Late October Hodgepodge

Happy Wednesday...
and welcome back to Joyce and her Hodgepodge.
She asks the questions and we answer them on our blogs.

So this has been a strange fall but we are finally just starting to get some pretty color.
It may be another week before I get some decent photos so in the mean time,
here are some spider webs.



I love lace doilies and I love it even more when the roadsides are decorated with them.



A favorite hay barn on a favorite country road.

Here are some milkweed pods I pulled from the archives since I haven't seen any this fall.
My go-to place where I normally find them growing has been mowed down several times this year.

I came across these lovelies in an old folder from a couple of years ago,



Trying out a newly acquired lens here...



...and here.

My lantana looks so out of place among all of the dry, fallen leaves...
...but it's still going strong!
~
So let's get on with the questions....

1. What's surprised you most about your life or life in general?

Wow, tough question! Life is certainly full of surprises...where do I begin?? I remember being a young girl and lying in bed at night and wondering how long I would have my parents with me since they were so much older than me. I also remember doing the math in my head...by the time I was 20, they'd be in their 60s...by the time I was 40, they may not even be living. What a tremendous blessing that they both lived to be in their 90s...Mom, into her late 90s and able to enjoy their many grand and even great-grand children. Also when I think back, the thought of leaving my home town never even crossed my mind or seemed like a possibility.  I am one of only two of us eight kids who's life took them away from home.

2.  Sweet potato fries, sweet potato casserole, a baked sweet potato, a bowl of butternut squash soup, a caramel apple or a slice of pumpkin pie...you have to order one thing on this list right now. Which one do you go for?

There is no one answer for me when it comes to sweet potatoes...it all depends on what I'm eating with it. If I'm eating a burger, I'd go for the fries...turkey, the casserole for sure (Thanksgiving just is not Thanksgiving without it)...steak, I'd go for baked. For dessert pumpkin pie, no doubt! Come on Joyce, how can you just pick one of these items from the menu??

3. What's a famous book set in your home state? Have you read it? On a scale of 1-5 (5 is fantastic) how many stars does it rate?

I did not know of any books that were set in Ohio...that is until I googled it. The list that came up were no books that I had ever heard of or read...in fact, most were rather dark in nature...not my cup of tea anyway. I did however notice that "Beloved" was on the list. Somehow, I managed to see this movie when it was on TV but did not read the book. It was interesting but rather dark as well. If I was rating it, I'd give it maybe 2 stars.

4. There are 60 days until Christmas...have you started your shopping? How do you stay organized for the holidays?

No, I haven't...and I don't.

5. October 26th is National Tennessee Day. Have you ever lived or spent any time in Tennessee? Is this a state you'd like to visit one day?

Why, yes...I have spent LOTS of time there! I fell in love with Tennessee when I was a girl and first traveled through it on our way to SC to visit my brother. I often fantasized about living in those mountains one day. Little did I know then that years later, our youngest son would go to college in Nashville (Trevecca Nazarene University), meet his wife and wind up making his home there. Most you know that we also hope to make a home there as well, hopefully very soon.

The top rated tourist attractions in Tennessee are-

The Great Smoky Mountain National Park (Gatlinburg area) - yes, it's heavenly

 

and one of the great tunnels...

 

 

Elvis's Graceland (Memphis)

Birth of the Music Biz (Memphis and Nashville) - yes, many times

Dollywood (Pigeon Forge)

Tennessee's Military Heritage (many battlefields)

The Hermitage (Andrew Jackson's home)

The Parthenon (Nashville)

Oak Ridge American Museum of Science and Energy

Chattanooga and the Tennessee Valley Railroad - yes, honeymoon...does riding the Incline count?

Downtown Knoxville - yes...Jim had a job interview there once

Lookout Mountain - yes...honeymoon

The Titanic Museum (Pigeon Forge)

The Museum of Appalachia (Clinton)

The Lost Sea Adventure (Sweetwater)

How many on this list have you seen? Looks like about 5.

Which one on the list would you most like to see? I'd love to visit The Museum of Appalachia.

 

6.  Insert your own random thought here.

Can y'all believe that Thanksgiving is less than a month away? The years seriously seem to get shorter and shorter as I grow older and older. 

Until next time...

An Unseasonable Hodgpodge

Greetings from the tropics!

Just kidding.
But if I didn't know better and someone led me outside blindfolded,
I might very well be convinced that I was in the Bahamas.
This is what it really looks like when I walk out my door...

...plenty of falling leaves and a tad of color but it feels nothing like fall right now.
Our local weather forecasters totally missed it.
Thanks to Hurricane Nate, we are experiencing this "lovely" taste of the tropics.
Now don't get me wrong, I love a tropical paradise when the surroundings match the temps...
...but this is a bit extreme.
Oh, and remember that chili I was going to make over the weekend?
Well, the hamburger meat is now in the freezer
and the other ingredients are waiting (impatiently) on the pantry shelf.
I even bought that bag of tortilla chips for my nachos...MAN!
So.....my taste buds have been put on hold.
~
I'll stop complaining about the weather now because it's time for Joyce's Hodgepodge,
and because I can't do anything about it anyway!

You know the drill...she asks the questions and we answer them on our blogs.
Here are this week's questions:
~

1. On a scale of 1-10 how would you rate your sense of direction? 1=can't find my way out of a paper bag and 10=if I've been somewhere once I can find it blindfolded ten years later.

I think I have a pretty good sense of direction and would probably rate myself at about a "7". And this all depends on if I am doing the driving or the navigating. If I am just one of several passengers, you might as well forget it if we are heading somewhere unfamiliar...I am usually too busy running my mouth rather than paying attention to the route. Normally, it just takes a couple of times to feel confident about where I am going and I rely a lot on landmarks, not necessarily the road signs since I don't see them well until I am right up on them!

When was the last time you looked at/used a map you could hold in your hand? (phones don't count!)

It has probably well over a year. I have only had my iPhone that long and did not have a car with a built-in navigation system until I got my CR-V earlier this year. I didn't use an atlas but I did print directions off Google maps and go by them.

Back east, down south, out west, up north...choose one of these directional expressions and tell us why you chose it.

I've never been out west and I've always lived closer to the east or the southeast. That would leave up north. There are many places much more "northern" than Ohio but that has pretty much been where most of my northern travels have been limited to.

2. Did you do more talking or listening yesterday? Talking. Is that typical? Yes, but not the rule. Describe your yesterday in one word. Positive.

3. Time, money, water-power-resources, opportunity...which one on the list are you most guilty of wasting? What might you do to change that?

If I am being honest (and that is how we are to answer these questions, right?), I have to admit that I find myself wasting time more than anything, which can then become a wasted opportunity, am I right? I don't think that we need to be busy 100% of the time...we all need down time to just do nothing in particular or to do the things we like to do. This is how I see myself, anyway. I have never had anyone else tell me that I'm a time waster. Lord knows that there are many things on my to-do list...and the key word here is LIST. When I make a list, I get 'er done!

4. Did  your family take regular vacations when you were a kid? Tell us something you remember about a family roadtrip from your own childhood.

When I was growing up, a family road trip consisted of piling in the old Buick on a Sunday afternoon and heading about 20-30 miles out to the country to visit various aunts, uncles and cousins. We had a blast traveling down those back roads, especially when we convinced Dad to take that hill just a little faster (when there were no other cars coming, of course). Losing our stomachs when we reached the bottom of the hill was the high point of the day! I wrote more about the things that make me go aaahhhh over on my childhood memories blog. When you are a family with that many kids and Dad was the one and only breadwinner, an actual vacation was something we knew nothing about. But you know what? I never ever had one regret about the way I grew up and what we could and could not afford...you don't miss something you never had. I was actually about 13 or so before I left the state of Ohio. My youngest older brother took me and two of sisters on a road trip to South Carolina to visit our older brother and his family. I not only got to experience the Smokey Mountains along the way, and stepping into the Atlantic Ocean at Myrtle Beach for the first time was all it took for me to want to go back to those places as often as I could...or anywhere else for that matter.

5. If you could grow anything you wanted, what would you grow? Why?

Sunflowers and milkweed because they both attract butterflies...

...and because milkweed pods and those wispy seeds are among my favorite things. I'm still a little upset that the field of milkweed, the one pictured above, has gotten mowed down twice this year. 😒

6. Insert your own random thought here.

Gee, a nice warm bowl of chili sure would hit the spot. Some day.

~

So that's it for this Hodgepodge...and enjoy your break, Joyce. 

I have a sneaking suspicion that there will be some baby lovin' on your itinerary. 👶

And maybe in a couple of weeks, I'll be wearing my winter duds, who knows?

Simple Pleasures and a Bloggiversary

Hello my peeps!

I hope everyone has had an enjoyable week.

~

It sounds as if we are in for a fabulous weekend, weather-wise...

...temps barely reaching 80 degrees, no humidity and plenty of sunshine!

I plan to savor every moment because I'm pretty sure it will not last long.

~

 So another year has rolled around and tomorrow will mark my third year of blogging!

It's funny...sometimes it seems like it's been much longer than that...

...at other times I still feel like such a newbie. 

I am very grateful for each and every one of you who pop in to see what I'm up to!

This past year has had it's share of trials and tribulations and I thank you all for your prayers.

But oh, what wonderful blessings as well and I thank you for rejoicing with me!

And if you know anything about me at all,

you surely must know that it's the simple things in life that make me happy...

...it just doesn't take much.

~

They say diamonds are a girl's best friend...

...but although I do have a few (nothing extravagant, mind you) and am quite fond of them,

watching a butterfly light on a thistle just delights my heart.

Or sneaking up on a dragonfly, getting so close you can almost reach out and touch it...

...now that's exciting!

~

Here a few more shots taken over the past week of some more of my favorite things.

Snapdragons...they remind me of my dear sweet mother...

A Ruby-throated hummingbird...some of our Lord's best handiwork...

Queen Anne's Lace...

such a delicate masterpiece!

And did I ever tell you how much I adore milk thistles?

Surely I have...I'm almost positive :)

Milkweed blooms and bumble bees...

...more butterflies on more thistles...

...and a little Picmonkey mirror-image fun.

Just a few of my simple pleasures.

There are many more where they came from :)

~

Thank you again for hangin' around to see what year four has in store.

Hugs to all!

Magnificent Milkweed

"The milkweed pods are breaking,
And the bits of silken down
Float off upon the autumn breeze
Across the meadows brown."
~Cecil Cavendish, The Milkweed

Help! Someone make it stop!
I just can't seem to stop snapping pictures of milkweed pods!

Oh, I have no idea how many photos I took...

 

...w-a-y too many, no doubt.

There surely must be a support group for me somewhere.

You don't think so??

So here it is, the week after Thanksgiving and instead of getting down my Christmas decor,

I spent most of the day on Saturday messing around with milkweed!

Where are my priorities?

A few months back, a certain crazy lady was seen chasing butterflies....
in that same field of what was then, milkweed blossoms, across for the Goodwill Store.
 

Well, she apparently reemerged over weekend...

...only this time it was something else she was after.

I remember as a little girl being smitten with these lovely seed pods in the fall.

Back then, I didn't really think about what a magnificent creation they truly were...

...I just thought they were really neat.

Looking inside of the pod is really where the magic is.
 

 

Who else but our Lord, in all of His majesty and splendor could create such intricate detail?
 

Every seed, although nearly identical to the next,
has it's own unique fingerprint, so to speak...just like us.
 

A friend of mine told me that she had planted some seeds,

and better yet, they were growing!

 

Others came up volunteer from some that had made their way into her flower beds.

 

I'm going to add planting milkweed seeds to my list of things to do...

 

...right after I get out those Christmas decorations and get busy :)

Sharing at:

Mosaic Monday

  Roses of Inspiration
Grace at Home