In honor of World Cup Soccer 2026 being played in the United States/Canada/Mexico, I’m reposting this poem written for our sons by their
Great Uncle, Arnold.
He wrote this poem in a letter to Greg’s mom, Verna, about our boys playing soccer. Verna was living with us at the time in a daylight apartment Greg built for her in the basement of our home. Verna was the oldest of her siblings born in 1918 and her brother Arnold was born in 1920 on Christmas Eve. Verna passed away in 1997 and Arnold passed away several years later. This would have been written in the early 1990’s while we were living on Norway Hill in Bothell. Uncle Arnold was a letter writer and he wrote several poems. Letter writing at it’s finest in beautiful handwriting. 
Playing Soccer in the Rain
It’s raining steadily and hard,
So puddles, growing in the yard
Spill over, and run down the street
Past where this street and others meet.
The boys play soccer in the rain
They run and strive with might and main
To kick the ball into the net
In spite of getting soaking wet.
The teams they play on won 1st prize
It’s good that they could realize
Success for all the joy and pain
Of playing soccer in the rain.
Written by Arnold August Moline
Uncle Arnold is in the upper right hand and lower right hand photo with the darker hair. His brother Clifford is in those two photos along with me on a visit to see Greg’s grandmother in Englewood, Colorado in 1976. Upper right is in the kitchen of Greg’s grandmother’s home. Clifford had made a rhubarb pie. He was the cook for himself, Arnold and Grandmother Agnes. Arnold and Clifford never married. The photo in the upper left is of friends from my side of the family who lived in Denver, the Semenchuks. Lower left is another of Greg’s Uncles, Chester, who everyone called ‘Red’. Greg is in that photo with him cutting logs for firewood at their cabin outside of Denver.
Thank you for reading this nostalgic memory lane post. Enjoy your day!
Thank you, Joyce for keeping the Hodgepodge questions coming.
1. March is rolling on out of here. Sum up your March in ten words or less.
Budapest, Bratislava, Czech-Republic, Austria, Cambridge, Seventy-Five, Nine…Travel and Birthday Joys!
2. Are you afraid of heights? No
When was the last time you found yourself dealing with a height, and did it make you nervous?
Besides flying at whatever thousands of feet, the highest was climbing with our own two feet to the Panorama Look-Out at St. Stephen’s Basilica in Budapest last month.
It did not make me nervous until we started down on these stairs.
3. What’s a word you struggle to spell on a regular basis, and sometimes need to double check before writing it down?
Occassion , Ocasion, Ocassion, Occasion whew…finally I got it right.
Use the word in a sentence that tells us something about your April calendar.
We are looking forward to several occasions to celebrate in April starting with Resurrection Sunday and then two more family birthdays.
4. Love ’em or hate ’em, with Easter comes the sweet treat known as Peeps. So… do you love ’em or hate ’em?
I neither love them or hate them, I ignore them.
Speaking of peeps, what’s your favorite way to have chicken?
Chicken pot pie is a favorite.
5. This week’s Hodgepodge lands on the first day of April, which happens to be National Poetry Month. Do you like poetry? Share a favorite line or two from one of your favorite poems. What makes this one a favorite?
The form of poetry I love are old hymns by people like Fanny Crosby, John Newton, Wesley, and others. I’ll share a stanza and refrain from Fanny Crosby’s, Like a River Glorious;
Like a river glorious, is God’s perfect peace,
Over all victorious, in its bright increase
Perfect, yet it floweth, fuller every day,
Perfect, yet it groweth, deeper all the way.
Refrain:
Stayed upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blest
Finding, as He promised, perfect peace and rest
This has been a favorite for years. It was a hymn we sang often at Bethany Baptist church in L.A. and in other churches we’ve been a part of. It has a great four part harmony and the alto part comes back to my memory easily when singing it with the congregation. The longer I’ve been following Jesus as my Lord and Savior, God’s peace gets fuller and deeper.
6. Insert your own random thought here.
It’s Easter week and this is another hymn that speaks of Jesus Christ and what the cross, Good Friday and Easter are about. Happy Easter, Hodgepodgers!
Lamb of God, We Fall Before Thee
Lamb of God, we fall before Thee,
Humbly trusting in Thy cross.
That alone be all our glory;
All things else are only dross.
Thee we own a perfect Savior,
Only source of all that’s good.
Every grace and every favor
Comes to us through Jesus’ blood.
Jesus gives us true repentance
By His Spirit sent from Heav’n;
Whispers this transporting sentence,
Son, thy sins are all forgiv’n.
Faith He grants us to believe it,
Grateful hearts His love to prize;
Want we wisdom? He must give it,
Hearing ears and seeing eyes.
Jesus gives us pure affections,
Wills to do what He requires,
Makes us follow His directions,
And what He commands, inspires.
All our prayers and all our praises,
Rightly offered in His name—
He that dictates them is Jesus;
He that answers is the same.
When we live on Jesu’s merit,
Then we worship God aright;
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
Then we savingly unite.
Hear the whole conclusion of it:
Great or good, whate’er we call,
God, or King, or Priest, or Prophet,
Jesus Christ is all in all.
Words: Joseph Hart, 1759
It’s time for another Wednesday Hodgepodge thanks to Joyce From This Side of the Pond!
WE are having a high wind/rain event here in the PNW (Pacific Northwest) and our power has been knocked out a couple of times already. It will be an iffy day for visiting blogs. Our region is really being hammered!!
1. What’s one thing on your to-do list that you want to get done, need to get done, or that must get done before the year ends?
I want to make a favorite from our dear mom for our Christmas gathering, Roolyet. You can see the recipe here.
2. December 17th is National Maple Syrup Day…are you a fan? Do you like maple flavor in other food items such as candy, cookies, donuts, oatmeal, hot toddies, coffee?
We enjoy Real Maple Syrup on our Swedish Pancakes, regular pancakes, waffles, etc. I like maple bars, the donut variety.
4. What’s a city, state, or country you’ve visited that you never care to visit again? Tell us why.
South Chicago. We made the mistake of taking a driving route from Wheaton college to the Chicago Museum of Art through south Chicago and it did not feel safe. The tension on the streets was palpable. I would never drive through there again.
5. Next Sunday (December 21st) marks the first day of winter (or the opposite if you’re living down under). What’s one thing you love about this new season?
We love Winter. All of our children were born in Winter. Christmas is in Winter.
6. Insert your own random thought here.
Flag Day is a holiday celebrated on June 14 in the United States. It commemorates the adoption of the flag of the United States on June 14, 1777 by resolution of the Second Continental Congress.
Thanks to Tom the Backroads Traveller I’m adding this information below.
Read about Sarah Hinson, a teacher and principal, who started Flag Day Exercises in 1891.
On June 14, 1777, the Continental Congress replaced the British symbols of the Grand Union flag with a new design featuring 13 white stars on a field of blue and 13 red and white stripes—one for each state.
The American flag, also nicknamed as “Old Glory” or “star-spangled banner”, has changed designs over the centuries. It consists of 13 equal horizontal stripes of red (top and bottom) alternating with white, with a blue rectangle in the canton bearing 50 small, white, five-pointed stars. Each of the 50 stars represents one of the 50 states in the United States and the 13 stripes represent the original 13 colonies that became the first states in the Union.
Off with your hat, as the flag goes by!
And let the heart have its say;
you’re man enough for a tear in your eye
that you will not wipe away.
~Henry Cuyler Bunner
THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
Officially adopted on Flag Day, June 14, 1924 (“Under God” Amendmant made by Congress in 1954)
I pledge allegiance to the flag
of the United States of America
and to the republic for which it stands;
one nation under God, indivisible,
with liberty and justice for all.
Happy 250th birthday to the U.S. Army
and
Happy 79th Birthday to the 45th and 47th President of the United States, Donald Trump.
The Viet Nam Memorial in Sacramento, California.
Korean War Memorial in Washington D.C.
Memorial Day, a solemn day to remember those who died serving our country.
I keep harping on my sisters that it is time for another sister weekend. Maybe in Dallas or Arizona??
This week is to be one full week of celebrating the oldest and one of the youngest in our family. Addy will turn 7 this week! All our kids will be arriving the end of the week for a extended weekend of fun. Greg and I are enjoying the first couple of days in Coeur d Alene, Idaho. A lovely destination where we can enjoy nice walks along the lake and also enjoy a variety of restaurants for some good food.
I will be hit and miss online for the next few days.
Are you excited for Spring?
What if I say
“The Bible is God’s Holy Word,
Complete, inspired, without a flaw”
But let its pages stay
Unread from day to day,
And fail to learn there from God’s law;
What if I go not there to seek
The truth of which I glibly speak,
For guidance on this earthly way,
Does it matter what I say?
What if I say
That Jesus Christ is Lord divine;
Yet fellow-pilgrims can behold
Naught of the Master’s love in me
No grace of kindly sympathy?
If I am of the Shepherd’s fold,
Then shall I know the Shepherd’s voice
And gladly make his way my choice.
We are saved by faith, yet faith is one
With life, like daylight and the sun.
Unless they flower in our deeds,
Dead, empty husks are all the creeds.
To call Christ, Lord, but strive not to obey,
Belies the homage that with words I pay.
Maud Frazer Jackson
Happy February everyone!
Said the wildflower to the sparrow:
“I should really like to know
Why these anxious human beings
Rush about and worry so.”
Said the sparrow to the wildflower:
“Friend, I think that it must be
That they have no heavenly Father,
Such as cares for you and me.”
“So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 10:26-32
