O is for Oops

As in oops I dropped the blog ball yesterday with letter N in the April A to Z blog challenge. Not to worry though, because I'm picking it up today by way of a combination post. Two letters for the price of one you might say.

N is for Nature and O is for The Great Outdoors

See, it's gonna be fine.

I love high heels, pearls, and sipping champagne in a skyscraper restaurant overlooking Manhattan. I also love comfy jeans, a hike in the mountains, and running barefoot off the dock into the crystal clear lake waters of my own backyard.

Part country mouse, part city mouse.

Cities are noisy, energizing, and alive, but getting out into nature helps me remember I'm not in charge of the universe. The quiet of the woods on a gorgeous autumn day silences the soundtrack running on a loop inside my head.

 A mountaintop view gives me room to think and dream.

Standing in front of a seemingly endless expanse of ocean makes me feel small and sure there is a God.

A stroll through a lovely English garden tells me to stop and smell the roses.

We spend so much time in the 'connected' world these days that it's really hard to disconnect without physically leaving the places we plug in. We rely on our phones and computers to tell us about the world around us as opposed to standing in wide open spaces and observing for ourselves.

A trek up a mountain means I have to dip into my well of grit and determination, something that's not needed for scrolling the internet.

A starry night sky away from city lights inspires my sense of creativity and curiosity, and waves kissing the shore over and over and over again brings a sense of order to a very disorderly world.

There is peace and there is perspective and there is gratitude to be found in the great outdoors.

Let's all go out and get us some.

Stuff On A Thursday

Hubs and I have been discussing snakes recently because we're building a house in the woods beside water which I'm pretty sure could be like a club med for snakes and also because we spotted a big black rat snake on the trail behind our apartment which is not in the woods or beside the water so apparently snakes are everywhere.

Yes that needed to be one long sentence.

Anyway, hubs knows a lot about snakes and I know very little because I grew up in the land of shopping malls and sidewalks and the green green manicured lawns of home. We have a few rules for the lot and one is don't walk through the construction site en route to the dock wearing flip flops. I've mentioned the nailpalooza happening on site, but we also wear boots in case a snake has made himself at home in the still un-landscaped back yard/mud pit. Hubs likes to tell me if I see a black rat snake don't kill it because they sometimes eat copperheads.

For the record I will not be killing any snakes.
Isn't that why I got married?

I'm something of a snake expert now and here's all you need to know-'red and yellow kill a fellow, nose is black stay back'. You're welcome. Also (in case my mom is reading here) we have not seen a single solitary snake on the lot.

Oh, and I'm not really an expert.

Moving on...I got new glasses today. I ordered them a week ago, and nothing makes you realize how dependent you are on your prescription sunglasses than being without. The roads are safe again. Ha-kidding! Mostly.

This whole tiny house phenomenon. I don't get it. Isn't that another way to say camping? I've never watched the show, but have you seen the ad for the program where the man tries to climb into a bathtub the size of a powder room sink?

I'm not opposed to camping and I'm absolutely in favor of not being house poor, but these houses are soooo tiny. Really really tiny. They're not small houses. They're tiny. Teeny tiny. To each his own, but is that better than living in a small house with normal sized ceilings? And do you buy a lot to put it on or do you move it around? Maybe I need to watch the show.

Google plus. Another thing I still don't get.

For the record I do read those Facebook posts where the poster says they're trying to see who actually reads their posts and to prove it please answer a question, then copy and paste it to your own page. I never copy and paste it to my own page. I'm a rebel like that, but if you're my friend on fb I do read your posts. Promise.

Who watches Ninja Warrior? I'm absolutely amazed at the sheer physical strength of the participants, particularly in their arms. I still sometimes feel like I could break my nose doing my push ups, and a pull up? Forget it. Pull ups remind me of the President's Test on Physical Fitness we had to take back in elementary school. Do kids still have to take that test?

I had to look it up, and apparently in 2012 it was changed to The Universal Youth Fitness Program. A sign of the times I guess that the focus now is more on helping students develop healthy habits. I will say that test we took in the 60's and 70's was 'character building'. And I'm pretty sure successfully completing 2 pull-ups would still be the hardest part for me.

Y'all if you're a pray-er will you please pray in earnest for our nation? I honestly look at the choice we're going to have in November and it makes me want to cry. This is what we've come to? I know some people out there are fully on board one band wagon or another, but I also know so many people like me who don't want to choose between horrible and awful. Please don't rant in the comments about how your candidate is not awful or somehow not as awful as his/her opponent.

When my girls were growing up if they tried to wriggle out of something by telling me someone else had done something worse, well that just never flew with me. Let's not hold ourselves up to the lowest standard out there. I believe that's true for teenagers making questionable decisions and true for each one of us in this very ugly and volatile election season.

It's America and everyone's entitled to their opinion and their private vote via the ballot box (I'm talking to you Miss America judge!), but what do you do when you're a conscientious person who wants to vote but cannot find your way out of the murky messy muddy waters we're all forced to swim in right now?

You pray that's what you do. And you remind yourself there are many months until the election (it only feels like it's been happening for about two years now) and much can happen in a day.

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.' Phillipians 4:6-7 

Lucky You! It's the Hodgepodge!

It's your lucky day! You've landed on the Wednesday Hodgepodge! If you've answered this week's questions, add your link at the end of my post. And go say hi to the neighbors, or at least the one who linked before you. 

1. Share a favorite song, book, or movie title containing the word green.

My favorite book in the world has the word green in its title-Anne of Green Gables.  I also loved How Green Was My Valley. A favorite 'green' film would be 'Fried Green Tomatoes', which is one of those movies I'll stop and watch if I see it playing on TV. 

And I might as well choose a song too. I'm not sure I have a favorite, but I do really like the song Evergreen by Barbara Streisand. She sings it beautifully and the lyrics are timeless. 

2. Ralph Waldo Emerson is quoted as saying, 'Shallow men believe in luck. Strong men believe in cause and effect.' Would you agree? Are you a believer in luck?

Sometimes true. I'm sure there are some strong people out there who do believe in luck...they just don't rely on it. When you look around and see people who are deemed 'lucky' there's usually hard work and careful planning behind that luck. 

3. Spring water, Hot Springs, handspring, spring fling, spring break, spring fever, offspring...which 'spring' word best applies to something in your day, week, or life right now?

After a weekend away filled with fabulous weather I've now got a serious case of spring fever. And we have a snowflake  in our Friday forecast. WHAAAAAA!

4. What's something you do to make yourself look or feel more confident?

Wear heels. With a great pair of heels I feel like I could rule the world. 

5. It's National Celery Month...are you a fan? If so, what's a snack or dish you enjoy that calls for celery?

I do like celery. Hubs also likes celery, but doesn't like the smell so I try to do the chopping when he's not in the room. My favorite recipe that calls for celery is without a doubt my mama's cornbread stuffing. Gotta have celery in my cornbread stuffing. I also like celery diced up in tuna salad and fix that about once a week. 

6. What's one thing you wish you'd learned sooner?

That growth occurs most often during times of transition or when I'm outside my comfort zone. How to embrace that notion instead of fearing it. 

7.  Would you like to own a second home? If so, where would you want that home to be?

My first thought is no, and hubs and I are completely on the same page here. We've discussed this many times. The idea of a second home is appealing on some level, but in reality what we both really want is a home on the water. 

We love to travel and there are so many places in the world I want to see. I'd rather have my dream house (or something close to it) on the water somewhere, and then go out and see the world when I need a change of scenery. If I owned a second home I'd feel pressure to use it on a regular basis, and that's not really us. Too much wanderlust. 

Unless my second home could be an apartment in London. Or Paris. Or on Lago Maggiore. If I could swing that then yes, I'd probably go for it. 

8.  Insert your own random thought here.

Every spring a mama fox readies her 'nest' on our side hill and has her babies. The nesting site is in the woods, but right at the edge, so we often see her coming and going this time of year. Some years the mama looks a little rough, but she has a big furry tail this year, so evidently winter has agreed with her. 

When the kits are born we love to watch them play. They don't hang around for very long, but are super cute when they're tiny, and they're really playful. Last year two of them found a ski glove someone had dropped and they'd bat it back and forth between them which was hilarious to watch. 

We can sit in our sunroom and the kits don't pay us any attention, but their mama keeps a close eye. The other day we spied her running along the front of the house, on her way out to the road.  

We usually see babies around Eastertime, so hopefully soon. And as hard as it is to believe those trees will be leafy green and provide a lot more camoflauge than she's got now. The creativity on display in nature is really amazing, isn't it? 

October Goodness

The thermometer on my car read 37 degrees when I left for boot camp this morning. And it seems like almost overnight (no pun intended) the mornings are pitch black. It takes a little more umph to get up and out from under my toasty covers, but then I remember my m.o.b. dress and that pretty much does it.

Plus when you're up and out early you get to see this...

That's sunrise for those of you who sleep til 9.
Does anyone actually sleep til 9?

It was another beautiful fall weekend in our neck of the woods.

I love October.

When I let the pup out on Saturday morning it was gusty, and FYI-here's why they call it 'fall'.

I don't know if that's true or not, but it seems like it should be. Hubs will twitch from now until every last leaf is down. We have millions, and he doesn't like to see so much as a single one lying on the grass. A typical conversation when we pull in to the driveway after being out for a few hours goes something like this-

Hubs- 'Look at the mess on the yard!'
I spy three leaves and say, 'What mess???'
to which he replies, 'All those leaves, just look at all those leaves.'

Nature you mean?  If he had his way our lawn guys would do a fall clean up three times a week. Shh...don't tell hubs, but I love a windy day when the leaves swirl. Our back woods are positively dancing right now, and I try to soak it all in because in another month these trees will be bare. That's pretty in its own way, but cannot compare to a forest of October trees.

Hubs was traveling last week so we had a quiet evening at home Friday night.  It was just the right kind of weather for a fire out back...

...and maybe a marshmallow or two.  So glad I married a boy scout. 

For the record, I was a camp counselor and can build a pretty mean fire too, but no need when hubs is home. I think a love of fire is present at birth, part of a little boy's DNA they never quite outgrow.

We spent all day Saturday at the 94th running of the Far Hills Horse Race. It's a steeplechase and a really fun day. Judging from my hair you might think I was actually riding, but no...just a very breezy day.

We were in a corporate tent with a great viewing spot, beautiful decor, a delicious breakfast and lunch, and the added perk of our own restroom. Port-a-pottys are for the young, drunk, or desperate and we were none of those on Saturday.

The temperature dropped on Sunday and we watched a lot of football from the comfort of our cozy couch. Shout out to our favorite Tennessee VOL Peyton Manning, for throwing TD # 509, and breaking the NFL record held by Brett Favre. Whoohoo! We won't even mention here the current Volunteer team's performance on Saturday. ahem.

So, what happened in your little corner this weekend, and most importantly, are the trees showing off? Are you happy to live in a world with Octobers?