The Wednesday Hodgepodge

Welcome to the Wednesday Hodgepodge. Answer on your own blog then hop back here and add your link at the end of my post. Don't forget to copy the button code or add a link back here somewhere in your post so your readers can join in too.

I don’t have it in me today to get creative with a title. Currently sitting in the car blogging on my phone as we are still without power after Sunday’s tornado. Hoping everything posts and links as it should. Let’s give it a whirl-

1. In Monday’s post I mentioned I would incorporate the word I was given for letter K into this week’s questions. That word was karaoke. On a scale of 1-10 how excited would you be to find out there was karaoke happening at your next gathering/outing with friends? 10=gimme that microphone!, and 1=I suddenly remembered there’s somewhere else I need to be.

I enjoy watching, but am not a singer so am going with a 4. Unless we’re talking carpool karaoke and then I’m all in. I do love belting out a song when I’m alone or not alone in the car. 

Have you ever actually done karaoke?

Does sharing a mic with my sister in our living room count? We once sang some Shania Twain a little too enthusiastically, and in fact my daughter brought it up had a flashback as soon as I said the word karaoke. For the record, my sister and I thought we were GREAT! Ha! 

If you had to perform karaoke what would be your ‘go-to’song?

Dancing Queen by ABBA? Or anything by ABBA because everyone knows all the words and their music is made for a sing-a-long. If I'm on the mic I want other people singing with me. 

2. How do you listen to music these days? Favorite app or do you listen the old fashioned way? Do you have music playing often in your home? Is there still a CD player in your car?

We have Sonos in our house so normally listen that way. Speakers are inside and out and we can control where music plays, and can have different music playing in different parts of the house. We like Pandora and we also have Alexa which I tend to use when I’m in the kitchen cooking. I normally listen to Sirius radio in the car, but we do have CD players we still sometimes use. This is where I see a generation gap because my kids do not listen to CD's in their cars. 

We have music playing in our home most nights. Hubs would have made an excellent D.J.

3. The HP lands on US tax day this year. Or what used to be tax day before everything including filing your taxes was cancelled, delayed, postponed or extended. FYI- filing your taxes has not been cancelled, only delayed for a bit.

Besides staying away from anyone and everyone, what have you found taxing lately?

I have always enjoyed grocery shopping but it’s a lot of work these days. Trying not to take too long in the store, wearing a mask, not handling what I’m not buying, getting it all decontaminated once I’m home, wiping down door handles, all without hubs help since we’re keeping it to one person handling the items. I hope someday soon we can leisurely meander through the market, then come home and put everything away without a fuss.

4. You’re without power so no oven, and you can’t open your frig or freezer in order to keep what’s in there from spoiling. And you don’t have access to take out. What will you make us for dinner?

My life currently. We ate peanut butter sandwiches on Monday night with half a box of cookies as our side. It was pretty delicious. I'm answering these questions on Tuesday and conveniently had a Home Chef delivery already scheduled so we'll eat one of the two meals I ordered, salmon because hubs can use the grill.  

5.  I’ve seen this exercise going around Facebook and thought it would be a good one to include in the HP...what are five things everybody seems to love and go crazy for that you personally don’t care for?

I’ve enjoyed reading responses to this one on Facebook. Here’s mine-

High waisted swimsuits
The Marvel series of movies
Tattoos
Cruises
Late night TV host monologues

6.  Insert your own random thought here.

I wrote my answers to the HP earlier today (Tuesday), but it's almost 5 pm now and I wanted to edit my random thought. Whoohoo!! Power is on and we're back in business! Almost back in business. I didn't get my A-Z post written for Tuesday's letter (L), but I'm not going to skip it because the word my sister picked is one of my favorites. A virtual room temperature pint to anyone who correctly guesses-ha! 

Anyway, it ties in nicely with the word a friend sent for the letter O (Friday's post) so I'm going to incorporate it there. Stay tuned. 

But what about Wednesday's letter? That one came from my brother-in-law and I feel qualified to write about it here...

Day 13-M is for Monotony

Did my brother-in-law know when he chose this word we'd still be social distancing, only now without power to keep things humming along at home? 

So what about you? Are you bored? Is life feeling a bit monotonous? Let's all weigh in...

I guess life is a bit monotonous in the sense the days tend to run together and one day is not all that different from the next. We're not spending time with friends, not traveling, and not dining out the way we normally do, but I have to say I'm not at all bored. 

For all the coming and going we do on a regular basis here, I am something of a homebody. I'm enjoying less activity every single day, and am indulging without guilt in my quieter hobbies of reading and writing. I don't feel any pressure to be somewhere else and it's kind of nice. 

I like it. 

A lot. 

Today I read a whole book, start to finish, while sitting in the sunshine on my back patio. It was glorious. 

I know we'll all be glad to get back to the days where there is freedom of movement and freedom to interact with one another up close, and I look forward to that too. I also know I'm going to want some days like today built into my calendar always. A little calm to cut the crazy. 

Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 364

Here are the questions for this week’s Wednesday Hodgepodge. Answer on your own blog then hop back here tomorrow to share answers with your friends and neighbors.

Currently setting this up to post via my phone since we’re without power, and I can’t link the button. Hopefully by Wednesday my internet will be back in business. Here we go-

1. In Monday’s post I mentioned I would incorporate the word I was given for letter K into this week’s questions. That word was karaoke. On a scale of 1-10 how excited would you be to find out there was karaoke happening at your next gathering/outing with friends? 10=gimme that microphone!, and 1=I suddenly remembered there’s somewhere else I need to be. Have you ever actually done karaoke? If you had to perform karaoke what would be your ‘go-to’song?

2. How do you listen to music these days? Favorite app or do you listen the old fashioned way? Do you have music playing often in your home? Is there still a CD player in your car?

3. The HP lands on US tax day this year. Or what used to be tax day before everything including filing your taxes was cancelled, delayed, postponed or extended. FYI- filing your taxes has not been cancelled, only delayed for a bit.

Besides staying away from anyone and everyone, what have you found taxing lately?

4. You’re without power so no oven, and you can’t open your frig or freezer in order to keep what’s in there from spoiling. And you don’t have access to take out. What will you make us for dinner?

5.  I’ve seen this exercise going around Facebook and thought it would be a good one to include in the HP...what are five things everybody seems to love and go crazy for that you personally don’t care for?

6.  Insert your own random thought here.

Ka-razy!

Good Monday morning to you all. I hope there was joy in your Easter weekend and everyone found ways to mark the day as special in spite of the distance between you and those you love.

Earlier in the week I asked hubs if we could get up before the birds on Easter Sunday and watch the sun rise from our dock. Our own little Easter morning sunrise service if you will. The weather forecast was not looking stellar, and he thought it would be too cloudy for any beauty to show up, yet there she was-

But only for a minute and then the rains came. Also lightning, thunder, howling winds and a couple of tornadoes. We ended our Easter Sunday sitting side by side at 3 AM in our lower level storage room which is concrete and windowless. What a day.

What a year.

What a world.

We had Sunday School with our class via Zoom and enjoyed our traditional Easter dinner (ham and pineapple stuffing) eaten on the good china in the dining room just because. We face timed with family, even getting my mom in on a call with all my sibs which was special. And we especially loved watching our grandsons from afar via pictures and video calls with my daughter.

Our little town did sustain some damage from one tornado that touched down, and sadly there was a fatality as well. Your prayers are very much appreciated as people mourn and clean up and repairs begin. Life feels a bit extra hard these days, which makes me more grateful (or maybe just more aware) than in years past for the significance of Easter and a hope that cannot be shaken.

I'm still writing each day in the April A-Z blog challenge but am taking a slightly different tack with today's letter and word.

Day 11-K is for Karaoke

This word comes to me courtesy of my sister-in-law, the one who plays the violin with an orchestra, who can carry a tune, and has that music gene in her DNA. Alas I do not. Have you seen the movie My Best Friend's Wedding with Julia Roberts and Cameron Diaz? Well for those who have not, Cameron Diaz's character is peer pressured into performing karaoke, and it's not pretty but it is hilarious. 

Me doing karaoke would be similar. 

Since this word feels light and kind of fun I've decided instead of a whole post on the word I'm going to incorporate it into my Wednesday Hodgepodge questions this week . Let's see who might be a fan and who realizes they suddenly have somewhere else they need to be when a D.J. announces it's karaoke night. Stay tuned.

Also stay well-stay safe-stay home-stay happy. 

Five Minutes of Song

I'm giving Five Minute Friday a try again this week. The instructions are simple-write for five minutes flat for pure unedited love of the written word.  Link back to Five Minute Friday and invite others to join in too.  Consider yourselves invited.  Finally, be generous and leave an encouraging comment for the person who linked up before you.

Today's prompt-Song

It's that time of year where something in the air assures us summer is just around the bend. Growing up I spent my summers at camp, first as a camper and later as a counselor. I remember the welcome hush that fell over a cabin at nighttime. Girls in my care, full of words and laughter and questions, finally drifting into slumber.

Days were lived outdoors in the summers of my youth. We swam and sailed and paddled, made the uphill climb from the waterfront and ran to capture the flag. We yelled 'red rover red rover come on over' under a sun drenched Chesapeake sky.

I remember the exhale at the end of a day. Crawling in to my sleeping bag, the sound of night all around. Sometimes I slept on top because this was camp, and the only air conditioning was a warm sticky breeze inching its way through a tightly woven screen. The only night light, a summer moon.

It was a good tired.

I closed my eyes and let the day fall away. It was always in this space between wake and sleep that her song began.  Not a softly whispered lullaby suited to the quiet place where day ebbs into night and back again.  Her song was loud, clear, distinct...a single line repeated over and over, winging it's way over and under and through a night forest.

Whip-poor-WILL....Whip-poor-WILL...Whip-poor-WILL...

It seeped into your head and before you knew it you were singing it too.

There is no mistaking the song of the whippoorwill. She's a bird named for the song she sings.  Onomatopoeia. A lonely sound, ethereal... she calls but no one answers.

Mostly though, it was aggravating to an exhausted nineteen year old girl trying to sleep in a cabin in the woods. I'd pull my pillow tight around my ears, trying somehow to block the unblockable.

Whip-poor-WILL...Whip-poor-WILL...Whip-poor-WILL

Decades roll by and memory piles upon memory. Every once in a while she calls to me still...different woods, same sad song. When I hear her sing the years fall away, and I go back to that place where dreams were planted and roots took wing. The place where tall trees kissed the bay and God felt close enough to touch.

Where the whippoorwill sang on a moonlit summer night.

Workin' the Wednesday Hodgepodge Vol 91

It seems only appropriate that answering the questions in this Labor Day Hodgepodge required a bit of work. I'm glad you joined the party today...be sure to add your link to the bottom of my post before you head out to visit the neighbors. Here are my answers~

1. Americans will celebrate Labor Day this coming weekend. Do you know what we're actually celebrating? (without consulting your friends google or wikipedia, ahem) What's a project you're currently 'laboring' over?

I do know why we celebrate and I'll spare you my thoughts here about the need and function of labor unions in the 19th century being very different from that of the 21st century. I live in NJ and unions make the news here every.single.day.

As far as projects I'm laboring over...I don't suppose you want to hear me mention my photo organization one more time do you?

Okay, how about this-we want to do some landscaping to our side hill and also need the back hill seriously pruned. We cannot seem to get a quote on the project. Recently we had a landscaper out to look at the potential work and make some drawings. I had no trouble reaching him by phone and spoke a couple of times to an actual person to book the appointment. He arrived on time, was personable and professional, and was accommodating in that he made the appointment for early evening to allow hubs time to get home from work. This landscaper came highly recommended by more than one source and said he'd get a quote to us by the weekend. That was three weeks ago. We've left countless messages and I can't imagine why he hasn't gotten back to us and is suddenly unavailable by phone. It's a little worrisome, not to mention frustrating.

2. Labor Day also signifies the unofficial end of summer for most of us...what summer food will you miss the most? If you live in the Southern hemisphere feel free to substitute winter for summer.

Watermelon and tomatoes. I love all the summer fruits but watermelon is my favorite. And mid-winter when all the tomatoes are pink and grainy I'll be wishing I could sink my teeth into a red, ripe, fresh-from-the-vine Jersey tomato.

3. A well known proverb states, "It's easier to seek forgiveness than ask permission." Your thoughts?

I'm really more of an 'ask permission' kind of girl. Plowing ahead and then worrying about making up for it later is not my style. I won't be breaking the rules unless it's a matter of life and death. Ha- I'm sure my hubs is nodding his head at the truth of that last statement.

4. Food critic, film critic, art critic, book critic...which hat would you most like to wear?

Food.

No one is surprised are they?

5. When you were a kid, (besides your parents) who was your favorite adult?

There were many but the ones who popped immediately to mind were my grandma, the young mom who lived next door, a favorite camp counselor, and the youth leaders in my church.

6. The astronaut Neil Armstrong passed away last week. He was regarded as a hero by many generations of people all around the world. Do we still have modern day heroes? What makes someone a hero?

Back in 1969 the courage it took for those astronauts to climb into that little bitty capsule is mind boggling. By all accounts Neil Armstrong was a humble man. He liked to credit the thousands of NASA workers who made his moon walk possible rather than seeking the spotlight himself. I think bravery combined with integrity and humility is the very definition of heroism.

Our society likes to hold up sports figures as heroes but I disagree. I think sports figures can potentially be role models, but what they do is in no way heroic. Nor are celebrities heroic. And while great business leaders and entrepreneurs like Steve Jobs can inspire and change the world, I wouldn't label them as heroes either.

The world needs role models and heroes both. I think a hero is someone who, with great courage, deliberately and without regard for the personal consequences, puts others before self in order to accomplish something amazing.

Firefighters and policemen rushing in to the crumbling World Trade Center buildings-heroic.

One man standing firm against the tyranny of a dictator-heroic

Navy Seals, Green Berets, and other Special Forces rescuing a fallen soldier behind enemy lines-heroic.

A pilot calmly landing a plane full of frightened passengers in the middle of the Hudson River and then stating he was only doing his job-heroic.

Bravery is an essential component of heroism. I think humility and integrity complete the package.

7. I never get tired of __________________.

...a clear , bright blue sky.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

Debby over at Just Breathe had a little musical meme on her blog last week and I told her I'd play along. The instructions were to name 15 vocalists (in no particular order) who will always stick with you...don't take too long to think about it, just the first 15 that pop into your head.

Okay, you know I'm not very good at that whole 'not thinking too hard about it' thing but here's a list of fifteen...

Steve Perry (Journey), Lou Gramm (Foreigner), Bruce Springsteen, James Taylor, Karen Carpenter, Don Henley, Bono, Martina McBride, Barry Gibb, Carole King, Phil Collins, Ann Wilson (Heart), Rob Thomas (Matchbox Twenty), and Christopher Cross.

Who would be on your list?

Ring the Bells

I'm happy I joined in the December photo challenge over at Susan's blog. My brain is swimming these days and the photo prompt gives me a jumping off place for a blog post. Today's prompt is 'silver bells' and instead of a photograph I'm sharing a video. If you've never heard Casting Crowns version of I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day then you've missed something beautiful.

The words to this old hymn were originally a poem written by Longfellow following a serious injury to his son and the tragic death of his wife. As the story goes, the Civil War had started and that, combined with his personal tragedies, made him wonder if he'd ever know peace again. On Christmas Eve, 1863 he sat down to write a poem. As he listened to the bells ringing over and over again he recognized that God isn't dead, that as long as there is Christmas there is the promise of new life. You can read more about the history of the carol here.

I love the old hymns and in general don't like them messed with but this is one I think has been made better by a haunting melody and Casting Crowns beautiful clear sound.

Any songwriters in the Hodgepodge?

Hubs and I love listening to music and quite often we spend our Friday evenings sipping a glass of wine while listening to our favorites, both old and new. Hubs has an ear for music and he can name most songs on the first note. I do not have an ear for music but I do have an ear for words and a well turned phrase. Our tastes are wide ranging but music from the 1970's will always top our list of most loved.

Just as some people collect spoons and some people collect tea cups I collect words. I'll often hear a line in a song that is clever or thought provoking or just plain well said and think, 'I wish I'd written that." Hubs and I were talking about this very thing last Friday night and I thought it would be fun to share a few and then use that as our launch question for this week's HP. I'm not making any sort of statement with the artists I've chosen and I realize we could debate the merit and character of each one but I'd rather not. This is really just about the words.

Sometimes I love the whole song but a lot of the time its just a line or a particular phrase that strikes a chord with me. I have linked to the actual song for copyright purposes and on that note, here's a random dozen in no particular order-

1. "She's living in LA with my best old ex friend Ray"...my best old ex-friend? I absolutely love that wording...from Operator by Jim Croce.

2. "These are not the best of times but they're the only times I've ever known..."from Summer Highland Falls by Billy Joel

3. "Did the captain of the Titanic cry?..."

from Someday We'll Know by The New Radicals

4. "She's got a smile that it seems to me, reminds me of childhood memories, where everything was as fresh as the bright blue sky..."

from Sweet Child O' Mine by Guns N' Roses

5. "I'm not crazy I'm just a little unwell..."

Unwell by Matchbox 20

6. "What are these voices outside love's open door, makes us throw off our contentment and beg for something more?..." from The Heart of the Matter by Don Henley

7. "My life has been a tapestry of rich and royal hue, An everlasting vision of the ever changing view..." from Tapestry by Carole King

8. "I'm so happy, that I can't stop crying..."

From I'm so Happy by Sting

9. "... wearing a face that she keeps in a jar by the door..."

from Eleanor Rigby by The Beatles

10. "She needs wide open spaces, room to make her big mistakes..."

from Wide Open Spaces by The Dixie Chicks

11. "Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road, time grabs you by the wrist directs you where to go..." Good Riddance by Green Day

12. "But the ending always comes at last, endings always come too fast. They come too fast but they pass too slow..." from All I know by Art Garfunkel

I'd love to know if you have a lyric or ten that make you say, "Wish I wrote that." Oh wait...it's time for the Hodgepodge. How convenient. Here are the questions for this week...come back tomorrow (Wednesday) so we can link our answers with the whole wide world.

1. Share a favorite song lyric.

I better not see 'I can't think of one' on anybody's paper. That's an automatic F in the Wednesday Hodgepodge you know.

2. When was the last time someone yelled at you?

3. Money, fame, happiness...are they mutually exclusive?

4. What is your favorite dish to prepare for family and friends that doesn't require turning on the stove, oven or an outdoor grill?

5. The first week of August is National Simplify Your Life Week. What is one thing you could do this week to simplify your life? Will you do it?

6. On a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being 100% and 1 being not at all) how tuned in are you to your country's national political scene?

7. What are your final parting words to the month of July?

8. Insert your own random thought here.

Monday Thirteen

Yes I know this sort of post is supposed to be written on a Thursday and then I'm supposed to call it Thursday thirteen like everybody else, but I have thirteen things today so Monday thirteen it is. I've been traveling and having fun and not reading blogs or writing blogs or commenting on blogs so I have lots to catch up on. I won't be catching you up on everything right now but I am going to throw a few random thoughts out there so I can begin to de-clutter my brain. In my defense I started this list before I left town last week.

1. U2. Oh my stars. They were positively amazing. Seriously, I'm lacking adjectives. Best concert ever.

2. Did I just use the expression, 'Oh my stars'? My grandma used the expression 'Oh my stars'. She also liked to say 'Well Good Gravy' and 'Land Sakes Alive'. She did not however, follow U2. Land Sakes alive has an interesting origin-it stems from that long ago time when people were making the dangerous trek from Europe to America via the rocking rolling sea. As you know, many died or spent weeks or months in misery as they crossed the ocean. As land appeared they would proclaim, "Land, for the sake of God, we're alive" which was shortened to 'land sakes alive'. That's how I sometimes feel when I step off a boat.

Didn't know when you started reading today that this post would be both random and educational, did you?

3. You need a picture of U2, right?

Wait...that's not Bono. That is actually hubs and his brother who just so happened to be at the concert too. He lives a long long way from NJ so we don't get to see him very often. His company box was on the other side of the stadium from our company box and fyi-Giants Stadium is pretty darn big and the security around the corporate boxes is tight. Hubs made friends with one of the area supervisors on our side of the stadium and he happily escorted us over to the other side so we could say hi to the brother before the show started. Nice people are nice.

4. Here's the set-

Positively massive and it had so many tricks of lighting and sight and sound. The screens were just incredible and it's all impossible to capture in a photo but really, it was amazing!

5. Let's change topics and talk about my recent new addictions. Blue Diamond Wasabi Soy almonds would be one. If you haven't tried them and you like a little zing in your snacks then these are for you my friend.

6. Here's my other new addiction-Pinterest. I knew I shouldn't even go there but go there I did. There is pretty and clever in abundance on this site and I cannot look away. I'm at JoDaley if you are already there or you want an invite to join.

7. Words With Friends is an old addiction but if you play send me your screen name-again, Jodaley

8. I really don't need more addictions. I have a blog, remember?

9. Hubs and I might be a little bit intense. This has absolutely nothing to do with anything but is just something I've been thinking about lately. I especially noticed this when daughter1 was home recently. She'd only been in the house a short while before we were more or less grilling her about her job. Sometimes we are too much. We know this but we just can't seem to help it.

10. My new favorite website-What Kate Wore. Is anyone else more than a little bit fascinated by the Duchess of Cambridge? This website is devoted to her wardrobe.

11. The Bachelorette. Land sakes alive, please just let this season end.

12. I saw a few minutes of the new show 101 Ways to Leave a Game Show last week...they actually sicced a dog on someone. Good gravy! I won't be watching this one. Is that how you spell sicced?

13. #13 already? I haven't even mentioned the weekend but the weekend deserves its own post which will be coming. It's all in my head right now but I'll get it on my blog just as soon as I get life reorganized at home. Traveling tends to turn things upside down, doesn't it?

J is for I'll give you three guesses...

If you're here today looking for this week's Hodgepodge questions you'll find them at the end of this post. First things first...my A-Z challenge post...click the button on my sidebar to read more.

J is for Jersey

How can it not be?

I don't really think of myself as a Jersey girl even though approximately one third of my life has been spent living in various parts of this state.

What is a Jersey girl anyway?

Nails done, big hair, tight clothes, popping gum and foul mouth?

That's the stereotype isn't it?

And if you happen to have your own reality show then maybe that definition fits.

But me?

Not so much.

Not at all in fact.

And its also not true for most of the 'Jersey Girls' I know.

I grew up in South Jersey and have lived two different times now in North Jersey. North and South Jersey are seen by the 'natives' almost like they're two different states. The first time I lived in North Jersey I'd hear friends say they were going 'down below' and I always wanted to ask 'down below where?' I figured out pretty quickly they were not referring to the Mason Dixon line. Going down below meant they were headed somewhere south of the imaginary border that separates the Northern part of the state from the Southern part of the state. South Jersey feels the influence of Philadelphia while North Jersey feels the influence of New York and they are most definitely not the same thing.

Do people in NJ have an accent?

Of course, but generally its not as harsh as television likes to portray it.

Generally.

ahem.

I will tell you that no one says Joisy unless they're joking. And speaking as someone who has lived a few places around the globe, everyone has an accent.

I get asked at least once a week if I'm from the south.

I love the reaction when I say yes...South Jersey.

Since I'm educating you on the finer points of a real Jersey girl here are a few things I've observed and we'll see if I qualify...

Jersey girls love their families-check

Jersey girls love the 'shore'...check

We could call it a beach if we wanted to.

Jersey girls love 'The Boss'-check.

I shouldn't need to say it but I will...Springsteen is "The Boss"

Jersey girls know their exit-check.

You might need to be a Jersey girl to understand that one.

Jersey girls know how to confidently navigate their car around a circle-check

Circles are known as roundabouts in other parts of the world.

Jersey girls know where to get a good bagel-check.

Jersey girls don't pump their own gas-check.

Very happily checked I might add.

Jersey girls know there is more to the landscape here than the industrial and sometimes questionable bit you see as you go up and down the turnpike-check.

It is the Garden State and I've got the fox, deer, and bear in my back yard to prove it.

Hmmm...I guess there is a little of the Jersey Girl in me after all.

And now...here are the question's for this week's Hodgepodge.

Don't even think about not coming back here tomorrow (Wednesday) to link answers.

Remember...I'm from Jersey.

I might know people.

1. Would you rather talk to everyone at a crowded party for a short time or have a significant conversation with two people?

2. What objects do you remember from your parent's living room?

3. Do you hog the bed? Steal the covers? Snore?

4. Speaking of Easter dinner....what is your favorite way to cook/eat lamb? Or does just the thought of that make you squeamish? If you're not cooking lamb what will be your entree du jour on Easter Sunday?

5. Let's throw some politics into this week's mix-oooohhh...Do you know the whereabouts of your birth certificate and when was the last time you had to produce it to prove you're you?

6. As a child, how did people describe you?

7. What do you complain about the most?

8. Insert your own random thought here.

Here's a little pre-Hodgepodge random...it seemed appropriate-

I hear music...sweet, sweet music

Today's Flashback Friday post is all about music so I couldn't pass that one up. Even though I have had overnight guests here who needed breakfast and we have a child to pick up at the Newark airport in Friday traffic I am still going to play along. Daughter1 is coming home for a long weekend so she can attend the wedding of a childhood friend and we can't wait to have her home with us for a few days. She hasn't spent much time in this house and it always makes me smile to see her sleeping snug in her own bed.

Okay, I'm supposed to be talking about music which happens to be one of my favorite things in the world. I love music. Lots of different types of music. However, I myself am not musically inclined. As a young girl I always wanted to play the piano but we didn't have one growing up so that didn't happen. I did enjoy singing in our church youth choir all thru my high school years but let's be honest and say that was more about the friends I made there and not so much about my singing ability. Which, lets also be honest and say is minimal.

My husband is very musical and comes from a family where everyone plays an instrument and sings in tune. Well, not sure about my fil but everyone else, yes. Hubs played the trumpet growing up. And he sings and as I've mentioned here a time or ten, he never met a microphone he didn't want to step behind. He definitely has an ear for music...sometimes he annoys me when we're in the car and he changes the radio station before I even know what song is playing. I mean I haven't even caught the first note and I need several to identify the song anyway and he says 'oh, we don't like that one.' He only needs one note, sometimes only a half a note. I wanted my girls to have music because I think it adds so much to our lives. Both of my girls thankfully got their dad's genes here and both have lovely singing voices and between them play the piano, violin and guitar.

Growing up we listened to music on a transistor radio and we listened to a lot of am stations.WIBG, WFIL Philadelphia anyone? I remember getting my first stereo which also contained an 8-track tape player. Exciting times they were. I remember buying albums and finally seeing what the band actually looked like...no videos back then or video channels and of course no internet either so unless you saw a band in concert or bought their album you had no idea what they looked like. Even then sometimes the covers were something funky and you still had no clue. I know the sound is better on a CD but a CD case does not evoke the same feeling as the one you got perusing a brand new album. We still have our stereo up and running and sometimes play our albums.

My parents were pretty good when it came to what we listened to. I mostly remember going in my room and closing the door and if I wanted to play it loud (which is how I like my music still) I would put on my headphones. And headphones when I was a teenager were not teeny tiny little ear buds. They were huge. We did not know that CD's, walkmen, MP3 players and later, something called an ipod would be a part of our future. We listened to our albums on stereos with speakers the size of small children and we liked it.

I have siblings who are five and seven years older than me so they were teenagers in the late sixties and early seventies and I grew up listening to their music. I loved it...The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Gary Puckett and the Union Gap, Herman's Hermits, too many to name really. Sometimes my younger sister and I would go into my older sisters room and we'd blast her stereo and dance on her canopy bed. We had little carrying cases of 45's too...remember the little insert that went in the center hole so they would play on a regular stereo? My younger sister and I shared a room and my brother's room was beside ours. He played the guitar and I remember the early days of his playing and listening thru the bedroom wall as he strummed House of the Rising Sun over and over and over. And over and over and over.

My dad loved country music which was not really anything like today's country music but he loved his Johnny Cash and Charlie Pride. My dad could not carry a tune at all but that did not stop him from singing along. My parents played a lot of Christian music too which I guess was contemporary in its day but I don't think they called it that back then. I loved the Gaithers and I can still remember the sound of George Beverly Shea singing "How Great Thou Art" which is one of my favorite hymns of all time.

What I really love about music is the ability it has to make you feel deeply and suddenly. Music carries you back to a place and time and I love the way I can be plodding along thru life and hear a song and suddenly be transported back to 1977. Or 1997. Music and memory go hand in hand for me.

I could never pick a favorite song but every now and then hubs and I will hear a song and say, 'Oh that one's on my all time top 10 list.' Which I kind of keep in my head and have never written down. I like the music of the 70's and early 80's the best probably because it was the soundtrack to my teenage/young adult years. And also because it was the best. I like country music today. I like beach music. I listen to a lot of contemporary Christian music and I like a lot of music from Broadway too. I never get tired of the soundtrack to Phantom of the Opera.

If I were naming favorite tunes I'd have to do it by category and even then I'm not sure I could do it. Music is as much about the mood I'm in and what is going on in my life as it is about the actual notes. There are a few songwriters who I think have a bit of the poet in them and I keep a running list of favorite song lines in my head too. A lot goes on in my head people. Jackson Browne, Billy Joel, Jim Croce...they fall into this category.

If I had to choose I'd say my favorite bands are The Eagles and U2. Fantastic music with lyrics that actually say something. If we are talking country music I love Kenny Chesney, Rascall Flats, and Brooks and Dunn. In the Contemporary Christian genre I listen to a lot of David Crowder Band and Point of Grace and I love old hymns too. My new favorite band which crosses lines when it comes to genre is NeedtoBreathe...they are amazingly talented and I have played their Outsiders cd at least a thousand times.

I feel like I need to link to a song here but how in the world can I pick just one? But I will...this is one of my all time favorites...one among hundreds...how can anyone not love the music of The Temptations?

And just in case you don't know NeedtoBreathe I feel I need to educate you...my daughter1 got me hooked on their music back before they were very well known. Bear attended the same uni as my girls and the band played at some fraternity events where daughter1 heard them and fell instantly in love with their music. Their song Something Beautiful is played a lot on the radio now but here's the title song....

Be sure to stop by Linda's blog today to read more Flashback Friday musical posts.

Been to Canaan

Visit Mylestones for more Flashback Friday posts featuring Musical Memories.

When I saw this week's theme for Flashback Friday

a million songs ran through my head.

I love that a song can take you to a place in time so that no matter how many

years go by, whenever that song is played you are there.

As you know, because I talk about it ad nauseum, we moved back to

the states this past summer after six years in England.

We were actually under the impression we would be moving

back after five years but the date was continually pushed back.

We loved our life there so we weren't unhappy about staying,

just about the uncertainty of when and where we would be going next.

One afternoon, about a year before we moved, hubs and I were out driving in

the little MG...it's red and very cute and we had the top down and were blasting

our music because that's what we like to do.

Just ask our kids.

We listen to all kinds of music in our house but we

especially listen to a lot of 70's music.

Because it's the best.

Just sayin'.

It was one of those picture perfect, crystal clear, blue sky days.

They don't happen all that often in the UK but when

they do everyone does the happy dance.

My hubs worked in Oxford and we loved driving out that way on weekends too.

The drive from our house to Oxford?

It was spectacular.

You knew that word would reappear once I started

talking about England didn't you?

It is possibly my favorite drive anywhere in the world.

The wide open spaces, the green hills, the adorable little lambs,

mile after mile of bright yellow rapeseed in the spring...

and the sky...the sky is just so great big huge there.

Have you ever had a day where you feel like everything

is just right with the world? Where you are almost bursting

from an emotion that you cannot name?

Where contentment washes over you and makes

you feel like the luckiest person in the world?

This was such a day.

We came to our favorite part of the road...the place where you

come over a hill and are face to face with fields of green.

A song began playing.

My husband and I looked at each other and in that instant we knew.

We knew that no matter where in the world we found ourselves,

from that moment on we would

hear that song and think of the English countryside,

and the days and years we spent there,

and how in that place our children grew from child to adult,

and how memories were made every. single. day.

The song 'Been to Canaan' by Carole King

came out in 1972 but its a classic and is still played on the radio

from time to time. We have it in our ipod mix so it

pops up when we're not expecting it.

And when it does we look at each other and smile.

For a moment we're back on that country road

in a place far away,

not only in miles but in days and weeks and soon in years.

When that song plays

we are in the little MG with the top down

and the sun on our faces

and England at our feet.

Make your own free digital slideshow

Par-tay!

So I know you're all dying to find out if I stooped so low as to snag my own gift at the party last night and the simple answer to that is no. I will confess though that it was not because I wasn't willing but more because...here's the best part...I was the last name drawn...whoohoo! If you've never done one of these exchanges before then you need to know that being last is really like being first. Kinda like winning before the game even begins. If you are last then you get your choice of any gift out there. Well almost any gift because there are always those women who latch onto something and give you a sob story about why they must absolutely have that gift and they put it under their chair or in their lap so you kinda forget its out there and they also tend to play the guilt card which makes you feel like you'd be the lowest form of life for even thinking about taking the gift they chose so you don't. You think really really hard about it but you don't.

Anyway, I chose a gift certificate to a little French bistro here in town that everyone raves about but I haven't managed to get to yet. I love me some jewelry but dining out just might be my love language so its all good. Daughter2 is coming home in less than two weeks and since she is coming directly home to her mama and not making any side treks to the boyfriends house she may just get treated to lunch out at the French Bistro. See it pays to come straight home to mama.

Today I'm baking a chocolate pound cake to take to a party. And guess what...there's an ornament exchange which will be done in the same fashion as last night's gift exchange. I really hope I don't embarrass my husband. He really hopes so too.

While I was baking my cake the piano tuner arrived to tune the piano. Duh. We ended up leaving our piano in England and buying a piano from the people who were selling this house. My husband hit one note on the piano shortly after we moved in and declared it way out of tune. Daughter2 who is my pianist said the same. I am not the person to ask since it all sounds like music to me but the piano tuner confirmed their diagnosis. He gave me all the technical mumbo jumbo but let me summarize for you. The number that is not supposed to be above an 8 ranges anywhere from 56-87 on our piano. Even I don't think that's good. He is going to have to make a second trip out because it seems you can only move it 50 whatevers at one time so while it is hugely improved it is still a teensy bit off key. So he says...it's all music to me. He did play a beautiful Silent Night for me before he left and he also solved a little piano mystery we had going here. There is an electrical chord tucked under one edge of the piano and we had no clue as to what it was for. Turns out there is a dehumidifier inside the piano. The things one learns. Anyway, our piano is sitting in our little sunroom and this may very well be my favorite room in the house. Because its sunny...did I need to say that? As it happens all that fluctuating temperature isn't so great for the instrument so what to do? I really don't want to move the piano and I really don't want to put anything on the windows because the windows y'all...they make the room.

It's a conundrum. I love that word and am happy I finally found an excuse to use it on my blog. Here is a photo of said piano.

And here is a close up of the adorable little hand carved wooden Nativity that now sits upon said piano. I bought this at the Christmas Market in Cologne Germany last December and it is so sweet.

Pictures do not turn out very well when taken in the sunroom because did I mention the windows? Can windows make you happy because these definitely make me happy. Unless I glance out and happen to witness a massacre of sorts but other than that yes, I think windows can make you happy. And so can German Christmas markets. And French markets. Which is where I will be exactly one week from today. Et je suis très excitée.