It's a Brown Hodgepodge!

I'm joining in with Joyce and friends for the Hodgepodge! How would you answer these questions?

1. What was your favorite part about growing up in your hometown? I grew up in a place called Tarrant City and while I was growing up there, it felt a little like Mayberry. We could walk to school and the library. We even walked to a small grocery store. My mother never got her driver’s license, so we walked to a lot of places. Our church was at the end of our street, so we walked there. It was a very blue-collar town at the time. There were some professionals, of course, but there were more folks who weren’t professionals. It makes me very sad because Tarrant City is no longer a place I would want to live. I loved being able to walk everywhere. I’m sure I complained about it at the time, but in hindsight, that was ideal. We were also able to ride our bikes all over the place and play outside until dark. At one time, there were 17 kids on our street so there was almost always someone available to play kickball or swing together. I loved going to Friday night football games - I loved the smells and the sounds! Here is an old picture from our neighborhood. I'm front row - second from left. The girl to my right died quite a few years ago. Our birthdays were just 7 days apart!

2. Do you prefer 'material' gifts or 'experience' gifts? If you answered experience, tell us about one you've received and truly enjoyed. I prefer experience gifts. We’ve given our granddaughter a “day with Pops” and “a shopping experience at Claire’s” with Gran.

3. Is brown a color featured prominently in your home decor? Your wardrobe? What's a favorite brown thing you own? Of the brown foods listed here which one is your favorite and/or most often consumed... brown sugar, brown rice, pretzels, coffee, dates, cloves, German chocolate cake, whole wheat bread? We have a lot of neutral in our home, but not much brown. I have a few brown things in my wardrobe. We do have “brown” wooden floors in our home and I love those. We also have several antiques and I guess they are “brown” and I love those. Of the brown foods, I do like brown rice but don’t eat it often. I also like pretzels and dates but don’t eat those every day. I don’t eat sweets anymore, but I LOVE German chocolate cake. I made one for our daughter-in-law’s birthday just recently.

This one was prettier -- I don't know why my
icing looks better. Someone said it might
have been the humidity!!

4. Which 'Charlie Brown' character do you relate to most? If you're not sure, you can take a fun quick quiz by clicking here-Which Charlie Brown Character Are You?  or the one found here-Charlie Brown Quiz. I got the same answer on both. I did not get the same answer on both -- The first quiz said I was Sally and the second one said I was Lucy. Oh well! I hope I never move the football when someone is trying to kick it hahaha!

5. What's a favorite item you've purchased this year? I love the Christmas ornaments I purchased in Greece and I am looking forward to hanging them on our tree. I'm trying to remember if we made any major purchases this year -- our recent trip was a major purchase and I loved it PLUS it was an experience!!

6. Insert your own random thought here. Just FYI - I do love Snoopy!

Weekend in Review

Mark had covid last week and by Thursday he was going crazy. He drove down to the farm and I'm so glad he did. The fresh air made him feel so much better.

I ironed the baptismal gown and matching slip. I mentioned the gown in my post yesterday. Mark is an identical twin and his grandmother made two matching baptismal gowns for them to wear. Their siblings wore the gowns when they were baptized. Our children were the oldest in the next generation and it was wonderful to have not just one gown, but two! They were baptized in the gowns as were their first cousins. Our oldest grand was next in line and she wore it for her baptism. Laura attends a different denomination and they don't baptize babies but both of her girls have worn it for their dedication. I love that connection between generations.

Here is our youngest grandgirl wearing the gown. This was on Sunday but added it in with the photos of the gown.

Friday night was supper club at the McCain's house. Mark was back from the farm but wasn't sure if he was still contagious so he stayed home. I went to Aldi earlier in the day and bought the ingredients below plus crackers. I thought my turkey was pretty cute.

Mark tested negative on Saturday morning and I had no symptoms, but tested anyway for our daughter's peace of mind - I was negative, too! It was cold enough we turned on the fire to knock the chill out of the room.

We then drove to our daughter's house which takes about an hour and a half. We picked up lunch for all of us and were able to eat together. I got to feed this one. She has two emotions - totally happy or NOT! haha! She is so cute.

Pops played outside with big sister. He is so creative when it comes to playtime. The weather was gorgeous!

I was helping her fly - her batgirl cape was flying in the breeze.

After playing all day, we headed to Taco Mama for dinner. We had on sweatshirts and were able to sit outside which is always a good thing when you have littles with you. She finished her food and then was so mad that everyone else was eating.

Mark and I had booked a room at the Hampton Inn so after they got the baby to bed and the older one was in the shower, we headed to the hotel. I am usually at work by 7:00 on Sunday mornings so it was so luxurious to sleep in a little. We had to be at the church about 9:45. When we walked in, there sat our son holding the baby. They drove down from Chelsea that morning.

The church had set up a backdrop for family photos. Here they are!

We were able to grab one, too. I may use this on our Christmas card (with some cropping). Actually, there is one where everyone is looking at the camera! I'll use it.

They had to sit on the front row during the service. We were several rows behind. She was peeking over her mom's shoulder.

The photographer took a photo of each family.

And she took one of the group - there were 11 babies.

After church we headed to the in-law's house for lunch. The girls got to sit at a little table in the corner. It was so cute!

Everyone else made their plates and we sat in the dining room. It was nice that the girls were in the same room!

We drove back to Birmingham after lunch and took a nap! Then we picked up our neighbors and drove to Firebirds to celebrate Dave's birthday. I had a really good margarita BUT it was really sweet.

I said, "Let me take your picture." Lu was being really silly!!

I did get a cute one!

We haven't eaten at Firebirds since before Covid. They had an option to get an entree of three sides which is what I chose. I couldn't eat it all! It ordered a stuffed baked potato, roasted (charred?) carrots, and broccoli. I couldn't eat it all!

They brought a fun surprise for Dave! He is easy to celebrate!!

It was a good weekend. How was yours?

 

Sunday Stealing

I'm joining up with the Sunday Stealing gang. Thanks to Bev for stealing our questions!!

When do I feel most authentically myself? I feel most authentically myself when I'm with "our people." 

What I'm thankful for today? I'm thankful for sunshine and the first fire in the fireplace. I'm thankful for family and friends and my faith. I'm thankful for Sweet Tango apples and the upcoming holiday. I'm thankful for granddaughters. I'm thankful for baptismal gowns that have been worn by everyone in Mark's family - handmade by his grandmother over 70 years ago.

A memory I hope I never forget: the day our children were born; our travel memories; so many other things

Other ways I connect with long distant friends: facebook, instagram, text, email

How I reconnect with myself when I feel lost: I'm not sure I have an answer for this prompt. After thinking about it, I'm back . . .so, I love Lauren Daigle and when I've felt out of sorts, I've closed my office door and cranked up her music.

What would be my signature drink if I owned a café? Does this cafe serve liquor? If so, I'm going with diet cranberry juice and vodka with a splash or orange liqueur - similar to a Cosmopolitan! I guess I could keep regular cranberry juice on hand, too. If the cafe doesn't serve liquor, I'm serving pepsi products - diet pepsi for me. Speaking of drinks -- last night I had a greyhound -- grapefruit juice and vodka. I remember my daddy drinking grapefruit juice and vodka, but I didn't know it had a name!

Something I’ve let go of, as I’ve grown older - Something I want to let go as I get older is worrying about what others think of me. I think I've made progress, but Iwonder if that "worry" will ever go totally away.

The things I’m most likely to lie about -- I try not to lie but . . .I'm sure I do. . . about something . . .

What’s something I wish I had more time to learn -- other languages!

Social media trends that puzzle me - the ones where people share TMI - way too much!

Local phrases and terms I use often -Bless her (or his) heart!! People sometimes abbreviate Alabama to bama - I rarely say that. 

If I could only wear only three colors, I’d pick these...pinks, blues, and greens.

Favorite books, music, tv, movies, and media this month -- I just finished reading The Sullivan Island Supper Club series and it was cute! I can't say it was my favorite, but cute.  I don't think I've watched a movie for pleasure this month. We've been watching Shrinking and The Mallorca Files and will be watching the new Yellowstone soon. I watched the new Matlock - about 4 episodes while Mark was at the farm this week. I've been listening to "autumn music" on spotify. 

 

What's Been Happening Lately

We voted.

I stole this picture from Mark's phone -- this was what it looked like when we were climbing down into the pyramid!!

I know -- I told y'all I was finished with our trip, but here and there I might have another nugget or two haha!

I've shown y'all pictures before of my kitchen when it is spotless. I felt the need to show this one to y'all. I was in the middle of making a homemade German Chocolate cake which is multi-step. You make three cake layers (from scratch). You make the filling between the layers. You make a buttercream and sourcream chocolate frosting. Mark was at the farm and our kitchen was a disaster. I got it all cleaned up!!

Last Friday, I had a second surgery on my ear. The dermatologist didn't get all of the cancer the first time. The first was several major incisions with LOTS of stitches. This one was a scraping process but he still had to put the anesthesia in via shots. Shots in the ear hurt.

My passport made it through this trip but as we are beginning to look at our next trip, I had to renew my passport. I shared how the young woman at the security checkpoint had talked about how I look now versus my old photo. Here is proof. I hate that you can't smile/show your teeth anymore on your passport. I have mailed it off to be renewed.

I used one of the glasses we "inherited" from Mark's mom and made a fake cosmopolitan. It was diet cranberry juice and Grey Goose vodka and it was good.

This past Saturday night, we went to Mark's sister's house. She and her husband, Bob, hosted the whole family - there were about 35 of us. There are 12 first cousins including Mark and his three siblings. Two have died and there is one that hasn't been in contact with the family in many years and there is one in poor health on the west coast and there is one in Texas. The remaining 7 and quite of few of the next two generations were in attendance. Our daughter and her family were supposed to be with us, but the girls were both sick all last week. I was sad! I did get to hang out with this cutie - she is our oldest granddaughter - 8 going on 16. Susie Sheep (that is what our kids call Mark's sister) and Bob have a really cool swing on their porch.

Here are some of our folks around the island. We had so much good food. Mark's mother and her sister-in-law always hosted the whole family on Christmas day night. Mark's mother was a teetotaler. We laughed and said this was like the family Christmas party plus alcohol!!

It was a really good night. We were celebrating two engagements -- Susie and Bob's oldest son, Paul, is engaged to Maria and George and Alice's daughter is engaged to another Paul. One wedding will be in May 2025 and one will be in June 2025.

Alice made pimento cheese and guacamole and they were both delicious. Susie smoked a brisket and some other stuff and she had chicken from a local Greek restaurant -- Maria is Greek! Just in case you aren't familiar with the carrot recipe -- that is Copper Pennies. Yum! Yum! Someone brought baked beans and I love baked beans! As with most family gatherings, there was a ton of food.

Susie and Bob bought a big house when they moved to Alabama a couple of years ago. They have several outdoor areas and this is one of the areas. The weather was perfect.

I worked on Sunday morning and taught Sunday School and then I hopped in my car and headed home because we were having the immediate family over for lunch. We started with a number of 21 but then Laura's family was sick which dropped us to 17. Then Bill and Rebecca were unable to come, so we dropped to 15 and Grace's Paul was unable to come so we had 14. I can get 12 at our dining room table. Just FYI - I love fall decorations.

Here is the German Chocolate Cake. You can't see the back . . .but a 1/4 of the top layer fell off while I was trying to put it all together. I didn't eat any but I hope it was good.

We had devilled eggs, Asian slaw, Honeybaked Ham, rolls, green beans, pumpkin casserole with marshmallows on top, and corn casserole. I think it was all good except maybe the cake was dry.

We were supposed to celebrate Lauren, Laura and Glenn's birthdays but since Laura wasn't there . . .we celebrated Glenn and Lauren's November birthdays. Glenn had a GIANT Lil Debbie Oatmeal pie with a candle and Lauren had the German Chocolate cake.

Sunday afternoon, Mark started coughing and his nose was running like crazy. We were supposed to go to our neighborhood supper club. Mark stayed home and I went - which is a big thing for me. I had made a second corn casserole to take to the supper club. The picture below was during happy hour and we were sitting outside - once again, really nice weather.

Here was our table inside. I didn't know the couple in the photo before Sunday night and they were really nice. Even though I dreaded going by myself, I had a good time!

I worked 12 hours on Monday and when I got home, Mark was pretty sick so he slept upstairs. On Tuesday when I left for work, I left a covid test on the bathroom counter . . . he tested positive. He didn't believe it until he tested three different times. He has been pretty sick this week but by Thursday he was tired of being sick, tired of being inside, tired of having to wear a mask when I was home. He headed to the farm. I am praying I don't get it because we are supposed to go see our daughter and her family this weekend. We haven't seen them since Labor Day and I don't think we've ever gone this long between visits. The baby is being dedicated on Sunday.

 

Athens and Our Travel Home

I really loved waking up in a new port every day! Our last morning on the boat, this was our view!! We arrived in Piraeus Port in Greece. This is Europe's biggest passenger port and Athens is just 12 kilometers (7 miles) from the port. The port at daybreak was beautiful.

These words are from our trusty search engine:

The Acropolis of Athens, which dates back to the 5th Century BCE, draws millions of visitors every year. This ancient citadel consists of several important buildings such as the Parthenon and the Temple of Athena Nike, and is soaked in history. 

The morning was a tad grey but I loved this park area.

Wow - this was our first view!

Here we are at Mars Hill. Our tour guide didn't want us to go up . . . because there is no handrail around the top, it was slightly wet, and very windy. Some of the group went up anyway.

Mars Hill is where the Apostle Paul stood as he proclaimed, "I found an altar with the inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom, therefore, ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you."

The sky was beginning to clear -- see that blue and white peeking through the trees.

Below is the Odeon of Herodes Atticus. The Romans actually built this in the late 2nd century AD. It was originally built of Lebanese cedar and marble. The spot is still used for concerts and Elton John and Andrea Bocelli have performed there!

The views were amazing!

We had to get in a long line of people climbing to the top.

It was worth all of those steps.

Laura is so good at selfies!

The Parthenon is the single most iconic ancient ruin in Athens - some say it is the most iconic in the whole of Greece and . . .maybe Europe . . . and others say the world. It stands tall and proud on Acropolis Hill. It was built in the 5th Century BC and has rows of Doric columns. Our guide told us that the columns actually are a little larger in the middle and lean a tad to give the optical illusion of parallel lines. They are doing some work here, much like they were doing at the Library of Celsus in Ephesus.

Below is the Erechtheion which is supposedly a mysterious secondary temple. It is right "next door" to the Parthenon and its trademark is the Porch of the Maidens. Many think it served as a focal point for the local Athenian cult to both Poseidon and Athena. It dates back to 420 BC. I think our tour guide told us the columns carved into the shape of women are reproductions.

You can tell by the photo below -- it was WINDY and chilly that day. Look at our hair!

We were trying to take a selfie below -- Mark and Duane are best buddies. Another friend, Nathan, saw us trying to take the selfie and took the one above!

Here is a close up of the Porch of the Maidens.

It is a breathtaking site!

I just loved that this tiny dandelion was growning in an unlikely place!

Here are some views as we were driving to our next stop.

Below is the statue of the wealthy Greek benefactor George Averoff. His statue is outside the Panathenaic Stadium.

Beginning in the late 5th Century BC when the great orator Lycurgus sought to build an appropriate venue to host sporting events. The stadium was originally built in a rectangular shape. The original stadium was used in 330BC.

In the second century AD, the stadium received an upgrade and moved from that original rectangle shape to a horseshoe shape. At that point, it would hold 50,000 spectators. The seats were covered with Pentelic marble.

Jump ahead to the mid 1800's. The stadium was buried under layers of soil and of course, people had stolen the marble. Enter the modern Olympics and a man named Vikelas. Greece had declared bankruptcy so there was no money, but Vikelas was adamant that the first modern Olympic games should be held in Greece. Vikelas was able to gain the support of Crown Prince Constantine and the two of them lobbied George Averoff (statue). He was indeed wealthy and agreed to fund the construction BUT he insisted that it be built entirely of marble from Mt. Pentel (same marble used to construct the Acropolis).

March 1896 arrived and the first modern Olympic Games were held in the new stadium. During an Olympic year, the Olympic flame travels from the ancient site of Olympia around Greece and arrives at the Panathenaic Stadium and is handed off to the new host country. (whyathens.com)

The 2004 Olympics were held in Greece!

Below -- right behind the cars - to the right of the tree (sort of looks like a tree) -- that is The Runner -- also known as Dromeas. This is a sculpture of a runner and it is huge! It is made of glass and iron and shows a person running in perpetual, unending motion. The photo is from the bus window but it is so cool.

Here is one closer.

Below -- this is not the site of a ruin -- it is St. Eleftherios Church in downtown Athens. Some call it Little Cathedral. The facade is from the 12th Century. It is one of the few fully intact Byzantine churches in Athens.

The church is built on top of the ruins of an ancient temple dedicated to the goddess Eileithyia. Guess what this church is built of? It is built of reused pieces from earlier buildings!! It actually housed the library of Athens for a while! According to Wikipedia, on January 16, 2023, the church was used as the location of the lying-in-state of Constantine II of Greece, the last King of the Hellenes.

Here we are down below the ancient Agora of Athens -- see those windows up high behind Laura and Allen???

The ancient agora was very interesting. Agoras were usually located in the middle of a city or near the harbor. Agoras were built of colonnades, or rows of long columns, and constained stoae, also known as a long open walkway below the colonnades. These areas were usually beautifully decorated with fountains, grees, and statues.

I'm standing in front of a reproduction of some amazing doors. Just FYI, the agora was where the Apostle Paul preached "Jesus and the resurrection" to the skeptical Athenians. 

After touring the agora, we headed into town. I actually took a photo of the spot below because that was where we were to meet back after shopping and lunch on our own.

Someone asked me what my favorite food on the trip was and I said the tempura shrimp on the boat, but actually . . .this gyro may have been my favorite food. It was authentic and good.

After gobbling up our lunch, we split up to do some shopping. I love wandering streets like these!

We bought a few more souvenirs that day to give as gifts.

We then received a message (text and group me) saying to head back to our meeting place right away. There was evidently going to be a protest and all of the streets were going to be closed off. If our bus didn't pick us up and get us out, we were going to be stuck for a long while.

Look at that gorgeous fruit! Everyone but two people made it back and we boarded the bus. We could hear our tour guide giving instructions to Brian on how to catch the subway and meet us at the next location. He was going to wait on the two who didn't get the message. They came up at just that moment so the tour guide, Brian, and our two ladies ran as the bus was pulling off and they were able to jump onboard!

I took these photos from the bus window. You can see the crazy traffic this protest caused. Our bus driver was turning and going down all sorts of tiny streets.

The further away we were, the traffic started to clear out.

Below - his red and white stripe shirt made me think of Where's Waldo?

We spent some time that afternoon in the Acropolis Museum. It was lovely but by then, my brain would absorb NOTHING ELSE. I was done with ruins. They had a nice restroom and they had a nice gift shop area. In the gift shop, I actually found a puzzle for my friend, Lu's grandson, and she was able to get it for him.

We then drove to our hotel for the evening. Y'all . . .we wound around and I swear we felt like we were being kidnapped. We were laughing about it and even though we were whispering and joking about it . . . I hope our bus driver didn't speak English. We had actually stopped and let our tour guide off at her subway stop! We arrived at the Dolce by Wyndham Athens Attica Riviera and it was worth the crazy drive PLUS we were very near the airport. I might like to go back and stay a few days -- I probably won't but I could!

When we arrived, we were given our departure times for our flight the next morning. One group (not ours) had to depart at 3:45 a.m.

The rooms were lovely and we had a gorgeous view.

I didn't drink all week due to taking lots of Dramamine but I had a wonderful Cosmopollitan on this night and their lovely outdoor dining balcony!

We gathered for happy hour and those farthest from me (Lu, Dave, Connie, Fred) were checking out the SEC football scores on their phones!

I loved this night. It was so relaxing.

As the sun went down, an employee brought out this amazing lighting -- it was balls filled with light. My friend Laura picked it up and we took some fun photos.

This was the inside of the hotel - isn't it lovely?

We headed to bed on our last night of the trip. Oh my goodness -- so many wonderful memories. It was not quite daylight when we left our hotel headed to the airport.

I wore a mask on the flights home, too! I also had on a bright pink shirt and folks told me it was easy to spot me in a crowd!! We flew from Athens back to Istanbul.

We were back in the fancy Istanbul airport waiting on our flight to ATL and we were already checked in through three security checkpoints -- just at our gate!! We were being silly! So I had put on my compression socks WITH my Birkenstocks (which was how I planned to fly home). We don't wear black socks with sandals. I know some people do. We don't BUT they are pretty funny! I've heard that tall socks are back in style! Lu told me to act like I was holding up the plane with my finger.

We boarded our flight and it was the longeset 11 1/2 hours. We were delayed taking off so I'm really glad we didn't have connecting flights in ATL. I had interesting seatmates once again. Mark was a row ahead of me. They only had one comfort seat left and his hips and knees were killing him so he got the better seat. Did I already tell y'all this? Istanbul is known for hair transplants -- the implants - the kind that looks like it is planted in little rows. There were several men on our flight who were on their way back to the U.S. with new hair. I was sitting with one and his girlfriend. The old man across the aisle from me was very rude to the flight attendant. But we finally landed in the ATL!! We headed through customs and we had downloaded MPC - mobilepassportcontrol. It was wonderful. We made it through in the same amount of time that our friends, who had Global Entry, made it through!! We headed to the luggage carousel and bathrooms and our wonderful bus and driver were there to whisk us back to Birmingham. Everyone was so tired and within minutes, I could hear nothing but snoring. I was trying to stay awake but found myself nodding off BUT I HEARD THE DRIVER turn the air on high . . .and it wasn't hot. After that, I stayed awake the rest of the way home because I was afraid the driver was sleepy and I felt responsible hahaha! Mark was somewhere in the back of the bus asleep!

We made it to the church parking lot and loaded our suitcases and Lu and Dave's suitcases and I drove us home. I actually worked 12 hours on Monday but I remember very little of that day! We had a meeting that night and I remember thinking . . .just a little longer!

IT WAS A WONDERFUL TRIP. I highly recommend Educational Opportunities Travel. I highly recommend Azamara Cruise Lines - we were on the Pursuit. I highly recommend Turkey and Greece. I think everyone should go to Egypt once and I recommend the pyraminds and sphinx, but I have no desire to go back. I highly recommend traveling with wonderful people - old friends and new friends. I highly recommend Turkish airlines! If you ever get a chance to fly to or through the Istanbul airport -- it is amazing.

Any questions? If you have read all of these posts, I feel like I need to award a prize haha!