IDES OF MAY HODGEPODGE!

     Well today is Wednesday. Joyce has prepared another weekly essay quiz better known as the Wednesday Hodgepodge. It really is a lot of fun to participate. You meet some really fine people by visiting their blog posts and comparing answers. All you need to do is go to "From This Side of the Pond" and simply follow the directions. I did, so I ask you, how hard can it be?

1. When is your next big deadline? What's it for?

     I don't do deadlines...I'm retired!

2. May is National Barbecue Month. Do you prefer cooking indoors or out? What's the best thing about a barbecue? What's the last thing you cooked on an outdoor grill?

     I enjoy cooking outdoors but it's not my preference. The best thing about a barbecue are the aromas. I love the aroma of animal flesh being cooked on the grill. I think the last thing I cooked on the grill was chicken breasts. 

3. What is one thing on your "never again" list?

     Getting married. I hit the lottery the first time. There is no way that could happen again...43 years together this July. I love my beloved SWMBO (She Who Must Be Obeyed)!

4. What's something that annoys you about people your own age? Something you love about your generation?

     Generally people my age don't annoy me. There are exceptions, of course, but as a general rule they don't annoy me. One thing I love about my generation are the great stories we tell. We have been around to have had many different experiences that form the basis of some great stories.

5. Lilac, iris, hyacinth, pansy...your favorite purple flower?

     I AM NOT A FLOWER PERSON, but for the sake of the Hodgepodge I'll select Lilacs. I had them at the house where I grew up and SWMBO has a bush in our backyard.

6. Whats a song that always calms you down?

     Great question! I wish I had a great answer. Many of the hymns we sing at church are very comforting. Vince Gill's music has a calming effect also.

7. What's the last thing you donated?

     Every week I donate money and time to the church.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

     Sunday was Mother's Day. I have been blessed to have been unconditionally loved by three women in my life. I am currentl married to one of them. The other two served as my Mom at different period of my life.
     My birth mother was a very attractive lady. She had beautiful long dark brown wavy hair and piercing brown eyes. She wasn't particularly well educated but she was a wonderful mother. Unfortunately, she contracted cancer and left us way too soon when I was in fifth grade. She would have been a great grandmother to my kids. I'm sorry that she never got the chance. I think of her and those parts of my life that she missed. I like to think that she would be proud of the man she raised me to be.
     My stepmother married my dad a couple of years after I married SWMBO. She was a wonderful woman too. She was a registered nurse who worked for the Veterans Administration. By the time she married my dad her kids were all grown up. Mom 2 had a keen mind and did a great job of keeping dad in line. That was a full time job! I enjoyed visiting her and dad at their house. We would share a meal and/or sit in the living room drinking tea and/or coffee talking about our lives or current events or their grandchildren. She was a wonderful grandmother. She's no longer with us either. 
     Like I said I was blessed to have been loved by these remarkable women who were my Mom. Happy Mother's Day Moms!