Hodpodging The Wasps' Nest

Our entire crop of McIntosh apples

One measly apple from our poor tree.

Join Joyce and the gang

for

She writes the questions;

we write the answers.

Plug them into your own blog

and link up!

1. What's on your September calendar? Anything fun?  YES, we're going to Westby for a weekend. I always love that little trek to the unglaciated (why is spellcheck questioning this??) and beautiful part of Wisconsin.

Photo from September 2014
We're much older this year.

 Country church cemetery
Near Westby, WI
 

2. You might be described as a natural born _____________________?  Problem solver. I've wasted a lot of time and annoyed a lot of people  - people who come to me with a problem but who, unbeknownst to me at the time, had no desire to have their problem actually solved. I think I have a callous on my scalp for the number of times I've scratched my head over that one. At least I've finally learned a thing or two, and don't always try to find the best and quickest solution to a problem or the shortest point between A and B. Many times, I've learned, people don't want the shortest route. They want the long, circuitous route that has no end in sight. It's been a foreign concept to me that has taken a long time to learn.

Basil for Pesto

BASIL PESTO RECIPE:

4 cups (packed) fresh basil

1/2 c. chopped walnuts (Pine nuts are expensive

and have a disturbing 'pop' when you bite into them. Makes me think of woodticks.)

1/2 c. Parmesan cheese

3 cloves garlic

3 T. Extra virgin olive oil

Pulse in food processor

I made a double batch of this and put it in 1/2 cup containers and froze it. It's so nice to have those little containers in the freezer that I can pull out in a morning and use at dinner that night.

3. September is National Courtesy Month...what one act of courtesy would you most like to see more of in your home, town, or the world at large?  

Let someone else go first. Think of all the car accidents that might be prevented, the people who would be made happier, if we all just let the other person go first. (Of course, you literalists out there, I do realize that if we ALL did that, no one would ever get anywhere! Just bear with me.) Whether it's related to traffic or the line at the supermarket, it could make a huge difference in people's overall health and well being.

4. Eager beaver, chicken out, clam up, or let the cat out of the bag...of the phrases listed, which one have you related to most recently? 

Eager beaver might describe me in the morning, from about 7:15 or earlier (after that morning coffee has kicked in) until about 4:00 in the afternoon. I can get a lot done in a short amount of time. After that, it's a slow slide into evening with little-to-no energy or desire to go out after dark (and did you notice how early darkness arrives now??)   

 Picking beans is an every-other-day activity

with a cannerful after the second picking

 It doesn't pay to use leftover unused lids from last year.

Each batch has left me with one jar that doesn't seal.

I'm using 2015 lids now.

NEWS FLASH!!!
At least one jar didn't seal even with the new 2015 lids.
So it's not the process or the date of the lids,
but the fact that lids aren't made as well anymore.
I think there's less gummy stuff on them. Annoying!

5. What's your movie theatre snack protocol? Do you chow down on snacks during the previews or wait until the movie begins? Do you buy snacks or refuse to pay those kind of prices? What's the last movie you saw in a theatre? How many thumbs up would you give it?

I hate to watch previews, so I like to time it to arrive when the previews are done. That way I not only avoid movie trailers designed for 15 year old boys, but my kid pack of popcorn and Mike'n'Ike isn't already gone before the movie starts.  We prefer, however, to watch something in our collection of DVDs rather than go out to the movies. Also, Mr. C. makes better popcorn. The last movie we went to see was The Hobbit. We took two of our granddaughters to see it in 3D. It was incredibly boring and I found it especially annoying that the one redeeming feature, Mr. Thornton (North & South), kept looking UP, as though he were a dwarf or something.

No thumbs up.  North & South, on the other hand, (not to be confused with North and South) - two thumbs up! 

6. Henry Ford is quoted as saying, "Nobody can think straight who does not work. Idleness warps the mind." Agree or disagree? Why?

This is a really tricky question. It depends upon what the meaning of the word 'work' is. Being busy is no guarantee that the mind is engaged. Work can involve physical labor or reading and thinking.  I can't picture C.S. Lewis working in an assembly line at a Ford plant, throwing hay bales around, or working out at the gym, but he was certainly not idle.

And actually, I can spend a lot of time thinking about that question. I need to move on. 

 Mr. C. found a wasp nest in the flowering crab.

It's at head height. It's a wonder that no one ran into it!

 If you look hard, you can see a few of the

angry wasps 
Makes me think of an old Poirot: The Wasps' Nest

7. What's the last job you completed or task you performed where you had to 'work like a dog' until it was finished?

Cleaning up after spending the day canning, so that I can wake up the next morning to a clean kitchen. It's not exactly 'working like a dog,' but then my dogs just lie around all day, so...

 Jazzie, workin' like a dog

8.  Insert your own random thought here.

In the past month, we celebrated 5 family birthdays!  Here are a few pics from the last two:

 Just turned two!

5 year old minion

Five years old - hard to believe!

Not the birthday boy,

but his little sister

This post is linked to Theresa's

GOOD FENCES

and Eileen's

SATURDAY'S CRITTERS 

and Judith's

MOSAIC MONDAY

***

Check out my natural, handcrafted vegan soap!

Buy any 5 or more, get 1 FREE

'Frosted Apple Spice'

...and more! Check out all my handcrafted soaps at

HomemadeSoapNSuch

and at

Our ETSY Shop 

Have a great Wednesday, everyone!