A Fresh Cup of Coffee: July 2025

Thursday, July 31, 2025

Everyday Images #67

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.

July Prompts - Everyday Images #67

~~~~~

at home (monthly)

station

selfie (quarterly)

beginning and/or end

pebbles

scenery

~~~~~

at home (monthly)

station - I hate it when I stump myself. For some reason I must have thought I might drive by a train station or something? Settling for this photo that kind of shows my desk which might be considered my "work station"

selfie (quarterly)

beginning and/or end - views from my doorstep at the beginning and at the end of Monday

pebbles

scenery - weather that was either muggy and hot or rainy kept us from getting out walking much recently. And walks in the parks would be where I'd likely see scenery, right? So it's fitting that I decided to use this photo of the scene while we waited out the thunderstorm in a picnic shelter on Sunday.

And a few bonus photos:

We went to the county fair demolition derby a couple weekends ago.

I like the neon glow on this photo my hubby took of me and my granddaughter. Haha.

This past Saturday we checked out Char-Mar Ridge park which was very nice, thought it was very hot that day and there was absolutely NO breeze.

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.

August Prompts - Everyday Images #68

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heritage

open and/or closed

yellow

river

middle

corner

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Wednesday, July 30, 2025

Wednesday Hodgepodge - Wrapping Up July

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. On July 29th 1957 The Tonite Show premiered with Jack Parr as its host. This marked the beginning of the modern day talk show. Do you watch any daytime or late night talk shows today? Do you have any thoughts on the hubbub surrounding the cancellation of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, or are you more in the camp of 'who is Stephen Colbert?'

I don't currently watch any talk shows. We used to watch late night talk shows back when Johnny Carson, Jay Leno, and David Letterman were hosts. After that generation, the hosts got steadily less funny and more political as in going all in one direction politically. Comedy ceases to be funny when it's mean-spirited and always at the expense of 'that other group'. In my opinion, that's what happened to Colbert. I used to think he was funny, years ago, but his show became mainstream instead of alternative, and he decided to try and get laughs from being hateful. In a way, I don't care, because I stopped watching those kinds of shows a long time ago, but in a way it's also satisfying to see that Colbert and others were dropping in the ratings and losing money, and that's just business.

2. What's the best part of your day?

On weekdays I think the best part of the day is probably pouring the evening cup of coffee and relaxing for a bit, wherever that may be. Getting into bed and having a few minutes to read is also a great part of the day. My best part of the day used to be my morning coffee and quiet time, but now my mornings are a bit too rushed to feel like that's the best.

3. What's something your generation does that you actually dislike?

I don't know if this is specifically my generation, but I've seen this a lot in people in my age group over the years, and I never thought it was good. Seems like my generation has leaned towards indulgent or permissive parenting, probably out of the natural desire to give our kids more and better experiences than we had. But toddlers that are not disciplined are more likely to turn into unruly and bratty children; and children that are catered to and given everything they want are more likely to turn into entitled and irresponsible teens and young people. So now that my generation's children are adults, it's sad to see those young adults treat their parents disrespectfully and struggle with their own "adulting". Obviously it's not nearly all the fault of permissive or indulgent parenting, but I think it's a piece of the puzzle.

4. When you cook do you clean as you go, or clean it all up once you're finished cooking? What's the last thing you cooked/baked in your own kitchen?

It depends on what I'm cooking, but usually I leave the majority of the cleanup until I'm finished. (In the hopes that hubby will wash the dishes, to be honest. He usually does.) I do little bits of cleanup in between steps as I have the time, like throwing away the peelings or trash parts of vegetables once I've finished chopping and have them in a pan, or rinsing utensils I'm finished with and putting them in the sink.

The last thing I cooked was a light 'breakfast for dinner' on Sunday night. I made corned beef hash and scrambled eggs. I was going to make Chicken Florentine yesterday but we made a last minute decision to get takeout so I'm planning to make the chicken tonight instead.

5. Sum up your July in ten words or less.

Not enough time or appropriate weather to do all the things. (That's eleven words, but you get the idea!)

6. Insert your own random thought here.

On Sunday afternoon our 55+ group from church had a picnic and guided nature walk planned. We all met at the park and ate our picnic lunches with a wary eye on the weather and radar maps, because the forecast was for scattered showers all afternoon. Just before we went for our walk, some of us took some things back to our cars. As I was walking out of the picnic pavilion, I guess I stepped on a bigger rock in the gravel, and rolled my ankle pretty hard. Ouch! But I barely broke stride and didn't fall so my initial reaction was basically "Yowzers! That hurt! But it's fine, I'll walk it off." After all, I'm regularly clumsy and my ankles are used to being rolled, unfortunately. It was fine for awhile, and we went on the walk which was cut short when the rain started up, and we sat in our picnic pavilion and we talked with our naturalist about all the things we would have seen on the hike. While it rained cats and dogs and thundered pretty loudly (see photo above). By the time the rain let up and we were ready to go, I realized my ankle had swollen badly and I limped through all the puddles back to the car. I was not fine. We had to make a stop at the store anyway, so I bought a good ankle splint/brace and made sure to put my foot up and ice it when we got home. So yay me, spraining my ankle just a few days before we go on vacation. I've been wearing the splint and walking with a cane, staying off my feet at work, and taking a pass on any choreo at chorus rehearsal. It's improving quickly. If I'm careful and use my walking sticks, I'm hoping I'll still be able to do a bit of hiking on vacation. :sigh:

I think our vacation this weekend will be a fun adventure, even if my hiking is a bit curtailed. The current Wednesday Quotes link-up theme is "Being Adventurous" and you can find it here: WQ - Choosing Adventure. And Everyday Images is my photo link-up with a new set of prompts coming tomorrow (Thursday).

How would you sum up your July? Leave a comment and let me know!

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

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Sunday, July 27, 2025

Scripture and a Snapshot - We Wait In Hope

We wait in hope for the LORD;

he is our help and our shield.

In him our hearts rejoice,

for we trust in his holy name.

May your unfailing love be with us, LORD,

even as we put our hope in you.

~Psalm 33:20-22~

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Saturday, July 26, 2025

Share Four Somethings - July 2025

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 love Independence Day. I love having a day off work, I love patriotism on display, and I love fireworks. It was a bonus when it hit me that the 4th landed on a Friday this year, which meant a long weekend. I talked my husband into taking advantage of that long weekend to go to Maryland and we got to enjoy something else I love - spending time with my family.

This was not on the 4th weekend, but it goes
with the family theme in this section!

I loved walking at Taylor Farm Park a few times during the month. Not as often as we'd like. There's part of me that would like to go over there every evening for the sunset views.

Switching gears a little, we loved the demolition derby night at the Franklin County Fair. Why is it so satisfying and entertaining to see cars getting wrecked on purpose?

'Merica!!

Some Things I Learned:

This thing I've been learning isn't in the least bit useful, I don't think. But it's fun. In our family group chats, we've been having fun doing AI edits to our photos. Now that we've learned how to do this, no photo is safe. It's hilarious to me that my husband is often transformed into an angry looking character.

Some Things That Went Well:

So far the planning ahead parts of our upcoming vacation weekend have gone very well. I booked the Airbnb months ago, but we're down to the details of deciding who is making which meal and who will bring what. Fingers crossed that it continues to go well. I'm getting really excited about it.

I'm really happy with the flowers hubby has brought home to bring a little beauty to our small outdoor space. And my responsibility to water them almost every day has been going well too.

This was Restaurant Week in Columbus and we got to take advantage of it twice. We went out for dinner with friends on Thursday night and had so much fun trying out an Italian restaurant. It was good but not outstanding overall, but their breadsticks and tiramisu were amazing. So definitely worth it. And then on Saturday after doing a bit of hiking with our son and his family, we decided to finally try Local Cantina since they had a Restaurant Week deal. This is one of those places that we've all been saying we should try for about two years but somehow never did. Restaurant Week was a good way to get a sampling of their tacos and we were all very pleased. And I will say their fried cheese appetizer is among the very best I've ever had. I would go back and just order a platter of those for my meal! Ha!

Some Things I Let Go Of:

I'm working on letting go of some worries and what-ifs. I'm not really a worrier by nature, but my husband got some health news that is a bit concerning so it's been on my mind. I know there's no sense in getting worked up about it until we know more, so we have decided to just be in wait and see mode for the time being. He has an appointment with a specialist on Monday and will figure out the treatment plan then and we will go from there. Prayers are appreciated, if you'd be so kind.

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Some Things I Read:

Finished and reviewed these since my last SFS:

Jane of Lantern Hill by L.M. Montgomery

The Highland Heist by Pepper Basham

The Mysterious Case of the Missing Crime Writer by Ragnar Jónasson

10 Marchfield Square by Nicola Whyte

Here are the books I'm currently reading:

Village Books by Craig McLay - still not sure what I think of this one, as I'm not entirely sure what the main conflict is, and I'm not terribly fond of any of the characters. I'm finding myself skimming sometimes.

Murder Most Fair by Anna Lee Huber - had to take a little break from this to finish others, but I'm back at it!

Before Beauty: A Retelling of Beauty and the Beast by Brittany Fichter - I promised this one was next and I finally got started on it.

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

What's Coming Up Soon?

Next weekend is our big family vacation meet-up! All the kids and grandkids will be descending (or maybe ascending? It is in the mountains, after all!) on a vacation home rental in the Deep Creek area next weekend and I can hardly wait! We haven't got many activities planned, and it's just a long weekend, so we may wind up just hanging out at the vacation home playing games and enjoying the hot tub. My husband and I are celebrating an anniversary that weekend too, so we have an extra day vacation before we go back home, and we're planning to visit Fallingwater and probably Polymath Park 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.

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