Summertime and the Hodgepodgin' is Easy

Join in the fun with Joyce at this week's Wednesday Hodgepodge and post your answers here.

1. When did you last 'swim against the tide'? Explain.

Just this past week, our pastor said as believers, we are swimming against the tide - swimming upstream. I agree with him on that. If we are focused on God and walking with Him, the rest of the world is going with the flow. We don't think like the world thinks when we have been set apart by Him.

2. What's the last self-help or self-improvement book you read?

I'm not sure it is "self-help" as you are referring to, but I'm reading Joyce Meyer's Battlefield of the Mind. Other than that, I guess the last self-help book I read was about 15 years or so ago - How to Talk with Anybody About Anything or something like that by Barbara Walters. And the first book I reach for each morning is my Bible.

3. "Tolerance is a tremendous virtue, but the immediate neighbors of tolerance are apathy and weakness." (Sir James Goldsmith)

Agree or disagree? Discuss. With civility please, because I think we have a good thing going in our very diverse (in geography, age, religion, political persuasion, ethnicity, marital status, upbringing, and cooking abilities) neighborhood here on This Side of the Pond.

Agree. Tolerance is a virtue when it comes to tolerating quirkiness or traits or behaviors by others which are not my business. It becomes weakness or apathy when tolerance means that I must accept or believe what goes against the grain of my beliefs about what God has said is right or wrong. I'm not saying anymore on the subject, not because I am apathetic or weak, but because I believe for the most part, your readers are like-minded.

I look forward to reading everybody's answers on this one.

4. What is one of your most vivid memories of the kitchen from your childhood?

My mom in the kitchen preparing dinner while my sister and I set the table and helped her (and sister and I quietly argued over which piece of meat would be ours as soon as the blessing was said.) Then all of us together eating dinner.

5. How did/do your own children's summers compare with your summers as a child? If you're not a parent, answer as it relates to what you've observed about the current generation of children vs. your own childhood.

Our summers were spent outside for the most part, playing with neighbors - softball, cars, playing house or grocery store, croquet, Red Rover, Hide and seek, walking to the little store for candy, spending the night with neighbor kids, Mom taking us to the public pool, Vacation Bible School, walking to the bookmobile and reading lots of books. Ice cream man, showers in the back yard with the water hose, standing in front of the swamp cooler - all kinds of good, fun things. Our kids were pretty much free to play with the neighbors' kids, ride their bikes and go swimming at the local pool, spend the nights with friends, go to movies, etc. Not too terribly different, but they had much nicer toys, bikes, tvs, and so forth. They have good memories of their childhood. Dad was lots of fun because he was a firefighter and his schedule allowed him to take them and their friends to the lake and teach them to water ski. That was something my Dad would NEVER have done or permitted.

6. Tell us what body of water you would most like to be on or near today, and why?

I would greatly enjoy being on Lake Ouachita again. Many fun summers were spent there the first fifteen years of marriage. For two weeks every summer, we and my husband's family would caravan to Arkansas and camp at the state park there. Each day we would take our boat out to an island and set up lawn chairs, coolers, and every thing needed for the day and enjoy having the whole island to ourselves in the shade, sunning on the beach, floating in the cove, taking the boat out for a ski run. And every evening cooking out and relaxing with our family, playing with the kids. Some days we would all load up and go into Hot Springs to visit the Madame Tussaud Museum and other sights to see there. The men loved going to Walmart to look around and before we went back to the campsite, we would have barbecue! Great memories. We had some good times and many adventures there. But if I were to go back today, I would trade the tent for a nice big motor home with AC!

photo source

7. Share a favorite song about water, or a favorite song with the word water in it's title, or a favorite song to listen to as you sit beside the water.

Bridge Over Troubled Water - Simon and Garfunkle
Rolling on the River- Ike and Tina Turner

8. My random thought.

Trying to do things these days requires too much planning or scheduling. Seems like in the past, we just did them. Anybody else feel that way or am I just too tired to plan? This is going to be a good day. Also, this Hodgepodge was answered quite hurriedly, so hoping my answers are all right. I noticed I had a typo on my last one. I love Joyce's Hodgepodge because it helps me blog at least once a week. :-)

Thank you, Joyce.