Some of you who follow me on Instagram have already seen these two photos. The first photo was taken on a recent walk along Fifth Avenue, the lane leading to a neighbor's house.
November 2 sunset
Last night I was eating supper when I noticed the orange glow in the sky and grabbed my camera. It was a gorgeous sunset. I do hope we can get our poor barn roof fixed this fall, but time is flying by.
I found an old shoelace, and after being entertained for a quite a while by snaking it along the floor and watching the kittens chase it, Mr. C. tied it to a chair. The kittens are having a blast with it! More kitten photos next week, of course, unless you're getting sick of them. Well, actually, I'll keep posting them because...these little critters are so cute and irresistible! They play, eat, and nurse with all their might! Oh. And they sleep. Then it starts all over.
I made sure to take my camera along when we went to Rochester on Wednesday, and couldn't resist taking a photo of this beautiful red barn. I'll let you in on a secret about it at the end of the post. I know, the suspense will just kill you!
In the meantime, I'm showing you some pics taken at a pond, and I think it was a National Wildlife Refuge on the Mississippi River at Wabasha, (Okay, Mr. C. just corrected me and said it was 'just' a pond. Fine. Well, very close to it is the wildlife refuge then.) Anyway, it lies just across the border of Wisconsin (which IS the Mississippi River) in Wabasha, MN. Wabasha is a pretty little town and heavily decorated for fall. The prettiest decorations, of course, come from the Creator who has given us abundant beauty in his creation. But Wabasha makes sure that ribboned corn shocks are hugging all the lamp posts and pumpkins are scattered thickly throughout the town.
What caught my eye, though, was the number of ducks on that bit of water, and how interested they were in us when we pulled off the road and stopped the car. Those curious birds immediately started swimming toward the shore and the first brave fella walked right up to our car. I was afraid he was going to ask us for a permit or something!
After a while they became disinterested and decided to leave. The takeoff was so fun to watch!
Birds of a feather, more or less.
On a quiet and pretty duck pond in Wabasha, MN
And now for the secret. The red barn at the beginning of this post is the very same barn as the one pictured above, (photo taken in early August). They had painted the barn since we were last there! I'm very glad that I got the 'before' photo as well as the 'after.' Although the photos were taken from different roads, this is the same barn, somewhere between Rochester and Wabasha, MN.
after unhitching the team of dinosaurs from our sleigh.
Snowbanks were huge, and that's not just because I was little. They were huge, a lot like the snowbanks of March, 2014. We spent a lot of time playing on the snowbanks, carving out houses, thrones, plates and bowls of snow. Wisconsin children had rosy cheeks.
Snowbanks near our house, March of 2014
Snow caves, January 2011
I realize that bloggers from the east coast are reeling from the huge, devastating storm of the weekend. I heard one guy on the news say, 'We got all of winter at one time.' It will be no quick and easy task to dig out from all that snow.
2. What was on your blog this time last year? (Besides the Hodgepodge of course!) If you weren't blogging, what in the world were you doing with all that free time?
I looked back through my files and find that my blog is pretty much the same then as now: Barns, Fences, Grandkids, Snow, Churches, Quotations from favorite authors, Odds and Ends. I don't have as many recipe posts these days. That's probably because I've already posted nearly everything I know how to make. I've been blogging for over six years! For a look back at the 28th of January last year, it was:
3. Ellen Goodman is quoted as saying, 'We spend January 1 walking through our lives, room by room, drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched. Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives...not looking for flaws, but for potential.'
Do you see more flaws or more potential in your life at the start of a new year? Have you done anything specific this month to address either one? Does the new year truly begin for you on January 1, or is there some other month of the year that feels like a fresh start and new beginning?
I guess I'm not as philosophical as Ellen. But in regard to when the new year begins, in Wisconsin, it feels like the new year begins on April 1. From December 26 through March 31, we're mostly waiting... April is full of expectation, the snow is usually gone, kids are once again playing baseball, and May with all its glorious greenness is just around the corner.
Grandsons visiting us in April of 2013
I take it all back. I just ran across the photo (above), taken in April of 2013. So let's make that May 1. We did get a blizzard in May of 2013, but that was an odd year.
Deer in the alfalfa field,
May 5, 2013
4. Who's an athlete you admire or respect and why?
The amount of time I'm spending trying to even think of any athlete is an indication, I guess, that I'm not big into athletics. When I was younger, I could have told you the batting averages of all the important baseball players, but that was back when we had the Milwaukee Braves and I was also a fan of the New York Yankees and the San Francisco Giants. Today it seems much more about money and politics and scandal.
No cream, thank you.
5. Do you like cream in your coffee? Whipped cream on your pumpkin pie? Cream cheese on a bagel? Sour cream on a baked potato? Cream of wheat for breakfast? Have you ever had a scone with clotted cream? Of all the creamy foods mentioned, which one sounds most appealing to you right this very minute?
I used to use cream in my coffee, but haven't for about four years. I have a friend who said that she simply stopped using it [and surprisingly, the earth did not stop turning]. So I decided to try that too. Cold turkey. I've survived. I only add a wee bit of cream if the coffee is bitter, but I try to avoid bitter coffee. Of all the above-listed items, I would probably choose cream cheese on a toasted onion bagel, but I haven't had one of those for a long, long time, probably not since we lived in Pennsylvania where they really knew how to make bagels.
Bagels, made by our SIL who also knows how to make bagels!
6. Where were you last kept waiting for 'hours on end'? Or for what felt like hours on end? How well did you cope?
I don't even remember the last time, but it would have been B.K. (Before Kindle.) I do remember the rare times that I forgot to take a book along and ended up waiting for you-know-who for what DID seem like hours. I would read everything, anything, I could get my hands on, like any bit of paper that happened to be in the glove compartment or in the side pockets of the vehicle or the labels on the inside of my gloves, or ANYTHING at all! Now I take my Kindle and have so many options. I love it. If the grid ever goes down, I will miss my Kindle the most (well, maybe after running water.)
7. Believe it or not, when next week's Hodgepodge rolls around it will be February. Huh?!? Bid adieu here to January in seven words or less.
January: Kinder than usual. Such a relief! January's also been filled with grandkids, which has been wonderful!
Two weeks ago, his older brother spent the week with us.
This week, littlest brother is staying with us, and homeschooling.
We met this sweet little five year old and his dad in Hudson, not quite halfway between their home in Minnesota and ours in Wisconsin. As he was riding with us to our house, which was still about another hour and a half away, this was part of the conversation:
G: 'You guys live in the middle of nowhere!'
Grandpa: 'So do you.'
G: 'No, I live in a free country!'
I texted his mom today, warning her that he wants a hedgehog when he returns home. I made the mistake of showing him some YouTube videos of hedgehogs, after reading The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle.
8. Insert your own random thought here.
There's a lot of random in my life right now, and I don't know where to begin. I think I'll put in another photo I took recently.
Taken on that trip to 'the middle of nowhere'
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Winter has finally come to Wisconsin. I can't say that I was sad, thinking we might have a snowless Christmas, but we did get snow just in time. And now we will enjoy it for the next four months, as we sit beside the fire and console ourselves with the beautiful photos in the seed catalogs, a reminder that spring really will come again...we hope.
Evening, December 28, 2015
And now it's time for the Hodgepodge!
Join Joyce and the Gang
for
Plug the answers into your own blog
and join in!
Here are the questions to the last Hodgepodge of 2015. Answer on your own blog, then hop back here to share answers with all the other revelers.
1. Share a favorite memory/moment from the week of Christmas.
Enjoying time with family and friends, and trying out the Christmas cake and Christmas pudding.
Christmas Eve (below), Grandpa (Mr. C.) reading the account of Jesus' birth from the Bible.
We enjoyed the company of Carla (from The River Flowing Blog) and her sweet family as well, for a Christmas tea to try out the Christmas Cake (lower, middle, above), but unfortunately my photo turned out blurry. :-(
Earlier, at our daughter's home:
Hungry, Hungry Hippo,
Son-in-law's Christmas pudding
We had a hard time getting that thing to flame!
But it was delicious.
My dad made the icicles, bottom right
2. If someone wrote a book about your life based on the past year, what genre would it fall under? What would the title be? Non Fiction: Stuck, But Hopeful
3. What made you feel patriotic this year?
That's a tough one, but I'd guess I'd say that every time I see the BNSF Railway commercial, it makes me marvel at how beautiful and vast this country is, and the amazing industry we once had. It also makes me sad that we have little industry that hasn't moved out of this country, that we have little access to quality goods or even the ability to purchase decent textiles at the store, and that our economy is not healthy, despite the mainstream media energetically pumping the bellows into a pile of dying embers.
4. What experience from this past year would you like to do all over again?
Spend vacation time with our daughter and son-in-law in England, meeting UK blogging friends, attending evensong service at York Minster, Durham Cathedral, and St. Paul's. I would never tire of this.
York Minster in the distance
(York has Good Fences too)
York Minster Quire
5. What song lyric sums up or is a reflection of your 2015? Song title, not lyrics: Walk, Don't Run
6. On a scale of 1-10 how would you rate 2015? (10=stellar) Why?
So far, I'd rate it a 6. Ask me next July. Maybe it will look better in hind sight.
7. What part of the upcoming year are you most excited about?
Most excited and most apprehensive: Hip revision surgery with a 90% hopeful outcome. (The original hip replacement was done in December of 2013.) That leaves 10%. But I would think that the chair of orthopedic surgery, Mayo, Rochester, is the best, which is why he's booked until June.
8. Insert your own random thought here.
With Grandpa's Glasses
So 5 year old grandson was testing his 21 month old sister on her ability to pronounce words.
'Lucy, say Paw Patrol.' 'Papado' 'Lucy, say ornament.' 'ommamet' 'Hey, Mom, Lucy said 'ornament!' I'm so excited! It's like she's an actual baby now, and not just a blob.'
The blob-turned-baby
with her grandpa
Have a Happy New Year, Everyone!
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1. What's surprised you most about your life, or about life in general?
When I was a kid, I expected that I would die in my 30s (as an elderly person) before a firing squad. I'm not sure why that was, but maybe too much TV and espionage movies. Anyway...but here I am, still alive. Another thing that's surprised me about life in general is how long it took to get the point where life seems short.
The Man From...
And here's an interesting tidbit about the name of the show (from Wikipedia):
"Concerns by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
legal department about using "U.N." for commercial purposes resulted in
the producers' clarification that U.N.C.L.E. was an acronym for the United Network Command for Law and Enforcement. Each episode had an "acknowledgement" to the U.N.C.L.E. in the end titles."
Your thoughts? In looking over the list, which word do you find most ridiculous? Which word would you never in a million years say out loud? Which word would you be most likely to use in conversation?
Shudder. If you ever hear me use the words 'awesomesauce,' 'beer o'clock,' 'brain fart,' 'buttdial,' 'fatberg,' 'fat shame,' 'hangry,' or 'Mx,' you might as well bring out the firing squad.
My cat told me she loves the idea of a cat cafe. But now that I've told her what the actual definition is, she's not so pleased. She doesn't want anyone touching her, thank you, or having to feign friendliness to perfect strangers.
Tuppence, in one of her less ladylike poses 'Back off.'
'Skippable,' on the other hand, is the perfect word to use in many situations. And the rest of my thoughts on this are propa skippable, like.
Knowing that those other words have been added to The Oxford English Dictionary, and that it was published by Oxford University Press, makes me reconsider the trustworthiness of my Oxford Book of Carols.
3. Do you like gravy? Is there a food you'd rather not eat unless it comes with gravy? Do you make your own or buy the canned or store-made variety? Turkey and gravy, sausage gravy, mashed potatoes and gravy, country ham and red eye gravy, biscuits and chocolate gravy, pot roast and gravy...which one on the list is your favorite?
Mr. C., just yesterday, showed me a newspaper ad that told of canned gravy on sale, 10 cans for $1.00. You couldn't give me canned gravy! Ewww. The only gravy I like (or trust) at all is the gravy I occasionally make after simmering the giblets in water, along with a bay leaf and peppercorns, and using that stock with the turkey 'drippings,' (I'm sure that's what my mom called it) to make a nice, tasty gravy. About once a year.
Turkey 'drippings' sounds pretty disgusting, when you think about it.
Turkey Drippings?
4. Do you have a plan? Do you need a plan? Have you ever had a plan fall into a trillion pieces? Explain.
Yes, I like a plan. (ISTJ, remember.) Right now I don't have a plan and feel a bit like floating, which is an uneasy feeling for me. I don't remember having a plan fall in a trillion pieces. It helps not to have unrealistic expectations. They usually work out, and I'm a pretty careful planner, but one should be prepared for interruptions and derailments.
Names blacked out to protect the less guilty
5. November 19 is National Play Monopoly Day. Do you own the original or some version of the game? Do you enjoy playing Monopoly? How likely is it you'll play a game of Monopoly on November 19th? Ever been to Atlantic City? Ever taken a ride on a railroad? Is parking in your town free? Last thing you took a chance on? It took me a sec to realize that all of these questions were related! I do have the original Monopoly plus a London version plus a kids' version. I doubt that I'll be playing Monopoly on the 19th. I've never been to Atlantic City, the parking in our town is free (and believe me, no one has to hunt for a parking space), and I have been on a train. Someday I want to travel on the Settle-Carlisle RR, but that won't be for a bit. The last thing I took a chance on was parking directly across from W.A. Frost on the night of the wedding reception. It was a 2-hour parking spot, but it all worked out.
Settle-Carlisle RR, Ribblehead Viaduct
Wikipedia
6. A song you like that has the word (or some form of the word) thanks in the title, lyrics, or meaning?
'Now Thank We All Our God' I can still remember the German words of the first couple lines, from when our high school choir sang that in concert! Here is the first verse:
Now thank we all our God, with heart and hands and voices, who wondrous things has done, in whom this world rejoices; who from our mothers' arms has blessed us on our way with countless gifts of love, and still is ours today.
A bit more about that hymn, 'Now Thank We All Our God,' or, in German, 'Nun Danket Alle Gott,' which I found interesting, and thought you might too:
From Wikipedia:
"Now
thank we all our God" is a popular Christian hymn. It is a translation
from the German "Nun danket alle Gott", written c. 1636 by Martin
Rinkart, which in turn was inspired by Sirach, chapter 50 verses 22–24,
from the praises of Simon the high priest. It was translated into
English in the 19th Century by Catherine Winkworth.
"Martin Rinkart was a Lutheran minister who came to Eilenburg, Saxony
at the beginning of the Thirty Years' War. The walled city of
Eilenburg became the refuge for political and military fugitives, but
the result was overcrowding, and deadly pestilence and famine. Armies
overran it three times. The Rinkart home was a refuge for the victims,
even though he was often hard-pressed to provide for his own family.
During the height of a severe plague in 1637, Rinkart was the only
surviving pastor in Eilenburg, conducting as many as 50 funerals in a
day. He performed more than 4000 funerals in that year, including that
of his wife."
7. In keeping with this month's theme of gratitude....what is something you're taking for granted that when you stop and think about it, you're grateful for?
The ability to breathe easily, and having fresh, clean air to breathe. One of the advantages of beautiful, clean NW Wisconsin. Admittedly, during the months of November through March it's fresh and clean and COLD, but still...
Wisconsin - Fresh, Clean Air
8. Insert your own random thought here.
God grant our nation a generous heart, To accept those who are truly refugees fleeing persecution, Courage to refuse those who are intent upon destroying our country, And wisdom to insist that our officials understand the difference.
In case you're not yet convinced that we're up against a culture of death, check out these two Frontline programs that were on PBS last night. They're definitely an eye opener. The links below will take you to the videos of the two Frontline programs. Each is about 20 minutes. In three weeks, Frontline will be airing the program, 'The Rise of ISIS.'
