April Showers Bring Wednesday Hodgepodge

1. Share one fun thing you did last week, while the Hodgepodge was on 'spring break'.

A dear friend of mine had her 30th birthday last week, so Wednesday evening I surprised her with flowers. Then Friday evening, her sister had a table full of company to help celebrate. We had a lovely time chatting about anything and everything and eating good food! :)

2. April 10th is National Sibling Day...do you have siblings, and if so are you close? Share a favorite story featuring one or all of your siblings. If you don't have siblings, did you ever wish you did?

Yes, I have three older brothers and we are all pretty close now. We weren't always of course, but maturity helps with that. ;) As for a story?

Once upon a time.....my parents had a 40th Anniversary. As I live in a different state than they and so does one of my brothers (L), we decided to surprise them. My brothers and I planned an entire weekend, from Saturday morning to Sunday night, spending time together as a whole family. I flew in and L's family drove in, and my parents had no idea any of us were in town. So they show up to my brother J's home on Saturday morning and out walks L's family and then me. Their jaws about hit the ground and they both started crying and hugging and the kids were excited and yes, there was chaos! I don't think any of us stopped smiling once that whole weekend. Mom and dad were thrilled to bits and we had a wonderful time visiting a couple museums, enjoying a campfire Saturday evening, and simply spending time together. I loved that we had planned this whole thing without mom and dad knowing or instigating any part of it. My brothers and I work pretty well together! :D

3. Is it important to you to 'buy American'? Why or why not? How much of an effort do you make to 'buy American'? If you're not American, insert your own country in the blank.

Well, I do prefer to support our own people and economy. So if I know there's something I'm buying that I can buy American-made over somewhere else, I'll buy American. I definitely prefer to support local places and people around where I live if at all possible.

4. Besides The Bible, what book has impacted your spirituality in some way?

Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis

5. April showers bring May flowers or so the saying goes. Do you find rainy days calming or depressing? When were you last caught in a rainstorm? What's blooming in your neck of the woods today?

I love rainy days! Not so much thunder and lightning days, but rainy days absolutely. I'm one of those weird people who like to take walks in the rain. Plus I have a yellow rain-jacket that's always cheerful on those gloomy-looking days! :)

As for being caught in a rainstorm, it rained just last week on my way to work.

Blooming? All the lovely almond blossoms are gone by now, but I pass by several clusters of poppies all around town. And I saw this beauty the other day in a bouquet. Don't know where it was grown, but I thought it was worth sharing anyway.

6. What's your favorite yellow food?

Corn on the cob, peaches, bananas, nectarines......

7. April is National Poetry Month...what's a poem that holds special meaning for you, and why is it special?

We walk in a world that is strange and unknown

And in the midst of the crowd we still feel alone

We question our purpose, our part and our place

In this vast land of mystery suspended in space.

We probe and explore and try hard to explain

The tumult of thoughts that our minds entertain…

But all of our probings and complex explanations

Of man’s inner feelings and fears and frustrations,

Still leave us engulfed in the “mystery of life”

With all of its struggles and suffering and strife,

Unable to fathom what tomorrow will bring –

But there is one Truth to which we can cling.

For while life’s a mystery we can’t understand,

The “great Giver of life” is holding our hand

And safe in His care there is no need for seeing

For “in Him we live and move and have our being.”

~Helen Steiner Rice

I love this poem because we are nothing without God and He cares so lovingly and mercifully for us every single moment of our lives. He can and will take care of everything we bring Him!

8. Insert your own random thought here.

Thinking about poetry still, I'm also one of those that like poems to rhyme. I can enjoy one that doesn't, but I'll enjoy a poem much more if it does! I also like it when a poem has a rhythm to it. You know, when you kind of have a beat going as you're reading.

I can acknowledge that writing a poem with a beat and that rhymes is not so easy to do. I write poetry occasionally myself, and yes, I do hold myself to those standards. It makes writing them take a little longer sometimes. I'm sitting there counting syllables and using my rhyming dictionary and it's hard work let me tell you! :)

Speaking of, did you know that there are rhyming dictionaries out there? I found out just a few years ago and sure wish I'd known earlier! But if you're writing poetry, it really comes in handy. I absolutely recommend getting one if you're a poem writer yourself. :)

 Toodle-loo kangaroos!