A Fresh Cup of Coffee

Thursday, October 5, 2023

Share Four Somethings - September 2023

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Thanks to the way my vacation days have overlapped with the end of the month, I'm here at the beginning of October to share Something I Loved, Something I Read, Something I Learned and Something I Ate during September! It will probably take me a couple days before I'm able to visit and comment on the other Sharers of Four Somethings too, but I will do my best to catch up!

Something Loved

We started September with a long weekend visit from some of the kids, and at the end of the month we arrived in Alberta to visit my family. Loved bookending the month that way!

I loved that this trip to Alberta coincided so neatly with the ten year anniversary of our last trip. Even though it bothered me to realize it's been ten years since I've seen some of my family and friends! Ten years plus one day since I'd posted this quote as my status on FB:

I could but esteem this moment of my departure as among the most happy of my life. ~Meriwether Lewis

Loved all the time spent catching up with family, and loved the visit to Banff and just doing some quick explores of my old stomping grounds.

Something Read

I'm still struggling a bit to stay on top of all the things I'd like to read, and have been limiting myself to just one book at a time to help me focus. All the same, it's been slow lately. I finally finished a couple of review books (I still have to publish one review) and started on the next one.

Here are the books I'm currently reading:

A Louisiana Christmas To Remember - novella collection

Voice of the Ancient by Connilyn Cossette

I've been trying out hosting a monthly link-up for review posts and the October edition is now open (Book Review Bulletin for October). I'd love for you to drop by and share a review or two, and comment on someone else's review. The hope is that we can comment on actual reviews and share them. And of course, all the rest of my reading news is at Just A Second if you're interested.

Something Learned

I learned a sort-of-new vocabulary word. Just last night, actually. I noticed a headline in the local town newspaper about election candidates attending the hustings. The term seemed vageuly familiar and a quick search confirmed my impression that it is another word for a town hall meeting or debate where candidates meeting the local voters. Also found out that it derives from a Viking term, which is why it seemed familiar (I remembered reading it in a historical fiction novel).

What I still haven't learned is why the local news editor thought that obscure and ancient term would be suitable for a 2023 headline. Oh well. Maybe others did similar searches and also learned something new that day!

Something On My Plate

smoked bacon-wrapped meat loaf

Grilled Monte Cristo at The Melt

Count Chocula with my granddaughter
because I felt like it!

barbecue during a layover in the Dallas airport

Montreal Smoked Meat sandwich

What's Been On My Calendar? #WBOYC

This usually gets shared in the WBOYC link-up but I'm late with my post this time around, so the link is already closed. All the same, here's a quick recap:

Labour Day weekend we had the kids at our place.

We went to Ontario for a weekend to visit my husband's family. My father-in-law was in the hospital receiving pallative care, so we went to visit him, and he passed away shortly after we headed back home.

Middle of the month, we took advantage of free admission to Franklin Park Conservatory for Dawes Arboretum members, and it was beautiful!

At the very end of the month, we headed to Alberta, and celebrated my parents' 60th anniversary with the family.

What's Coming Up Soon?

We head back home in a couple days and will have a couple weeks of regular work schedules. We'll try to do a little exploring around the Columbus area as we can. We're planning a Canadian Thanksgiving feast with some friends and a birthday celebration with our son and his family. Another son has an October birthday, but at this point we don't have plans to visit, since we'll be going out to Maryland in November, so I guess we'll have to call him for his birthday and mail his gifts.

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

This post will be linked at Overflowing With Thankfulness in the Share Four Somethings link party.

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Wednesday Hodgepodge - Late Night Thoughts

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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. And I promise it was still Wednesday (but just barely!) when I posted this!

1. What's something that scares you?

Being lost and alone. Heights. Being underwater.

2. Do you care where the food you eat comes from? To what degree?

I care, but to be honest, not so much that it affects my choices all that much. I prefer homemade, but don't have time or expertise to source ingredients and make things myself. I prefer locally sourced but don't have the time or money to purchase everything that way consistently. I do check labels and compare prices when I'm buying in the store, because I'm willing to pay a little extra for something grown or packaged in the USA rather than certain other countries.

3. What's something you wish you'd spent more time doing when you were younger?

Younger as in when I was a child or teen? I wish I'd spent more time learning music, especially another instrument or two. I learned guitar but didn't keep it up and I regret that. Younger as in ten or twenty years ago? Kind of the same. And I wish I'd spent more time learning or improving some practical skills like canning and homesteading type skills, or taking a continuing education class here and there.

4. Let's play autumn this or that . . . pumpkin spice or apple cider? Corn maze or haunted house? Horror film or Hallmark movie? Blanket or sweatshirt? Watch football or watch the World Series? Foliage - red, yellow, or orange?

I'd rather have apple cider than a pumpkin spice latte, but other than that I do prefer pumpkin spice. Corn maze, please! Definitely a Hallmark movie! A blanket - that way I can set it aside when I get too warm, because I probably will! Would rather watch the World Series, unless it's Canadian Football League! - then I might prefer the football game! Normally I'd say I prefer red foliage, but the golds and yellows I've seen this week are really striking!

5. This time last year where were you and what were you doing?

I was still living in Maryland, but was still processing the fact that we were unemployed and were almost certainly going to have to move away. That was not a good time. But I was also preparing for my parents' upcoming visit, and was enjoying every moment I could with my brand new granddaughter. I had also just 'graduated' from physical therapy after my knee replacement. So a lot of good things were happening too.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

This week I'm in Alberta visiting my family and some friends, and seeing some favorite places we loved way back when we lived here. But boy, have things changed since then - it's been thirty years since we moved away, and ten years since our last visit out here! Many changes to the cities, towns, buildings, and the like, but the mountains and views in Banff are still spectacular! Here's just one example - Two Jack Lake.

Well, it's pretty late, but since I spent a bit of time answering these questions, I am going to post and link up now, but I'll have to stop by to comment on other Hodgepodge posts in a day or two. And hopefully get caught up on visiting other blogs within a couple days post-vacation!

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

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Monday, October 2, 2023

WQ - An Assortment of Containers

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I'm participating in the Wednesday Quotes link-up hosted by Marsha at Always Write, and yes, I know it's not a Wednesday. But that's the way I roll, and even more so when I'm on vacation. The prompt this time around is an unusual one - containers - so it was an interesting adventure finding quotes and deciding how to pull it together and stuff it into the 'container' of this blog so it made sense.

Architecture is basically a container of something. I hope they will enjoy not so much the teacup, but the tea. ~Yoshio Taniguchi

CC BY 2.5, Link - MOMA New York Courtyard

The Gallery of Horyuji Treasures

When you realize the difference between the container and the content, you will have knowledge. ~Idries Shah

I cannot be contained because I am the container. ~Jim Carrey

A book is simply the container of an idea - like a bottle; what is inside the book is what matters. ~Angela Carter

For God, who said, "Light shall shine out of darkness," is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen containers, so that the extraordinary greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves.

~II Corinthians 4:6-7~

Once I got going it was hard to contain my pleasure at how easily it came together. Now to get it posted and linked before it's time to collect quotes for this week!

Wednesday Quotes is hosted by Marsha at Always Write. This post will be linked at #WQ #39: Containers

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Sunday, October 1, 2023

Scripture and Snapshot - With Thanksgiving

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Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD;

let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.

Let us come before him with thanksgiving

and extol him with music and song.

For the LORD is the great God,

the great King above all gods.

In his hand are the depths of the earth,

and the mountain peaks belong to him.

The sea is his, for he made it,

and his hands formed the dry land.

Come, let us bow down in worship

let us kneel before the LORD our Maker;

for he is our God

and we are the people of his pasture,

the flock under his care.

~Psalm 95:1-7~

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.

I also link up at the Sweet Tea & Friends Monthly Link-up Party hosted by Grace-Filled Moments.

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