Wednesday Hodge Podge

I  love midweek Hodge Podge...Click the icon to return to Joyce's page!

1. What's changed in your life, home, or community since your last birthday? 

I would have to say it was  the long awaited  update of our master bedroom...ever since we  redid the kitchen and  got  plantation shutters for those two windows,



 I have  wanted to get them upstairs.. I eventually want them in the guest room, but all in good time!

But  last month they were installed in our bedroom.

I love the difference  the shutters have made to our room.... it seems so much  larger and  updated  and  the atmosphere   they lend to each part of the day  is  so special.. 

2. September is Classical Music Month. Do you like/listen to classical music? If so what's a favorite piece and/or who is a favorite composer? 

Yes, I love classical music.. I  took piano lessons all through school and  classical  is part of my dna... I  gave violin lessons to our daughter and  we loved nothing better than hearing her play as  concert master of  our local youth synmphony. I  love  American composer Howard Hanson... Amanda performed this piece for   her  senior recital...

 But my alltime favorite is Samuel Barber..
Adagio for Strings.

3. Besides The Bible, what's a book that has positively changed your life, relationships, career, or perspective? How so? 

It would ahve to be Bob Sorge's  powerful book, Secrets of the Secret Place.

"This book has one purpose: to fuel your passion for the secret place with God. Divided into 52 short chapters, it can serve as a companion to your devotional life. It will help defuse struggles related to the secret place and inspire you to develop a personal connection with God."

4. I read (here) these ten hobbies will make you smarter...play a musical instrument, read voraciously, meditate regularly, work out your brain (puzzles, sudoku, board games, etc), exercise often, learn a new language, write your feelings down (blog, journal, just write), travel to new places, cook different kinds of meals, participate in sports actively

Are any on this list your current hobbies? Which hobby on the list would you be most inclined to try?
 Well, I am glad to see that  there are several hobbies listed that I do and have done...  I play piano.. wish I could play by ear,  but  I do enjoy  playing , even though I have lost  a lot of  what I learned in college.. I love reading.  I am not a voracious reader,,  but  by spurts I  will read  like  10 books all  in a row..  when I  find a particular author that moves me.  I love sudoku  and crossword puzzles... especially on trips.  I  keep journals about  what I am learning  through  the scriptures, and  Biblical teaching,  plus  during my quiet time... I write praises  and  love letters to God.  I love to travel to new places,,  but  to fully  do this Id have to travel alone.. Hubs is not into it at all. Im not up for solo travel quite yet.  I really need to be more active...    but, alas,  that just isnt me, Im afraid. I used to play golf and enjoyed it,  but  no more.

5. What sports traditions does your family have? As stated above, Hubs and I used to enjoy golf, especially when we went to Myrtle Beach  or other  golf meccas...  but no more. Life got complicated soon after  retirement and  we  lost the urge and  according to Hubs  the   skill  to  continue.  I disagree, but  there it is.

6. In a few words, weigh in on the current football/National Anthem brouhaha. Keep it family friendly please. 

I find it  reprehensible that the country  seems to think that  this is an area to nationally demonstrate  one's rights to  protest..I blame the media for reporting only bad things  in the news  and  nothing of  the heroic and positive nature.  The media and others in power seem to desire to take  our great nation down.

7. Where do you have loads of patience, and where do you most lack patience? 

The older I get  the  more tempermental I become... things   like the news and seeing  how  hugely things have changed...make me feel  impatient and  antsy.  I  struggle with  these things mainly..  I have learned that I have to  just stay as uninformed about  things as much as possible because to tell the truth we dont hear truth  most of the time...  except through God's Word.  He is my patience...  When I  put my trust in Him alone.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

My random thoughts  are not for publication today. Instead I found a favorite classical piece..  Max Bruch,  Violin Concerto #1  Another piece Amanda played for recital!

Hodge Podge Wednesday

Hello !

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1. March is National Women's History Month. In that vein,

who are three women who've been influential in your 

life? How so?

Definitely, my mother was a huge inspiration to me..

being the oldest of six daughters there were expected to work hard along side their dad... they lived on a large dairy farm in SW Virginia.. She was still in her single digits when the depression hit, and thankfully they got along well living off the land.. But she worked hard and learned how to manage on far less. She nearly died as a young woman.. Praise God a cure was found for her ailment and she survived, but it knocked her out of going to college.. She was the only of the six not to go.She married and moved to the west coast during WWII.She thrived on adventure and learned well the lessons of independence. She worked outside of the home until she had me in 1950. She and dad raised me very modestly... She made all of my clothes, was a marvelousw cook and decorated our  cottage with the white picket fence beautifully on a shoestring budget. She went back to work when I went to school but she still sat up late nights making my clothes all through my high school and into college.I believe she lived with a chip on her shoulder because she missed academia like her sisters and often times felt unaccomplished and second rate.... but everyone of them looked up to her with respect and love because of who she was...

Secondly, I thought of my second grade teacher...Mrs. Walters who was my motivation to become a teacher myself some day. Poor Mrs. Walters was probably 55 or more when I had her.. She was grey headed and walked with a limp from when she had had polio. She had to be tired as hard as she worked.. She was always dressed so sweetly in a pastel suit and white ruffled blouse, her hair all rolled back into some kind of bun, but her temperment was one of love, patience, and forebearance.. She made learning fun and enchanting really.. I never remember her raising her voice and she seemed to take everything in her stride... I marveled at her.. I did become a teacher but I cannot say I always exemplified all of her qualities.. Maybe it was because kids in her day knew if they got a note from the teacher there would be a trip to the forsythia bush after dinner.

Thirdly, my daughter Amanda inspires me..

We adopted her from Seoul when she was 15 weeks old.. such a sweetheart as a child, and always. She is a huge ball of talent. she could do anything she set to mind to...Our neighborhood had some great classes for girls to figure out what they wanted to do.. In the course off a couple of years she was a gymnast, a dancer, and a highsteppin majorette! But she then settled on violin and piano lessons.. which she took all through school.. Speaking of school she excelled in every area. And soon decided she wanted to be a dentist and take her skill to the mission field. She accepted Christ on the Thursday of Bible School one year... it was such a wonderful moment in our life together to hear her tell us of her decision. She loved swimming, played softball, volleyball, tennis, and was on the high school soccer team. She sang in a College Children's Choir and performed at Carnegie Hall and at the Lighting of the Christmas tree at the White House. It seemed nothing was out of her reach. In college she took the classes that would propel her to dental school and reached for opportunites to research at the vet school to have as much lab experience an undergrad to attain.

She had a storybook romance with the only boy she ever dated... a young man she had trained in violin along side and had secretly admired for some time.. They attended the same college and married while doing post grad work at university.. 

They each worked under research stipends and made ample salaries playing their violins at college events. They played in the college symphony and Joshua played in a prestigious quintet on campus. After 7 years of university they both graduated debt free! They each got fabulous employment in Massachusetts.. Amanda in cancer research in Cambridge and Joshua in the top of his field in techonolgy. Amanda decided her love for Joshua supplanted her previous desire for dentistry and it is just as well, because now that she has two precious daughters she just wants to stay at home for a while, anyway!

So there you have a glimpse at my stellar daughter who not only excelled at eveything she attempted... she also has the   sweetest spirit this side of heaven and  uses her God given gifts to mentor and lead other women to Christ by her walk and leadership!

2. In what ways do you think women have it easier than men?

I agree with our hostess in that there are definitely many things in which men are more suitable to take the lead... like anything pertaining to reptiles, insects, spiders,bumps in the night, water leaks, electrical, and construction issues.

But women do appear to be more intuitive and there in lies her strength.. She helps in making major decisions, and maintains a more level headedness in times of crisis.

3. What do you need most right now: faith, love, hope, or peace?

As I think on this question I cannot separate these but I lump them altogether in trusting God through our relationship with Christ.. For in trusting Him we have all these wonderful attribtes    in one! And I need them every hour!!

4. Do you have a collection? If so, what do you collect and why?

I am an anglophile.. I love everything British, Scottish or irish, because  I love genealogy , and I  love anything that  brings to mind  and British time of yore.

I collect English China especially transfer ware.. I have the red, blue, black and a bit of green..

5. Plaids, checks, polka dots, stripes...your favorite?

I am going to go with plaid, because I love my Scottish heritage and I do use it a lot in my decor!

6. In what ways are you the same as your childhood self?

I love my childhood self... even as quiet and sensitive as I was... I learned to love being by myself and the dreaminess of my imagination. I could fly in my dreams and I often went  to that weightless state of mind.. I many times will close my eyes and travel back to a late summer's afternoon perhaps after a rain, when I would lie on the porch glider and muse on the ability to fly with the fairies... I can still smell the rain in my mind's eye and see the afternoon glow of the setting sun.. I love those memories and still cling to them..

7. You're a contestant on the TV game show Jeopardy. What category will you ace?

I would do well in American History, earth science, geology, and English lit.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

Well, as I look back over the last couple of months I can count on maybe 2 hands the number of days I havent had something physically ailing me...praise God nothing serious, but just the doldrums of allergies, sinuses, and now this horrid cold which has sent into the 99-100.4 temps continually for the last 4 days... I am literally sick of it!