Hodgepodge: S'more'sy, Outdoorsy Stuff

Linking up again for one of my favorite memes, Wednesday Hodgepodge, from one of my favorite bloggers , Joyce, who writes From This Side of the Pond. I'll try to be brief this time. (Cough, cough.)


1. Do you and your family enjoy camping? What do you enjoy most/like the least when it comes to family camping? When was the last time you camped?

No, not particularly, although we have a few good memories of camping . My husband was trained as a Boy Scout in such adventures, and has the skills for them still, but doesn't enjoy the tent set-up, building fires and keeping them going, fighting mosquitoes, or listening to complaints. We don't all like the heat, some of us are scared of things that go "bump" in the night, one of us was pregnant when her air mattress sprang a leak, and shortly thereafter her bladder nearly sprang one. That all happened long before the dawn said hello, so she had to contend with the belly bump, the bump in the night, and the bumps that were called rocks beneath her deflated bed . Then had itchy bumps when the trip was over . That was the summer of '88 and we were at Cunningham Falls in Western Maryland.

However, I have sweet memories of:
- our little baby, about 23 inches long, in a big hammock under a shade tree .That baby is now 23 years old, and taller than some trees. (See previous post--he's the engaged one.)
-keeping warm together in sleeping bags
- my husband and his best friend Gary doing the dishes after making breakfast of bacon and eggs on the Weber grill without any long utensils. I can still picture their long ,skinny legs wearing those 1980's cut-off shorts and t-shirts that should have been retired during the Carter Administration.
-Watching our daredevilish friend Jerry take his hang-glider to the highest cliff and then sail through the air . (I couldn't watch anything after the part where he strapped into the glider.)

Favorite thing about camping? Sitting around the campfire when you're in love--with a certain someone or a group of people who all love Jesus and love to sing worship songs. Those things can temporarily obliterate the intoxicating scent of Deep Woods Off.

2. Did you attend a summer camp when you were a kid? Is that a happy or not so happy memory?

No, I didn't attend summer camp. Never really wanted to. Never missed it. Never had a burning desire to send our kids to camp either, for fear of what might happen. We only sent one child to camp and that was last summer when his brother and sister were counselors, and one was in his own cabin so I had a trust about that arrangement .

3. Over the course of your life, what have you probably spent more time pondering than anything else?

Love. Why God loves me. Why certain people seem to be good at loving, and others aren't. What makes two polar opposite people fall in love. How a mother can love a second child as much as her first when she fears it impossible during that second pregnancy. Could I love again if I lost my husband? Would I love God if he took everyone and everything away from me? Does anyone feel loved by me?

4. Which of the seven natural wonders of the world would you most like to see? There are many lists of 'wonders' but this is the standard natural wonder list-Mount Everest, The Great Barrier Reef, The Grand Canyon, Victoria Falls, The Harbor of Rio de Janerio, Paricutan Volcano and The Northern Lights.

Grand Canyon . It's on my bucket list. I just pray it's not where I kick the bucket. My clumsiness is Reason #1 why it's the last thing on said bucket said.

5. What was your first real job?

I was a waitress at Woolworth's. Anyone remember that store? The little restaurant part of it was quite diner-esque with its vinyl-clad booths, cheap coffee, and retirees whose patronage you could "set the clock by." I was fresh out of high school. What I remember most were three things:
1) my feet had NEVER hurt more than at the end of my first day there
2) spilling all four drinks I was delivering to one table--spilled right into the people's laps.
3) smoking. I picked up the habit because "everyone did it." But I didn't smoke in front of anyone. I was too scared of being seen by people who knew me (ie Christians, my parents, neighbors who thought well of smokeless me). I smoked to and from the job in my sister's orange Ford Pinto, and spent a lot of my tips on Juicy Fruit gum. I quit the habit after three months when I no longer had access to the Pinto. Funny thing is, every now and then I still want to smoke a cigarette. I haven't lit up in over 25 years, but the thought crosses my mind now and then. Maybe one of these days I'll find me a pair of waitress shoes and a Pinto, grab a pack of Kool Methols (do they still make those? I know they don't make Pintos anymore.) Oh, and Juicy Fruit. I'll stock up on Juicy Fruit.

6. Lemonade or Sweet tea...which do you prefer on a hot summer day?

Lemonade. I just love it. I like tea, too, but fresh-squeezed lemonade or even good ole Country-Time is my best beverage on a hot, summer day .

7. What is something that always brings a smile to your face?

My husband rubbing up against me when he has to "squeeze by" in an empty space that is clearly big enough for twelve people.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

Is there such a thing as a discrete nine-year-old boy?

Not in my house . Yesterday he needed a shower before his older sister took him anywhere in public. My husband and I were ready to venture out on a late-afternoon date, and he told our boy that there was a clean pair of underwear in the basket in our room, so put them on after your shower. Boy nods. As we head to the car, the boy heads up to the bathroom. The engine starts, and we see our boy leaning out an upper-story window, some fifty feet from the car, waving for our attention. We cut the engine off and stick our heads out . " What do you need, honey?" I call out.

He calls back loudly, so all the neighbors can hear: "DAD? DAD! WHERE'D YOU SAY THAT UNDERWEAR IS?"