April's Last Hodgepodge

Agapanthus flowers in our front yard

The Hodgepodge questions for this week are below. If you want to link up and/or answer the questions on your blog, click here.  

1.   Are you feeling more reset, restart, or full speed ahead as we move into May? Tell us why. 

I'm not sure I can differentiate between "reset" and "restart." Just climbing aboard the blogging habit after a break is where I am.  Perhaps my "reset" is the tweaks I made in my blog design; and my "restart" is deliberately putting one foot in front of the other in the dailyness of life.

2. Painting, sculpture, architecture, literature, cinema, theatre, music...what's your favorite form of art? Elaborate.  

 Oh, without a doubt, my favorite form of art is music, especially inspirational. On a fun (musical) note, often my husband sings to me! He is a fan of Elvis, but "our song" is by Rod Stewart.

Have I Told You Lately

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doCIvWFEgN4

Then there is this: every time I begin a conversation with him about yesterday, Gary breaks into song with his version of Paul McCartney's "Yesterday." 😆

3.  What time is dinner at your house? How do you feel about leftovers? 

“Dinner” is lunch at our house, our biggest meal of the day. We don’t usually have leftovers because our meals are often prepared for just two servings. But with that said, when we do have leftovers in the fridge, it’s nice to have something that’s already been prepared to eat for a light supper (around 5pm).

Last week's lunchtime Pepperoni Rolls at Piesanos 
gave me some wonderful leftovers 
for that night's supper!

4. What's the last thing you fell down a rabbit hole investigating? 

I have questions!! With the research tools available to us now (Internet, Artificial Intelligence, and ChatGPT), it's super-easy to spend a lot of time investigating those things that baffle us. In my childhood years,  I enjoyed reading about many things in my family’s set of Encyclopedia Brittanica and The Book of Knowledge. Research today is so much easier, and faster!

Discernment as to what is truth and what is a ploy to outwit us out of our money is really important, so we need to be careful.

A list of my recent (and most frequent) "rabbit holes," includes the following:

commentaries on scripture

product reviews

psychology

5. And now for a question from the book Marilyn (Memphis Bridges) gave me...

At what are you 'self-taught?' 

Blogging. I read some informative books and websites, but in large part I had to figure out the quirks of blogging platforms on my own. That all began in 2009. I have had many blogs over the years for different interests, but now it's just this one, Journal Memories.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

hand brakes on my bicycle

Know Your Options

Recently while on our morning bicycle ride, figuratively speaking, my mental tires weren't fully inflated. I nearly "met my Maker" as an approaching car and I almost collided. The driver had the right of way, and I did my best to yield to her, but my brakes were not working! 

Blessedly, the driver slowed down to a stop while I helplessly careened right in front of her. All the while Gary was behind me shouting "use your brakes!!" 

Finally stopped on the other side of the road, thanking God for protecting me through that near miss, I learned something I had been told before but clearly had forgot, information I had not been using. 

I've got TWO hand brakes on my bicycle but I've been using only the ones on the right handle, never the other ones on the left. Each one serves a specific purpose and the one on the right had been sufficient -- until this one time. 

When we got home, Gary saw the problem with my brake and fixed it. He also explained (again) when I should use the brake on the right and when the one on the left is necessary. 

Clearly, I was not aware or paying attention to my options. I learned that in the case of bicycle brakes, this option is not just a matter of preference but more an issue of which is necessary for specific situations. 

You can be sure I am wiser for the experience! Now I am more inclined to look around other aspects of life, asking myself if I'm overlooking any other options that need my consideration. 

"..... a [person] of understanding 

and knowledge maintains order."

Proverbs 28:2b NIV

Until next time, grace and peace.

Barbara

Also check out The Christian Lounge, where occasionally my devotional writings are featured.

https://thechristianlounge4u.blogspot.com

When I Am Old I Shall Wear Yellow

But first, a note of thanks ...

My goodness! The nicest people read my blog, as evidenced by the beautiful comments made after the post on April 22nd. Thank you for all your kind words. They helped me to "get out of the weeds," so to speak on some things that have been weighing on my mind. So thank you all!

Now to continue with today's blog post which is a playful truth.

***********************

"When I Am Old I Shall Wear Yellow"

Up until just a few years ago, I never 

(and I mean, NEVER) wore yellow.

This personal conviction began when my (now middle-aged) children were in Kindergarten and younger. We were deciding on the paint for our children’s rooms. Not surprisingly, the boys’ walls went from builder’s basic eggshell white to blue. Our daughter got yellow, in part because pink was more than my husband wanted to see every day, and because sometime during that era our daughter decided yellow (“Lello” as she pronounced it) was her favorite color.

Around that time I read an article in the newspaper about color. It said all color has either a blue base or a yellow base. That intrigued me but then more so when I read a book, Color Me Beautiful, that said we should wear colors that compliment our skin’s basic hue. 

I analyzed myself, following that with conversations with a girlfriend at church who was really into this color idea. It was determined that I was a “winter”, which meant my best colors were the jewel, or gem tones such as blues, deep reds, purple, forest green (as opposed to olive green), navy, and black. (That meant I should not wear brown, orange, beige, and yellow)

I will add that my color consultant friend was very attractive, never wearing colors that did not flatter her skin tone. I gradually filtered out the yellow-based shades from my closet. That philosophy has worked well for me over the years and I have no regrets about it. 

But then my life took some unexpected turns. Widowhood ambushed my life. Among many changes was the loss of 20 pounds due to my grief. I eventually had to buy some new clothes because what I had just hung on me like a limp cloth. I learned that even when wearing the "right" colors, grief negatively affects one's personal appearance.

By the goodness of God, a new love caught my attention! A few months after our first date, Gary stated he wanted to give me a bicycle for my birthday. This initiated some interesting thoughts:

* Should I permit that kind of expense at this point in our relationship?

* It was decades since I last rode a bicycle. Could I even do it?

* My senior citizen body would have to make peace with a bicycle seat.

* And of course, what clothes would be bicycle-appropriate? 

When riding a bicycle, it is really important to wear clothing that road traffic can see. I read a study one time that said fire engines are more easily seen when they are painted chartreuse (yellow-green) as opposed to “fire engine red.”

That must be true because as we all know, road construction crews and outdoor landscapers often wear the yellow vests and shirts with the hope car traffic won’t hit them. Thus began my personal battle opposing one of my longest-held promises to myself: I needed some yellow clothes!

❤️ WHAT I DID FOR LOVE ❤️

This item of highway couture was my first foray into the goal of being more visible. However, the velcro tabs were a real bother and I quickly realized I wanted something else.

Yellow tops are not hard to find. I even shopped at a highway gas station where shirts for road construction crews were on sale! As the seasons came and went, I gradually collected long sleeves, short sleeves, sleeveless — supplying my athletic wardrobe for all outdoor temperatures. 

On the bottom half, I choose to wear black pants, capris, and shorts, always with a pocket big enough to hold my cell phone, in case of emergency. (That’s as important as wearing yellow, in my opinion).

At first I wore yellow only when riding our bikes but then this cute T shirt showed up when we were vacationing on Jekyll Island…. I was learning to not be so strict about this color thing. A book title came to mind that gave me further permission:

While I have no plans to go as wild as that story, I have given myself permission to broaden my wardrobe horizons a little.

I usually (but not always) wear yellow when taking a walk through my neighborhood. On impulse I found this wonderful yellow hat at a store closing sale. Clearly, by adding yellow to my closet, I have done something that years ago I never thought would happen. 

We were drinking our usual morning coffee the other day when I shared with Gary some thoughts I’d had about the future. He listened and then with the experience that accompanies years of wisdom he replied, 

“Don’t put a seal on that."

Another way of summing up his counsel is 

found in the New Testament:

Now listen, you who say, 

"Today or tomorrow we will 

go to this or that city,

spend a year there,

carry on business and make money." 

Why, you do not even know 

what will happen tomorrow...

Instead you ought to say,

"If it is the Lord's will, 

we will live and do this or that. 

James 4:13, 14, 15

*P.S. Regarding that 20 pounds I lost, I found them again.🤭

Until next time, grace and peace.

Barbara

Also check out The Christian Lounge, where occasionally my devotional writings are featured.

https://thechristianlounge4u.blogspot.com

Scrapbook of Sabbatical Snapshots

 

wild flowers in abundance currently along highways
in North Central Florida

My collection of snapshots from recent weeks has grown so big that it's time for me to bring the sabbatical to an end and return to blogging. 

The purpose of my sabbatical was to get a better idea of where I'm headed, make decisions with that regard,  determine what changes were needed or desired, and to act on all of that. It was a time of personal assessment and course adjustment that had to do with my opinions, attitudes, preferences and goals. 

It was like getting off the bus and standing still to just look around to understand where I am, where I'm headed, and how to best handle my journey. Beyond that, I won't explain because it's all very personal. 

I made some small design changes to my blog. If you follow me on your phone, you may not even see the changes; the view from a computer screen shows them a little better.

Here, below, is a visual re-cap of my time away from blogging:

puzzle purchased at Home Goods last year

Jersey Girl, came over one afternoon to help get me started on the above puzzle. She is a jigsaw puzzle maven!

This book (which I'm still in the process of reading) is helping to guide my evaluations on [everything].

In preparation for some visitors, I made a trip to the laundromat to freshen up the guest bedding. This is a place I seldom visit. It cost $14 to wash a queen-sized quilt and 4 quarters to dry it. 

(just a little FYI from one homemaker to another 😉)

Our guests came from the far north, flying into Florida and then renting a car to get to our house. This is Gary's son and wife. They spent time with us here in "the Horse Capital of the World" and then headed to a sandy beach before their return to the springtime snowstorms of the north.

We took our guests to some of the "old Florida" sites we have enjoyed in recent years (all of which I've shared on previous blog posts in recent years).

Around here, one does not need to depend solely on the loud, flashy (and exorbitantly $$$) theme parks for entertainment. A belligerent rooster was very upset and loud about ??? One of the tour guides in historical dress had to herd him back to his place with some harsh reprimands.

the rowdy rooster was beautiful

Our timing that day did not allow us to include the guided tour inside the well-preserved home of the author, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, but I have dredged up a snapshot I took from our last visit:

The above is her screened, front porch where she sat at her typewriter. (one could say I follow her example as I compose my posts with an Apple computer on my lap while sitting on a wicker chair on the lanai.... 🙄🙂 ) 

currently...

It is said that she briefly taught creative writing at the University of Florida in Gainesville.

Gary and me

As is typical, we took pictures of the kids and they took pictures of us. Here we are on the back porch of the home.  The architecture is typical of the first half of the last century, country, homey.

be sure to notice gator, frog legs, and venison

Lunch that day was at The Yearling, located (as the crow files over forest land) about half a mile from Ms. Rawlings' home. By car, it's a little farther.

If you examine the menu pictured above, you see some of the more exotic offerings: alligator, frog legs, and venison. The four of us ordered more conventional entrees, although our son is an avid hunter a connoisseur of venison.

Speaking of gators, you can see one on display in that same photo above, courtesy of a skilled taxidermist. This creature is some 13 feet long.

A LOT of other members of the animal kingdom are on display throughout the restaurant, this bear being one of them. Bookshelves line many of the walls with volumes on many topics and there is an gift shop of small antique items. It's a very interesting place to peruse while waiting for food, or after the dining is done. Everything is rustic, and to use the term again, very "old Florida."

On another day we took our guests to a huge sandstone rock quarry that, over time, has been converted to a stunningly beautiful garden with ponds, water falls and fountains. Again, this special place has been a topic on this blog in the past and was certainly worth a return trip.

Williston is less than an hour's drive from our home. With good walking shoes, one can explore many trails over rocky paths and steep steps past lush green trees, flowers, over bridges with huge orange, white and speckled koi fish swimming below.

Our daughter pointed out the rainbow as I snapped this picture. Do you see it?

There were at least two (probably more) of these quaint birdhouses tucked into the forest.

In the past I've mentioned Gary's years spent in Japan as a young military airman. This red structure is called a Torii, which is defined according to AI as follows: 

"A torii gate is a traditional Japanese gate marking the entrance to a Shinto shrine, symbolizing the transition from the mundane human world to the sacred, divine realm of the kami (spirits). They act as a boundary to protect, purify, and signify a shift toward a life of grace."

While Gary and I were raised with traditional Christian values, we can still appreciate the beauty of this architecture in such a lush garden setting.

Lunch that day was at Red's, another of our favorite haunts. We always ask for an umbrella-covered table outside, on the deck, which stands over a swampy portion of the Oklawaha River. Gators are underneath the deck, and in past visits we could hear them below us making their low grunts. On this day we could not hear them at all. A large group of women (i.e. NOISY!!) filled the airspace. But our food was very good, as always and the kids took our word for it about the gators.

Internet photo

On the last night of our company's visit, the big story on TV's national news was the violent weather sweeping through tornado alley. The storm hit a town where some of my family lives. I am thankful to report none of them were injured, and I don't think their property got any serious damage; but the above photo shows the carnage others experienced in their town.

This happened late on Friday. I was pleased when my sister sent this photo of a flyer distributed by her church announcing the arrival and practical help of the Christian ministry, Samaritan's Purse. This is a ministry that shows up at disasters all over the world to lead and guide with the most practical of help needed. When you contribute to them with monetary gifts, you can be sure you are helping those who truly need it.

The first puzzle that was completed earlier has been taken apart and returned to its box. I'm giving it to Jersey Girl, one of my two girlfriends who LOVES them. My friend, Joline, has completed some 165 puzzles since the pandemic!! This is what old ladies do in their latter years! 🤭

"They" say puzzles are good for seniors -- they help to keep our brains sharp. With that said, I've begun another one. My method is to complete the border first and while doing that, I divide the other pieces into containers according to the more outstanding features of the puzzle picture. Do any of you do it this way?

Our days are gradually getting warmer, which means the snowbirds of our community are evacuating for cooler climes. Some left just this morning, another is leaving tomorrow, another next week and more leaving by Mother's Day.

her reading my blog made us neighbors!!

One of my snowbird friends from up north enjoyed a picnic lunch with me the other day. This gal is remarkable to me because she began reading my blog before I even came to this town. Little did she and I realize back then that one day we would become residents of the same community. 

As she and her husband considered where they wanted to spend their winter months, she recognized from my blog pictures and writings that I was living in one of the places they were considering! Isn't that wild?!!! 

our back yard

This concludes my scrapbook of the Sabbatical snapshots. I missed writing these past weeks but the break was good and time was well-spent. I've got a clearer vision of what I'm supposed to be about and am eager to get back into the swing of things.

"Where there is no vision,

the people perish."

Proverbs 29:18 KJV

Until next time, grace and peace.

Barbara

Also check out The Christian Lounge, where occasionally my devotional writings are featured.

https://thechristianlounge4u.blogspot.com