Mid-July Hodgepodge

Hey, didn't we just do the Hodgepodge yesterday??

Wait a minute...maybe we did...at least I DID...HAHA!
As I was in the process of getting this post ready on Tuesday,
I inadvertently hit the publish button and was shocked to see my friend Cindy had left a comment.
It wasn't at all finished and what was there was messy and didn't have the link-back on it yet.
I immediately went back as soon as her comment appeared in my email and unpublished it.
How embarrassing.........oh well.
So to all of the 14 other people who according my blogger stats viewed it, 
just forget what you saw.

Anyway, it is hard to believe that another week has passed by so quickly!

It's another hot, hot week here in the Tar Heel State.

We will be traveling to Ohio later this week for my family reunion on Saturday.
I do hope for cooler temps...a little break in the heat would be a good thing!

Unfortunately, it will be another reunion without my oldest brother, Bob.
Two years ago when he was preparing to come to our last reunion (from SC), he was hospitalized.
The past couple of years have been a roller coaster ride because of his health issues.

I edited him into the group photo of the seven of us taken that day.

We will certainly miss his presence...once again.

~

So let's get on to the matter at hand, today's Hodgepodge...

...where Joyce asks the questions on her blog wand we answer them on ours.

~

1. Growing up, were you close to your grandparents? Tell us one or two specific things you remember about them.

Unfortunately, I don't have any real memories of my grandparents. Everyone, with the exception of my mother's father had already passed by the time I came along. I was a little over two years old when he died but there may be just tiny snippets in my memory bank of him. I seem to have a slight recollection of a moment when I was in the kitchen of his house and two images come to mind...blue transferware dishes and a Ritz Cracker tin. I have no idea is this is a true memory but it is somehow related. A less cloudy scene that pops up when I think of him is of a little toddler (me) wondering around among a sea of legs at what was no doubt, his funeral.

This is my father's mother, Mina. She was born in 1885 and died in 1920 at the age of 35  from complications during childbirth. My dad was only nine years old.

This is my Grandpa Solomon Billhimer, my dad's father, who was born in 1882 and died the year I was born in 1954. He married his second wife, Martha and they had another whole family together.  Although I remember her when I was a girl, she did not have a close relationship with my dad or his children and I never really considered her as a grandmother figure in my life.

This is the only photo I could find of my mother's folks, James and Mary Ellen (Flora) Davis. Somewhere, I have the dates of their births and deaths but I do know she was about 65 when she died and it must have been 1956 or 57 when he passed. So as you can  see, my grandparents were really OLD.

2. What's an item you were attached to as a child? What happened to it?

Like many little ones, I had a certain blanket that was my source of comfort. It was pink and started out with satin edging. Through the years, the satin edging rotted off and the blanket itself began to shred a little more with each washing. I still have a small piece of it somewhere among my memorabilia.

3. When you look out your window, do you see the forest or the trees (literally and figuratively)? Explain.

YES! 😊 Seriously, if you were to look out any window in my home, there would be not much else but trees to see no matter what direction you were looking in...that is the literal answer. But there is a bigger picture because I know what's on the other side of those trees. Figuratively? I think I'm pretty good at seeing the forest.

4. Do you like sour candies? Which of the 'sour' foods listed below would you say is your favorite? (grapefruit, Greek yogurt, tart cherries, lemons, limes, sauerkraut, buttermilk, or kumquats) Have you ever eaten a kumquat? What's your favorite dish containing one of the sour foods on the list?

Yes, I do like tart, sour candy. Among my favorites are Jolly Ranchers, Starburst, lemon drops and SweeTarts. I like most everything listed here although I wouldn't drink the buttermilk but I would cook or bake with it...and I've never tasted a kumquat but I might like it. My favorite sour dish would be sauerkraut cooked with some sort of pork or even kielbasa...with a side of mashed potatoes. Oh, and a tart cherry pie for dessert. 😋

5. July 1st marked the mid point of 2017. In fifteen words or less, tell us how it's going so far.

I have no complaints thus far, only that it's too hot. This too shall pass.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

If you count the number of words in my previous answer, you would see there are FIFTEEN words...and it was totally a fluke. I could never do that again if I tried.