Three Cheers For The Hodgepodge

Welcome to July and to our weekly 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. What do you love most about your country? 

Her resilience, her optimism, her beauty, and maybe most of all her hard fought freedoms. 

2. Your favorite patriotic song? 

America The Beautiful

3. Red, white, or blue? Stars or stripes? Something you own besides a US flag with some combination of those colors or decorations as part of its design? 

I like red, white, and blue alone, two of them together in some combination, or all three together. My favorite I guess is blue, but it depends what we're talking about. I like striped tops, striped fabric, striped umbrellas, candy canes, and the Clemson tigers : ) I like stars in the night sky. 

Something besides a flag with those colors or decorations? I have a patio pillow that fits the description-

4. What's one thing you want more of this summer: fun, rest, adventure, connection, quiet, or confidence? Elaborate. 

While they all appeal to some degree, I'm going to choose connection. I want to be intentional about reaching out. I want quality time with the people I care about. I want deep conversations, shared meals and conversations, and memories made with friends and family. 

5. What was your ultimate, go-to summer activity when you were a kid? Do you still do any version of that today? If you answered yes, does participating in this activity as an adult make you feel like a kid?  

Definitely swimming, and yes I still swim and I still love it. In some ways it can make me feel like a kid. Diving into deep water and swimming across a pool without coming up for air definitely takes me back to my childhood. 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Have a safe and happy 4th everyone! 

Everyday Images

I enjoy the Everyday Images link up hosted by Kym (Another Cup Of Coffee) and thought I might try to make some of my recent random photos fit the prompts. Bloggers tend to snap a lot of pictures and a prompt like this one is a nice place to set them down. 

Kym posts new prompts every two weeks and the most current are-

flag, simple and/or complicated, at home, Wednesday weather,

 doorway, movement, and branched

Well flag is an easy one because I'm adding patriotic decor in spots around the house and several feature flag motifs-

This is on my coffee table, a little vignette that's fun and festive. I chose poppies because they make me think of soldiers and sacrifice. The pop of red in a little blue floral vase is so pretty. These are artificial poppies, but look so real. I ordered them from a company called Luv Sola Flowers which I think is out of California. The stems have some bend to them which made arranging easy. 

Love my 'smells like freedom candle' too. What does freedom smell like? For some reason I immediately think of freshly mown green grass, which is not the scent of this candle, but that's the first thing I thought of. The label on the bottom says gun powder, but I had to check so I don't think it's obvious. 

Since we're talking flags I also bought hand soap for my powder room and some disposable towels, both with red, white, and blue flag designs on them. 

Simple and/or complicated-

I spent Thursday afternoon cooking. I made dinner to take to a friend as part of a meal train (pot roast, mashed potatoes, green beans, and glazed carrots), then made a big pan of ziti to have ready to go for Friday night's dinner when my two sisters, my brother-in-law, and my nephew will be at the lake. 

And I made hubs and I a big cobb salad for our Thursday dinner. I'll make a dessert tomorrow but it felt simpler to devote an afternoon to the bigger cooking as opposed to spreading it out over a couple of days. 

Hubs is grilling wings Friday too but that's his department and he's got it covered. 

at home-

I'm writing this post at 8 PM on Thursday and this is the first I've sat down today. Maybe all week? 

Here's the sofa on our upper deck which is pretty much my favorite place to sit and it's currently on point with my patriotic theme. Happy birthday America! 

Wednesday weather-

Hmm. I take a picture almost every morning, but did not snap one on Wednesday. It was drizzling when we got up, we had thunder at one point, humidity, clouds and then a very pretty sunset. We had gone to dinner with some neighbors and I attempted to take a photo of the pastel skies from their driveway. 

Doorway-

I didn't have anything that fit this particular prompt so I scrolled back through my camera roll and found a photo I took back in March that I never posted. Yes, of course that counts. You make your own blog rules, right? 

I took this when I was visiting my daughter2 in Tennessee and we shopped in the prettiest little store. Even the doors were beautiful-

Movement -

Well the beaver family has returned. Not the original beaver family because ahem, they're goners, but maybe one of their offspring? 

He's movin' alright. Moving is good though because we do not want him stopping and staying a while. 

We started seeing one good sized beaver swimming from the back of the cove towards the channel, which means he swims under our dock bridge. You have to get up very early to see him (which we do) and he is busy. As a beaver. Ha! That saying has merit y'all. We watched him one morning swim across our cove and under a neighbors dock all while carrying a large branch with the leaves still on it. Crazy! But kind of interesting too. 

On Tuesday he had a friend with him. Oh boy. 

We don't want him/them setting up house on our property so we're doing what we can to deter them . I don't think I'll elaborate. 

Also, I wrote back in 2020 about the beaver who ate his way through our hillside landscaping and if you've never seen one you might think they're cute, but I'm here to tell you they are not actually cute. One reason we put in the waterfall was to save the hillside and the beavers have not come up the hill since so it's working. 

branched-

This one feels like a challenge. Technically they're under some branches-

These two deer were in my neighbor's front yard the other day. They were not bothered by me at all. 

Happy weekend everyone! 

Hello Monday On Tuesday

Hi friends. It's June. Can you believe it? May was choc-a-block full and June will be the same. We have a daughter's birthday, a grandson's birthday, an anniversary, Father's Day, a week with daughter2 and her littles at the lake, Vacation Bible School, various appointments, my brother and sister-in-law in town for a visit, two wine dinners, and whew. It will be fun. 

Now if only the weather would get the message.

I didn't get my weekend recap written as we had company Sunday evening, then I had an appointment that required me to leave the house before 8 AM on Monday so here it is almost 3 PM and I'm finally sitting down to blog. 

Backing up to Thursday because it feels like the start of the weekend. I volunteer from about 9-1 every Thursday, then went to run a quick errand for a friend before heading to the salon for a mani/pedi. So nice. Hubs and I had already decided we'd go out for dinner which added to the enjoyment of the salon treatment. 

I got home and changed and we went to the local distillery for dinner and to hear some live music. I ordered a brisket sandwich and it was delicious but super rich. I only ate half and hubs helped with the rest. After we ate we went outside to hear a local band play. 

We ran into some friends there who introduced us to a couple they were with, neighbors of theirs, and in the course of chatting we discovered they're friends with some of our very best lifelong friends. We snapped a picture and texted our friends who live far from here and in the moment it all felt like such a small world. 

Friday hubs had an appointment to get his haircut in the nearby city and we decided to make a day of it. I tagged along so we could visit my mom afterwards, and we had the most delicious lunch in between these two events. We ate downtown at a small seafood restaurant where I could have ordered one of everything on the menu. 

We opted for a half order of their famous cheddar hushpuppies-

 A sampling of their fish dip which was so good I could have eaten as an entree...

A half dozen oysters from different east coast waters with varying salinity...

And then a lobster roll for good measure...

We got the Maine roll (cold) as opposed to the Connecticut roll (warm), but this place does both. We were full but we did get an order of their banana pudding to go so we could take that to my momma. She loved it. 

We left downtown and headed to her residence next, which is about 20 minutes from the city. We had a nice time chatting outside and hubs had her laughing which makes me smile too. These lilies in bloom in the garden there were beautiful. 

r

We made a couple of stops on the way home to drop off and pick up various things so didn't get home until about 4:30. We relaxed that evening and skipped dinner since we were still full from lunch. 

Saturday I ran to the store first thing to get a few last minute party items and hubs ran to the rock place to get filler for a spot beside the patio. I'm sure the place has a name but he bought two buckets of rocks there so I call it the rock shop. We were both home by 11 and then headed out to watch the boys play in a travel baseball game about 40 minutes from here. 

This is how it went down-

We drove forty minutes to a very nice sports field complex. I mean really nice. 

We paid $20 to get in. Yes. $10 per adult. Does anyone else think that's a lot? And y'all. There were hundreds of cars coming and going all day long as there were games played by kids of different ages on multiple fields. I wonder if there are families with a child playing where only one parent attends the three day tournament because they can't afford the entry fee? 

My daughter says probably not because these travel teams are a different level and parents are spending crazy sums on the bats and other gear so paying the $10 to get on the field is nothing. I saw a meme where a mom said 'here I am wearing the same bra I've owned since 2018 while my 8- year old is on the field with a $500 bat'.  Ha! But also kinda true. 

I will stop now because I sound old, plus the facilities are super nice so the money it seems is at least going back into that community. Also, most people don't have a husband who hits the snack bar and spends another $50 on junk food. Not naming names, but it does happen. ahem. 

We came home and worked on getting everything ready for the next day's festivities. 

I cleaned bathrooms and hubs got the outdoor dining furniture wiped down and back in place, the grill set up, the cornhole boards out, etc. 

Saturday night he prepped the pork butt and shoulder. Somehow I bought one of each which I didn't think was a huge deal, because they weighed about the same, but apparently it was a bit of a deal because one had a bone and one didn't and blah blah blah. 

It was all delicious. 

Hubs put them on the green egg sometime between 11 and midnight on Saturday and they smoked happily all night long. There's nothing like the scent of BBQ with your morning coffee.

I'm not joking. 

The weather on Sunday was nuts. It looked like it was going to pour rain all day but it never rained a drop. It was chilly. Then it was warm, then chilly again. But not raining so we'll take it. 

We had BBQ with beans and slaw and then all the other yummy sides plus two desserts people brought.

 We played cornhole and fun fact-we've owned boards for ten years and I still am not great at this game. 

Here we are trying to do math. If you play cornhole you get it. It's all friendly and we had a great time chatting, eating, tossing the bean bags, and celebrating the start of summer. 

Also, this turtle lives here now. What should we name him?

Linking today with Holly and Sarah's yesterday hop Hello Monday and Joanne's 

Talking About It Tuesday

Nom de Hodgepodge

Welcome to the last Hodgepodge in this merry month of May. 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. Do you like your name? Are you named after someone (grandparent, etc)? If you have children how did you choose their names? 

I don't have a strong opinion about my name. I don't dislike it, and can't really imagine anything different.  That's who I've always been so yes, I guess I do like it. I'm not named after anyone. 

When we found out we were expecting daughter1 hubs and I immediately settled on her name. We were less sure of a boy's name, but no matter, because we were both certain baby was a girl and we were right. We just loved the name, both first and middle, and it suits her. 

There was just one other girl with her same name in her preschool and kindergarten class, but then all the way up through university we didn't know another. Fast forward to present day and we have three in our church besides her so maybe it's more of a SC thing? We still love it. 

Daughter2 has a name that belonged to one of hubs grandmothers and also one of my great grandmothers which is nice. The name definitely suits her. We gave her hubs other grandmother's name as a middle, and I knew and loved that grandmother so was happy to pass it on. 

My grandchildren have a combination of family names and names their parent's loved. They are all more traditional which I love. One has his dad and granddads' first name and then our surname as his middle. One has my dad's name as his middle. One has my mother's maiden name as his middle. Both grandgirls share middle names with their mommas which is sweet. 

2.  A piece of red velvet cake, a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a slice of blueberry pie? You can only have one...which will you choose? If you could pick any red, white, or blue dessert other than those listed here, what would you choose? 

I'll have the blueberry pie please. That's a favorite and I make at least one every summer. Hubs birthday is early September and I sometimes make him a blueberry pie instead of a cake for his birthday dessert. 

If I were picking something not listed it would be angel food cake topped with strawberries. Red and white. I'll make one of these soon as my daughter1 requests this for her birthday dessert every year and she has one coming up soon. 

Fun fact...she has a son turning the age she is in this photo but we won't time travel down that rabbit hole today. 

3.  What's a job you'd like to try for just one day? 

I'd like to check groceries at the supermarket for a day. I can't really explain why this appeals to me, but it's a job I think I'd enjoy. I like grocery shopping and am nosy about what people have in their carts. I'm also picky about the bagging-just ask my hubs.

4. Any patriotic decor in your home currently or coming up this summer? 

I've put out some patriotic decor because it's a big year for America and I want to celebrate that. I needed new cushions for my upper deck and went with a patriotic theme. I bought hand towels for the guest bath, patriotic soaps, and I've ordered a candle for my coffee table with a patriotic label. 

I mentioned my front door wreath in Monday's post, and I have a patriotic door mat there too. Of course the dock is decked out with a flag and a patriotic wind sock and in general the lake is full of flags flying and people celebrating the freedoms we enjoy. 

I'd post pictures of my new pillows, but it's been raining cats and dogs since Friday so we have the outdoor furniture covered and the pillows tucked away. They'll be out all summer so I'm sure they'll turn up on the blog eventually. 

5. It's the end of May, so let's exercise our brains. Sum up your month with an acrostic using the word MAY. We can do it!!  

Moved my momma early May

All the blooming beauty added brightness to the month

Yearning for sunshine as we turn the page to June

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

I'd kind of forgotten I wanted to host another Day In The Life link up for anyone who'd like to join the fun. New season, new routines. 

Unless you're retired then it's same old same old. Ha! I kid. 

Anyway, let's say June 18th. It's a Thursday. Choose a day to keep track of that falls between now and the link up, then hop back here to add your post to the party. If you don't know what I'm talking about here's the 411-

Pick a day and give us the play by play of your life on that day. Some bloggers do their posts by the hour, some by chunks of time, whatever works for you. Most people add photos but that's up to you. If you're like me you need to set the timer on your phone to remind you to take pictures but again, you can do your post in whatever way you like. 

I wrote one back in November you can read if you want an idea of how mine looks-A Day In The Life, Autumn 2025

These posts are fun to read and I feel like they're great connectors. Hope to see you there! 

Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 655

Here are the questions to this week's Hodgepodge. Answer on your own blog, then hop back here on Wednesday (May 27th) to add your link to the party. See you there! 

1. Do you like your name? Are you named after someone (grandparent, etc)? If you have children how did you choose their names? 

2.  A piece of red velvet cake, a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a slice of blueberry pie? You can only have one...which will you choose? If you could pick any red, white, or blue dessert other than those listed here, what would you choose? 

3.  What's a job you'd like to try for just one day? 

4. Any patriotic decor in your home currently or coming up this summer? 

5. It's the end of May, so let's exercise our brains. Sum up your month with an acrostic using the word MAY. We can do it!!  

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 642

Here are the questions to this week's Hodgepodge. Answer on your own blog, then hop back here on Wednesday (2/25) to add your link to the party. See you there! 

1. America celebrates turning 250 years old this year. Primary cities set to lead the celebrations on July 4th are Boston, Philadelphia, New York, and Washington D.C. Other significant locations for celebrating will be Charleston SC and the 'historic triangle' which includes Jamestown-Willimasburg-Yorktown Virginia. 

Of the cities listed how many have you seen in person? Of the cities listed which would you most like to visit this year? Any plans to do so? What's one place in America you think everyone should see? If you're not American what's one place in the US you'd like to see? 

2. Three sounds you love to hear? 

3. Three sounds you hate to hear? 

4. February 24th is/was National Tortilla Chip Day. Are you a fan? With salsa, guacamole, queso, or just plain please? Do you like nachos? With what on top? Is there anything (besides nachos) you make that calls for tortilla chips? 

5. We March into March with next week's Hodgepodge...what's one thing on your March calendar that makes you smile? 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

PB And Hodgepodge

Welcome to another 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. What does patriotism mean to you? 

I try not to repeat questions, but every now and then one slips through. This is one of those times. I looked back and saw my answer to this one all the way back in 2011, and while the world has changed a whole lot my answer to this has not. 

"Loving your country is at the heart of patriotism, but I think it goes deeper than that. Living in a foreign country helped me see the word patriotism also means you personally identify with your home country. You worry, defend, promote, and act as cheerleader. You want to see her demonstrate all that is good and right in the world. Sometimes she lets you down but you love her anyway. 

In 2025 I would add that patriotism also means showing respect for our national symbols (the flag, our anthem, etc), obeying our laws, honoring those who've sacrificed and are in service to our country, and doing what we can to be good citizens. 

2. September-October-November...your favorite fall month? Tell us why. If you live in the southern hemisphere use these months but sub spring for the word fall. 

Well this one is tough because I love all three of these so much, my favorite three months of the year. I love the weather, the skies, the color, and the change in menu and clothing. My birthday is in September, but November gives us Thanksgiving. That much needed pause before the busy-ness of the Christmas season truly begins, makes November my favorite. 

3. A song you love with the word thanks (or some form of that word)  in the title or lyrics?

I love the song I Thank God by Maverick City Music. I've linked it (here) if you don't know it. You can't listen to this one sitting down. 

4. November is National Peanut Butter Month. Are you a fan? What's the last peanut butter bite you had? Fill in the blank: peanut butter and _____________________ . 

Oh, and you can't say jelly. 

I like peanut butter but don't eat a lot of it. I think the last peanut butter bite I had was a Reese's Cup on Halloween.  

Peanut butter and fluff aka marshmallow cream for those not in the know. 

5. This week's gratitude question-What event from this past year are you most grateful for? 

I'm sure you can guess my answer to this one...my daughter and her family moving to tiny town is the event I'm most grateful for. 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Whew. We busy. I will do a catch up at some point. Probably. Or not. Whatever. 

Tomorrow I'm hosting a link up here for anyone interested in sharing a Day In The Life post. These are always fun to read and help us remember all the ways we're connected as we go about the everyday ordinary business of living. Hope you'll join us! 

Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 628

Here are the questions to this week's Hodgepodge. Answer on your own blog then hop back here on Wednesday (Nov 12) to add your link to the party. See you there! 

1. What does patriotism mean to you? 

2. September-October-November...your favorite fall month? Tell us why. If you live in the southern hemisphere use these months but sub spring for the word fall. 

3. A song you love with the word thanks (or some form of that word)  in the title or lyrics?

4. November is National Peanut Butter Month. Are you a fan? What's the last peanut butter bite you had? Fill in the blank: peanut butter and _____________________ . 

Oh, and you can't say jelly. 

5. This week's gratitude question-What event from this past year are you most grateful for? 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Boot Scootin' Boot-y and the 4th of July

Good morning friends. Before diving in to the holiday recap here, it feels wrong not to mention the devastation and heartbreak that hit Texas over the weekend. I grew up going to a Christian camp on Maryland's eastern shore every summer, and I worked at the camp as a college student. The experiences I had there as both a camper and counselor helped shape me in to the person I am today, and it holds a very special and tender place in my heart. 

The pictures out of the Guadalupe flood and the young campers especially, are hard to see...the stories so very hard to hear. I pray the God who knows our every ache brings peace and comfort to the many families struggling to cope with the weight of their grief and loss.  

We celebrated America's birthday this weekend, and it was the absolute nicest 4th I can remember in terms of weather. 

Let's recap...

Daughter2 and her littles were here all last week and the cousins had so much fun hanging out together, both in the lake and in the neighborhood pool. 

My daughter has this darling outdoor mud kitchen which Sweet Baby J could not wait to play in. 

She had us all come for dinner Wednesday night and made a scrumptious dessert with the blueberries we'd picked the week before. I'll definitely be making this myself all summer long. 

Nana and Pawpaw are tired. Carry on. 

Daughter2 and her crew left around lunchtime Thursday to get back to their own home, and to her hubs who'd been traveling for work all week. Hubs and I got busy putting away some of the kid stuff-high chair, portable crib, toy box, etc, and then he ran the vacuum and I cleaned bathrooms. 

About four hours after they pulled out of the driveway hubs brother and sister-in-law rolled in from Tennessee. They brought fabulous steaks for us to grill that evening and I made baked potatoes and a Caprese salad to go with. 

After dinner we sat on the upstairs deck and caught up. I'm in a boot which is super annoying and I try hard not to go up and down the stairs unless it's absolutely necessary. I knew on Friday there would be more up and down than would be good for me so I tried to balance that with no up and down on Thursday. 

Friday was America's birthday and she dawned bright and beautiful. I'd made a quiche to have for breakfast and hubs grilled the rest of the Benton's bacon my sister-in-law had brought to have as a bloody mary garnish. Hubs is the master when it comes to handcrafting a bloody mary. 

Traffic on the lake is higher than normal on the 4th, so we took a morning cruise to get out before the rush. We came home and floated and then I made a charcuterie for us to snack on between breakfast and dinner. It's no simple thing to get me to the dock. I wear the boot down the walkway, take the boot off just before the dock, hubs helps me down the dock steps into the water, and then I just hang on the float, suspended, without moving my feet. 

Then someone helps me out, I dry off, reboot and hubs helps me walk back up to the house on the cart path. 

I'm a lot right now and I know it. 

Daughter1, her hubs, and their three littles arrived mid-afternoon and spent a few hours in the water having a grand time. We have a big lily pad they like to jump off of, and hubs and his brother and sister-in-law make it shake (we call it an earthquake) and they fall and laugh and love it.  I watched because I want to get out of this boot sooner rather than later. 

Hubs grilled wings and brats for our July 4th feast. 

I made baked beans and cole slaw, and daughter1 brought a pasta salad and dessert, this patriotic and delicious trifle-

We ate outside and then pulled out the corn hole and relaxed on the patio for a while. Daughter1's in-law's popped by to say hello, then we were joined by friends who also had their grandkids visiting. We're the primo spot for viewing the fireworks, and another friend brought a boatload of his family over to tie up to our dock and watch too. 

The grands had some pre-game fun with sparklers we'd purchased before we all settled in to watch the absolutely fantastic show my neighbor puts on every year. 

It's a solid thirty minutes of fireworks and just when you think it's over a few more go off. I think this was the best we've seen in the eight summers we've been here. 

Little Miss slept through the entire show on her momma's lap lol. 

I didn't go all the way to the dock to watch because of my ankle, but instead planted myself in a chair at the fire pit  and the view was top notch there too. 

Saturday morning was super relaxed with coffee sipped leisurely on the deck. We had a light breakfast then took the boat out to see what we could see. We came home and floated before showering and making our way to daughter1's house for a tour. This was her aunt and uncle's first time seeing the new house, plus they brought gifts for the kiddos which were thoroughly enjoyed. Little Miss may have worn her tiara to church Sunday morning. 

Saturday evening hubs and his brother grilled the most delicious pork chops ever. They'd purchased them in Tennessee from a place called Simpson's Meats, bone-in and about 2 1/2  inches thick. So so good. I made a big salad and that was plenty. 

After dinner we went out for a sunset cruise. It was a beautiful evening and I love a sunset cruise. 

Where I go the boot goes. 

Sunday morning we all went to church together. So special having an entire pew full of family. We went to our usual and favorite breakfast spot right after, and then my brother-in-law and sister-in-law got on the road home. I planted myself and my bum ankle on the couch to watch movies with the hubs. 

And that's the weekend that was. Happy birthday America and have a great week everyone. 

Linking with Holly and Sarah today for their every Monday morning weekend recap blog hop. Come on over!