Once Upon A Time

I'm playing a little bit of catch up today since I was without power earlier in the week and missed a letter.

Today's letters come from my sister and also from a long time dear friend who worked with hubs for many many years. Both made trips to our home in England way back when and the words they chose go together, so it's a combo post today. 

Day 12-L is for London

Day 15-O is for Once

Once upon a time we lived in England. Not London, but nearby in a small village about 15 miles west of the city. A dot on the map where we walked our pup through the commons, met friends for dinner in the local pub, and hopped a train to London any time we pleased. Which was often. 

Where we mastered the art of parallel parking in minuscule spaces, puzzled over the rules of Cricket, and learned a whole new vocabulary.

Where we fell in love with Indian curries, iced buns, and Sunday roasts with a side of yorkshire pudding. 

Where we indulged daily in the pure pleasure of a cuppa with a friend. 

Where we raised teenagers...

Drove left while seated right...

And spent hours in a garden where poppies and foxglove and people grew. 

Where we donned wellies to hike past ancient trees and fields of rapeseed...

Across moors and bridges and old stone walls in the middle of nowhere.

Around bluebell blankets and fields of sheep. 

Through kissing gates that led to wide open spaces and beauty as far as the eye could see. 

Where history was at every turn...

And when the sun shone it was your favorite day of all the days. 

This picture popped up on my Facebook page last week, our first tagged photo on the site some 11 years ago-

We're in front of Buckingham Palace here and asked a stranger to take our picture. Selfies weren't a thing yet, or at least they weren't for us. I think the trend was just getting started back in 2009 but 11 years later we still haven't mastered it, so yeah. We asked a stranger to take a picture and they obliged. 

A moment marked with the click of a camera.
There were a thousand more. 

Once upon a time we fell in love with a place and words and people. 

We are in love with them still. 

Turbulent Waters

Does anyone else feel like the alphabet is about 500 letters long? On the bright side, we've passed the halfway point as of today so whoohoo!

Today's word comes to you courtesy of my sister-in-law,  and I know some of you are thinking 'wow, she's got a lot of family.' You're right. I do, and it's been fun in this season of distance to feel a connection to each one through this little writing exercise on my blog.

Also, every day before I tackle the writing I tell myself I am not going to mention the Corona and then every day it seems I do. It's hard to avoid and while it wasn't my intended theme, its turned out most days to be at least an undercurrent.

Day 14-N is for Navigate

Since this letter happens to land on a Thursday I think I'm going with an old fashioned list, which is how almost all bloggers used to blog on Thursdays, aka The Thursday Thirteen. 

The word navigate is most commonly used in reference to the water, but it can also mean to make one's way over or through. Since our boat is still under cover until the pollen subsides and we're all trying to navigate through life in these uncertain times, let's go with definition #2. 

What are you doing that you're finding helps you on a daily basis to stay positive in your outlook, connected to family and friends, and not crazy-bored-fearful-restless? 

Perhaps you are all of those things at various times, which I think is normal, but in general what are you doing to navigate the choppy waters of 2020?  I read something on a friend's FB page that said while we're all in the same boat, we're not all in the same storm and that resonated with me. 

I don't have little ones at home who need to be fed/bathed/loved/entertained 24/7. I don't have teenagers at home, filled with 1000 disappointments about the life they are missing, we're retired so there are not the job stressors or lack of job stressors so many are feeling, but still everyone is navigating their own life's boat right now and how we stay afloat is worth some thought. 

Here's my list of 13...there might be more but these are some of the things helping me navigate the turbulent waters we find ourselves in today-

1. Prayer, which may sound cliche to some, but is a true lifeline for me. 

2. Maintain a routine. We've learned the importance of this since hubs retired, and have had a few years to practice. I know I need a bit of structure to my days, that a blank canvas all day every day is not for me. I need some to-do's to complete and some things on the calendar to look forward to. 

I'm an early riser, and while there's no real reason to be these days I still get up early. Same goes for getting dressed in real clothes and doing the weekly mundane chores that need doing. I guess it's different for everyone, but I know I cannot stay in pajamas for days at a time, unless I'm truly sick. It's depressing. I make my bed every single day and doing that one simple task somehow makes life feel more normal.  

3. FaceTime with my daughter and grandsons in South Korea. They are such sweet happy boys and it's obvious they're well loved and cared for. Seeing them on the screen doing all the things little boys love to do makes my heart and mind feel ten pounds lighter.

4. Cards with friends and my mom each week via Zoom feels almost normal too. We chat and laugh and catch up just like we do when we play cards in person. 

5. Keeping up with friends and family also via a Zoom call keeps them close, maybe not physically but at least in spirit. Also, scheduling calls in advance gives us something to add to the calendar and look forward to. It might be small in the scheme of things, but having something to look forward to later in the week adds a bright spot to a mostly blank slate. 

6. 'Attending' Sunday School and my Women's Bible Study each week (again via Zoom) keeps life moving forward when it quite often seems like we're all at a standstill. We carry on from week to week, moving through our studies as if we're all in the same building. This helps give the days some much appreciated forward momentum. 

6. Menu planning. Trying new recipes and pulling out some old favorites. There are not a lot of things we can plan for right now, but what we'll eat for dinner these next two weeks is something that requires thought and planning and helps me feel productive. 

7. Knowing it's okay not to be productive right now. Embracing this season of stillness and figuring out what I want to take away from it once we're all free to move about and interact with one another in person. Being grateful for time and space to think. 

8. Writing. Moving my observations, feelings, and concerns from the top of my brain into my journal or onto this blog clears my head and helps me see things differently. 

9. Turn off the news. Or at least don't watch a lot of news. This is an absolute key to good mental health right now. 

10. Same goes for how I handle social media these days. If you're posting funny memes, sharing recipes, cute pictures of your children, your mother, or your pet I'm all in. I hide any and all posts where someone is ranting about the government, the President, or the upcoming election. 

I'm not saying these things don't matter, but now is not the time. I won't allow myself to be sucked in to the arguing and the scolding and the finger pointing. It's a mood killer and I'm navigating around those hazards whenever I can. 

11. Read books, work puzzles, solve a crossword, play a board game...keep your mind busy. 

12. Get outside. Fresh air and sunshine do wonders for the soul. 

13. This is a season where navigating our life boats is difficult, treacherous even for some. But even in more ordinary times we are always making choices as to how we see our lives, and whether we're going to allow the challenges we encounter to sink us. My joy does not depend on my circumstances and for that I am eternally grateful. 

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. 

Who What Where When Why

My brother supplied the word of the day today and it's a toughie. I had to really think about how to incorporate this one into a blog post because I think this word has the potential to rile people up and I am all about not riling people up, particularly the day before Easter.

Day 10-J is for Journalism

We could ask what is journalism in 2020? What does that word mean in the era of social media where everybody and their brother has an opinion and a keyboard and a platform? Where who we look to as an actual authority on a particular subject is open for debate? 

Where we have entire websites devoted to fact checking every spoken and written word but don't know if we can trust the fact checkers? Where news people no longer make any attempts at hiding their political biases on either side of the fence? Where how someone feels about the way something is said matters more than the facts of the matter. 

Let's talk about Easter, k? Specifically this sweet picture- 

And we're going to do it the old fashioned way, using the standard 5Ws taught to high school journalism students about 100 years ago. 

Who? There's my dad with his infectious grin and my blue eyed baby girl in his arms. And there's my niece and my girl wishing mom would take the picture already.

Some things don't change. 

What? Doing what children have always done the weekend before Easter. Dropping eggs from a bit too high a distance into plastic cups of dye on a plastic cloth covered table. Raise your hand if you or a child you know dyed eggs this weekend. 

Tradition is a little bit like glue. It holds families together apart. 

When? 1991. I can still feel the sweetness from some 29 years away. 

Where? My parent's kitchen. The one where so many of my dearest and favorite memories are lodged. Where my mom cooked a thousand trillion meals. Where we were taught to 'put your napkin in your lap' and 'Mabel Mabel if you're able, keep your elbows off the table.' 

Where grace was said and floors were swept and whose turn it was to wash and dry was a debate for the ages. Or till Dad stepped in. 

Where new generations joined the party and the beat rolled on. 

Mostly life is full of change. 

Why? Why what? Why do babies grow up and move oceans away? Why do granddads leave us far too soon? Why do little girls worm their way into your heart and leave their mark in every nook and cranny forever and ever amen? Why are grown up children smart and able yet always and forever the little girls captured in a photo snapped three decades before? 

Memory and forward motion can live side by side. 

How? How do we celebrate Easter in this strange new world? How do we get back to the life that was before? Will we? Do we even want to? Will we emerge from this time of social isolation changed in some way? 

How can we not? 

Life is full of change. 

On Easter I hold tightly to what never changes-

God's love for each one of us. 

So deep and so wide nothing can ever separate us from it. 

Not our fears for today or our worries for tomorrow. 

It brings light and hope to a world full of questions with no easy answers. 

"Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face. 

And the things of earth will grow strangely dim. In the light of His glory and grace." 

I Had A Feeling

Anybody sense what today's word in the April A-Z Blog Challenge might be?

Day 9-I is for Intuition

Today's word is courtesy of my niece. I had a feeling she'd pick a good one-ha! I didn't really have a feeling. I knew she'd pick an interesting word because she's an avid reader and a fellow lover of words. In this case my feeling wasn't based on intuition, it was based on actually knowing her in person and expecting her to act accordingly. 

When I was growing up the word female was commonly placed before the word intuition, so we knew this mysterious phenomenon as 'female intuition'. I guess that's no longer pc, but women in particular do seem to have a sixth sense about certain things. 

There's loads of research and opinion on the topic, but in a nutshell intuition is when our brain uses past experience and present day cues to make a decision, all with lightning speed. So much so that we're not even aware of how we landed where we landed. We just know. 

There's also something going on inside our bodies that might give us what's described as a 'gut feeling'. These gut feelings signal the brain and also give us pause. At least they do if we acknowledge them and pay attention. 

Was there ever a time when you did or did not do something based on a 'gut feeling'? Your intuition? I can't think of something specific, but I know there have been many times I've had a sixth sense about my children. And almost always when I have a sense something is off with one of them, it is. 

I think we should pay attention to our intuition, but we also need to figure out what role our emotions might be playing too. Am I really just afraid to do xyz or is this my intuition telling me to hang on a second, take a step back, look more carefully at the situation?

I also think for Christians the Holy Spirit is a guiding factor in our decision making process, and is a more powerful force than human intuition alone. Sometimes we hear the Holy Spirit described as a still small voice, but how do we know if its something we're actually hearing or something we're telling ourselves?  For me personally, the only thing that works is to quiet my mind, read His word, and pray for direction, trusting He'll direct my steps. 

Still I don't think our human intuition should be ignored and I for one will always make that phone call/send that text asking 'Everything okay?' when my gut tells me maybe everything is not okay. 

Whew. This was a lot to think about on a Friday, wasn't it?