"I'll have the Hodgepodge with a side of Tennessee"

Here it is Wednesday again and y'all know what that means...

...it's Hodgepodge day!
Last week at this time I was getting my teacup exchange reveal post put together

and missed out on linking up to the hodgepodge.

I'm doing good to get one post out a week but it did feel kind of like something was missing!
~ 

I was also getting everything packed up for a little trip to see our Tennessee bunch.

We got on the road at o-dark-thirty on Thursday morning and arrived at our destination

by about 1:00 PM, Tennessee time.

It's always nice to gain that hour on our way but not so much for on the way back.
But, eight hours is eight hours, no matter how you slice it, right?

 ~

There was still a lot of beautiful color hanging on those Tennessee trees.

I don't know how many times I have shared photos of their beautiful long driveway,

but here it is again...
 

and again...
 

...and once more, just for good measure.
 

 

If you turn right at the fence post and go down few hundred yards,

our future driveway will be on your left.

 

 

And seeing the well with my very own eyes made it all a bit more real.

 

Here are a just a few of our future neighbors.

One morning as I was walking down the drive which overlooks the petting zoo, 

I aimed my camera to get a shot and then someone yelled "COME AND GET IT!"

...and they did.

 

 

But I guess I should really be getting on with the matter at hand...

Joyce's Hodgepodge.

She asks us the questions and we answer them on our blogs.

Here are this week's questions...

1. What takes you out of your comfort zone?

 

Speaking in front of a group of people...and I think I've mentioned this before. Give me song and I'll sing it but please don't ask me to speak!

 

2. Your least favorite spice?

 

Sometimes it's not the spice itself, but the amount of it. I am not a fan of too much sage, especially in stuffing...in fact, I don't use it at all when I make it.. Another least favorite would be anise because it reminds me of licorice and even though I know it's actually an herb and not a spice, a little bit of cilantro goes a long, long way.

3. What's a small change you'd like to make?

Just one?? Being able to give up bread....or sugar...or both!

4. Do you enjoy visiting historic homes? If so, of the homes you've visited which one was your favorite? What historic home near you is open to visitors? Have you been? Southern Living rounded up eleven of the best in the southern part of the US and they're as follows-

Monticello (Jefferson's home in Virginia), Nathaniel Russel House (Charleston SC), Swan House (Atlanta), Ernest Hemingway's home (Key West), The Biltmore (Vanderbilt home in Asheville NC), Mount Vernon (Washington's home in Virgina), San Francisco Plantation (Garyville, Louisiana), Windsor Ruins (Port Gibson Mississippi), Longue Vue House and Gardens (New Orleans), Whitehall (Palm Beach FL), and Pebble Hill Plantation (Thomasville GA)
Have you been to any on the list? Of the homes listed which would you most like to visit?

I do enjoy visiting historic homes. The first one that I remember visiting was The House of the Seven Gables in Salem, Massachusetts years ago when Jim and I were first married. I was amazed by how low the ceilings were and the doorways were tiny. People must have been quite small back in the 1600's. From the ones listed above, I have been to Mount Vernon and you'd think a girl who has been in NC for 25 years would have surely been to the Biltmore, wouldn't you? Well, if I have the opportunity before I leave this state, I certainly hope to be able to make it there.

5. What's something you think will be obsolete in ten years? Does that make you sad or glad?

Technology has already pretty much taken over the world and it actually scares me a little to think about what it will be like in ten years. Now here I sit, typing on a computer with my iPhone at my side as I write these words. I like my technology just as much as the next person, to an extent. I realize this seems a bit like a contradiction but I am not ready for a world where technology takes the place of human beings...over our brains (or human thoughts) when they are no longer required for us to go about our everyday lives. It saddens me to say that I'm afraid many things that we take for granted in our current day and time will be obsolete...many of them already are...and nothing about this makes me glad. Anyone got a time machine they aren't using??

6.  Insert your own random thought here.

So much to do, so little time. How is it possible that Thanksgiving is only a little over a week away? I have no turkey, I have no bread for stuffing, I have nothing that I need to make a feast. It looks like it's going to be a busy weekend!

 If you can stand it, (and even if you can't) here are a few more photos from our trip.

That gorgeous view from the back deck...
 

Olivia and her friend, Shiloh...
 

Parker, whittlin' on the back porch...
 

fuzzy things...
 

 

and oh yeah...did I happen to mention that view?

 

 

So now, if you're still with me, have a fabulous remainder of the week!

Blessings,