Wednesday Hodgepodge - Volume 565

 

It's Wednesday, time to join Joyce over at the Hodgepodge.  Copy the graphic and the questions, answer them on your blog, and then link up to the party.

1. What's the last thing you completely overreacted to?

Maybe the whole deck building process?  I can't really think of anything else I completely overreacted to lately.  I am frustrated that the process is taking.so.long.  I suppose it's our own fault for not asking how long the process might take.  Day 19 and we're still waiting.

2. Your top five snacks? 

Salt and vinegar chips; chips and guacamole; chips and salsa; any kind of hot dip like artichoke or crab with pieces of crusty bread; little sweet things like madeleines or mini-tarts.

3. What smell always brings back some type of memory? Elaborate. 

Burnt toast.  My aunt (in England) had an eye-level grill, something like this:

It never failed that the toast on the grill ended up burnt.  English bread smells different than American bread and the smell of it burnt is burned (excuse the pun) into my brain.  It's not an unpleasant smell, and it's one that conjures up the most amazing memories of the time we spent at her house.

I struggled with whether to use burnt or burned and resorted to Google to check it out:

• "Burned" is the past tense form of "to burn" that is more commonly used in American English.
• "Burnt" is the past tense form of "to burn" that is more commonly used in British English.
• Both words are correct and can be used interchangeably, depending on the preferred dialect.

4. What's something you learned from the last book you read?

I learned that there were women in World War I who traveled to France for the express purpose of setting up libraries.  Here's an excerpt from this article:

In 1930, Anne Morgan’s wartime headquarters, the Château of Blérancourt, became a national museum dedicated to Franco-American cooperation and friendship. The legacy of the reconstruction work carried out by Morgan and her tireless cadre of librarians endures and resonates well beyond the borders of Picardie, and Bibliothèque Fessart, with its stacks-lined reading room on the ground floor and children’s room upstairs, is a treasure today. 

5. What's the next thing on your to-buy list? Will you make that purchase before the end of the year?

Right now, it's the building materials for the deck.  We're holding off on the big purchase until the permit is approved and we know exactly what will be required.  One big purchase, one delivery.  After that, I think a new fence is on the schedule but probably not until the spring. 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Who remembers these kids TV dinners?  My sister and I looked forward to the couple of times a year when my parents had to attend a command function, and we had a babysitter and Kid Cuisine TV dinners.  Life was so much simpler then and treats were small and infrequent.