I'm joining up for Joyce's weekly Hodgepodge. Feel free to join us at From This Side of the Pond or you can answer the questions in the comments!
1. April 26th is National Audubon Day, honoring John
James Audubon, the French-American ornithologist, naturalist, and painter known
for his detailed study and illustration of birds in their natural habitats. Do
you have a bird feeder? Any birds in your home decor? Have you ever owned a pet
bird? What's your favorite bird? Normally, we have a hummingbird
feeder – sometimes two – in our yard. We will again next year. We actually own
several Audubon prints that are framed. We purchased them at the museum in
Washington, DC and brought them home a LONG time ago. We’ve never owned a pet
bird, but one summer we were the foster family for the bird from Glenn’s class.
Birds are messy. I don’t know that I have a favorite bird. I love seeing the
blue birds in our park. I love watching the antics of the hummingbirds. They do
NOT like to share. I love watching a woodpecker (as long as he isn’t poking
holes in my house). We have gorgeous cardinals here, too.
2. What's something you took to 'like a duck to
water'? Way back when I was in high school, they offered short hand and
typing classes. Even the kids who were immediately college bound were
encouraged to take at least a basic typing class. I took both and I remember
how quickly I picked it up – just like a duck to water. I loved it. I still
type (on a computer, not a manual typewriter) for pleasure (blog), for work (taking
notes, emails, etc.), for teaching (both Sunday school and small groups), and now
for college (all my classes are online).
3. Empty nest, nest egg, proud as a peacock, free as a bird,
birds of a feather flock together, or the early bird catches the worm...choose
one and tell us how it currently applies to your life. The first one that
popped into my head is nest egg. Since we are upgrading some things in the house,
we are dipping into our nest egg. Also, I was talking with someone at church
who is about to be an empty nester. Empty nesting is pretty good for us.
4. Pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, flax seeds, chia seeds,
sesame seeds, poppy seeds...your favorite seed and a favorite food or dish made
with that seed or topped with that seed? Have you tried all the seeds on the
list? Any you don't care for? For the young adult dinner on Tuesday night,
I served Poppyseed chicken. The topping is ritz cracker crumbs, poppy seeds,
and butter. On Monday, these actual words came out of my mouth in the
staff breakroom, “Pepitas make a salad a party.” I love pumpkin seeds
(pepitas). I also keep sunflower seeds on hand for an Asian slaw that I make.
Poppy seeds, pumpkin seeds, and sunflower seeds are my three favorites. I have tried and like all of them.
5. Something in the past week that made you 'happy as a
lark'? The weather has been amazing – blue skies, sunshine, and highs in the
upper 60’s and 70’s. Those things help with my happiness factor. I’m also
thrilled that we are finally seeing progress on the house.
6. Insert your own random thought here. I’ve emailed my advisor and she informed me that I have to take Biology 101 and Biology 102. I have emailed
with the professor, Dr. Swindall, who will allow me to register even though her
class is full. I think I’ve told y’all that in the state of Alabama if you are
over 60, you can go to any community college for fees only but the catch is
that you can’t register until the day before classes begin. I can register now but it is about $500 or I
can wait and register and pay only $129. Are you curious as to how I will do
labs in an online class? I was curious so I asked. It is like a video game –
there will be a lab on my screen and I will move things around to conduct the
experiments.
The lab sounds cool! And that picture is great; it was rainy here yesterday but sunny today. Hoping to sneak out of my office at some point and actually see the outdoors.
ReplyDelete"Pepitas make a salad a party"? Now you've gone and piqued my curiosity (*grin*). I love salad, so you know I'm adding pumpkin seeds to my shopping list.
ReplyDeleteThat on-line lab sounds like fun!
Interested in the lab being online...how neat is that.
ReplyDeleteHow interesting about the biology labs online! I loved biology in high school. Nice that Alabama allows seniors to register for college classes, for fees only! I enjoyed your post!!
ReplyDeleteYou are the second blogger today that has mentioned poppy seed chicken. I agree about the pumpkin seeds -
ReplyDeleteThat is interesting to take Biology and do the labs online!? Empty nest has been fine for us and we are happy that those nesters enjoy coming back to visit us! Blessings on the rest of your week.
ReplyDeleteWell it sounds like Biology class is keeping up with the times. I loved typing and shorthand too. Little did we know how truly useful that skill would turn out to be! Enjoy the rest of your week!
ReplyDeleteAnother Alabama resident here...and you taught me something today! I had no idea Community Colleges were discounted for us, ahem, seasoned students...
ReplyDeleteAs I was reading your answers I remembered the I had just finished a puzzle of state birds and flowers from White Mountain puzzles. I wish I had thought about sharing a photo on my post. I think our community colleges allow those over a certain age to audit classes which would be interesting to do.
ReplyDelete