Mother May I 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. Comments make the blog world spin...here we go-

1. What's something you 'may' do this month? 

I may jump in the lake.

2. Last time you literally or figuratively shouted mayday!?

I wouldn't say mayday exactly, but I did have a reaction to a medication last week that was cause for concern. It's all mostly sorted now so no worries. 

3. Let the chips fall where they may, come what may, maybe, Cape May, mayflies, devil may care, you may now kiss the bride, much to our dismay, mayhem, mayonnaise...choose a 'may' word or phrase from the list and tell us how it relates to your life in some way right now. 

Did you know mayflies don't always emerge as adults in the actual month of May? They hatch throughout the spring and summer and they don't live very long. Mayflies are a little bit like dragonflies, except dragonflies are prettier. 

Mayflies sometimes hang out under our dock. They're not pesky like actual flies, and since they don't bother anyone we don't worry about them too much. Do I look worried? 

Can you tell summer is nearly here and I've got lake time on my mind?  

4. If someone were serving you breakfast in bed this weekend, what would you like to see on the menu?

This question was asked in one of the very first Random Dozen posts published back in 2010. The Random Dozen was the precursor to the Wednesday Hodgepodge and was hosted by another blogger. She gave it up (12 questions every week it's no wonder!!) and I adapted her format into something a little more manageable. 

All that to say my answer is pretty much the same today as it was way back when...homemade french toast, fruit, coffee, and maybe a little turquoise box on the tray to make it extra.  

5. Tell me one true thing you believe about motherhood. 

Motherhood is sanctifying. 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

I know I should say something sweet and perhaps sentimental about Mother's Day, but instead I'm going to tell you we finally got our television debacle mostly corrected and that is also worth celebrating. Whoohoo! 

The Sweetness of Summer

Hello Friends! And strangers stopping by too. It's Monday and it's officially summer and it's a beautiful day in the neighborhood. While the world feels more salty-less sweet these days, there is always sweetness to be found. Today I choose to see it. 

Sweetness is found in red ripe tomatoes on the vine-

In a friend saying come pick blueberries we've got a yard full and so you do-

It's Father's Day and you bake a blueberry pie because it's his favorite and because there is so much sweetness in a dad who loves his daughters well-

There is sweetness in an early morning kayak with a little brown dog in tow-

Always the first one ready to go-

But there's a whole lot of sweetness in the way he runs headlong into everything he does-

The boat captain is pretty sweet-

Except when he's salty. Ha! Hi hubs! Sunshine, a boat ride, and lunch in a cooler eaten side by each on a deserted island in the middle of the lake can be pretty sweet too.

And I think there's a special sort of sweetness to a soft summer rain-

Sweetness spills over in Facetime chats with daughters calling to say I love you Dad. In an almost three-year-old grandson grinning great big as he shouts 'Happy Favers Day!!' across the miles.

In the gift and beauty of each new day.

In choosing joy, not complaint. In choosing peace not rancor. In counting blessings not 'things I wanna be mad about'. In harsh words left unspoken and kind words spilled instead.

This weekend I was part of a virtual reunion via Zoom. Friends from long ago days spent as summer camp counselors on Maryland's Eastern shore. It was sweet. The then and the now. As I was writing this post the simple words to a grace we used to sing before meals kept rolling through my brain...

'For health and strength and daily bread we praise Thy name O Lord...'

Sweetness abounds and today I choose to see it. 

Rolling The Dice In The Wednesday Hodgepodge

Welcome to the Hodgepodge! If you've answered this week's questions add your link at the end of my post, then leave a comment for the blogger linking before you. Don't forget to add a link back here in your post somewhere, so your readers can play along too. Here we go-

 

1. Ever played the game Farkle? Are you a risk taker? In games only or also in life?

For those who don't know, Farkle is a dice game and yes, I've played. My daughter2 also gave me a yard version of the game with giant wooden dice to throw onto the grass and it's a lot of fun. 

I will take risks while playing games, but am less of a risk taker in life. I guess it depends on the potential reward?

2. What's your favorite thing about your yard or whatever outdoor space you may have?

The view. I've posted a million pics but what's one more?

Or two?

It's a dog's life for sure!

3. Tell us about the most interesting building you've seen or been in.

Now this is hard, because I've been in so many interesting buildings. Countless castles, castle ruins, and cathedrals all across Europe, sky high towers in Asia, and closer to home NYC. A few favorites are The Houses of Parliament in London, The Guggenheim in NYC and The Colosseum in Rome. 

If I have to pick a 'most interesting' I'm going to say the Abbey at Mont-St.-Michel sitting high atop a tidal island in Normandy France. It was built in the 11th century and the notion of it's intricate and ornate construction on this piece of land in that time period is truly amazing. 

4. In this current season of social distancing, what's something you've come to realize you take for granted in more ordinary times? Do you think you'll make a conscious effort to appreciate whatever that 'it' is once normal life resumes?

A well stocked grocery store. Making plans for future travel, family gatherings, and events. Sitting beside someone in church, at a ball game, concert, restaurant. 

One reason I enjoy keeping up with my blog is it helps me remember things and how I felt about them at the time. When life resumes some sense of normalcy I think reading back will be a gentle reminder to feel gratitude for the ordinary everyday things we missed during this season of strangeness.  

5. Share a favorite song with a springtime flower in the lyrics somewhere.

I love Wildflowers by Tom Petty- 



6. Insert your own random thought here.

Hair salons are reopening in our state next week but sadly my appointment was for this week. Good news though! I was able to get an appt for later this month which felt like a real coup. It's the little things, right? 

Man Versus Nature

Today's word was sent to me by my nephew, a college student currently finishing up the school year at home with his folks, the way all college students are finishing up this school year. High five (virtual of course) to all the college kids out there learning course content and more life lessons than they anticipated when they headed to campus last fall.

Thank you J for the word of the day!

Day 22-V is for Victory

Sharing a glimpse into lake life and two small victories we've experienced in the last week or so. You might even learn something here today, maybe more than you wanted to know, but let's carry on anyway. 

A little over a week ago hubs noticed some sticks and pine straw in the water under the boat lift. The lake we live on is crystal clear so he knew something was up. Upon further investigation he discovered a varmint had been terrorizing the landscaping on our hillside and was also feasting on some of the tree trunks along our waterline.

Bother.  

Major bother. 

Bucky had worked his way all the way up our hillside, gnawing as he went, ripping the low growing juniper out by the roots, shredding it's bark to use as construction material for his new home, which he thought was going to be under our dock. Nope. Not happening. The local HOA, aka me and the hubs, put the kibosh on that quicker than you can say Bob's your uncle. 

When we lived in NJ we used to walk in a nearby wildlife preserve and we'd see quite a few beaver lodges there. We never saw an actual beaver and I used to think that would be kind of cool, but trust me, it's not cool. Now that I've seen one a little too up close and personal I can tell you they look a lot like an overgrown rodent. Are they rodents? I had to look that up but yes, they are semi-aquatic rodents.  

Anyway, on the lake these creatures have found an alternative to the more commonly recognized lodge set up, and instead  burrow into the shoreline and/or set up camp beneath your dock where they proceed to wreak havoc. 

When we installed our dock we added something to the wiring that the dock guy called beaver guard. Who even knew such a thing existed??? I surely didn't, but I'm glad he mentioned it because turns out we needed it. The guard is a kevlar- like sleeve that fits over your dock hoses and it's pretty much indestructible. It prevents beavers from chewing through the air hose which would then cause your lift to drop and your boat to float away.  

That doesn't happen often because most people tie their boats to their docks even when they're on the lift, but occasionally one floats out there.  At the time we thought this was perhaps an unnecessary expense, but turns out dock guy was 100% right and we're so grateful now we added that when the dock was installed. 

We're animal lovers here, but y'all we needed to get a handle on this before he moved his family in, so we ended up calling in the professionals. An animal control specialist came out and said we could snare him or trap him and either way he'd be a goner, which I know is so sad, but also very necessary. We opted for the snare which felt like the safer route given the fact we have an overly curious little brown dog living here. Everything was back as it should be (no beaver living under my dock) within a couple of days. 

Hey, it was me or Bucky so capturing that 40+ lb beaver felt like a small victory. I know!! He was huge!! The animal control guy said he'd seen one close to 60 pounds, but ours was definitely on the ginormous side. 

He did not use the word ginormous but I know he meant it. 

Okay, how 'bout one more small victory since that's the word of the day? Last night hubs (he's always on top of things around here) spied a log floating along the shoreline.  As I mentioned earlier our lake is one of the cleanest clearest lakes in the country and it's extremely rare to see debris of any sort floating.

So he hurried on down to the water and thought he'd just pull the log in, but turns out it was an entire tree trunk likely deposited somewhere on the water during last week's tornado. 

Life has not been dull here. 

A friend who had boated over to the neighbor's dock saw hubs trying to haul in the tree and came over with a pole to lend a hand. We have rip rap all along the shoreline so it's not the easiest thing to maneuver around especially when you're in flip flops, but together they managed to pull it in.

And his wife snapped photos and texted me with the caption V is for Victory which made me laugh, since I knew that was already the word of the day.

Little brown dog helped too.

He wanted to anyway.

This would not be a good thing to run into with your boat, so it's a good thing they managed to get it onshore. Hubs jokes he might carve this into a totem pole. 

Hey he's got the time now, right? 

Tuesdays Were Made For This

Does anyone else feel like this summer is blowing by faster than most? Maybe it's because our calendar has been so full, but really? Labor Day weekend? Already?

Hubs and I declared last night date night as it was long overdue.

Tuesday night dates on the lake are easy breezy. Grab your swim suit (or not, teehee) and a towel, then load up the cooler with a bottle of bubbly and your favorite kind of easy to eat supper foods. Our favorites include peel and eat shrimp, a great cheese and some crackers to go with, veggies and hummus, grapes, plus an excellent bar of dark chocolate.

The lake on a Tuesday night is practically deserted. We made a short stop at the waterfall and ran into some neighbors there. The lake is a whole lot like a small town in all the best ways, and we rafted up with them for a while before moving on.

Eventually we made our way to a quiet cove (fyi-they're all pretty quiet on a Tuesday) with not a single solitary house/boat/person in sight, dropped the anchor and our worries, and went for a swim.

There's nothing like swimming in crystal clear water sixty five feet deep as the sun sets to make you feel all the feels.

We agree this should be an every Tuesday kind of thing.

Why isn't this an every Tuesday kind of thing?
Putting it on the list.

I love watching the sun get lower and lower on the horizon, but my favorite thing is the sky immediately after the sun sinks out of sight. That's when the sky turns all the pastel colors in the paintbox.

For reals.

 In the words of Dr. Seuss, '...when you stop and look around, this life is pretty amazing." 

The Trip Before This Trip

It has been a little nuttier than normal here this summer in terms of people coming and going and when I say people that includes us. We have had a lot of company, but we've also been company. Which is more fun? Hmmm...

I have another post or two about our trip to Washington, and while it might make sense to finish that up I feel like switching gears so strap in.

Let's bring everyone up to speed...hubs took a two week course all day/every day in mid-July and the day after that wrapped up Daughter2's future in-laws came to the lake for a visit. Also to handle some wedding details, but mostly just to visit. We had a wonderful time and are so grateful for the loving parents who raised our soon-to-be son-in-law. We're all just a little bit excited for spring to roll around, but first! Kentucky-

The day after our guests left we drove to Kentucky to spend a few days with friends who have a lake house there. Yes, we left our lake house and went to their lake house, but that's what friends do.

Lake living y'all. Go get you some.

Anyway these friends only live part time at the lake and that part time is summer so that's when we needed to visit. Plus there was bourbon.

I don't particularly care for bourbon, but hubs is a fan and I like a road trip, seeing old friends,  and learning new things so win win.

We had a pretty day of driving through some lovely countryside and arrived at their house late afternoon. We used to eat Indian food together back when we all lived in the UK, so the Mr. had prepared for us the most delicious curry which made us feel a teensy bit nostalgic for English village life.

We had picture perfect weather and struck out for our first stop on the 'Bourbon Trail' the next morning. I don't know what I was expecting, but I don't think I realized how enormous these operations are.

We started at Wild Turkey where we hopped on a little bus for a tour of their operating facilities. So interesting! Plus, our tour guide was a retired Marine Corps Drill Sergeant who had not lost his voice and was a lot of fun.

Once the tour ended we were returned to the visitors center for a tasting and some shopping and a photograph of this famous bridge that people bungee off of 'for fun'. Pass the bourbon please.

The company that runs it is appropriately named Vertigo. This bridge is 240 feet above the Kentucky River and the highest bridge in North America you can 'legally' jump from. I guess there are people illegally jumping from higher bridges?

Let's get back on the Bourbon Trail.

We had lunch at a cute little place in the town of Lawrenceburg called Heavens To Betsy, then drove out to Woodford Reserve. We rode through some really pretty countryside, past several horse farms, and then onto the gorgeous property that is Woodford.

Again we hopped on a little bus for their tour and while there was some overlap in the information each tour also taught us a little something new too. I enjoyed seeing the bottling in action here-

There are restrictions as to how much they can serve you in a tasting and I was more about the chocolate anyway, but still it was such an interesting day. Of course the weather was perfection which always helps.

We had dinner at the lake house and afterward the guys went fishing. Hubs caught a nice sized fish which was the perfect ending to a pretty perfect day.

We were up and at 'em early the next morning for Day 2 on the trail...next stop-Buffalo Trace.

This was my favorite because they are doing a lot of renovations and we got something like a backlot tour here and saw some different things.

Buffalo Trace is the oldest continually operating Distillery in America, and even remained open for 'medicinal' purposes during Prohibition.

After the tour there was the tasting and the shopping and then on to lunch. We ate at a tiny spot in Frankfort called Rick's White Light Diner which has been featured on the show Diners, Drive Ins and Dives.

The food is Cajun and delicious and we sat in the little courtyard outside to eat our lunch. Rick came out towards the end of our meal and talked with us for a long while which was interesting. Then it was back to the lake where we girls floated while the guys went and shot clay pigeons or skeet or some such thing.

We were on the road bright and early Thursday morning and got home in time to do a little laundry, unpack our suitcases then repack our suitcases, and head to the airport really really early Friday morning for our flight to Seattle.

As summer rolls along I'm thankful for family and friends who come to us, for friends who say hey, come to us. For blue skies, sunshine, rolling hills, tall trees, lake life, city life, new experiences, old friends, planes, boats and automobiles, and the hubs by my side who makes me laugh and lets me nap when he senses I might teeter from all the things.

It has been a crazy beautiful busy summer and we're not done yet.

Busy Busy Busy

If you're here for this week's Hodgepodge questions, scroll on down to the previous post. 

Saturday hubs and I drove to Atlanta to pick up Daughter1 and the mancub for a week at the lake. I wasn't happy about it at all-ha!

This was Daughter1's first time flying solo with him and he was an absolute champ. Who can resist this face y'all??? Our son-in-law will be joining Daughter1 at the lake next weekend, then they're taking a little holiday, so lots of gear. LOTS! My girl who is no bigger than a minute dragged a suitcase behind her the size of herself, pushed a stroller in front of her zipped up in its carry case with a car seat perched on top and a diaper bag and tote stashed underneath, and she wore her baby. Whew! 

His aunt and soon-to-be uncle were there to greet him when we got to the house and then Daughter1's in-laws came for dinner. They'll move over to their house later in the week because we all need a turn waking up to his smiling face in our own house. The evening's entertainment consisted of everyone sitting around watching the mancub. We're grandparents. It's what we do. And you'd never know he'd gotten out of bed in the middle of the night, flown five hours cross country, then made a two hour car ride to the lake.

This little guy was the center of attention all weekend long and he just goes with the flow y'all. So sweet and easy and good tempered all the time.

And he is busy! I mean BUSY! Busy busy busy. He sleeps hard all night long, naps twice a day like it's his job, eats when it's time to eat, and the rest of the time? He is on.the.move. If he's not eating or sleeping he is crawling, climbing, pulling up on everything and everybody, and basically charming all who cross his path with those big blue eyes and sweet sweet smile.

Sunday morning started with a stroll to the dock in their pjs because Daughter1 could not get over the warm air and big yellow ball in the sky. What an absolutely beautiful day it was! Her in-laws came for breakfast and baby snuggles then had an event to get to so they left and the next wave rolled in around 2. My sister and brother-in-law drove over from a nearby town bringing my mother with them.

She's in the Palmetto State for a little visit and of course wanted to see her great grandson. And I think me too, but mostly her great grandson. It's okay. We get it. 

My niece and her boyfriend came too, because a baby boy just cannot have too many people adore him.

Also, we can talk weddings and be entertained by the mister all at the same time. Just sayin'.

I think his new uncle is gonna be a favorite. Actually he's pretty crazy about all the aunts and uncles he's met so far. Still a few more to introduce him too, but he definitely loved singing 'trot little horsey go to town...' with his great aunt P.

He's already mastered the game of cornhole.

It was such a fun day, filled with spectacular weather, food, and company. So what was the best part of this picture perfect day for me?

This-

Always this.

 'Nothing could be finer than to be in Carolina...