HP193 and Then Some

If you're looking for this week's Hodgepodge questions don't run off. You'll find them at the end of this post if you keep calm and read on.  I normally write a blog post on Monday mornings, but the day was just too full to squeeze it in, so instead I'm going to throw out a bunch of random here on a Tuesday.

Firstly, Gary Puckett. He was fantastic and we loved the show. He sang every single one of his hits and encouraged us to sing along. Which I planned to do anyway, but it was nice to get the go-ahead from him.

It was so chilly here on Sunday. Hubs and I went to early church because he was playing golf with a friend later in the day, and when we came out of the service at 9:30 am it was still only 40 degrees. And windy! We finally broke down and turned the heat on here at home, because why be cold when you can be warm?

Monday morning we had a follow up appointment with our financial advisors. Don't be jealous, it's not nearly as much fun as it sounds-ha! Actually they're super helpful, but I find all those numbers and scenarios and 5% versus 6% a little overwhelming. On top of that, their office is in a town almost an hour away, and on this particular Monday morning the major highway we needed to access was shut down in both directions. North and South. On a Monday morning. For several hours. And we were in separate cars because hubs needed to leave our meeting and go directly to a work meeting.

Thankfully we heard about the closure before we got to that area, so we took the nearest exit and wound our way through much stop and go traffic to get to where we needed to be.  Thanks Google! We were thirty minutes late to our appointment and even though we'd phoned, and they knew of the road closure, it did not make me feel better. I loathe being late. I think I had a headache before they even started talking risk, commodities, bonds and mishmash.

Prior to leaving the office we googled the incident to see if we could take the highway back (seriously what did we do before Google???) and we learned there had been police activity on the road. A suspicious parcel was dumped on the highway which meant the bomb squad had to be called in to investigate. Better safe than sorry, right? The parcel turned out to be stuffed animals and someone's trash, but there was Arabic writing on the bag so it was inspected. Such is life in the suburbs in 2014.

Okay, I know you probably did not need to know all that (or any of it), but I needed to tell it in order to make room in my head for the Hodgepodge. Here are this week's questions...come back tomorrow to add your link to the party. See you there!

1. Do you manage your own money or do you have a financial planner who helps in some way? Do those kinds of conversations stress you out? A lot or a little?

2. The second week of October is Pet Peeve Week. Off the top of your head, share TWO of your current pet peeves.

3. What is one thing you'd like to learn right now, this very week if you could?

4. How concerned are you about the recent health related news concerning Ebola? How about Enterovirus D68?

5. Garfield, Nemo, or Tigger-your favorite orange cartoon character?

6. I'm going to see Gone Girl with my neighborhood book club this week. So often books made into film are disappointing. What's a book turned film you thought was well done, in that the casting was 'like you pictured' when you read the book, and the film plot remained mostly true to the book plot?

7. What is one story your family always tells about you?

8. Insert your own random thought here.

Five on Friday Fragments

Linking up with Friday Fragments over at Half Past Kissin' Time today.

Also, because I conveniently have a list of five frags I'm going to go ahead and link up with Five on Friday too.

We're having the house power washed today. Hubs tried to get me to walk around the perimeter with him so he could show me specific areas I should then show them, but a) not my thing and b) quite often it is no hablo ingles and c) did I tell you it's not my thing? Here's hoping they do a good job. It will not be the job hubs would do if he were doing it himself, but hopefully it will be close.

My neighborhood book club read The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay this month. I really liked this one, the author's voice and the way the story unfolded. In fact, we all liked this one. The language is sometimes raw, but so is the storyline.

Daughter1's wedding invitations arrived from the printer this week which made us both supremely happy, and a teensy bit giddy. There's nothing quite like seeing it all officially in writing!

Hubs and I are going to see Gary Puckett perform this weekend. Raise your hand if you're old enough to know who that is. For those who do not, Gary Puckett sang lead in a band called Gary Puckett and the Union Gap back in the late 60's. I was but a child myself back then, but had a teenage sister who listened to their records.

Raise your hand if you remember records-ha!

Anyway, GP and the Union Gap sang songs that were catchy, the kind you couldn't help but sing along. Our girls when they were small loved one in particular called Young Girl, which has what might be some of the most inappropriate lyrics of the day. The thing is, you didn't think too deeply about it all back then, at least we didn't. In some ways the world was once a more innocent place.

Trust. We have something going on here at the moment that has me thinking about that word as it relates to faith. Not going into our own particulars, but I imagine most people reading here have something in their lives they are trusting God for. Because when we hear the word, that's how we most often frame it-can I trust God? Coincidentally or providentially or not at all by accident or happenstance, the very day our particular circumstance arose I read this in my Bible Study homework (Beth Moore in Children of the Day)...

'We say 'trust God' yet we agonize privately over whether He can be trusted. The Bible repeatedly suggest however, that God tests us to see whether or not we can be trusted. Maybe His point of view is something like this: "Child, you can trust Me;  I cannot do you wrong. The question is can I trust you? I have work to accomplish on this planet during your time here. I have riches of the Spirit to be stewarded. I'm testing your heart, and my deisre is to find it trustworthy.' 

Does that resonate with anyone else today?

And then finally there's this-

This amazing burst of color I see every time I open my front door.

And yes I do know that's six things not five, but that last bit was a tad too heavy note to end on. Happy weekend all!

Leafing Through the Hodgepodge

Welcome to October and the Wednesday Hodgepodge! Everyone is welcome to play along today. Answer the questions on your own blog, then add your link at the end of my post so we can all come say hello.  A lot of words here today so grab your coffee-

1. Are the leaves turning color where you live? Have they begun to fall? Will you have to rake when it's all said and done? Is that a chore you love or loathe?

The leaves are beginning to turn here, but only a few have fallen. Will we have to rake? Ha! We back up to several acres of forest so a rake doesn't begin to cut it. Not even close. Our lawn guys will do a couple of big fall clean ups for us and they make it all pretty. I used to enjoy raking, but on a small scale. What we have happening here would be more than a little stressful to manage with a rake. 

2. When did you last shake like a leaf?

This could mean nervous or cold or frightened and I got nothin'. I think that's a good thing, so I'm not gonna wrack my brain to come up with an answer from years back. 

3. After 20 seasons with the NY Yankees, Derek Jeter played his last official game Sunday afternoon.  Jeter has been described even by opponents as a class act, both on and off the field. The NFL is back in action this month too, with several players in that sport also making headlines. What are your thoughts on athletes as role models? Should a professional athlete be expected to act as role model or is that going beyond their job description? What responsibility do the organizations these athletes work for have when it comes to dealing with off the field behavior? Discuss.

I wish the large number of hard working professional athletes out there doing their job, raising families, donating time and monies to charities and their local communities were the ones making headlines, instead of the few who make mistakes or even break the law. 

I think part of the huge interest in Derek Jeter's retirement story, even from people who don't follow baseball or who hate the Yankees, is the fact that he's managed to play in the spotlight for 20 years without an arrest, drug bust, or some other big controversy. It makes us all feel good to know it can be done, which is kind of a sad commentary on professional sports or maybe the media. A little of both I guess. 

As far as responsibility goes, hmmm...tough one. I think individuals are responsible for their own behavior, and bad behavior has consequences. I also think professional sports organizations could do a better job of 'coaching' players about their off the field behavior, handling the spotlight, the hazards of social media, managing finances, etc. than they currently do.  

Is there a morals clause in a pro athletes contract? A code of conduct they are required to sign? Maybe that's something to consider because like it or not, they are in the public eye. If an average businessman-plumber-dentist treated his wife the way Ray Rice allegedly treated his, would the businessman be fired from his job? Lose his livelihood? Probably not unless he was arrested. The average working person is not in the public eye so is held to a different standard. Professional athletes know this and need to act accordingly. 

4. What season of the year is toughest for you in terms of your health? Why?

I'm going with fall because that's when the ragweed blooms and ragweed is typically what sends my allergies into high gear. 

5. The top six healthy food trends of 2014 according to Eating Well are-

clean eating (more veg, less meat, less sodium, limit alcohol and processed foods)
trash fish(you know those fish that are caught in fishermen nets and thrown back? It seems chefs are finding creative ways to make them more appetizing)
cauliflower (the new IT vegetable)
kaniwa-(essentially baby quinoa, so like quinoa only smaller)
fermentation (think pickling only with twists on flavor we're not accustomed to)
community supported farming-(farms operating with community support/membership)

Okay-so how many of the healthy food trends for 2014 have you experienced, encountered enjoyed? Any you've tried and said ewwww? Any on the list you'd like to try before year's end?

I eat a lot of vegetables, watch my sodium intake, drink very little alcohol, and consume almost nothing in the way of processed foods so yes to the clean eating. 

To my knowledge I haven't tried trash fish yet. I'm guessing restaurants fancy up the name to something more appealing so maybe I have? Depending on the fish hubs and I both would probably try it. We're brave when it comes to sampling new and different foods. 

I have eaten quinoa but not the smaller version, and in our house we loved cauliflower before cauliflower was cool so yes to that one. As far as fermentation goes we already eat quite a few foods that I think technically fall into that category. Yogurt. Sauerkraut. Soy Sauce. We like the Korean dish kimchi which is fermented so sure, we're on board with this one.  Like I said earlier, we're adventure eaters here, so if there's some new food trend that needs trying send it our way. 

6. In seven words or less, bid September adieu.

You were kind and oh so lovely. 

7. What's something on your October calendar that makes you happy just thinking about it?

A friend of mine is hosting a bridal shower for my Daughter1 later this month and that makes me smile.  As you know, we do complicated here. My daughters have never lived in the town we're living in now since they were in college when we moved back to the states. Daughter2 really wanted to help plan and organize a shower for her sister, but where? Daughter1 and Daughter2 don't live in the same town as one another and yada yada yada. 

A very dear friend of mine in the city we lived in eleven years and two moves ago, knows my daughter well and loves her to pieces. She's hosting the shower in her home, which is more or less central to many of the guests. 

Central meaning four hours south of us, 45 minutes east of the bride, two hours south of my mom and one sister, eight hours north of another sister and niece, an hour southeast-ish of one sister-in-law who will bring my mother-in-law who will have traveled eight hours north to get to said sister-in-law, and bridesmaids coming from hither and yon.  Just the usual.

We know we are asking much of family and friends in this season. There's expense, travel, time away from home and other activities they may have planned and looked forward to. We know people are busy. We know some will be missing other fun things in order to be at our fun thing, and we appreciate that more than we can even say.  

8.  Insert your own random thought here.

How about I share a picture from a bridal shower my big sister threw for me way back when? It was March 16, 1984 to be exact, and I remember thinking that umbrella was too, too cute.

I felt very well loved.

I hope my daughter feels the same on her shower day. 

Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 192

Welcome to another edition of the Wednesday Hodgepodge. Answer the questions on your own blog,  then scoot back here tomorrow and read what the rest of the world is saying. Maybe not the whole world, more like our little corner, but still a fun way to spend your Wednesday. 

1. Are the leaves turning color where you live? Have they begun to fall? Will you have to rake when it's all said and done? Is that a chore you love or loathe?

2. When did you last shake like a leaf?

3. After 20 seasons with the NY Yankees, Derek Jeter played his last official game Sunday afternoon. Jeter has been described even by opponents as a 'class act', both on and off the field. The NFL is back in action this month too, with several players in that sport also making headlines. What are your thoughts on athletes as role models? Should a professional athlete be expected to act as role model or is that going beyond their job description? What responsibility do the organizations these athletes work for have when it comes to dealing with off the field behavior? Discuss.

4. What season of the year is toughest for you in terms of your health? Why?

5. The top six healthy food trends of 2014 according to Eating Well are-

clean eating (more veg, less meat, less sodium, limit alcohol and processed foods)
trash fish (you know those fish that get caught in fishermen nets and are thrown back? It seems chefs are finding creative ways to make them more appetizing)
cauliflower (this year's IT vegetable)
kaniwa (essentially baby quinoa, so like quinoa only smaller)
fermentation (think pickling except with twists on flavor we're not accustomed to)
community supported food (farms operating with community support/membership).

Okay-so how many of the hot healthy food trends for 2014 have you experienced, encountered, enjoyed? Any you've tried and said ewwww? Any on the list you'd like to try before year's end?

6. In seven words or less, bid September adieu.

7. What's something on your October calendar that makes you happy just thinking about it?

8.  Insert your own random thought here.

September

We had a nice weekend, filled with bright blue skies, Indian summer temps, and nothing special on the calendar.  We need those weekends round here.  We had dinner with neighbors on Friday evening, hung out at the rodeo on Saturday, napped on the couch, watched football and golf, read books and soaked up the beauty that surrounds us always, but never more so than on a crystal clear autumn day.

Fall is showing up little by little in our corner of the world, or maybe leaf by leaf would be a more accurate description. There's a tree on our back hillside I will photograph no less than fifty times  between now and winter because it is perfection.

As is the brilliant blue cloudless sky.

Sunday evening after dinner was eaten and dishes were washed, hubs and I sat on the patio and admired what we've affectionately dubbed our 'Festivus Tree'. It's a shepherds crook made for hanging plants that hubs wrapped in Christmas lights, and we agree it's one of the happiest things around.

Seriously, every patio needs one.

We sipped coffee and listened to a playlist scroll through a random selection of songs. We sang along and talked about how each one that popped up took us somewhere in time, geography, and memory.

When fall rolls in its not only the leaves that change. It's the light and the air and the way my heart feels more reflective.  Hubs says I think too much, and maybe he's right, but it seems this time of year is made for contemplation.  Maybe it's because school begins here in September, but as the month draws to a close I realize I have always viewed this month as a new beginning, much more so than January.

In September I set goals, feel the urge to clean my house, and make attempts at organizing paperwork, files, and desk drawers.

In September I look through recipe books for fresh cooking inspiration.

I make lists of books to read, movies we've missed, what I'll buy-make-bake for Christmas.

I schedule routine home repairs and maintenance.

In September I tell myself this will be the winter I'll actually catch up on my scrapbooks, and with a new found enthusiasm I'll go buy pretty paper and stickers and embellishments. I will tuck these away with the rest of the pretty paper and stickers and embellishments collected in Septembers past, ready for when winter rolls our way.

Maybe.

September is when some of my good intentions become reality and others not so much, but it is the month I give myself a talking to, the month I declare my good intentions about a lot of things.

In September I make sure I'm caught up with the dentist, dermatologist, and all the other various and sundry doctors one must be caught up with once one has passed the 50 mile mark.

These are not things I want to do in January.

In January I prefer to curl up on the couch with a blanket while snow piles up outside.

Except this January I'd like the snow to come in February because we have a wedding to celebrate in January. While snow makes for lovely photos the same cannot be said about snow and travel.

Course we won't think about that today because we can't control the weather three months from now, and I'm sure that's a good thing. What I can do on an end of September autumn day is grab my camera. I can take a picture of leaves that turn from green to golden yellow before my very eyes, a reminder God is in the details.

And really, that's enough.

100 Days

I came across this photo recently and today feels like the right day to post it here. That's my Daughter1 on the left, age 1 year almost to the day, and her cousin on the right, age 2. This picture was taken on the morning of my brother's wedding, a pretty June day some 25 years ago. 

Two small precious girls dressed in eyelet and lace, standing in my parent's front yard. 

In 100 days I will once again help my first born baby girl into a white dress, help make her ready for a wedding, this time her own.

In 100 days her cousin will stand much as she stands here, hands clasped tightly round blooms of winter white.

In 100 days this child who made me a mother will take her father's arm for a walk down the aisle to her beloved groom and waiting future.

In 100 days I will hold my husbands hand and we'll watch our girl stand before God and her great big family, and her new one too, with friends who will travel from all corners of the globe, as she and her boy make promises for keeps.

In 100 days our family grows as a notch is marked in the timeline of us.

In 100 days love is multiplied. Expanded. Celebrated.

In 100 days I will remember the newborn baby put into my arms on a warm June day. The toddler who loved her blanket and her thumb. The ballerina with the delicate neck and toes en pointe. The pony- tailed girl in dress ups. The twelve year old who never wanted to say goodbye to the ocean or to anything or anybody. The teenager navigating the streets of London. The college student on the other side of the pond. The grown up girl figuring out the grown up world.

In 100 days I will feel all the feels and cry happy tears and know that all of the minutes and the hours and the days til here have made her ready for the now.

In 100 days that soft sweet girl in the eyelet dress begins a new chapter in the story of her life.

"Oh magnify the Lord with me. Come let us exalt His name together." Psalm 34:3

Falling for the Hodgepodge

Welcome to the Wednesday Hodgepodge! Everyone is welcome to play along, just answer the questions on your own blog, then add your link to the party. Here are my answers to this week's questions-

1. It's fall. Y'all. My favorite season of the year! What's something you love to do this time of year that makes you feel it's officially fall? And unrelated to that, do you ever say 'y'all'?

I love a trip to the apple orchard this time of year. A sunny day, bright blue skies, wide open spaces, and trees loaded with apples. 

We can pretty much get any kind of fruit we want year round in the year 2014, but I rarely eat an apple in the summer.  There are so many wonderful local summer fruits available I tend to save my apple eating for the fall and winter months.  

Do I say y'all? Y'all already know the answer to that. 

2. When did you last have a falling out with someone? Has it been resolved?

A falling out is defined as a fight leading to separation. I'm not a fighter, so a falling out would be a very rare thing. I suppose I have something in mind that might fall under the loose heading of a 'falling out', but it's all water under the bridge now. 

3. A song you love with the word 'fall' in its title?

Free Fallin' by Tom Petty. I won't go into the whys, but suffice it to say when I hear this song I am catapulted back to the days where my then teen age daughters would sit on the floor in our UK house, in a cozy little space tucked behind the stairs, and Daughter1 would play this song on her guitar, and Daughter2 would sing along.  The memory of music is a powerful thing. 

4. What's something you've recently let 'fall by the wayside'?

Is it awful to say housework? Because when I look around my house I'm thinking right now that answer works. A summer filled with lots of coming and going does not mesh well with daily dusting and vacuuming. 

Plus planning a wedding is way more fun than wiping baseboards, which is another reason I'm playing a little catch up around here now. 

5. When did you last attend an event, read a book, watch a movie, try a new recipe, or visit a shop-restaurant-tourist attraction that fell short of your expectations? In what way?

We haven't seen a lot of movies this summer, or come to think of it, any movies. I think the last movie that fell short of my expectation was American Hustle. So much hype, and I thought it was just eh. 

As far as books go, I did not love Gone Girl like so many apparently did. Again it was uber-hyped, and people who read it before me gave it rave reviews, so I was expecting to love it. I will say though, as I was reading I commented to a friend that I thought it might make a better movie than a book, and voila-the movie opens this weekend. I'll probably wait until it's available for rent to see it though. 

I recently made a chicken dish that I won't make again. It was given several stars on a recipe site I follow, so I expected great flavor, but hubs and I both thought it was blah. 

6. Describe a time you said or thought, 'The apple doesn't fall far from the tree."

I think and say it often about Daughter2 and myself. She and I look alike, we're both endearingly clumsy (I think it's endearing anyway), and we share a similar stubborn streak, which I will add is maybe not always as endearing as our lack of coordination-ha! 

7.  Was today better than yesterday? Why or why not?

In spite of our kitchen sink woes, yesterday was a pretty nice day. 

As is today. 

It's fall, y'all! And the weather is making me supremely happy. 

The plumber is here as I type, and apparently the clog in the pipe is not near the kitchen sink, which means this will not be a quick fix. Whoever built our house apparently held the philosophy of why run a little pipe when you can run a lot?  

Still, the weather y'all! It's hard to be irritated on a day like today, and I trust the plumber to figure out the sink mess because that's why they make the big bucks.  

Do they make big bucks? 

Sometimes it seems so, but when you've got a sink you can't unclog yourself it's all relative, right?

8.  Insert your own random thought here.

Speaking of apple picking...hubs and I declared it fall and trekked out to a nearby orchard on Saturday. This is earlier than we normally go, but we were home for a change and the weather was cooperating, so off we went. I prefer apple picking in October because it's cooler and the leaves are turning, but it was still an enjoyable day.  

The scenery is gorgeous around this particular orchard, and now I have an enormous bag of apples waiting to be made into sauce, a Thanksgiving pie, and who knows what else.  Did I mention I love fall? Y'all?