Wednesday Hodgepodge

From This Side of the Pond

1. Aloha! On August 21, 1959 Hawaii officially became a US state. Have you ever been? Upon arrival would you prefer an orchid or a hibiscus to tuck behind your ear?

No, I've never been. I had the opportunity to back in 1990 as I was graduating high school and I opted not to go. My brother and sister-in-law lived there at the time (my brother was in the Navy and stationed there). My SIL was getting ready to have their second child and he asked if I'd come babysit their son and help out during that time. I decided not to and my grandparents went instead. Bummer....

And I have no preference on the flower.  I like both.

2. Since we're talking tropical...what's your favorite food or beverage made with pineapple?

Just pineapple. Fresh if at all possible.

3. Do you believe in soul mates? Explain.

Absolutely. I married mine. He knows me better than I know myself.  Scary as that can be at times.

4. Share a memory about the house you grew up in.

My childhood home at sunset. 

Photo taken by a more recent neighbor who lives across the street.

I grew up in an 1800s farmhouse. It's the second oldest home in my town. In fact, when my parents first moved to the boonies in Maine from Massachusetts, the house hadn't been lived in for 10 years. There was no running water. From what I understand, it still had an old-fashioned hand pump at the sink. They fell in love with it though and within two years of moving I arrived, child number four out of the five they would end up with.

I have a lot of memories surrounding my childhood home, but considering the close encounter I had recently with a bat, I'll share one of those memories. 

Since it was old, it wasn't exactly solid. There were holes and cracks everywhere. My oldest sister had a bedroom upstairs that had a door in it. The door led to the second floor of the attached shed. The chimney also went up through her room. This allowed all manner of things in there such as barn spiders (shudder!) and bats.

I was probably three or four when a bat managed to get in the house. I'm not sure if it was her room (but someday I'll have to share the story when one did!) but my mom was home alone at night with all five of us. My dad was working evenings at the time. I remember she hustled us all out of the house. My baby sister was put in the pram and the rest of us held hands as we started walking up the road to the closest neighbor at the time - a half mile away. It must have been summertime as I don't remember being cold. We all had a late night party there until my Dad could get home and get that bat out of the house. 

5. Are you comfortable with silence?

Absolutely! I'm an introvert. Many times I will find myself heading out on errands alone and I don't even turn on the radio. I can drive all day in quiet. I love staying up late at night because there is no other noise. Just the tapping of my keyboard of the click of the mouse. I need those silent times to recharge and regroup.

6. You spot a giant spider on your bedroom wall...what's your next move? (all spiders are giant, right?)

I find the closest shoe or other object to squish that little bugger with as quickly as possible. If it jumped me, I may or may not have also squealed first.

7. My idea of fun does NOT include ______________.

Since it's summer time....camping! I am not a camper. I do not like sleeping on the ground or having to use the woods as a bathroom. If I had an RV of some kind, I might be more willing to go, but otherwise, I'll stay at home....thankyouverymuch!

8. Insert your own random thought here.

There are a lot of changes coming our way. We are still waiting for a closing date on our new home, but we are one step closer as the appraiser heads there tomorrow. On Thursday I will be saying good-bye to all of my sheep. We don't have the facilities for them at the new home nor the extra help to care for them when hubby and I are gone away. I'll also be heading to the new place this week to say "yea" or "nay" on the furnishings. Most of it is being left behind and we're being given first refusal on it all. A busy, busy week but they all have been like that lately. I'm hoping to get the rest of our homeschool curriculum bought and planned out so we might be able to start school some time this year. I think this may have all been more than one random thought....