Wednesday Hodgepodge - Volume 305

1.  April showers bring May flowers or so the saying goes.  Has your April been filled with showers?  Do you carry an umbrella, wear a slicker, or make a run for it?  Besides rain, what else has filled your April?

We've had a few showers here in Virginia but where I really want to be - the Seattle area of the Pacific Northwest - there has been record rainfall - 44.67 inches since October 1st.  Wettest October to April on record.  That's my kind of weather!  A slicker is the signature item of clothing for any Pacific Northwesterner - often too windy for an umbrella, a rain jacket with a hood is a must.

2.  What's something you could give a 30-minute presentation on at a moment's notice and with zero preparation?

Christmas planning, Henry VIII and his six wives, the goings-on in the fictional county of Midsomer.

3.  Share with us a favorite food memory from childhood.

HP sauce (the British version of an A1-type sauce) and French bread.  My parents, British aunt, and younger sister (she was 5, I was 11) went from our caravan on the beach (where we spent every weekend on the Belgian coast April through October) into town to pick up some French bread and supplies from the British food store.  Bread and supplies in hand, and after walking what seemed like miles, it started to rain so we decided to duck into a theater and take in a movie while we relaxed and waited for the rain to pass.  The movie was the animated Jungle Book.  We were enjoying the movie but getting a little hungry, so my Mum tore off chunks of French bread and splashed a little HP sauce onto the chunks - delicious!  The movie played on and the sound was soon joined by gentle snores coming from the adults in our group - out of the rain, warm, relaxed, and tummies full, they had all nodded off!  My sister and I continued to enjoy the movie; when it ended and the lights came on, the three adults, covered in French bread crumbs, laughed out loud at their crazy antics.  I cannot look at French bread or HP sauce, or see anything to do with the Jungle Book, without thinking about this day!

4.  What's a song you thought you knew the lyrics to, but later discovered you were wrong?

I modified the first line of Brahm's Lullaby and Goodnight when we sang it to Sophia when she was a baby.  Instead of "Lullaby and goodnight, with roses bedight", we sang "Lullaby and goodnight, now the baby is sleepy".  For some reason, whenever Sophia sang it when she was a bit older, she always sang "Lullaby and goodnight, shorts the baby is sleepy".  We have no idea where the "shorts" part came from!

5.  According to one travel website, the most overrated tourists attractions in America are - Niagara Falls (NY), Hollywood Walk of Fame (California), Times Square (NYC), Epcot (FL), Seattle Space Needle (WA), and Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market (Boston).  How many of these have you seen in person?  Did you feel like a tourist?  Did you care?  Tell us about a place (not on the list) you've visited that might be considered a tourist trap, but you love it anyway.

I've visited all but the Hollywood Walk of Fame.  Yes, I suppose I felt like a tourist; you're surrounded by crowds, all speaking different languages, all trying to get the best camera angle, all wading through pages of brochures, maps, and guidebooks.  No, I didn't care - I don't think you could really experience these sites without the masses.  Granted, less masses are always a good thing but part of the experience is seeing how others react to it.

I've heard that Pier 39 in San Francisco is considered a tourist trap but we've always had a lot of fun there.

6.  Your signature clothing item?

This long-sleeves, lightweight top from Chadwick's of Boston.  It's so comfortable and goes with anything - I have it in five different colors.

7.  What's an experience you've had you think everyone should experience at least once?  Why?

Really taking a leap of faith - I put my household goods into storage, packed up the rest of my life into four suitcases, and jetted off from California to Guam to take a job with Guam Cable TV.  I knew no-one (other than the head of the company who interviewed me in San Francisco three weeks earlier) and had never traveled to that part of the world.  It was an interesting experience but what I got from it was amazing.  I came back to the States four years later, a Navy wife and mother of a toddler.  It was the beginning of a great adventure, one that is still going strong.  You never know what you're going to end up with when you just step out there and do something out of your comfort zone.

8.  Insert your own random thought here.

I am still having problems with the comments I leave on other bloggers' post going through to their email.  I get email notifications when any of you leave a comment for me but as soon as I leave a comment on most blogs (oddily, there are a few that get through), I immediately get an error message saying that my message could not be delivered.  It's got something to do with DMARC and a domain owner policy restriction.  I am still trying to get this resolved.  So, bottom line, I will be visiting your Hodgepodges, but you probably won't know it unless you look at the comments under your post.  I am so frustrated!