super. So you won't plummet directly into the churning sea....your fall will be broken by a rocky ledge. Thank you. I feel much better now. Friends who know him well visited the Grand Canyon and the first thing they told us when they returned home was they were glad he wasn't with them. Not that they don't love him but they didn't think their hearts could stand the drama. It's not just me y'all.

Will this post ever end? Yes. Shortly. Bar Harbor...you should go there.

And hike the park.

And watch the birds.

And eat the seafood.

And stand above the water.

And relax.

Believe it or not I've got more. I think I will save the last day for its very own post because we may have semi-stalked a former President and our efforts did not go un-rewarded. In fact I suspect the Secret Service is reading this post as I type. I will post that on Thursday because tomorrow I'm going to participate in Linda's random meme...she posted the questions for it on her blog today so go here if you feel the need to blog your own randomness tomorrow. And if you check back here on Thursday you might just read a little something about a certain #41.

There was Plenty of Scope for the Imagination

Growing up my younger sister and I walked back and forth to elementary school. We lived about seven blocks away so we also walked home for the hour long lunch break each day. My mother would read aloud to us while we sat and ate our lunch and we shared many wonderful books this way. We all have sweet memories of those days spent sitting at our kitchen table but my favorite by far was the year I met Anne of Green Gables. My mother read the entire series to us at lunchtime when I was in the 5th and 6th grade and I fell in love with Lucy Maud Montgomery's character Anne Shirley and especially with her words. The books are filled to overflowing with wonderful words and phrases. So guess what? Last week I was here-

Yes that is me standing at the signpost entrance to Green Gables on Prince Edward Island, Canada. Honestly, when we got out of the car I wanted to burst into tears. I felt like my 10 year old self standing there.

My husband and I went on vacation last week. I know some of you who read here are thinking, 'Do these people ever stay home?' It does seem like we've been on the road pretty much every weekend since we arrived back in the states and I guess it seems that way because it's true. However, I don't really consider riding 17 hours in a rental truck only to move furniture upon reaching our destination to be an 'actual vacation'. Nor do I consider moving from one country to another to be anything remotely like an 'actual vacation' so last week we took an honest to goodness vacation. As an aside here...I think you'll be relieved to know that I'm going to write two posts about our holiday because, like Anne Shirley, I too love words.

We drove from our home in NJ alllllll the way to Prince Edward Island Canada. It felt a little bit like driving to the end of the earth but it was so worth it. We spent three full days on PEI visiting friends from the UK. They relocated back to the island a couple of years ago and it was so much fun to see their home and catch up in person. Here is the very lovely view from the very lovely deck of their very lovely home.

We arrived around dinnertime and were greeted with this-

We knew right away we'd come to the right place for a holiday. We spent our first full day on the island seeing the sights around PEI with our friends kindly acting as tour guides. We visited some cute little villages including this one known as Rustico...so charming.

We walked on Brackley Beach which is absolutely beautiful. The wind was blowing in case that's not completely apparent but it was such a nice day.

Oh, and speaking of the weather? Di-vine! My husband spoke to people in his office once or twice and the weather at home was dreadful. Yes he was on vacation and he really did do a great job at keeping the Blackberry mostly turned off. The sea is the one place he can truly relax so this was an ideal vacation spot.

We stopped around lunchtime for what would be the first of many wonderful seafood meals. PEI is known for its seafood and in particular for the mussels and oysters grown there. If you eat mussels in the US chances are good that they were grown in PEI. Coincidentally my friend L is involved in the Aquaculture industry on the island and more about that in a minute. The white buoys=mussel fields.

After lunch we headed over to Green Gables. I can't believe I actually get to write that. Lucy Maud never lived in the house but did spend alot of time there and especially loved exploring what she called The Haunted Woods and Lovers Lane. The house itself belonged to cousins of her grandfather.

Our second night in PEI my friend and I went to see the musical version of the story and it was terrific. I've imagined the characters for so long now that I was a little bit worried about the casting but the show is so well done.

If I'd done nothing but visit Green Gables I would have left PEI a happy girl but our hosts had so many great things organized for us. On our last day in PEI they arranged for us to see inside a Mussel plant which was located just at the base of the bridge leading onto the island.

It's still a very hands on process and much less automated than I would have imagined. After the mussels came the oysters. What fun this was! We went out with a fisherman on a little dory and got to try our hand at tonging the oysters. This is way harder than it looks! (Especially with a leather backpack on).

The riding in the boat part is simple but the actual tonging part...it's tricky! These tongs are seven feet long and they are heavy.

Not only did we get to try tonging the oysters but our very nice fisherman cracked them open right there on the boat and we ate them straight out of the sea. And they were delicious! And I believe the technical term is 'shucked' not cracked.

Yes, my husband did get close enough for you to see every pore in my skin -sorry 'bout that.

We celebrated our last night on the island with...you guessed it...a seafood feast. We had fresh shucked oysters, steamed mussels, fresh scallops, and corn cooked on the grill.

I could go on and on and oops, I have. I'm going to write about the rest of our trip in another post because all of the above happened and it was only Tuesday night. When it comes to my blog I think Anne said it best, "I know I chatter on far too much ...but if you only knew how many things I want to say and don't."