A Fresh Cup of Coffee: April 2025

Wednesday, April 30, 2025

Wednesday Hodgepodge Milestones

A hodgepodge is a jumble or assortment of things that might not appear to belong together. Joyce at From This Side of the Pond hosts a weekly link-up called Wednesday Hodgepodge that is a little collection of questions for bloggers to answer just for fun and to get to know each other. I always look forward to chatting with friends over coffee, so pour a cup of your favorite and let's visit for a few minutes!

Here are this week's questions - and my answers - for this week's Wednesday Hodgepodge.

1. My very first edition of The Wednesday Hodgepodge was published on November 10, 2010. Tell us something about your life from that era.

The Hodgepodge has been around for a long time, so why did it take me so long to find it? I guess I was focusing on a homeschool audience back in those days. So let's see . . . late fall of 2010 . . . My oldest son had graduated from our homeschool in spring, and he was in Baltimore at broadcast school. I had three students at home. My parents had come for a visit in October and we'd celebrated Thanksgiving (the Canadian one) with them and also the oldest two boys' birthdays. We got a new kitten that fall as well, our black cat named Pepper.

2. What's a song you love that relates to time in some way?

The first song that I thought of is kind of a sad one from the 80s - Time by The Alan Parsons Project.

3. May is nearly upon us. When did you last need to yell 'MAY DAY - MAY DAY!!'?

I sure felt like yelling 'MAY DAY!' when I tripped and fell down hard last week. No one around to respond to my call for help though, and it wasn't like I needed an ambulance so I just groaned to myself and figured out how to get up and regroup.

4. How do you feel about food trucks? Is this a dining experience you enjoy? Do you have a favorite? What's something you've ordered from a food truck?

I love food trucks, and yes, I do enjoy getting a meal or snack from a truck. I can think of a few favorite food truck experiences - several times I've had excellent barbecue from a food truck, the time I had Montreal smoked meat poutine from a food truck at the Maryland Wine Festival come to mind. Last spring we went to a food truck festival in Newark, Ohio, and there were so many interesting cuisines to choose from! I wished the trucks had offered sample size menu items so we could have tried more different things. We had an Indian frybread pizza and chicken shawarma. Both excellent. I hope they have that festival again . . . it should be coming up soon if it's annual, so I'll have to check. The last time I ate from a food truck was on Sunday at the Tulip Festival. I had a meatball sub from an Italian food truck, and hubby had a lobster roll from the Cousins Maine Lobster food truck.

frybread pizza

shawarma

5. We're bidding farewell to April . . . what are three adjectives you might use to describe the month you're leaving behind?

dynamic, hopeful, pragmatic

6. Insert your own random thought here.

I struggled a little to come up with good descriptive words for my April. It feels like it was whirlwind busy, and I feel like I'm scrambling to keep up with so many things. At times I've felt like I was failing at the goals I had set for myself, but there was progress too. I'm glad the colonoscopy is over and I don't need to think about that for ten more years. (Dreading the bill though, not sure what to expect there) I'm mostly recovered from the fall I took last week. I finally found a dentist and I'm very happy with the practice I'm going to. Overall, I guess it was a good month!

As usual, I'm going to put in a plug for the current Wednesday Quotes, where the theme is Morning Routines. My morning routine, as you might guess, includes coffee every day, but unfortunately I don't usually have time to visit other blogs in the morning and have to try to do that in the evening. I'd love to have you stop by and share a little about your morning routine at WQ - The Morning Routine.

What milestones have you reached recently? Leave a comment and let me know!

I'm sharing in this week's Wednesday Hodgepodge at From This Side of the Pond.

Don't miss a coffee break! Subscribe to A Fresh Cup of Coffee by email.

©2006-2025 HS Coffee Break/Just A Second/A Fresh Cup of Coffee. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. This post was written by a human. https://morecoffeebreaks.blogspot.com/

This post may contain affiliate links - using affiliate links from A Fresh Cup of Coffee helps continue the coffee breaks and conversation. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

WQ - The Morning Routine

If you've visited me at A Fresh Cup of Coffee more than a couple of times, it probably comes as no surprise that coffee plays a major role in my morning routine. It's one of the elements of the routine that is constant, no matter what day of the week or what time I happen to start my day.

Once you wake up and smell the coffee, it's hard to go back to sleep. ~Fran Drescher

Ah coffee. The sweet balm by which we shall accomplish today's tasks. ~Holly Black

The morning cup of coffee has an exhileration about it which the cheering influence of the afternoon or evening cup of tea cannot be expected to reproduce. ~Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.

My perfect morning is spent drinking coffee, eating porridge and reading the paper at a local cafe. ~Anton du Beke

I don't often eat porridge, although I do like it, and no longer have time to sit at a cafe in the morning. But I suppose, in a sense, doing a quick check of my email and the tasks for the day is a little like reading the paper. I have coffee every morning, and sip it while going about the other tasks in my morning routine. Most mornings that does include at least a few minutes at the computer.

I love how you just make coffee and then somehow something gets done. ~Jerry Seinfeld

The other morning routine item that happens every day is at least a short devotional and Bible reading. I have an app on my phone called First 15 that provides a devotional and prayer guide with a worship song that I can listen to and ponder as I do a few morning tasks that don't require much thinking - like washing my face and putting on a bit of makeup, or packing my lunch. On days when I have more time in the morning, I do a little more Bible reading as well.

On weekdays, the morning routine means packing lunches for my husband and me as we head out to work. Usually he leaves about an hour before I need to, so after seeing him off I finish packing my lunch while listening to First 15, then wash my face, put on a little bit of makeup and fix my hair, and take a few minutes at the computer to check email and maybe even hit publish on a blog post like this one. It's pretty rare that I have time to do much more than that.

I wake up some mornings and sit and have my coffee and look out at my beautiful garden, and I go, 'Remember how good this is. Because you can lose it.'" ~Jim Carrey

A morning view from a few years ago

What's your morning routine? Leave a comment and let me know, and if you have a blog post with a quote or two about morning routines, please link up! Have a great day!

Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day. ~Mark Twain

I wake up every morning at nine and grab for the morning paper. Then I look at the obituary page. If my name is not on it, I get up. ~Benjamin Franklin

*********************

Wednesday Quotes is a bi-weekly opportunity for bloggers to share their writing, poetry, photos, or stories inspired by our theme. We've chosen the themes as a starting point for your creativity, and the only requirement is that your post include at least one related quote. Feel free to combine or "double-dip" with other writing or photo challenges as well. Of course, we'd appreciate a link back to us, if you'd be so kind. Add your link and please visit others and leave a comment! The link is open for two weeks.

Thanks to Marsha at Always Write for introducing us to the Wednesday Quotes challenge, and for passing the hosting duties along so we can continue sharing great quotes! Wednesday Quotes is co-hosted by Kym at A Fresh Cup of Coffee and Sadje at Keep It Alive.

Quoting reminds me there are other people in the world besides only me.

And other thoughts besides mine, and other ways of thinking.

~Gregory Maguire~

Wednesday Quotes 2025 Themes

January 8 - Planning Ahead/Setting Goals

January 22 - Winter Sleep

February 5 - Love Inspires Us

February 19 - Staying Balanced

March 5 - First Impressions

March 19 - Looking After Yourself

April 2 - Competition

April 16 - Spring Colours

April 30 - Morning Routines

May 14 - Memorable Vacations

May 28 - Telling Your Stories

June 11 - Summer Fun

June 25 - Patriotism

July 9 - Hobbies

July 23 - Being Adventurous

August 6 - Spirituality

August 20 - Writing Letters

September 3 - Chocolate

September 17 - Making and Keeping Promises

October 1 - Autumn/Another Spring

October 15 - Daily Bread

October 29 - Night Skies/Stargazing

November 12 - Good Manners

November 26 - Celebrating Holidays

December 10 - Winter Wonderland

December 24 - Holiday Memories

Don't miss a coffee break! Subscribe to A Fresh Cup of Coffee by email.

This post may contain affiliate links - using affiliate links from A Fresh Cup of Coffee helps continue the coffee breaks and conversation.

Sunday, April 27, 2025

Scripture and a Snapshot - Holy is the LORD Almighty

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another:

"Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;

the whole earth is full of his glory."

At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

"Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty."

Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for."

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?"

And I said, "Here am I. Send me!"

~Isaiah 6:1-8~

Thank you for joining Scripture & A Snapshot. Leave a link to your own post sharing a Scripture and a Snapshot. Take time to visit some of the other links and bless each other with comments.

Don't miss a coffee break! Subscribe to A Fresh Cup of Coffee by email

We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

Saturday, April 26, 2025

Share Four Somethings - April 2025

I hope I'm not speaking too soon, but I think I'll have my Four Somethings ready to share right on time this month! Well, late in the day, but on the first day the link-up is open, so that's something for me. Maybe I'll even get to visit more of the other participants as a result. Each month we're each invited to share things in these categories: Some Things I Loved, Some Things I Learned, Some Things That Went Well, and Some Thing I Let Go Of. I usually like to include a little bit of a bonus: Some Things I Read and a little of What's Coming Up Soon.

Some Things I Loved:

I absolutely loved being able to visit family at the beginning of April! I drove to Ontario where I stayed the night with my sister-in-law and they took me to the airport in the morning. On April 1st I flew to Winnipeg and met up with my parents and my brother and his wife, and we drove to the nearby smaller city where my aunts live. My two elderly aunts are in an assisted living apartment there and I hadn't seen them in five years. I've always had a very close relationship with them, in part because I lived with them while I was in college, and then they used to visit us almost every year when we moved to the USA. So they are pretty special to me, and I'm so glad I got to see them again - they are 95 and 97 years young! Just wonderful to spend time with family!

With Auntie Linda and Auntie Alice

With Aunt Jo-Anne

With Mum and Dad

With Auntie Helen

Let me backtrack just a bit to the very end of March, because I love my Sweet Adelines chorus, and loved being at the Regional Competition in Covington. Scioto Valley Chorus won and we are now Regional Champions! I mentioned this in my March SFS but didn't have any photos to include. Still don't have my "official" chorus photo, so watch for that soon!

Some Things I Learned:

I'm stretching myself and learning some new things for chorus. Not just learning a new song, which we dove into our first week back after winning Regional, but I've stepped into a co-chair role as we plan a fall show for the chorus. The other co-chair has experience managing and producing shows, so I'm happy to be more of an assistant and learn as I go.

Some Things That Went Well:

I was very thankful that the travel logistics for my trip to Manitoba went well. I had my flights changed a couple times in the weeks leading up to the trip, but that all sorted out nicely. I made the drive up to Ontario and back by myself, and managed to navigate, get through Detroit, cross the border, and drive on the busier highways in Ontario without incident or even hyperventilating! (I hate driving in big cities or on major freeway systems) The flights went smoothly too.

Some Things I Let Go Of:

I let go of my reservations about entertaining in this apartment that I consider less-than-ideal for having company. We invited a couple from church over for dinner on the Saturday of Holy Week and it turned out fine, and we had such a good time with them!

I officially let go of my hope that we would be able to move by the end of our current lease, and we will be renewing. On the plus side, we are ready to get started on a house hunt and are motivated now. I think we were just not sure enough that buying was a good idea and kept putting it off for various reasons. I expect that now we will set ourselves some firmer milestone deadlines and we have plenty of time to search and to plan, and we shouldn't have to feel rushed into any decisions.

*********************

Some Things I Read:

Finished and reviewed these since my last SFS:

A Deceptive Composition by Anna Lee Huber

The Work of Art by Mimi Matthews

Here are the books I'm currently reading:

Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn

Black Fog by KT McWilliams

All of my reading news is at Just A Second if you're interested.

What's Coming Up Soon?

We are getting to go to dinner at a soft opening for a local restaurant next week which we're looking forward to. No other plans in place for the month of May, although we are heading to Maryland to visit the kids for Memorial Day weekend, and that is always so very exciting for me! Hopefully we'll have time to see some friends as well.

Share something in the comments, or share four somethings with the rest of us in the link party!

This post will be linked at My Joyful Life in the Share Four Somethings link party.

Don't miss a coffee break! Subscribe to A Fresh Cup of Coffee by email.

Thursday, April 24, 2025

Everyday Images #60

Welcome to another installment of my challenge and reminder to myself to take photos somewhat regularly. I'm not a photographer, but I enjoy taking everyday photos of things I find interesting or want to remember later, and I find that I notice interesting things when I'm intentionally watching for them. Having some prompts that are open to interpretation has helped me pay a little more attention to what's around me. Every two weeks I have a few words and phrases that I'm focusing on, and I try to find opportunities to take pictures of these things each week.

April Prompts - Everyday Images #60

~~~~~

at home (monthly)

flowers

looking up

pause

inside and/or outside

on my plate (quarterly)

~~~~~

at home (monthly) - if you thought I'd have a beautiful photo of my table set for Resurrection Day dinner, you've overestimated my ability to remember to take that photo. My table was beautiful, but you'll have to take my word for it! And underneath the beautiful tablecloth was this puzzle my husband was working on. It's too big for his puzzle table, so I agreed to have the dining room table do double duty for a few weeks.

flowers - I also didn't take photos of beautiful floral arrangements. But we played "pooh-sticks" with dandelions at the creek on Sunday and dandelions are flowers!

looking up

pause - I don't know what I was thinking when I chose this prompt, but I guess a coffee break or lunch break is a pause so here's how I spent one of those.

inside and/or outside - looking outside my front door, while standing inside

on my plate (quarterly) - I'm truly disappointed that I didn't take a photo of our Easter weekend meals. We had delicious lamb and beef kebabs on Saturday evening, and a very non-traditional but oh-so-good meal of chicken-fried steaks on Sunday. But we also enjoyed pizza last week, and I got one of the freebie Jet's Pizza gift cards at the hockey game the week before so pizza was on my plate a couple times.

And a few bonus photos:

On April 12th, we visited Battelle-Darby Metro Park. We've been wanting to go there for awhile to see the bison! It was a beautiful day, sunny and mild, but the wind gusted occasionally. Great metro park!

This past Sunday we went for a walk in Rose Run, mostly because our granddaughter wanted to ride her new scooter and to wade in the creek. It was another beautiful day with nearly perfect weather.

I am sharing my photos every other Thursday, along with my prompts for the next two weeks. You can use all or some of the prompts for your own photo posts, or none of the prompts and just link up a post featuring your photos. Simple rules: Your posts must be family-friendly; the photos must be your own; and the post must be mostly photos. If you do share I'd appreciate a mention and link to A Fresh Cup of Coffee on your post.

Everyday Images will continue in 2025, every other Thursday, and the link-up is open for two weeks.

April/May Prompts - Everyday Images #61

~~~~~

colorful

selfie (quarterly)

perspective

garden

chair

wings

~~~~~

Don't miss a coffee break! Subscribe to A Fresh Cup of Coffee by email.