Another week, another Hodgepodge. Thank you, Joyce!
1. What’s your favorite room in your house and why?
I’m not sure I have a favorite. There are favorite things I enjoy in most rooms of our home. The dining room is special with great times sitting around the table enjoying food, conversation with loved ones and it’s where we play games!
2. What’s something that will instantly annoy you?
Eeeeek, be sure your sins will find you out. People who have to be the center of a conversation and one uping you. Sally is telling us about her recent trip to Paris and Lucy hijacks the conversation and tells us how she’s been there and knows all about it cutting off Sally and Sally’s sharing with an extended account of her own experiences in Paris.
I want to guard against this kind of behavior in myself and focus more on others and what they have to say. I’m sure I’ve been guilty a million times of trying to make it all about me!
BTW: I’ve never been to Paris…LOL.
~ 3. May 28th is National Hamburger Day…will you celebrate? Maybe
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How do you like yours? With a bun that holds together and added lettuce, tomato, onion, pickle, mustard and ketchup. Grilled onions are a treat.
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If you’re not cooking at home is there a favorite place you like to go for a burger? No where in our town but we do enjoy burgers at The Masters Brewery in Deer Park. A favorite when we lived in California was In- N-Out.
Did you ever work in a fast food restaurant? I never did.
4. What are three scents you like?
I enjoy lemon scents, lavender and lilac.
Speaking of scents, I bought this beautiful bouquet of flowers from the Farmer’s Market in Chewelah this past Friday.
5. What do you miss most about being a kid?
I miss the clear and bright brain of my youth.
At my age it’s hard to find the words I need to complete a thought or a sentence. I call it brain fog. I miss the fresh productive brain of childhood!
6. Insert your own random thought here.
I should have said that what really annoys me is to finish a puzzle and discover there is a piece missing. My latest puzzle did not have a piece missing, it had an extra piece! That has never happened to me before!
Enjoy the handful of days left in the Merry Month of May!
1. May 20th is World Bee Day…what’s something that’s kept you ‘busy as a bee’ lately?
I see weeds everywhere. I should be busy weeding.
2. Do you like honey? What’s something you make or enjoy that calls for honey?
My favorite honey treat is Peanut Butter and Honey and I like that combo on toast.
3. “Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body.” Proverbs 16:24
What’s a proverb you love, or one that speaks to you or has helped you in some way?
There were seasons of my life where I read through Proverbs in the Bible each day. There are 31 chapters of Proverbs and I’d read a chapter that corresponded with the day. There are those months without 31 days but that was okay. I think I’ll add that extra reading along with my scheduled reading through the Bible for the rest of this year. There are so many underlined verses from Proverbs in my Bibles.
How shall I narrow down my choices? Hodgepodge falls on the 21st of May. I will choose a verse from chapter 21 in the Book of Proverbs.
Proverbs 21:23 (NIV)
“He who guards his mouth and his tongue keeps himself from calamity.”
Same verse in the ESV,
“Whoever keeps his mouth and his tongue keeps himself out of trouble.”
Another one from Chapter 21…
Proverbs 21:30
“There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the LORD.”
The Bible is full of Proverbs, a whole book in fact, if that helps with your answer. The word proverb is defined as ‘a short pithy saying in general use, stating a general truth or piece of advice’.
4. Tell us about a ‘sweet’ moment in your life recently that filled you with joy, gratitude, or peace.
So many moments of feeling grateful for the peace of God in our relationship with our kids.
I’m also grateful to God that I can have the joy of sitting with our grandchildren each Sunday at church worshipping our great God together.
5. When you were a child, what did you want to ‘be’ when you grew up? How close did you come to that?
When I was a child I played school and wanted to be a teacher. I did get a teaching credential and I taught elementary school for a few years until we had our first child. I homeschooled our daughter for her 4th-6th grade years. Later when our kids were in junior high and high school I did some substitute teaching.
6. Insert your own random thought here.
Proverbs 8:34-36
“Blessed is the one who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting beside my doors. For whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the LORD, but he who fails to find me injures himself; all who hate me love death.”
1. Let’s compare this May to last May. What’s changed? What remains very much the same?
Much remains the same as last year with Mother’s Day teas, Addy’s Dance Recital, Hummingbirds returning, a May trip to the Westside of the mountains.
The thing that has changed is we aren’t walking the trail because of my Plantar Fasciitis and a limp Greg has developed. Growing old is not for the faint of heart. It’s easy enough for me to mow with our riding lawn mower but I can’t weedwack or do a lot of weeding. Once things settle down and get better for both of us we’ll be out on the trail again.
A special treat that is different than most years is that our grand nephew is traveling with the Master’s Chorale and will be having 2 concerts in Washington State and we will be able to go to one of the concerts and see him and the group perform in person. This will be on the Seattle side of the mountains.
2. What’s something you may do this month.
We may book a river cruise or do some other travel planning.
3. Mother’s Day is approaching (in the US of A)…in what way(s) are you like your mother?
Haha! More and more I find myself doing things like my mom. In looking back at photos of her I’ve noticed my body reacting similarly in menopause and aging in photos where we were the same age. Weird. Thankful I’m past the chubbier face period. 🙂
4. Did you have a favorite book as a child? What was it and why was it a favorite.
I had two favorite book series that I remember looking for at the library and checking out. One of the series was Little House on the Prairie and the other was the Freddy Series by Walter R. Brooks. I’m wondering if I was first drawn to the Freddy books because I have a brother named Fred.
5. Are you more of a tortoise or a hare? Explain.
I can be both but I’m more of a hare by nature. I rush forward and can be hasty and miss a step in instructions or a recipe etc. Thankfully Greg is more steady and he reads instructions and corrects my hastiness to save the day!
6. Insert your own random thought here.
We’ve had some beautiful Spring mornings at our Country bungalow.
If you live in the USA or Canada, I wish you a Merry Mother’s Day weekend!
Speaking of Mother’s Day here are the ones who first called me mom…
My random thought today will be the finale of the A to Z April challenge. We are on the last day of April and the last letter of the alphabet, but first, the Hodgepodge…
1. My very first edition of The Wednesday Hodgepodge was published on November 10, 2010 (linked here if you’re curious). Tell us something about your life from that era.
I think my first Hodgepodge with consistency afterwards was in 2017.
This was from my post on November 6th, 2010.
This is our daughter in front of the Bridal shop in Bellevue, Washington where we just purchased her wedding dress. Very sentimental and personal with plenty of emotion attached!
A wedding is afoot at our house but because our daughter is marrying a Marine who will soon be in Active duty we do not know what date we can choose for the event yet. It will be sometime in the next year in the meantime we are preparing what we can because we might have very little notice for the actual event.
Andrew and Katie ended up getting married at the Justice of the Peace in Jacksonville, North Carolina on March 11, 2011. We had their formal wedding ceremony one year later on March 11, 2012 in Seattle.
2. What’s a song you love that relates to time in some way?
The DC talk version of this song is the one we prefer over the original because of the changes from “Never been a sinner, never sinned, but I have a friend in Jesus” to the more accurate “You know that I’m a sinner, we’ve all sinned, but I have a friend in Jesus.”
3. May is nearly upon us. When did you last need to yell ‘MAY DAY-MAY DAY!!’?
My MAY DAY-MAY-DAY was on November 5th, 2022 when I realized my husband was having a stroke and I sent off the mayday ‘help me’ call to God, 9-1-1, and our local son here in Colville. The Fire Chief of our district was the first to appear at our door, then the ambulance and then our son (who was a distance away working close to the Canadian border). God knew my May-Day needs well before and helped us all through this experience.
4. How do you feel about food trucks? Is this a dining experience you enjoy? Do you have a favorite What’s something you’ve ordered from a food truck?
In years past before a Seattle Sounders Soccer game we would make our way to the taco truck for street tacos. So good.
Nowadays we have a fish truck that shows up in Colville every so often and they have the best Clam Chowder. Delicious.
I am a fan of good food trucks.
5. We’re bidding farewell to April…what are three adjectives you might use to describe the month you’re leaving behind.
Joyous birthday celebrations for our grandson and son-in-law.
Glorious rejoicing because of our Risen Savior.
Tedious weeds are popping up like wildfire.
6. Insert your own random thought here.
Z is for Zebras at the Zoo in Dallas a Zillion years ago.
We were visiting our youngest niece and her parents in 2010
A favorite Z song…
Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah
Zip a dee doo-dah, zip a dee ay
My, oh my, what a wonderful day.
Plenty of sunshine headed my way.
Zip a dee doo-dah, zip a dee ay
Mister bluebird on my shoulder
It’s the truth, it’s actual.
Everything is satisfactual.
Zip a dee doo-dah, zip a dee ay
Wonderful feelin’.
Wonderful day.
Lyrics by Ray Gilbert and Allie Wrubel.
From the Postal Museum in Washington D.C. in 2011.
Whew! Thank you to all who came along with me on the A to Z challenge and thank you fellow Hodgepodgers for your visit today.
In May I will be posting a past tea room tea experience or current one each day except on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. It is very possible these posts will have to continue into June.
For April I’m challenging myself to an A-Z photo a day excluding Sundays and in addition to any regular posts that come to be. Disclaimer: this has been a lot more than a photo a day. It has been more like a theme for the day.
Today is Thursday April 24th and we are on the letter U.
U is for Umbrella and mostly what is UNDER it.
Katie on Norway Hill in 1988ish.
April 2011, A sister weekend in Victoria, B.C.
Easter Day 2013
May of 2014
Addy in Colville in 2019
2022 Addy and JJ, singing in the rain.
Currently in Colville we are dry and only need an umbrella to shield us from the sun.
For April I’m challenging myself to an A-Z photo a day excluding Sundays and in addition to any regular posts that come to be.
Today is Wednesday April 23rd and we are on the letter T.
T is for Tea and Tea Rooms and High Tea and Tea for Two and a Table full!
Growing up, tea was the hot drink served most regularly. When there was ‘company’ involved with a meal, it was served at the end of the meal with some sort of sweet treat.
It has only been in the last 18 or so years that going to a tea room and enjoying high tea has been on my radar.
I love this photo of our daughter Katie drinking tea in our rented apartment in April of 2004 in Edinburgh.
Tea tables and tea times became front and center during my early blogging years.
This Blog-a-Thon at Gracious Hospitality by LaTeaDah lit the fire and inspired many table settings and hunting down tea rooms.
Living in Camarillo and closer to my California family for a few years (2006-2010) inspired planning tea times with family and friends. The first one was to celebrate our mom’s 85th birthday in 2008. We gathered at The Gilded Rose Manor Tea Room in Northridge, California.
SIL Kelly, Niece Melissa, Niece Jessica, Sister Kathy, Nadia~Mom and Babushka, Sister Vera, Niece Debbee, Niece Michelle, and me.
Our mom sharing words of wisdom.
There was a lot to learn about photography in those early years of blogging.
This was a fun tea room and it’s sad to report that it is no longer serving tea like many other tea rooms we have visited in the past 15 years.
There are too many tea experiences to try to post them all here for ‘T is for Tea’ this April. Maybe in May I’ll do a tea room or high tea experience a day until I run out of them.
Happy Wednesday everyone. If you are looking for Wednesday Hodgepodge it is the post before this one.
We have daffodils in two different areas in our yard. These burst open later than the ones I showed before. It’s always a surprise and joy to see them pop up and open their heads without any effort on my part.
Thank you to Joyce for coming up with the Wednesday Hodgepodge questions each week!
1. The Hodgepodge lands on National Picnic Day…will you celebrate? Do you enjoy picnics? Dining out of doors picnic or otherwise? What are three or four things I’d find in your picnic basket?
Typically, I am not a fan of picnics or dining outside. The temp and bug situation has to be just right for outside eating. I do like to picnic inside. Avocado, salami, baguette, pickled vegetables would be in my picnic basket.
2. A time recently where you felt ‘antsy’?
Sometimes when I wake in the night and can’t get back to sleep I can get antsy.
3. As the saying goes…’when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.’ Do you like lemonade?
I do enjoy lemonade.
When did you recently need to make lemonade out of lemons, figuratively speaking?
My meal planning and execution can fall into this saying. Making a meal out of limited supplies because I didn’t plan ahead.
4. Recently five ‘celebrities’ made a brief (ll minute) foray into space aboard Jeff Bezos Blue Origin rocket. Did you hear about this? Your thoughts? If money were no object is this something you’d like to do someday?
We know someone who works for this company. I should have asked him what he thought of this foray. I did hear about it. I would never want to do it. Their little foray was dabbling, more of a stunt.
5. Favorite thing about the ‘space’ you’re sitting in right now?
I’m sitting in my morning space. The space I have my coffee and start the day with my Bible reading and devotional reading. My notebook is open and ready for any thing I feel like documenting. Then I transition into reading emails and blogs. I love the space because I can see part of our yard and the mountains in the distance and our books are all around me. The other thing that is close by are the recent artwork our Grands have created and photos of loved ones as prayer prompts.
6. Insert your own random thought here.
For April I’m challenging myself to an A-Z photo a day excluding Sundays and in addition to any regular posts that come to be.
Today is Wednesday April 23rd and we are on the letter T.
T is for Tea as in going out to a tearoom or friend’s home to enjoy tea or having high tea in the United Kingdom.
I have been fortunate to be able to enjoy some very nice ‘high teas’ and ‘tea times’. I’m going to have to do a separate post for my tea focus besides this shout out to the challenge here.
The lovely tea above was at the home of Lovella with most of the Mennonite Girls Can Cook several years ago.
Don’t judge a book by it’s cover. I’ve made this mistake more than once. I hope I’m learning more and more to get to know a person before I give them a wrong label in my head. Talking to and getting to know someone is a better approach.
2. Do you salt food while you’re cooking or let diners add their own? What’s a food you think must be salted? Do you like pepper?
I do season food as I’m cooking. Avocado tastes best to me salted. Yes, I do like pepper, too.
3. What was the last gathering you attended and what did you do there?
I’m answering these questions on Sunday. We attended church this morning. On this particular Sunday Greg and I were serving by greeting all those who came through the door for the early service. We have other ‘greeter’ responsibilities during the service. Before Sunday School we switch off with the second service greeters and we are free to attend the adult fellowship hour. During the fellowship hour we learned and discussed one of the attributes of God, Everlasting.
4. Your favorite shade of purple?
I enjoy every shade of purple and every purple flower.
What’s your favorite purple flower?
One of my favorites is purple wisteria. The photos above were taken at the Japanese Gardens in Seattle. Other favorites are lilac, clematis and hydrangeas and of course lavender.
5. Share a favorite spring travel memory.
In April of 2004 we took our daughter on a trip to England and Scotland for her graduation gift. It was a wonderful trip and a favorite to remember. We traveled to sites with history of her literary favorites like Tolkien, Lewis, Austen, Rowling, and we threw in a little Monty Python, too. We stayed in Cheltenham, Sheffield, York, Edinburgh and London venturing out to take in nearby cities and sites.
A field of daffodils on the grounds of Chatsworth House ( Pride and Prejudice Pemberley)
Clip clopping with coconuts at Castle Doune with Monty Python.
6. Insert your own random thought here.
Speaking of purple, we have 3 graduates in our family from the University of Washington, Greg, Katie and Andrew. Primary Purple and gold are the school colors. Little did Katie know in this photo that she’d graduate from the same University as her father and then her husband, too.
We were at Trader Joe’s in Spokane on Sunday and they had 20 stem bunches of daffodils on sale for just $2.99. We bought 2 bunches! They are such a happy Spring flower. The trumpets announcing that Easter is coming.
1. No foolin’! April is here. What’s one fun thing on your April calendar?
Our grandson’s birthday is in April and we will enjoy his Batman party with family. JJ’s party is scheduled on our Son-in-law’s birthday so we will have another double party weekend soon.
2. It’s often said, ‘A fool and his money are soon parted’…what’s the last thing you wasted money on?
Sometimes my impulses get the best of me. I buy before I totally investigate. A dish rack is going into the garage sale pile. Instead of having a tilt and easy flow of water into the sink, it pools the water in the pan under the rack.
3. April 2nd is National DIY day. Are you a do-it yourself kind of person or maybe you’re married to one?
I am married to a DIY master. When it comes to major projects, I like to leave and come home when they are all done.
We have a fun mini DIY project happening this week. Our old bird bath bit the dust and we found this lovely solid one on Sunday from a store called ‘At Home’. We are choosing the right spot for it and will set it into place soon.
If so, what’s the last thing you DIY-ed. (I’m going with the ‘Royal We’)
Replacing our water heater was probably the last DIY job around here.
If you’re not a DIY-er what’s the most recent job you had to hire someone to complete?
I hire out the window washing of our home. They come and complete that job in about an hour!
This year we will probably have our Septic serviced…which is a major job. Definitely a hiring out job with a company that have all the necessary equipment.
Our water hydrants both need replacing and that will be a labor intensive job. Digging is the intensive part. This job will be done by Greg and our son.
4. Do you eat lamb? If so do you have a favorite dish that calls for lamb?
Yes! I was raised eating lamb and Greg enjoys lamb. Greg did not eat lamb growing up but when we married he was introduced to lamb and is happy to eat it. Lamb was the main course for my family’s Easter meal growing up.
A properly cooked lamb shank is very good. I ordered this lamb shank at a Mexican restaurant.
5. Do you fit a stereotype in some way? Explain.
I used to be a stereotypical soccer mom but now I’m more of the benevolent grandmother. This Baba loves her grandchildren and will do all she can for them.
6. Insert your own random thought here.
Here is a sampling of Bible verses about the fool and the foolish and the wise.
Psalm 14:1 ~ The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”
Proverbs: 10:1 ~ A wise son makes a glad father, but a foolish son is a sorrow to his mother.
Proverbs 12:15-16 ~ The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice. The vexation of a fool is known at once, but the prudent ignores an insult.
Ephesians 5:15-17 ~ Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
Titus 3:3 ~ For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others, and hating one another. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b. 