Wednesday Hodge Podge

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1. Summer is upon us this week in the Northern hemisphere. Tell us three things on your summer bucket list.

First, and foremost,  we  will get our  powder room downstairs  enlarged and renovated...    to my chagrin we have  spent two months dealing with unethical contractors  and  I  am so  sad to  have wasted that time..  But we are pleased with our new  group and  hopefully they can get started in mid July!

Secondly,  we will have the fortitude to  clear out about at least half of the stuff in our basement that we never use...

Thirdly, another couple and we are planning a long weekend to travel to the mountains of North Carolina to stay in a Bed and Breakfast 

and  see  the sights.. I want to,also,  take her up on the mountain to meet my cousin and her husband who have a gorgeous log cabin  near Boone, NC.

2. Something fun you used to do as a kid in the summertime?

We lived very near an amusement park, 

not nearly as big as say King's Dominion, which  didnt exist back then,  but  people came from many states away   to Lakeside on vacation.

The wooden  clackety clack  of the Rebel Yell was a main draw..

I much preferred the Caterpillar

My July birthday   was something I really looked forward to ...taking my friends to Lakeside,, but  I knew they'd  get me on the Tilt-a-Whirl  and I'd invariably get sick!

But  the best thing was  every Saturday night they had fireworks  which we could see from our house.

Those were the days momma made homemade lemonade and popped a huge bowl of popcorn and we'd  go out in the back yard and enjoy the show!

3. Rooftop or backyard? Why?

Funny you should ask,  when I was  pretty small  say 6-9  we had the best neighbors  whose dad  built us all the best playhouse ever.. it was  very big and  had  a roof like the  deck of a ship with a railing around it. If we climbed up on it we had the best seat in the house for fireworks. Then on those evenings the parents  were  barbecuing on Uncle Jim's  amazing barbecue pit that daddy helped him build, and Jim built a lovely  campfire in the backyard. We'd pile blankets around the fire lay out and roast marshmallows and  lay back watch the constellations.  The parents talked about various things,  their voices just a comforting murmur in the background, but us kids each  had our own personal reverie those evenings..Sometimes I sailed a ship across the sea above me.. one time  I imagined living in a house created within  that blazing fire.the rooms were the cavernous spaces within the log structure, the colors of orange, yellow  tinged with blue and grey were ever changing,  then I'd watch as each room  came crashing down as the logs imploded  and the embers  crumbled.. strange,  but it was so delightful!

4. Do you read food labels? Place importance on them? Make an effort to find out/care about where your food comes from?

More and more all the time,,, I  look for trans fat, calories and carbs,  and place of origin..  We are very careful about our fresh fish-  nothing farm raised.. only wild caught for us. My daughter  minored in bio tech  and  she is  very, very ,very, much  after me if I buy anything with sweetner... so on rare occasions I have a soda, it is  a plain Dr. Pepper. I have to give her the credit for me becoming more attuned to  food additives.

5. A song you'll have on repeat this summer?

I absolutely cannot get enough of Sting;'s When We Dance... I listen to Pandora a Sting station and once when that song came on Lynn came in grabbed me up and we slow danced in the kitchen...  I will never forget it!!

6. Insert your own random thought here.
 

For Father's Day I ran across this great photo of  our small family.. HAHA! My natural hair color back then  really  went dark..  I  was a dirty blonde and even blonder with a bit of help, but when we adopted Amanda I had let  the coloring go to revert to my darker color,  but I just love this photo of Lynn.. the love of my life!!!  I would dance with him to the ends of the earth!

The day Lynn drove Amanda and I all over  the state of SW Virginia , up the Valley, and across  the Piedmont looking for things  for her Fourth grade Virginia Scrapbook!!  What a great dad !

The day Amanda got married.. here in her going away dress!