The Weekend

In a word drenched. 

But Friday was beautiful. Sometimes the day before a storm has some of the best weather. Actually let's back up to Thursday since that's the weekend on my blog. 

The whole week was busy but it's a month for ticking things off the to-do list I suppose. On Monday (because I guess I'm backing all the way up to Monday now) I had labs done in preparation for my yearly physical. Since I was in the city I made a stop at Costco and picked up a few essentials. It was crowded and I made a mental note to avoid shopping there whenever possible until after the holidays. 

Hubs sent me this picture he snapped on the way to a friend's house Monday evening. October has the best skies. 

Tuesday I did the regular grocery shopping and played mah jong that evening. Then on Wednesday hubs and I both had appointments with the eye doctor. I'd like to go somewhere else, but options are limited. I don't mind the care, but they book far too many appointments at the same time and I spent more time there than I should have.  

Thursday I spent a fair chunk of the day taking care of some paperwork and then booking lodging for the third leg of our trip west next year. It's not happening until later in 2027, but we have all our accommodations booked and getting that done has me feeling a little bit excited for the trip. Hubs and I are doing a week on our own, then meeting up with two more couples for the second half of the holiday. 

Thursday night I went with a few women from my bookclub to hear an author talk about her new book. The author's name is Katherine Reay and she's written quite a few books, half on the lighter side, and then several more recent books that would fall under the genre of historical fiction/spy novels. 

Her debut novel was called  Dear Mr. Knightley, and came out about ten years ago or so, but I haven't read anything else by her since. Her newest book is The Undercover Bookshop and is set in a Cotswold village in 1950. 

She had me at Cotswold Village. 

I enjoy hearing an author discuss their writing and she was a wonderful speaker. We all felt like we'd had a little history lesson as she talked about what was going on in the world and particularly the UK at the end of the war.  I'm looking forward to reading this one soon. 

Another pretty sky on the ride home-

There might not be many faces on my blog these days, but there are still plenty of sky shots. 

Friday was a nice day. My next door neighbor has a granddaughter the same age as our Little Miss, although Little Miss lives here and my neighbor's grand lives about two hours away. She was in town visiting this week so my daughter1 invited everyone to lunch and a playdate. 

They were positively adorable playing together and the moms and grandmoms all had a nice time chatting. 

I'd made a meatloaf that morning so we had that for dinner. Hubs and I pulled all the porch cushions inside since nasty rain and windy weather were predicted, and we watched a movie before calling it a night. 

Saturday we woke up to gray skies and all day rain. We had plans to go into the city to a Fall Festival, where they close off the streets and there are lots of bands and food trucks, and it's just a fun day out. The event ended up getting cancelled due to weather so we had a Saturday to fill. 

We decided to go to breakfast somewhere because we wanted to get out of the house for a bit. Afterwards we stopped in a newish little market near the house and they have so many yummy things to buy. Snacks, sandwiches, coffee, ice cream, meat from a local farm, homemade bread and more. And it's close! When you live out of town having something like this nearby is such a treat. 

Once home hubs spent the rest of the morning on a project he has going on in the lower level and I worked out then washed my hair which takes a couple of hours,  so it was a good day for it. Our treadmill is in the lower level garage and even though it was pouring down rain I opened up the door and enjoyed the breeze and the view, even on this dismal day. 

I did some prep for my book club meeting happening this week (we read The Calamity Club) and then made a big pot of Ina Garten's Minestrone to have for dinner and leftovers this week. Her recipe is excellent. 

Even though I declared it a no laundry day hubs had a pile of towels from his project so I ended up doing a load of wash. It's just the two of us here but I feel like I am always doing laundry. 

After that it was football time in Tennessee so we watched the game. A win~yay! 

Sunday morning we had coffee on the screened porch and watched the sunrise for a quick spectacular minute. 

We went to church then pretty much lounged the rest of the afternoon. We have a lot going on in this second half of October and a day of r and r is probably necessary. 

So how was your weekend? If you blogged about it hop over to our host blogs - Holly (Pink Lady) and Sarah (Sunshine and Books)-and add your link to their Hello Monday hop. 

Let's Not Forget The Hodgepodge

Welcome to this week's edition of The Wednesday Hodgepodge. Better late than never, right? Thanks for your patience and for playing along today. If you've answered this week's questions add your link at the end of my post, then leave a comment for the blogger there before you. Here we go-

1. Let's embrace it shall we? What's something you recently forgot to do? Is your memory these days more like a sieve or an elephant? 

The obvious answer is this week's Hodgepodge questions. And when I say I forgot I mean I totally completely 100% forgot. I didn't think about it for one single second until Myra sent the first message sometime Monday morning asking if she'd missed me cancelling this week.

I wouldn't say my memory is a sieve, but it's no longer an elephant either. 

2. Share a trick/strategy you have to help you remember things you need to remember. 

I play a lot of word games, work crossword puzzles, play mah jong, and read hard books, all of which are supposed to be good for keeping your brain active, engaged, and working. 

I also write everything down. If it's not written down it might. not happen. I use Notes on my phone and sometimes send myself a message or screenshot. 

A long time ago I read a book about memory and the author shared one trick I still use.  If you're a person who leaves the house and can't remember if you unplugged the iron/curling iron/coffeepot, etc here's what you do-as you unplug the item you picture your face in the outlet. Then when you later find yourself trying to remember whether or not you unplugged said appliance the picture of your face in the outlet comes to mind. It sounds a little crazy but I've found it to be effective. 

3. What's your favorite fall vegetable to cook with? Do you prefer your fall veggies roasted, blended into a warm soup, or fresh in a crisp autumn salad? 

I love all fall vegetables so it would be hard to choose a favorite. If pressed I'll say sweet potatoes. I like my fall vegetables in all the forms listed. I most often have them roasted.  

4. October 5th is/was National Do Something Nice Day. Did you? If so tell us about it. Or maybe someone did something nice for you, and if that's the case please share. 

I was at Costco on Monday trying to free a cart from a mess of carts and a man walked over and managed to separate them for me. I was grateful.  It was a small act of kindness but little things mean a lot. 

5.  Nathaniel Hawthorne is credited with the quote "I cannot endure to waste anything so precious as autumnal sunshine by staying in the house."  

Do you tend to spend more time outside this time of year? 

We pretty much live on our porches year round, but autumn is my absolute favorite time to be outdoors. 

Do you actively pause to soak in fleeting moments of beauty in your daily routine? Elaborate. 

Do I actively pause. Yes I think so, and I think blogging helps with this. You begin to notice ordinary moments, conversations, and what's happening around you, and consider how you would frame those things if you were writing abut them. 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Here's something new and kind of fun for me. I participate almost every April in the A-Z Blog Challenge.  This year I was notified I'd been awarded a guest spot on their blog. Have you ever done a guest post? I think there were five participants given a slot and my post published on their site yesterday (Tuesday). 

You'll find my entry here-The ABCs of Why I Still Blog. I'd love for you to hop over and read, then comment there with an answer to the question I asked at the end of my post. 

Happy Wednesday everyone! 

Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 674

Oops! I forgot to post this week's Hodgepodge questions like I normally do on Sunday. Actually I forgot to write them so winging it a bit here today. Winging it and hodgepodging go together so it's fine. Hop back here on Wednesday (October 7) to add your link to the party. I'll be there! Promise! 

1. Let's embrace it shall we? What's something you recently forgot to do? Is your memory these days more like a sieve or an elephant? 

2. Share a trick/strategy you have to help you remember things you need to remember. 

3. What's your favorite fall vegetable to cook with? Do you prefer your fall veggies roasted, blended into a warm soup, or fresh in a crisp autumn salad? 

4. October 5th is/was National Do Something Nice Day. Did you? If so tell us about it. Or maybe someone did something nice for you, and if that's the case please share. 

5.  Nathaniel Hawthorne is credited with the quote "I cannot endure to waste anything so precious as autumnal sunshine by staying in the house."  

Do you tend to spend more time outside this time of year? 

Do you actively pause to soak in fleeting moments of beauty in your daily routine? Elaborate. 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

The Weekend Rundown

Note:  oops. Forgot to post this week’s Hodgepodge questions. They will be up later today. 

Someday I'll get back to blogging and reading my favorites but today week month is not that day. Whew we have a busy month on tap. On the bright side though, we had a lovely low key weekend with nothing we absolutely had to take care of. We were overdue for one of those and it was much appreciated. 

Friday night we went with neighbors to a small local farm that had a BBQ truck and a favorite local musician playing on the property. 

We brought lawn chairs and ate pulled pork and watched the goats play and the guitarist too. 

The sunset was pretty in pink which is always a favorite. 

We dropped the neighbors off at their house when the show ended, and as we came around the corner from their street to ours two black bears ran in front of our car. Always a bit thrilling to see them up close. 

Saturday we drank coffee on the back deck, then made a second pot and drank more. We spent an inordinate amount of time sorting out our Halloween costumes for a neighborhood party and needed caffeine. We love a good costume and like to try and come up with something original. We think we have but I guess we'll see. 

Saturday afternoon we watched our Vols beat Auburn and that was exciting. I get super nervous so had my laptop out the entire time and worked on trying to figure out the where and the when and the route and accommodations we'll need for a trip we're taking in 2027. Accommodations are the tricky part because even though the trip isn't happening for a whole year lots of places are already fully booked. 

I also loaded a bunch of photos into a site my siblings and I have as we're putting together a slide show for a luncheon we're hosting in honor of my mom later this month. We've received our date from Arlington so will be trekking that way in a few weeks. Looking through decades of pictures is a rabbit hole like no other but it's been fun to see some I haven't seen in a long long time. 

I'd planned to cook Saturday night but changed my mind, so we had a frozen pizza. I did manage to make a salad to go with, then we watched Clemson get their clock cleaned by Miami. Painful. 

Sunday was church and I sent a spur of the moment message to our next door neighbors asking if they wanted to come for chili and cards that evening. They said it sounded like fun so that's what we did. Sometimes spontaneous invites work best. 

I made chili, cornbread in the iron skillet which is the only way in my opinion, and a pan of brownies. I wiped down bathrooms and hubs vacuumed so the house was put in order. It wasn't exactly cool outside, but it was a gray rainy day and chili felt right.  We had a nice time catching up and playing cards. 

I'm linking with Holly (Pink Lady) and Sarah (Sunshine and Books) today for this not that interesting but really nice weekend. Hope you had a good one too. 

Climbing The Hodgepodge Mountain

Welcome to this week's edition of the Wednesday Hodgepodge. If you've answered this week's questions add your link at the end of my post, then go say hey to your neighbor there. Leave a comment too because comments make the blog world go round. Here we go...

1. When you think of autumn what sounds come to mind? 

a crackling fire, leaves crunching underfoot, geese honking overhead

2.  Is a trip to the mountains something you enjoy? What's your favorite mountain? 

A trip to the mountains is one of my favorite things and I can't possibly choose a favorite. I  live on a lake surrounded by the Blue Ridge. Boating under the bridge and seeing the main channel open up with the mountains as backdrop takes my breath away every single time. 

My grandparents had a Colorado farm with a view of the Rockies which was truly breathtaking. 

I'm  also really partial to the Great Smoky Mountains which is where hubs grew up, where we've spent a lot of time, and where we have family still. Lots of Smoky Mountain memories in my mind and heart. 

And then I've always been a little bit obsessed with Mt. Rainier. My daughter1 lived in Tacoma for several years when she was first married and you could see the mountain from her neighborhood. Swoon. 

We got up close to it on one of our trips there and she's a beauty. 

Wait. The Alps. I forgot the Alps. How did I forget the Alps? 

The village of Chamonix with Mt. Blanc looming large is pretty spectacular. 

Are all mountains spectacular? I'm going to say yes. Did you come here today to see my scrapbook of beautiful mountains? 

3. What's something that once felt like a mountain, but is now just a molehill? 

Retirement. There's so much to figure out and understand in the early days, and while there are still things to figure out, we've got this. It's no longer a mountain. 

4. Let's play this or that-fall foods edition. Yes you have to choose. 

• pumpkin spice latte or chai latte 
• apple cider or hot chocolate  
• stew or chili
• sweet potato casserole or green bean casserole 
• butternut squash soup or creamy mushroom soup 
• cranberry sauce or gravy 

Here are my choices-

chai latte 

apple cider but only if it's warm, if it's cold then I'll take the hot cocoa

chili, especially the first pot of the season-this meal says fall and football season have arrived 

sweet potato casserole-green beans are my favorite green veg, but not in casserole form

creamy mushroom soup

cranberry sauce 

5. Sum up your September in a sentence or two. 

Festive family birthdays, fun with friends, fierce football games, and fantastic mountain views.

Thirty days has September. Each one lasted approximately 2.4 seconds. 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

I was with friends this past weekend and we spent an afternoon wandering around our old university. The campus is still so beautiful. 

Question-why are college kids so stressed out? They can literally take a slide from their dorm and grab Chick-fil-A in the student center. 

We were typing papers on actual typewriters for professors who literally measured the margins with a ruler. Then we'd go to Kinkos at 1 AM to make copies because copiers were rare and kind of expensive. Kinkos was open 24/7 for just such a purpose. 

Progress, right? 

But hey, I think the times helped make us strong and resourceful. 

Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 673

Here are the questions to this week's Hodgepodge. Answer on your own blog then hop back here on Wednesday (Sept 30) to add your link to the party. See you there!

1. When you think of autumn what sounds come to mind? 

2.  Is a trip to the mountains something you enjoy? What's your favorite mountain? 

3. What's something that once felt like a mountain, but is now just a molehill? 

4. Let's play this or that-fall foods edition. Yes you have to choose. 

• pumpkin spice latte or chai latte 
• apple cider or hot chocolate  
• stew or chili
• sweet potato casserole or green bean casserole 
• butternut squash soup or creamy mushroom soup 
• cranberry sauce or gravy 

5. Sum up your September in a sentence or two. 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Friday Foto Dump

Pictures of random bits of life are piling up in my phone and while I'd love to think I might write whole entire too wordy posts about at least a handful of them I think we all know that's probably not going to happen. 

Let's do a little photo dump and see where it goes. 

I'm going to warn you where it goes is mostly the kitchen but that's okay. Somebody's gotta cook and I find baking therapeutic. I recently spent an afternoon baking cookies and it was lovely. 

It was actually two weeks ago, but recent enough. We'd been invited to dinner at our neighbor's house and she said not to bring anything, but I can't not bring anything so I baked cookies. Then we were invited to another friend's house the next day to watch the Ohio State - Texas game and I brought a tray of cookies there too. 

Snickerdoodles and a peanut butter jumble. 

It's been a long time since I had a leisurely few hours in the kitchen and baking cookies makes me think of my mama in a way that makes me smile. 

The pup went for a swim. It's pretty much his most favorite thing, but he's not in perfect health these days so doesn't happen as often as it used to. 

Hubs grilled the most delicious flank steak recently and we made a grilled romaine salad. Yum! So easy to do and definitely something we'll repeat. Raise your hand if you're happy we're back to eating lettuce. 

We're in our sports viewing era. 

Baseball and soccer and more baseball. 

We made Cubans with some left over pork tenderloin and they were delish. We use our panini maker which works great for these-

Sun coming up-

I take too many pictures of this every day phenomenon, but I can't help myself. 

I spent most of Tuesday in the kitchen and made a pot of pasta sauce, three kinds of quiche for the weekend, and some tortilla roll ups for hubs to take to a card night he had at a friends house this week. I love cooking when I can take my time. 

We went to a dockside concert on a random Monday afternoon because that's what you do when you're retired. There were four musicians on the dock and boaters pull up and people float and listen to music and chat with whoever happens to be floating nearby. The weather was perfection.

Enjoy your weekend everyone!

Linking with Erika and Andrea for today's Friday Favorites 

Falling In To 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 leave a comment for the blogger before you. Here we go-

1. Fall arrives this week in the northern hemisphere. Does it look/feel like fall where you live?What's something you love to do this time of year that makes you feel its officially fall? 

*If you're answering today from the southern hemisphere feel free to sub spring for the word fall. 

It doesn't look or feel much like fall here yet. We've had temperatures in the 90's and the humidity has been thick, but! we're 'cooling off' and will be in the upper 70's later this week and I.am.ready. We're back into the 80's next week so there will be a little more summer before fall finally lands. 

Everything is still green here, but I'm going to the mountains with some girlfriends this weekend and I'm hoping we might see a few pops of color. 

I always miss my NJ yard this time of year. 

Something I love to do that makes it feel like it's officially fall? 

Apple picking. 

I hope we can find a day to do that soon. 

2. What's a small daily task or chore that always seems to fall through the cracks when your schedule gets busy?

Dusting my bedroom. In fact, answering this question inspired me to go dust. 

3. What's something you're falling for lately? 

I bought some wide legged jeans and have to say I love them. I wasn't sure how I'd feel about the fit, but I wore them for the first time recently and several people commented on how cute they are. 

4.  Pumpkin is a popular flavor this time of year.  Are you a fan?

Pumpkin is not my favorite. I like pumpkin bread but am a hard no on pumpkin flavored coffees, creams, and candle scents.  I like to decorate with pumpkins, but can take or leave the flavor in food and drink. 

I do have a good recipe for a pumpkin french toast that my daughter found a couple of years ago and I'm going to make it this weekend. It's just the right amount of pumpkin and makes a nice fall company breakfast dish. 

5.What's something you wish would never change? Explain. 

Our love for this country and the core values of our founding. 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

What's everybody watching? We need a new show. 

Weekend Favorites

Hi friends. How was your weekend? Mine was full of fun, family, and festive happenings. Let's recap with Holly (Pink Lady Blog) and (Sarah Sunshine and Books) and their Hello Monday blog hop. 

Backing up to Thursday or as I like to say, my birthday eve. Daughter1 had planned a fun birthday outing for  just the two of us, which was a treat. She has three littles and trying to spend a few hours doing something with just her mama took some maneuvering, but she made it happen. 

She and Little Miss arrived about 9:30 to pick me up. Little Miss was so excited to hand me her card and a box of one of my favorite candies-lemonheads, which she needed to sample. I mean how can you not? They also brought me the prettiest vase filled with flowers. The vase looks like a book, one of my all time favorites in fact-Anne of Green Gables. 

We drove to her sister-in-law's home about an hour away so Little Miss could spend the day with her cousin and her other grandmother while Mama and I had some fun. We went to a kitchen shop I absolutely love (The Cook Station for locals reading here) and it's one of my favorite places to browse. 

How many times can I say the word favorite in a single post? Birthdays are for favorites so pretty sure there's no limit.  

This store carries Vietri and Juliska both which are two of my favorites. I wanted to take this whole set of dishes home for Thanksgiving.

My daughter had reserved us seats in one of their cooking demonstrations which includes lunch. The chef  chats while he's cooking and then you eat what's been prepared. Everyone gets a glass of wine too so it felt like an occasion. 

Today's recipe was a most delicious French Onion Soup with a light salad on the side.  I'll definitely be re-creating his recipe at home. 

Such a nice relaxing few hours where we could chat, which is not something easily done when the kids are with us. I love having the kids with us, but time with a daughter where it's just the two of us is so special. Another favorite you might say. 

We picked the boys up from school on the way home and they all came in to say hi to Pawpaw and we were greeted by this-

Balloons, flowers, and chocolate cake. Yum! The kids were ready to dig in but we told them to come back on my actual birthday and they could help us eat it then. 

I facetimed with daughter2 and her littles and everyone was excited to wish Nana a happy birthday. I love it. Daughter2 sent me Laura Wifler's new book (This Side Of The Sky) and I have been savoring her beautiful way with words.

If you don't follow her online I recommend. Daughter2 and I both love her writing and I was excited to get this in my hands. I'll review it when I recap my September reads in a couple of weeks. 

Hubs made a yummy dinner on the griddle that night, using the left over flank steak from earlier in the week-steak fried rice. I'd made the rice first thing that morning as it needs to sit in the frig for a bit before it goes on the griddle. 

We added broccoli, mushrooms, red pepper, onions, peas and carrots and then soy sauce and sesame oil and the requisite scrambled egg. 

So good!

I woke up on my birthday to a beautiful sunrise. The heat has been obnoxious with temps in the  90's so we spent the morning swimming and...paddle boarding. 

Whoohoo! My first time on the board since my ankle mishap. You should know I'm not a natural and hubs likes to take ridiculous photos of me trying to stand, which is not super graceful, but hey I am up and I am paddling and I am a year older so go me. 

Daughter1 and her crew arrived about noon and we all swam and jumped off the dock and then had lunch on the patio. And cake. Can't forget that! Hubs always gets me a chocolate cake with a raspberry filling because it's my favorite. 

We swam some more after lunch before everyone headed home and then hubs and I had dinner reservations at a place we both love. A favorite if you will. 

Hubs had called ahead and told them it was my birthday so even though I still had half a chocolate cake at home I ate the chocolate mousse the restaurant served me. It had toffee chips all around and wow was that ever delicious. 

The sunset driving home was a stunner too...

Saturday was another scorcher of a day and we were up bright and early to tailgate with friends who had invited us to the Clemson game. 

It was an early game (noon) so we did breakfast type foods as our tailgate menu. I made deviled eggs and sausage balls and hubs brought the fixin's for Bloody Marys. I also brought some fruit and cheese and our host made ham and cheese sliders, cinnamon rolls and pigs in a blanket. They even brought me a small cake, Clemson colors of course, which was so thoughtful. 

Look who stopped by to say hey y'all...

I wore the same shirt I wore to the Tennessee game because it was once again 80 million degrees outside and the shirt is technically more Clemson orange than Tennessee orange. Go Tigers! Go Vols! 

My son-in-law brought the two boys to the game so they stopped by the tailgate before we all went in to the stadium. Game day is a sea of orange and the atmosphere on a college campus during football season is the best.  C-17 flyover the stadium-

We did not play well the first half and were losing into the 4th quarter when lightning moved in and everyone had to leave the stadium We didn't hang around because we knew it would be a long while before the game picked up again, plus the outcome wasn't looking like it would be in our favor, but! Lo and behold they came back and pulled off a win. A wonderful way to wrap up a birthday. 

Did you know birthdays are my favorite?