I Learned It On the Hodge Podge

Happy Hodge Podge Day!  I hope your week is going well.  The heat has returned.  Actually, the humidity has returned.  I mean, it is August but the break last week was so nice.  I will admit, everything is still green outside my windows.  It is usually toast by now.  I suppose that means it has not been a “dreadfully hot, dear” type of summer.  All things are relative, no doubt.  But, enough rambling….let’s get started with this week’s questions.  Find all the answers here🙂

1. What’s something on your August calendar you’re looking forward to? In two weeks, I am going to a friend’s house for a week.  A girls’ week away.  Well, away for me.  We will be at her house.  Which has a pool in the backyard.  Just sayin.  I’m not much for getting in the pool (aka…putting on a swimsuit) but it will be just me and a bestie.  Pool or no pool, I am looking forward to just spending several days with her.  She just retired in June.  Typically she would be heading back to school, but not this year.  Her schedule and agenda are her own.  She’s making time for fun.  And friends.  I like it.  I think this could be the start of something good:)

2. August 5th is National Oyster Day…do you partake? How do you feel about pearls? Partake?  As in, eat oysters.  Absoultely not.  My grandparents LOVED them.  Raw and sucked out of their shell.  Yes, I’m turning green even now.  I do not like, or eat, any food that is still in its shell, attached to a bone or includes its bones.  No thank you.  Moving on. Pearls are pretty.  In my 20s, I had a strand of pearls that I wore every day.  Well, nine days out of ten.  They were a bit of a signature piece for me.  Until they broke.  And, now, I don’t think I would even look good wearing pearls.  Life is funny like that.

3. Tell us about a time when you felt like ‘the world was your oyster’. I debated deleting this question.  That phrase is “a trigger” for me.  In the worst way possible.  I hate that phrase.  Well, at least the memories associated with it for me.  I will leave it at that.

4. Trip Advisor lists seven islands in the US that require no passport (for US citizens). If you’re answering today from outside the US you’ll still need to produce yours. An-y-way, have you been to any of the seven? Let’s pretend you get an all expense paid trip to one this month…which one do you choose and why? Catalina Island California~Martha’s Vineyard Massachusetts~Mackinac Island Michigan~Key West Florida~South Padre Island Texas~or Kauai Hawaii

I have to admit that I had no idea about this.  These islands require passports for non-citizens and/or even do checks of citizenship.  Really?  I am so intriqued by this new information.  I guess you really do learn something new every day.  An-y-way…:), I have only been to Key West and that was just last year.  It was a cruise port for us and I only spent a few hours there.  I have to say, those few hours were enough for me.  Been there, done that.  My husband and I would love to visit Mackinac Island but, I suppose if all expenses were paid, I would choose Kauai.  I would love to visit Hawaii but Hubby has no interest.  What is wrong with him??

5. Sylvia Plath is credited with the following:  “August rain: the best of the summer gone, and the new fall not yet born. The odd uneven time.”  Agree or disagree? In other words, how do you feel about this month? I would not say the best of summer is gone.  But, August does make me think the end is coming.  And that makes me sad.  I want to hold onto summer as long as possible.  Please don’t go, summer!!

6. Insert your own random thought here.  I read a question the other day about skills that I consider basic, but that many people don’t seem to know.  Answers to that question have been coming to mind for days.  Too many answers.  What has happened to basic skills?  I’m not judging because there were (too) basic skills that came to mind because I do not know how to do them.  Change a tire.  I think that is basic.  Maybe some would not think so, but for sure getting gas is basic. I know a teenager who had to call home recently because they were driving their new (to them) car and they were at a gas station, but had no idea how to pump gas.  Really?  That one completely flummoxed me.

But, back to me.  I do not know where the emergency water shut-off valve is in my house.  Hope I never need to find it.  I do not know how to set a mouse trap (and do not want to learn), open an avocado correctly nor can I text with two hands.  I know..shameful.  But I still text with one finger.  I can however, write in cursive, sew on a button, write a check and address an envelope.  All things that I have been asked (by people in the 30s) how to do.  However, if I had to give just one answer, I think it would be: put a full meal on the table.  Honestly, there are so many that simply cannot cook.  Much of anything.  But I think we have (almost) an entire generation that cannot imagine planning, preparing and putting on the table a complete meal.  Thank you, Mom, for teaching me so many of the basics.  She probably would have shown me that emergency valve but I’m pretty sure she had no idea where it was either!