Life Is Better At The Lake

You may have noticed I missed a letter this week. Or you may not have noticed and that's okay too. This alphabet thing is a lot, isn't it? I'm still trying to decide if I want to go back and fill in the missing letter or just keep calm and carry on. 

For the record, it would be hard for me to keep calm with one letter missing, but it's only Day 12 so I've got time to figure that out. Let's press on-

 Day 12-L is for Lake 

Lake life to be precise. 

It's lovely-

Laid back-

Life here moves at a leisurely pace...

Lazy in a good way-

The big fun here can be loud-

But the stress low-

Beauty lives large at the lake- 

We feel lucky to call it home-

"Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience." 

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Hey Peeps! It's Hodgepodge Time

Welcome to this week's edition of the Wednesday Hodgepodge. If you've answered today's questions add your link at the end of my post, then hop over and leave a comment for your neighbor there. Here we go-

1. Do you celebrate Easter? If so what are your plans this year? Did you have egg hunts as a kid? 

Yes we celebrate Easter, or as my grandson says, 'good news'! The events of Easter are what give me hope in a world gone mad. We don't have any big plans this year. Both girls will be here in early May for a baby shower and it's a bit of haul for Daughter1 to make the trip twice with toddlers in a short span of time. Daughter2 has been in clean up mode from a water leak so they need some time to regroup and relax. 

We'll attend church. I'd love to talk hubs into the sunrise service and the weather looks like it might cooperate, but he may prefer to stick with our usual later morning service, and that's okay too. A church friend who is also a neighbor invited us for lunch with two other couples and we'll all bring a dish and share a meal. Afterwards I'm thinking a nap. Sunday afternoons are made for naps. 

We did have Easter baskets and egg hunts when I was a kid. I don't remember ever going to any huge egg hunts, but the living room was still a lot of fun. 

2. What's your favorite bread to find in a bread basket? 

Not too particular about the type of bread but make whatever kind it is warm and the butter soft. 

3. Your favorite chick flick? 

It's hard to pick just one, but a few favorites are Under the Tuscan Sun, Sweet Home Alabama, 27 Dresses and My Big Fat Greek Wedding, 

4.Tax day is rapidly approaching in the US of A...what's something you currently find 'taxing'?

Besides taxes you mean? Because I still find those taxing. We just had a dead tree removed and have quite a few other outdoorsy projects that need doing and paying for and prioritizing and I find just thinking about it all somewhat taxing. I prefer sitting on the porch with my iced coffee and a good book. 

5. Have you ever ridden in a taxi? Do you have a funny-scary-crazy-interesting taxi story to share? Do you use any of the newer taxi-like services such as Uber? 

I have ridden in many a taxi and have had more than a few scary-crazy rides. London cabs are the best by the way. Don't even try to convince me otherwise. 

We use Uber when we're in a place that has Uber. Not really an option out here in the country. 

One of the 'scarier' taxi rides I experienced was in the Bahamas. I was meeting hubs at the end of a work thing there and another woman was supposed to be on my same flight but missed her connection. We were going to share a cab but it ended up just me and the cab driver in the dark of night and this was back in the olden days of no cell phones. 

We were driving along when he suddenly pulled into a small apartment complex, told me he'd be right back, took a paper bag from under the front seat and dropped it on someone's doorstep. He then carried on driving me to the hotel as if nothing had happened. I lived to tell the tale so maybe it was simply take out for his momma as opposed to something nefarious? Right. 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Using this space for today's letter of the day in the A-Z April Blog Challenge. My theme this year is 'these are a few of my favorite things'...

Day 11-K is for Promises Kept

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Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 458

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

1. Do you celebrate Easter? If so what are your plans this year? Did you have egg hunts as a kid? 

2. What's your favorite bread to find in a bread basket? 

3. Your favorite chick flick? 

4.Tax day is rapidly approaching in the US of A...what's something you currently find 'taxing'? 

5. Have you ever ridden in a taxi? Do you have a funny-scary-crazy-interesting taxi story to share? Do you use any of the newer taxi-like services such as Uber? 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Fresh Ink

Hello Monday morning afternoon evening. Did I take advantage of the weekend and write ahead a post or two for the April A-Z Challenge?

No I did not.

I spent the weekend out of town with friends celebrating a birthday (not my own), arriving home Sunday afternoon in time for a nap on the couch and the end of the Masters. What that means is we're winging it here today. 

I actually don't mind winging it. Sometimes those are my best posts. 
But probably not this one because letter I is tricky. 

Day 9-I is for Ink

I like the written word. 

I like reading and I like writing. I love blogging, poetry, historical accounts, smart writers, funny writers, travel writers, and especially writers who capture the bittersweet moments of life using tender words I wish I'd written myself. 

I know blogging is a bit passe in the year 2022, but I still enjoy it... still need some place to dump all the words in my head and still love recording life as it happens or viewing it through the technicolor lens of hindsight.

Writing about life has taught me to notice life. Time speeds up with every turn of the calendar page and sometimes we forget to pay attention.

I like to pay attention. 

The written word. Ink. One of my favorite things. 

If You're Happy And You Know It Make A List

For the past two or three years I've dubbed Saturday 'list day' in the A-Z Blog Challenge. Blogging six days a week is a lot for me so I give myself a small break come Saturday. 

On Saturdays I use the letter of the day to make a list of little things I love. Think counting your blessings, but only those that fit the letter of the day-ha! This year a gratitude list actually ties in nicely with my theme ('these are a few of my favorite things'), and in no particular order here's today's list-

 Day 8-H is for Little Bits Of Happy 

hubs
humor
hopeful people 
an empty clothes hamper
hearing little boys say 'Nana' 
a hug around the neck from those same little boys
a great hotel
a helping hand
the view from somewhere high
friends with bees who give me honey
Honfleur
a good hair day
houseguests
Hunley (the dog, not the submarine)

a beautifully set holiday table
trips to historical sites
the scent of honeysuckle on the breeze 
a perfectly grilled hamburger 
a waterfall hike

coming home 

It's All Fun And Games

Still blogging my way through the alphabet with the April A-Z Challenge. People related to me will not be surprised by today's entry-

Day 7-G is for Games 

Listen up. There are two kinds of people in this world-those who love to play games and those who don't. Guess which one I am-ha! I'm not talking athletic competition, but I am talking competition because I do like to win. 

I've taught my grandson how to play Crazy 8's and apparently he played with his grandfather during a recent visit. My daughter texted saying the mancub didn't cut granddad any slack when it came to winning, just like Nana. 

Is that a compliment? 

I'm going to say yes. 

The mancub also likes to play Go Fish, Candyland, and Guess Who, and you need to know if you play once you're going to play twenty times. I love that he asks to play games and that it's something we can do together. He's a very good sport and seems to know he can't win every time. 

Hubs would say especially if he's playing with Nana. 

He's not wrong. 

Hubs is not a big game player, but he'll humor me now and then with a game of Rummy or Backgammon. Whenever we play a new game with people, one I already know how to play, he likes to remind me not to go overboard with the rule keeping. 

I don't deny it. I mean games have rules and rules are meant to be followed, right? 

Our next door neighbors love to play games too and we get together pretty often for cards or Sequence or Dominoes. We play Euchre with them too and Darts which is a game of a different sort, but also fun. We have Cornhole and Yardtzee and also a pool table, all fun games to play with a big group. Hubs may not love games but he does love a houseful of people. 

fyi-games that involve too much eye hand coordination are not my strong suit.

When Covid was in full force and everyone was hunkered down alone I started playing a card game with my mom via Facetime. It's called Hand and Foot and while we had to tweak some of the rules, we've made it work. It has been such a fun way to connect with her every week, and do something 'normal'. 

Also, she likes to win too, so I guess the apple didn't fall far from the tree. 

During Covid I learned from another neighbor how to play MahJong, and I really enjoyed it. I haven't played much lately as we've had so much going on here, but I hope to get back to it. MahJong requires focus and strategy and it's quick so you need to play regularly if you want to be any good. 

Daughter2 and I played a lot of games when she was living with us and we still play at least one or two or ten games of Skipbo every time she visits. We got a fun game for Christmas called Chronology and it seems everyone likes that, which is good for a group.  

I play an online game, which I call brain training because that's what the makers of the game call it, but hubs rolls his eyes when I say that so we'll just say game. And like the rest of the world I do the daily Wordle and also Quordle, which I think is a bit more challenging. 

So what games do you like to play or don't you? 

Are you a person who loves games or are you no fun? teehee. 

Enjoy your weekend everyone! 

Family Matters

More A-Z blogging on a Thursday afternoon-

 Day 6-F is for Family

How could this not be one of my favorite things? 

Actually I do know not everyone can say that. Families are complicated because people are complicated. I'm one of four children and hubs is one of four children and we are so very fortunate to be the ages we are and still both have our mothers in our lives. Everybody speaks to everybody including the moms, which feels like such a gift in a world filled with angry, impatient, opinionated people. 

When I thought about today's letter and thought about the word family it wasn't my children, but my siblings, who first came to mind. The 'kids' I grew up with and the ones I claim by marriage. The ones who've seen me at my absolute worst and also my very best. The ones who love me, tease me, root for me, and only sometimes annoy me. Hi family! You know you're never annoying-ha! Me neither-ha!

The people in our family do not all share the same political ideology, or even the same religious beliefs. We have varying interests, occupations, home lives, incomes, child/childless status, personal tastes, and abilities. 

What we do share is history...memories rooted and watered in our mostly happy childhoods. A sense of home and belonging that neither time nor distance can erase. We support one another in a variety of ways but we also argue, forgive, hammer things out. We gather round tables where food and laughter and stories are shared, and only sometimes exaggerated. The ties that bind may stretch and fray from time to time, but there's an unspoken agreement they'll never break. 

Family is forever and it's my favorite.