Summertime's Calling Me

I've got company on the calendar pretty much every weekend from now through September, with the exception of two weekends where I'm traveling, and a block mid-July through mid-August where I've said no to company because I'm gonna be a grandma!!!

Yes, with an exclamation point or three.

Babies come when they're ready, and since mine is arriving cross country I need a wide open window on the calendar that will allow me to travel as soon as Baby Boy decides he needs his Nana.

Which I'm pretty sure will be the moment he's born.

Besides a brand new grandbaby to love, I'm realizing this summer will be chock-a-block full of so many of my favorite things. Unlike last summer which was filled with a few of my favorite things and then the house build. Remember that? Ha!

I know there are people out there who hope to sail through the summer months with nary a house guest, but we are not those people. We're looking forward to houseguests who love boating, swimming, and corn hole with plenty of 'trash talking' on the side, because that's what sporty folks do.

Is cornhole a sport?

Also, I'm not sporty.

Cheers to tall tales told and "remember whens" shared around a crowded dinner table full of familiar faces. To marshmallows roasted from the comfort of an Adirondack chair, and fireflies lighting up the night.

Summer company means appetizers on the porch with a glass of wine. It's pulling up to a dockside cabana for a lazy lunch and dinner on the BBQ with candles in a beach pail.

It's the scent of sunscreen and honeysuckle. The flick of a wrist and the toss of a line as you wait ever hopeful for a nibble.

It's a flying leap off the dock into the crystal clear waters of a Carolina summer afternoon.

We had a summer preview this past weekend when hubs brother and sister-in-law came to stay. They asked last Thursday for a date as they have a similarly full calendar, and I said how about tomorrow, and BAM they were at our front door Friday afternoon.

Sometimes spur of the moment is the very best way to make the fun happen.

Daughter2 and her boyfriend drove out to the lake for the weekend too, so officially a party. My Pacific Northwestern daughter will laugh when she reads this, but it was cold here over the weekend. Cold for South Carolina anyway.

Still we squeezed in a great Cinco de Mayo meal at a local Mexican spot on Friday evening, boat rides on Saturday with lunch al fresco at a waterside eatery, a big family dinner in the dining room  that night, a little bit of pool, and a lot of fireside chatting all wrapped up cozy in blankets out back.

Summer is most definitely on it's way...

 Are you ready?

Hodgepodge This Is The Wednesday

Hola amigos, and welcome  to the merry month of May and the Wednesday Hodgepodge! If you've answered this week's questions add your link at the end of my post, and if you haven't answered, what are you waiting for? Also, be sure and say hello to your next door neighbor on the linky list before running off, because that's what good neighbors do.

1. Can you tell I'm embracing a Cinco de Mayo theme here this week? Do you like Mexican food? What's your favorite dish? How about on the side-black beans, pinto beans, refried beans, rice? What about heat-mild, medium, hot? Will you celebrate with Mexican food and drink on May 5th aka Cinco de Mayo?

I love Mexican food, one of my favorites. Hubs loves it too, the hotter the better, so sure we'll probably celebrate with a Mexican dinner on Friday. In terms of heat, medium works for me, but more towards the hot side rather than the mild. 

I normally opt for enchiladas with either black or pinto beans on the side, but my absolute favorite Mexican dish is a healthy serving of chips and guacamole. Yum! 

2. Ever been to Mexico? For work or holiday? Love it or no? If you haven't been is this a place you'd like to visit? Can you speak Spanish?

I've been to Mexico a couple of times, both trips were to Cancun, but different resorts. My first visit was the tail end of what was a working trip for hubs. I met him in Mexico at the end of his meeting along with some other work folks who'd stayed over, and it was a lot of fun. The second trip was just a few years ago with a group of our college friends. We stayed in an all-inclusive and had a fabulous time. 

No I don't speak any Spanish. 

3. What's one thing you may accomplish this month?

I may get some pictures hung. 

Actually it's more of must than a may. I currently have seven pieces at the frame shop, so it's going to happen. 

4. If you were mayor of your village, city, or town, what's one thing you'd like to see changed, done away with, revamped, or accomplished? Is serving in public office something you've ever seriously considered?

No I've never considered running for public office. As far as our little town is concerned, I haven't lived here long enough to comment on changes that need to be made. It's small, quiet, and the lake takes center stage, so not a lot to complain about. 

5. What's something that may be popular, but that you just don't get?

Starbucks on a daily basis. Weekly basis. Really the whole Starbucks obsession.

6. Can't let this week slip by without mentioning Thursday May 4th is Star Wars Day. As in 'May the 4th be with you' ahem. Are you a fan of the Star Wars series? Exactly how much of a fan are you? On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being 'I've seen every film, own the action figures, might have dressed as Darth Vader for Halloween one year', and 1 being, 'what's a Vader?' -where do you land?

I loved the first three, which are really the middle three, which I believe is why they lost me. I don't love it enough to engage in all the before and after stories, but I did really enjoy those 'first' three films and I do know what 'a Vader' is.  I guess I'm about a 3. 

7. Scroll back through your blog posts and in three sentences or less tell us the general theme of your fourth blog post. Does it still ring true today? Is it a topic you re-visit on your blog from time to time?

I know you'll find this shocking, but my fourth blog post was entitled 'Home is Where the Heart Is' and was all about answering the question- 'Where is home?' Next to the weather home is pretty much my go-to blog topic. 

Have I re-visited the subject on my blog? Ha! According to a word search on my blog, only about 600 times in some form or fashion. And yes, that fourth post still rings true today, some eight years later. 

Click here to read if you're so inclined. 

8. Insert your own random thought here.

I've been mulling over the Wednesday Hodgepodge because there have been a few weeks recently where getting the questions posted has stressed.me.out. 

I don't do stress, so a little fine tuning is now in order.  

I've been posting Hodgepodge questions here since November 8, 2010. That's a lotta brain cells y'all. I still very much enjoy answering the questions and interacting with everyone who participates here on Wednesday mornings, so I'm not quite ready to let it go entirely, but I am ready to make a couple of adjustments.  

Some weeks I have the questions set up days in advance. Other weeks I'm too busy to give it five minutes thought and end up scrambling to post the questions by 12:30 AM on a Tuesday. I'm typically not on my blog over the weekend, which means I have to write the questions on a Monday. 

I like to write a regular old blog post on a Monday, so that's double the trouble and pretty sure that's what's making me twitch when I think Hodgepodge posting. For the sake of my sanity, here's how it will work going forward-

I will still post the questions on Tuesday.  Sometime. They may very well be up by 12:30 AM Tuesday morning, or they may not go up until 10 AM. I will do my very best to have them up before noon, how's that? 

The link will still go up sometime Wednesday morning, and I vary the timing on that so east coasters and west coasters have equal opportunity to be one of the first blog links posted. Hopefully everyone is visiting someone, so nobody should be without a comment regardless of where you fall on the list. 

Also, I'm going to cut my brain some slack. Beginning next week the Hodgepodge will contain six questions (as opposed to seven), plus that random thought of your own added at the end.  In the course of a year that's 52 less questions I have to come up with and I feel like six is still plenty to answer.  I will see how it goes, but I might even drop back to five. 

If anyone has a question they think would be fun for a Wednesday Hodgepodge send it my way. I will give you credit in the posting. I try not to repeat questions, and I try not to ask yes/no questions, but other than that I'm open to suggestion. 

Whew. I feel better already. Happy Wednesday all! 




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Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 306

Hola! Here are the questions to this week's Wednesday Hodgepodge. Answer on your own blog then scoot back here tomorrow to share answers with your amigos. Here we go-

1. Can you tell I'm embracing a Cinco de Mayo theme here this week? Do you like Mexican food? What's your favorite dish? How about on the side-black beans, pinto beans, refried beans, rice? What about heat-mild, medium, hot? Will you celebrate with Mexican food and drink on May 5th aka Cinco de Mayo?

2. Ever been to Mexico? For work or holiday? Love it or no? If you haven't been is this a place you'd like to visit? Can you speak Spanish?

3. What's one thing you may accomplish this month?

4. If you were mayor of your village, city, or town, what's one thing you'd like to see changed, done away with, revamped, or accomplished? Is serving in public office something you've ever seriously considered?

5. What's something that may be popular, but that you just don't get?

6. Can't let this week slip by without mentioning Thursday May 4th is Star Wars Day. As in 'May the 4th be with you' ahem. Are you a fan of the Star Wars series? Exactly how much of a fan are you? On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being 'I've seen every film, own the action figures, might have dressed as Darth Vader for Halloween one year', and 1 being, 'what's a Vader?' -where do you land?

7. Scroll back through your blog posts and in three sentences or less tell us the general theme of your fourth blog post. Does it still ring true today? Is it a topic you re-visit on your blog from time to time?

8.  Insert your own random thought here.

Rolling Into May

Hello whoever is reading here today. Is anyone still reading here? Is anyone still writing here? Ha! It's not that interesting, but I'm glad you've stuck around.

We had a nice weekend. Hubs was traveling last week so Friday night was a wash. He didn't get home from the airport until almost 9 PM which is practically my bedtime so, like I said, 'not that interesting'.

Saturday morning we made our first spring trip to the local plant nursery. Raise your hand if your eyes are bigger than your gardening skills. I just love all the pretty things, including two pillows and three botanical prints which I know are technically not plants. They do add beauty to a space though, and now they're mine.

I've been looking for cute pillows for my covered deck and I love the color and the pattern on these.

This wall in my kitchen has been waiting for the exact right something and I feel like these prints are that something. Never mind how many holes went into my freshly painted walls to get these where I thought they needed to be. Hubs was not a happy camper, but the prints cover all the tries so calling it a win.

Daughter2 and her boyfriend and our favorite greyhound came over after lunch and we took a boat ride. Wonderful while you're moving, but we stopped by a friend's dock for a quick hello and the humidity about killed me. I won't even mention what it does to my hair! Plan on seeing me in a ponytail and ball cap from now until October.

Isn't she just the cutest? I can hardly stand it.

The boys had just enough time for a quick game of corn hole while I got dinner on the table. I'd fixed BBQ in the crock pot with all the fixin's (that's baked beans and cole slaw for those not in the know) and it was yummy. Note to self-use the crock pot this summer so you're not a slave to the kitchen while everyone else is out having fun.

I took this pic from our screened porch. Our lower level driveway makes the perfect court.

You've heard of a pool shark? Well Daughter2's boyfriend is the equivalent in corn hole, but I'm going to beat him before summer's end. Gauntlet thrown.

After church on Sunday hubs and I made a run to Home Depot to pick up a screen and also odds and ends we forgot to buy at the nursery on Saturday, namely new garden gloves for me and fertilizer for our freshly potted plants.

This is so not interesting, but let's carry on.

Raise your hand if you spend a bajillion dollars at the nursery every single weekend from May -October? I love all the patios, decks, porches, and assorted outdoor spaces we have here, but it's gonna take a lot more pots than we've currently got on hand to make it look lush.

Question-does it need to look lush when all you really care about is the lake right in front of you?

Some friends invited us to drop by Sunday afternoon and we decided it was an MG kind of day. I haven't ridden in the MG since we left NJ, and I'd kind of forgotten how much I love it. Perfect convertible weather too-

FYI-convertible hair and lake hair have much in common.

We spent a fun few hours on their deck beside the water, and more friends dropped by, and then more friends dropped by, and before you knew it the clock read 7 PM and I was re-thinking my dinner menu. Re-thinking is code for, 'Do I really have to cook dinner???' Hubs read my mind, so we had ham and cheese sandwiches on the deck and turns out that was the perfect way to wrap up an end of April weekend.

So what interesting or not so interesting things did you do as the calendar rolled towards May?    

Five Minutes of More

It's Friday which means time to join others over at Kate Motaung's blog for the Five Minute Friday
link-up. This is where we write for five solid minutes on a one-word prompt, no editing, no over-thinking.  

Sounds simple, right? Why not give it a try?

Today's prompt-more

When my girls were young one of their favorite books to hear read aloud was one entitled More More More Said The Baby: Three love Stories by Vera Williams. It's sweet and simple and my girls and I can still recite it from memory. I gave the book to my niece when she was a tiny tot as a gift from her cousins, and I wrote a little message from my daughters inside the front cover. Her mama read it to her from time to time, snuggled up close as mamas and babies do when reading bedtime books and saying bedtime prayers.

At my daughter's baby shower last month my sister-in-law wrapped up that baby book More More More, and gave it back to my girl. A treasured keepsake to read to her new baby boy due this summer.  A happy event. Joyful. Too wonderful for words, yet tears ran down my daughter's cheek and a lump grew large in my throat.

In just over a week our family will mark the five year anniversary of my funny, beautiful, brave niece's death.

Writing that sentence feels cruel, like I've dropped something harsh and unexpected into what readers thought was going to be a gentle and precious memory shared. There is never any way to say it without saying it.

She was seventeen years old and we wanted more.

More days, more years, more life.

More Christmases in the mountains, more birthdays, more time.

What we got instead were more tears, more heartache, more pain than we ever thought possible.

When a child dies you're not the same. Our family is not the same. But God...

I think God in His infinite wisdom and mercy designed time as a healer of sorts, even when you wish it weren't so. It's through the passing of time He allows us to look back at our lives and see in hindsight what we couldn't know in the middle of a grief that raged.

To look at the rubble and find a diamond there.

Do we understand it? No. Not then, not now.
Can we rest in the knowledge that He holds the universe in His hand?

We can. We do. Through the unbearable ache of loss we see time in a new and different way.

Ever so slowly we've come to a place where there's joy again in our together times, where laughter bubbles to the surface unprompted, and where love of family wraps itself around you like a blanket set gently across your shoulders on a cool spring night.

Where the ache, still ever present, is not always quite so sharp and killing.

God gave us more.

More, more, more.

More strength, more faith, more peace.

More questions. More longing for heaven.

More of Himself in the dark dead of night and the bright light of day.

April Showers Bring The Hodgepodge

Welcome to the Wednesday Hodgepodge! So glad you joined in today. If you've answered the questions add your link at the end of my post, then leave a comment for the blogger who linked before you. Here we go

1. April showers bring May flowers or so the saying goes. Has your April been filled with showers? Do you carry an umbrella, wear a slicker, or make a run for it? Besides rain, what else has filled your April?

The second half of April has been pretty soggy in the Palmetto State, plus I spent a week in Washington so yes, I've had my share of showers this month. I keep an umbrella in my car and have a small one I can throw in a tote bag if I'm out and about and the weather is dicey. I recently bought a new purse and Brighton threw in a really pretty umbrella 'for free' (Ha!). I've put it to good use this month.  I do have a lime green slicker I wear for running errands in the rain. Life must go on, right? 

Besides all the rain, I guess travel would be the something else that has filled my April. 

2. What's something you could you give a 30-minute presentation on at a moment's notice and with zero preparation?

Moving house. 

3. Share with us a favorite food memory from childhood.

I'm not sure I can choose a specific memory here. Warm feelings wash over me when I think about growing up, watching my mom cook, standing on a chair to help stir the gravy or dip a buttercream in melted chocolate, mixing up the salad dressing before dinner...lots of small moments in the kitchen mush together in my heart and spell home. 

4. What's a song you thought you knew the lyrics to, but later discovered you were wrong?

 I have older siblings so they were teens when I was still in grade school and there were several songs they used to play where I misheard the lyric. Most famously, 'Let's Live For Today' by the Grass Roots. My younger sister and I used to belt out the chorus which is actually...'shalalalalalala live for today' only we sang 'shalalalalala newportie lane'. Dont' ask me how we made that leap, but we did. 

5. According to one travel website, the most overrated tourist attractions in America are-
Niagara Falls (NY), Hollywood Walk of Fame (California), Times Square (NYC), Epcot (FL), Seattle Space Needle (WA), and Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market (Boston). How many of these have you seen in person? Did you feel like a tourist? Did you care? Tell us about a place (not on the list) you've visited that might be considered a tourist trap, but you love it anyway.

Hubs and I love to get off the beaten path when we travel. We love to eat-stay-shop where the locals eat-stay-shop and we're not group tour kind of people. In general we're more traveler than tourist, but that being said, tourist attractions are called attractions because there's something there to see, so let's see it.  I wouldn't stay away just because a place is labeled as 'touristy', but I would say try to visit very popular spots in the off season, or off peak hours and it will be more enjoyable. Also, try not to look like a tourist. teehee. 

Of the spots listed I've seen Times Square (don't go to NYC and skip Times Square!!), Epcot (love it!) the Space Needle (worth doing once), and Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market (worth seeing). The most recent place I've been that might be labeled a 'tourist trap' is Gatlinburg, Tennessee. The town itself is filled with tourists and candy kitchens and shops selling knives and beef jerky, but the Smoky Mountain setting makes it worth a see for sure. 

6. Your signature clothing item?

I'm not sure I have one, but I guess I'll say blue jeans and heels. Those are the two things I wear most often. 

7. What's an experience you've had you think everyone should experience at least once? Why?

See #2. 

Moving. As in to a new city, state or country. You see new places, meet new people, experience new things. Moving builds your confidence, makes you brave, gives you a fresh start when you might not have realized you needed one. I'm sure I could write a whole post on this topic (or give a 45-minute talk), but I think picking up your life and moving it somewhere new allows you to know things about yourself you might not otherwise have known. 

8. Insert your own random thought here.

Hubs snapped this photo from our dock the other night,  and I love the reflection in the water-

April's had it's share of rain, but has also been chock a block full of beautiful rainbows. 




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Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 305

Here are the questions for this week's Wednesday Hodgepodge. Answer on your own blog then jump back here tomorrow and add your link to the party. See you there!

1. April showers bring May flowers or so the saying goes. Has your April been filled with showers? Do you carry an umbrella, wear a slicker, or make a run for it? Besides rain, what else has filled your April? 
2. What's something you could you give a 30-minute presentation on at a moment's notice and with zero preparation?

3. Share with us a favorite food memory from childhood.

4. What's a song you thought you knew the lyrics to, but later discovered you were wrong?

5. According to one travel website, the most overrated tourist attractions in America are-
Niagara Falls (NY), Hollywood Walk of Fame (California), Times Square (NYC), Epcot (FL), Seattle Space Needle (WA), and Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market (Boston). How many of these have you seen in person? Did you feel like a tourist? Did you care? Tell us about a place (not on the list) you've visited that might be considered a tourist trap, but you love it anyway.

6. Your signature clothing item?

7. What's an experience you've had you think everyone should experience at least once? Why?

8. Insert your own random thought here.
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