Tag Archives: Scotland

Planning with the Hodgepodge

The photo above is of me on an old bridge in Scotland in 1973 or 1974. It is too bad that I do not know where in Scotland this was taken. This was during one of the summers we toured with our Christian ‘Rock’ Music Group.

Thanks to Jo From This Side of the Pond for Wednesday Hodgepodge.

1. When did you last have cancelled plans? Were you happy about that or disappointed? 

Nothing recently that I can think of. Our 2020 trip to England was the big trip where our airfare and housing was purchased and we had to cancel because of Covid. We were disappointed and were happier about the cancelled plans when we got totally reimbursed for all we had put out in advance.

2. On a scale of 1-10 how much of a planner are you? 

1= I go where the wind takes me  
10=I’ve got a power point on it, no matter what it is
I can let the wind take me on small whim day trips. When we look out the window at a beautiful day and have nothing on our calendar, we are free to pick a direction to drive to and just drive stopping when we feel like it.
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For other trips where either airfare is involved or we drive several days to a destination via car, I’m a obsessed planner! There have been so many things we missed because we just didn’t know it was there. On trips to the United Kingdom there will always be things we miss because of time and energy but I want to know as much as I can to pick and choose what we should not miss.
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For the day to day stuff, I use a calendar and list of things I need to accomplish in any given week and I love to cross things off on that list.

3. Do you have a menu plan for the week? If so tell us one or two things that are on it. If not, what’s your plan for not having a plan lol? 

Shocking that a Home Economics major has never had a menu plan! I plan a meal as to what is in the fridge and cupboard or head to the store to buy what I need to make an inspired meal or head to somewhere to do a take-out meal. I might have planned better when our kids were little but that was over 30 years ago!

4. The Hodgepodge lands on National Bucket List Day. Do you have a bucket list?

Kind of…

Is it written down or just in your head?

Mostly in my head…

What is one thing on your bucket list? If you don’t have a list, what is one thing you’d add to a list if you did? Yes I’m going to make you think about it. 

Spending some time in the north east part of the U.S. and crossing into Canada going as far as Prince Edward Island.

At present I’m in the detailed gathering of information stage as to where to go and what to see in Scotland. Lord willing, we will be traveling with Josh and Laura to Scotland in September. Once we nail down our dates and flights the real planning can begin with bookings, etc.  Part of my gathering of information is reading a book about John Knox.

5. Rain buckets, a drop in the bucket, couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket, sweat buckets, cry buckets…which ‘bucket’ idiom applies to your life in some way currently? 

Currently, a drop in the bucket seems appropriate as we are entering weeding season and my efforts are always just a drop of what could be done!

6. Insert your own random thought here.  

A couple photos from 2004 when we were in Scotland with our daughter Katie.

We were also in Scotland in 2006. Both of these times were before we had digital cameras.

Happy Hodgepodge to all of you!

Hot Tea Month ~ Favorite Teas

This is week two of Hot Tea Month blog-a-thon. Click on over to the hot tea month site to join in the fun. A big thank you to Scrabblequeen for hosting the event!

Week Two: January 10th-16th

Tell us about your favorite teas. Do you prefer black, green, white, red, or “herbal”? Do you like added flavors such as fruit, flowers, vanilla, chocolate, or spices, or are you a “purist”?

For a quick cup of tea I generally enjoy tea steeped with a tea bag. If I am going to steep loose tea I enjoy a good Earl Grey or English Breakfast Tea or a Russian black tea called Czars tea.

I always have to make sure I have good ole Lipton tea bags around for my family especially my brother Leonard. Some of my sisters have moved on to herbal teas. When I was younger I put lots of sugar and milk in my tea. These days I drink most of my hot beverages black with no sweeteners.

I found this really good tea in these cool muslin bags at a local grocery store at a close-out price. A Russian blend of China, Ceylon, and India teas with natural scents of bergamot, lemon, lime, orange, mandarin and flowers. What a description :0)

 

This is my daughter in a flat we rented in Scotland enjoying our welcome tea tray that was left for us.

I very rarely go for more fruity teas but I do experiment once in a while. This tea cup and tea was a gift from my son and his wife and I’ve enjoyed the variety of teas from this box.

If I want something hot at night I generally will go for the herbals. My first choice is usually Chamomile.

When we go out for tea in a larger group we will usually get a pot of Earl Grey, a pot of some fruity tea like Peach, and choose something different like lavender or anything we haven’t tried before that is different from our usual. It’s fun to experiment with the group.

I’ve developed a nagging cough that hopefully will depart in the next day or two in the meantime as I write this post I’m enjoying a hot cuppa Lady Grey to soothe my throat. It’s interesting that if I’m ever sick I always think of hot tea not hot coffee. Of course if things get really bad there’s that other British remedy…

Have a good week enjoying your tea, whatever flavor or variety you choose!

Photobucket is holding all my photos that I stored on their site from 2007-2015 hostage replacing them with ugly grey and black boxes and asking for a large ransom to retrieve them. It is a slow process to go through all my posts deleting the ugly boxes.

Fun Monday ~ Vacations

Alison is hosting Fun Monday today. Here is her assignment…

Vacations…this is the time of year when most of us go on vacations. Show us and/or tell us about your favorite vacation – where you went, what you did, etc. Pictures would be great. Let’s all take a trip around the world via our FM friends!!

My favorite vacations have been to Great Britain.

 

In 2004 we took our daughter on a literary tour of Great Britain for her graduation gift. We visited places of inspiration for C.S. Lewis, Tolkien, Austen, and Monty Python???! Too see more of this tour click here.

 

In 2006 we took a walking tour with our dear friends with stops in Wales, The Lake District, Oban, Edinburgh, and York. To see the highlights of this tour click here.

For more Fun Monday favorite vacations visit Alison.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage and they have blacked them all out. I’m slowly working at restoring my posts without their help. Such a tiresome bother!

ABC Wednesday ~ O is for…

O is for Oban, Scotland ~

Oban is the gateway to the Isles.

 

Oban is on the west coast of Scotland.

Oban is the frontier between the West Highlands and the Islands; the meeting place between land and sea. A perfect, sheltered harbour makes it the principal seaport for the Isles and the capital of the West Highlands. It has a mild, temperate climate, warmed by the Gulf Stream and washed (too often, some might say) by the soft rain that often falls hereabouts. This misty, briny character, with a background of heather and peat, is perfectly echoed in the malt whisky produced at Oban.

 

We travelled to Oban in May of 2006 and enjoyed a couple nights here. Our favorite part of this stay was our day trip to the Isle of Iona via the Isle of Mull. Our tour of the Oban Distillery was an extra treat for Dear…

For more O posts visit Mrs. Nesbitt

ht: Dave for Oban photos…

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage and they have blacked them all out. I’m slowly working at restoring my posts without their help. Such a tiresome bother!