Christmas week, DH took his last bit of vacation off to spend it with yours truly. I couldn’t have been happier to share it with him. We took a day to go to the mountains. Banner Elk is in western North Carolina south west of Boone. The quaint ski town was beautifully decorated. I just loved how warm and friendly this gas station looked. You don’t get a chance to real evergreen garland draping on gas stations every day.
We didn’t get out to walk the streets as there were too busy to suit us, so we just drove through town. Perhaps next December, we’ll have the opportunity to roam the streets of Banner Elk without worry over Covid. I’m thankful that we live within a short distance of these marvelous communities.
As I slip back into normal blogging this month, I plan to share the few pictures I managed to get from our staycation. You’re welcome to join Wild Wednesdays the linky party where just about anything goes. This is gives bloggers an opportunity to showcase their favorite post present or past. It’s a time to share, inspire, and have fun.
I’m linking with these Wordless Wednesday Communities… Sandee, Natasha, Marie, & Wordless Wednesday!
Here are my responses to Joyce’s Wednesday Hodgepodge questions this week.
1. Share one happy moment/memory from the holiday season. I enjoyed immensely buying our kids and granddaughter gifts like always, but I think I really enjoyed shopping for my parents the most this year. It’s so hard to shop for them with each passing year. I’m not sure how I came to think of it but I thought it would be awesome to get them a digital camera. They’ve never had one and my thought was who couldn’t use a good camera? We both have older Canon Powershot models and are the perfect size to fit easily in our shirt or pants’ pocket not to mention they do a great job making pictures! These are really quite amazing devices. That being said, we got them a newer model. We spoke to my parents on Christmas Day and mom was especially excited. She pretty much claimed it as “hers” which made us smile because that’s just the way girls are. I hope that little camera brings them lots of joy as they capture family moments for generations to come to see.
2. Let’s be reasonable with our expectations going into this new year, k? What is one thing you’d like to accomplish/improve/complete/do in 2022? This year, I just want to get back into a normal exercise routine and to do better about not eating too much junk food. Long before the pandemic, my diet slipped and my exercising fell by the wayside. This I will work harder on in 2022.
3. Every January 1st (since 1976) Lake Superior University has published a list of words they’d like to see banished from the Queen’s English. Words may be banished due to misuse, overuse or just general uselessness (go here to read more about how the words are chosen). Here are the words/phrases they’d like to see banished in 2022- wait, what?-no worries-at the end of the day-that being said-asking for a friend-circle back-deep dive-a new normal-you’re on mute-supply chain Which of these words/phrases do you use regularly? Which of these words would you most like to see banished from everyday speech and why? Is there a word/phrase not on the list you’d like to add? I frequently use “that being said” or “at the end of the day”. My first thought on the school’s desire to remove these phrases was I could care less but then it hit me, what gives them this right? Isn’t that like re-writing history? You know leaving out the unpleasant parts or the segments you want to promote because it falls in line with your agenda? I say leave it alone. Catch phrases come and go for whatever reason. Like history, we can learn from these things to either ensure past mistakes aren’t repeated. The bad part of anything shouldn’t be seen as an annoyance or offense but reminder of how far we’ve come and as I said to make sure the things we do not like happen again.
4. Best thing you ate in the month of December? No doubt has to be my chocolate covered cherries. They turned out exceptional good this year. Yum!
5. January 5th is National Bird Day. Are you a bird lover? What’s your favorite bird to see in the wild? Choose a phrase from the list that follows and tell us how it relates to your life currently…eat like a bird, bird’s eye view, early bird, bird-brained, free as a bird, a little bird told me, or kill two birds with one stone. Lately I’d say it’s “kill two birds with one stone” mode as I’ve updated online accounts to our new preferred email address, I’ve also reset the passwords for each one, too. This has been a huge undertaking but I’m nearly done. *clap hands*
6. Insert your own random thought here. We got our first snowfall for 2022 Sunday night. In our neck of the woods, we got about 3-4 inches of snow. Monday morning around 6am DH woke to a booming sound to find our power was off. He reported the outage. Thankfully, he was off that day so we snuggled back in bed as we don’t have an alternate heat source and that was the warmest place for us to be with the temp around 30º. The electricity came on at 1:30pm that afternoon. It was really cold in the house but it heated up fairly quickly. I think in part last week’s spring-like weather kept things from being far worse. I’m sure the road, our driveway, sidewalk, and front porch were covered earlier in the day but by the time I looked out the window these things were just wet and the rest of landscape was a winter wonderland. It was that wet, clingy kind of snow that makes for good snowballs and snowmen. I had no desire to do either. I just wanted to stay indoors to keep warm.
Prayers needed, please! Last night, I found out our daughter in Maine has Covid again. This comes a little more than year from her first bout with the virus. If you would, please keep her in your prayers until she’s well again. Also, say a prayer for her boyfriend and anyone they associate with closely that they do not catch it. I really appreciate it!
It’s been a cold start for this new year. I’m going to leave you with a song title that describes how I feel “Frozen” by Madonna from 2009. The song isn’t about being cold but about having a heart that’s not open to the possibilities of love. At least this is my interpretation. But, then I decided to create a short playlist revolving around the general theme (cold, grey, and winter). Have a wild and wonderful day. I’ll be back with my first sketch for the new year with Thursday Art Date with Rain. X💋X💋, Cathy
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Sending prayers and positive thoughts to your daughter and her boyfriend. Such a beautiful trip. Thanks for hosting and I hope that you have a wonderful day. Happy 2022.
Prayers for a speedy recovery for your daughter and boyfriend! Enjoyed reading your responses, so happy your power was restored so quickly,.
Sue
We had a tiny amount of snow here. It was pretty to see and it didn’t cause any driving problems. Happy New Year to you!
Our bookkeeper’s electricity was out until Tues. night! I’m ready for round 2…as of Wed. afternoon, school has been called off for tomorrow!!!
What a fun little town that must be.
I enjoyed reading your answers.
Praying for your daughter!
I’m glad you enjoyed your out n’ about ride about. We all send prayers for your daughter and hope she’s all well super quickly.
I just found out a blog person I was following and commenting has died from Covid. He created the T-shirts for the A to Z Challenge etc.. I don’t think he got his vaccines. I know your daughter will be aok and, hopefully, won’t get hit as bad as the first time. On a nicer note, I love that gas station who took the time to decorate from the heart. I love that you got a nice camera for your parents. Cherish the moments…my mom would have loved a digital camera..I miss her so much. My brother and I were reminiscing about daddy and mom at Christmas Eve…when we celebrate. I gave my hubby a day at the spa and, he really needed it and deserved it. I hope I find a job this year…I have been out of the loop for 30 years since I had my one job since 1991.
I do hope your daughter has a minor case with minimal symptoms. The pictures of the ice are so pretty.
Healing thoughts for your daughter. I am so sick of covid, The snow looks pretty.
Hope she recovers quicky!
I haven’t been to Banner Elk in many years. Good to know that so many people are out and about. My wife and I have been avoiding long drives because of the price of CA gas. Too expensive to take the day trips like we used to and I don’t like dealing with CA COVID restrictions anyway.
To bad I didn’t know about Jan. 5th. Bird Day is a good one for me to celebrate. My favorite Bird to see in the wild would be me I guess.
Lee
Oh my I hope your daughter recovers quickly! Take care!
I love your snow pictures! Also, those chocolate covered cherries sound delicious! I love to eat them, but I’ve never tried making them before. Happy New Year!
I’d love to explore that little ski town. I love the quaint little places and avoid the big cities. Nasty places anymore. Think San Francisco.
Prayers for your daughter and anyone she’s been around.
Thank you for joining the Wordless Wednesday Blog Hop.
Have a fabulous Wordless Wednesday, Cathy. Love and hugs, my friend. ♥
I’m not into doing Q & A’s right now. But I enjoyed your asnswers
Nice to learn more about you through the questions. I will be praying for your daughter. XO
Forgive me, dear friend. I didn’t notice the sentence about your daughter coming down with COVID again. I offer prayers for her speedy and complete recovery!
Tom,
You didn’t miss it, I just added it this morning. But, I appreciate your thoughtfulness and prayers. Thanks so much!
Hi, Cathy!
Happy Wild and Almost Wordless Wednesday, dear friend! How’s 2022 treating you?
Yessum, it’s wonderful to discover small towns that take pride in their appearance and put up attractive holiday decorations. That gas station got into the spirit by hanging an eye-catching wreath around the statue that welcomes visitors to Banner Elk.
I enjoyed reading your Hodgepodge answers. It was very thoughtful of you to give your parents a new camera for Christmas. I’m sure they will enjoy recording shots of the people, places and good times that mean so much to them. You are a great daughter. Yessum, now’s the time for all of us to get back into our exercise routines and commit to getting in shape and staying in shape during the coming year. The longer you procrastinate, the easier it is to keep slipping and the harder it is to get back to where you once were. As I watched Diana Ross sing “Muscles” on my blog this morning, I envied those male models that surrounded her. As a result of that inspiration, I think I will start attacking my workouts with more vigor. It seems ludicrous for a University to publish a list of words they’d like to see “banished” from the English language. I agree with you. Just leave it alone and it will take care of itself. Indeed, the very next question contains very old expressions: “eat like a bird, bird’s eye view, early bird, bird-brained, free as a bird, a little bird told me, and kill two birds with one stone.” We may choose to use them in our everyday conversations and correspondence or not. It’s all about freedom to choose. Oh my, Cathy. I’m used to warm/hot Florida weather, and I’d freak if we lost power for hours with the temp outside at 30 degrees. The problem we usually have down here is that the power goes out during a summer electrical storm and it gets unbearably hot in the house while’re we’re waiting for the juice to be restored. Thanks for posting pics of your pretty snow covered trees.
I enjoyed your playlist devoted to the cold and gray of winter. I am familiar with the Madonna song and video but not the others. My favorite is Gwen’s ‘Early Winter.” Thank you for the morning entertainment, dear friend Cathy. Have a Wonderful Wednesday and I’ll see you tamale. I’m looking forward to seeing your latest sketch. I hope it features a product from the famous ACME Corporation. (LOL)