Wednesday, March 14, 2018

Hodgepodging a Bit o' Green




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1. Best place you've been lately?

Hmmm, that's not an easy one. Maybe I could answer, 'Most recent best place?' in which case it would be Westby and Viroqua Wisconsin, which I've mentioned before, and of which I've shown dozens of photos. Needless to says, I took dozens more photos this trip (last weekend), so I'm sharing some of them with you today. Most of the photos today are from the Viroqua area. What's 'best' about it is the topography.  I love that 'driftless' area of Wisconsin, such beautiful hills and valleys, even though it was pretty cold. I'm definitely not complaining, though. We're getting sunny days. I can imagine how sick to death our friends on the east coast are of this horrid month of March. No one likes it when March comes in like a lion and remains a lion for the entire month!  



2. What's something you should say yes to today? Or this week? Or even this year?

There are personal things I would like to say 'yes' to, but I'm not going to write about them. So I guess I'd have to say 'yes' to my nagging conscience regarding painting some of the rooms in our house. I hate painting. I like baking, cooking, and hopefully will like gardening again after about a five year hiatus, but painting? Yuck. Still, it needs to be done, so I should say 'yes' to it.



3. Do you celebrate St. Patrick's Day in any way, shape, or form? If so tell us how. In Western cultures the color green is typically associated with jealousy, nature, good luck, and growth. What's the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word 'green'?

The first thing that comes to mind when I hear the word 'green' is our green alfalfa field. Here is one of my favorite photos: Mr. C. and the grandsons and Bridger.

The alfalfa field and occupants,
August 2012

This year we are celebrating St. Patrick's Day by inviting friends in for a potluck dinner on Saturday evening. There should be a nice group here, good food, board games, hangman at the blackboards, and generally hanging out with all the usual suspects. I'm making a large pan of shepherd's pie and four loaves of homemade bread, and we'll see what the others contribute to our St. Patrick's Day stone soup. Also, before we eat, we're going to be dividing into five groups and reading the Benedicite, each group taking two stanzas.
It starts like this:.      
Glorify the Lord, all you works of the Lord,
praise him and highly exalt him for ever.
In the firmament of his power, glorify the Lord,
praise him and highly exalt him for ever.
 

4. What's a product or service you love so much you'd happily be their spokesperson? Tell us what makes you such a fan.

Moto Z Force (l)
with auxiliary battery pack (r)

I have always liked my smartphone, but right now I am a huge fan of my Moto Z Force phone with the snap on extra battery. It's an amazing phone, and I discovered, after hours of concern, that it can fall out of one's back pocket into the toilet and survive. It did take a second of shock to realize that my phone had actually fallen into the water, then it took another second to grab it out (yes, with my bare hands, but it's an expensive phone and the water wasn't yet polluted, TMI?) and another few seconds to get it buried in a bowl of white jasmine sticky rice (uncooked).

I left it there overnight and only tried the phone the next forenoon, after much prayer, and I am happy to report that it is just fine. What a scare that was!  I will no longer carry my phone in my back pocket. So often I don't carry a purse and if I don't have a jacket with deep pockets, it seemed the natural thing to put the phone in my back pocket. Anyway, I'll figure something out, but I can't tell you how grateful I am that my phone works!

5. March 14th is Pi Day. How are your math skills? What's the last thing you did that required math of any kind? And most importantly do you like pie? What's your favorite kind? With ice cream, whipped cream, or please hold the cream?

Maybe I'll make this: lemon meringue pie/cake

I'm not too bad at math, loved algebra, and probably the most recent thing that required math was figuring out sizing on a photo I wanted printed to fit a certain frame. So it was that same old basic algebraic formula that I've used hundreds of times over the years, whether sizing photos or changing ingredient amounts in a recipe.

I love pie and almost never eat it. My favorite would be a berry pie or lemon meringue without the meringue. No ice cream or whipped cream. And I'll probably bake a lemon meringue (with the meringue) for Easter Sunday, eat more of it than I should, (because I don't seem to have a shut-off valve regarding pie) and then not eat pie again for another year (or maybe a piece of fresh berry pie in the summertime - strawberry or blueberry). It works for me.


6.  Insert your own random thought here.

This is now a 25 x 37 framed print (minus the watermark)
on the wall in front of my computer desk 
Canterbury Cathedral

Tommy & Smokey go in Thursday for their
'wellness checkups' and shots. 
I wonder if they'll be okay going into the same cat carrier.

Good luck with that, huh!



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Have a great Wednesday, everyone!
I'll be returning to Instagram in April. @cranberrymorning

Judy

26 comments:

  1. I am no math whiz either....I let my physicist husband do my math for me.lol We thought it was ironic that Stephen Hawking died on Pi Day.

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  2. Gorgeous pic of the Cathedral. Enjoy your week, dear Judy!!

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  3. Beautiful photos as always. So happy your phone survived...that would have scared me too! I LOVE the cathedral print! Someday I'd love to be able to tour some of the finest cathedrals of the world!

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  4. if looking can say, those two kitty kats are healthy and happy. always make me smile. i love pie, all pie, and none for 14 months. boo hoo. no SP day for us... have fun with your guests. love the green pic of family and dog.... and i have never heard of this type of phone. that is great it was not destroyed... i don't carry my little TracFone anywhere. it is for emergency use only, as when our cable phone goes out. i don't talk on phones so no need for a nice one, but this one sounds perfect.

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  5. I once loved algebra, but four times 'round with the kiddos has kind of tainted my opinion of it. (Fortunately, I learned to love all other school subjects even more!)

    Oh dear! I am happy your phone was saved!

    Lemon pie is one of my favorite desserts. I am not making pie for pi day, but I am planning on making a lemon cream pie and/or a Key lime cream pie for a dinner party this weekend. The good thing about making pie when having guests is that there is not as much left to tempt me!

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  6. I lost a phone in the lake a couple of years ago. Hubs dove in after it and grabbed it before it sunk, but sadly it could not be salvaged. Although I don't really understand the cloud I was glad I'd saved things there because I didn't lose my contacts, notes, or photos. Whew! That lemon meringue pie looks yummy!

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  7. There's that lemon meringue pie! I'll trade you a piece of my black raspberry! :D

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  8. The picture of Canterbury Cathedral is gorgeous! And pie? I would have to say Coconut Creme. I get it once a year, on my birthday!

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  9. What a story about your phone! I can not have my phone in my back pocket, it drives me nuts to have anything in any of my pockets. LOL .. I hear you, so where do we put our phones? You will have to let me know what you figure out.

    Looking forward to Saturday. :-)
    Hugs to Tommy and Smokey!

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  10. I'm so happy your phone works! I spilled tea on mine a few months ago and did the same thing with the rice. I keep a bag handy for just that reason!!
    Your party on Saturday sounds like my kind of fun!

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  11. My Samsung S8 is waterproof. A friend even takes underwater photos with it. I haven't been quite that brave! Glad yours dried out okay! I always enjoy reading my friends' Hodgepodge answers. It is always interesting to see how many of us answer about the same on some of the questions! Your potluck St. Patrick's Day party sounds like fun!

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  12. Math and I have never been close. It makes my head hurt. What's funny is I can figure out some difficult math problems but can't get the hang of basic math. I'm the oddest person I know. LOL I hardly ever carry a purse either but never carry my phone around with me in the house because I know I'll do the same thing you did. Those kitties. They are just the cutest! I had forgotten all about the lemon pie! My mother makes one that I can eat the whole thing by myself. I do not like sharing it with anyone. As a matter of fact, I'm going to ask her to make a couple of them for our Easter dinner! :)

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  13. Nice save on your phone, Judy. That was a close one. I must jump ahead and drool over the beautiful photo of Canterbury! How nice to gaze at that as you work at your desk. I always enjoy your barn photos. I think of you when I see the barns we pass and think, why didn't I bring my camera? ♥

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  14. They seem awfully close inall your pictures. Surely they could go in the same carrier. 😀

    So glad your phone was okay.

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  15. Same cat carrier? If any two could handle it, those two probably can and like it!

    Beautiful print for your wall!

    Sounds like good and fun plans for St. Pat’s Day.

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  16. Good morning sweet Judy. Love all the pictures you shared. Speaking of math! Oh I do math but it's on a calculator or my fingers! LOL! Old school still. Works for me. Have a great day. Hugs and blessings, Cindy

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  17. Good morning, Judy It sounds like we are kindred spirits of a sort... loving a lot of the same things. Wisconsin is a ways off but if I could Id slip in as unnoticed as possible for a bite of your Shepherd's pie. Have a great time!!!

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  18. The lemon meringue cake/pie looks wonderful! Our cats do okay in the same carrier when we take the to the vet. Hoping all goes well! Happy St. Patrick's Day to you!!

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  19. I'm glad your phone survived! I'd have retrieved it, too :)
    Your St. Patrick's Day celebration sounds like it's going to be fun.
    Enjoy the rest of your week,
    Kathy (Reflections)

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  20. Always look forward to your photos and commentary. That framed photograph is amazing and belongs in a frame where it can be enjoyed.

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  21. I love your post! The two cats at the end - black and yellow - ying and yang I love. So are you Irish or just celebrate? My favorite pie is pumpkin and lemon - the one you have in your photo you can send to me! Happy belated Pi Day! sandie

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  22. Oh, those two cats are just precious! Thanks for putting a smile on my face :)

    The photo of your hubby with the grandchildren is also incredibly sweet...I can see why it's a favorite of yours.

    Thanks for the delightful post, my friend. Hugs!

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  23. Shepherds Pie you say . . .
    I am making it . . . it sounds great/good!
    Thank you for “jiggling” my “what can I make” brain . . .
    Lemon meringue . . . sounds good too . . .
    Happy Alfalfa Green . . .

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  24. Certainly thankful with you the good phone survived it's brief swim. That's a good recommendation--maybe they'd hire you to do an ad. The pie looks so good--my husband and friend once indulged in eating an entire LM pie and he rarely partakes of one any more. At GP day my granddaughter had to interview me and I mentioned math as one of my favorite subjects. She wrote in the margin: "surprising." LOL. That says something about her perception of me!

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  25. Hope you get your painting done. We have many rooms that need painting. Sounds like you have an exciting day ahead....enjoy! That slice of pie looks yummy.

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