Wednesday Hodgepodge - Volume 637

 Welcome to the Wednesday Hodgepodge!  Here are this week's questions, which you should answer on your own blog and then pop over to Joyce's blog (click on the graphic for the link) Wednesday to add your link to the party.

 

1. Ice skating, skiing, sledding, snowshoeing, playing in the snow, or a snowy walk...which winter activity do you choose? Have you done any of these activities so far this winter? 

I would choose a snowy walk, on flat ground!  Have I done any of these activities this winter...no, no, no, no, no, and no.  I keep hoping for a little snow but nothing doing so far.  We have, however, had some snow in February before so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

2. Everyone is posting pictures from ten years ago on their social media sites so let's jump on the bandwagon too. Share one photo and one thought to go with said photo from the year 2016. And maybe everyone isn't doing this, but many are and we're going to be part of the fun. 

August 2016 - Vic returns from a seven-month deployment to the Western Pacific

3. What's a trend you hope disappears in this new year? 

Influencers who get in the way of people wanting to take a snapshot.  We're heading to Paris in the spring and I'm hoping that our opportunities to take photos of national monuments or other sites of interest are not hindered by these annoying individuals.

4. 'They' say there's a day for everything and January 21st proves it. National Granola Bar Day. Do you like granola bars? How about just regular granola? Do you like bars of other kinds?

Yes, I like granola bars and regular granola.  This is my favorite:

Do I like bars of other kinds?  Would that include candy bars, lol?

5.  A frozen lake, a trickling stream, a raging river, or a deep well...which one describes something about your life right now? Elaborate as much or as little as you like.

A trickling stream, I suppose.  I wander from one idea to another, one project to another, a little of this and a little of that.  Does that meet the definition of trickling? 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

I missed the Hodgepodge last week or I would have shared this then.  A truly inspirational individual.

Hari Budha Magar, a former Gurkha soldier has become the first double above-knee amputee to summit the highest peaks on all seven continents.  He started his Conquering Dreams – 7 Summits challenge in 2018 to raise money for veterans’ charities.  In 2010, while serving with the British Army in Afghanistan, he stepped on an improvised explosive device (IED), losing both his legs above the knee.  “That IED should have killed me, but now I had a second chance and wanted to do something positive – be an inspiration to others.”

Source:  The Telegraph, January 8, 2026

London 2025 - Day Seven

We got an early start this morning to head to the Tower of London.  Early is better for any major attraction as it gets busy later on.  Grab your favorite beverage, it's a photo overload today!

We took an Uber to the Tower and took this shot from the outside

Welcome to the Tower of London

Traitors' Gate, the most notorious of the Tower's entrances

The White Tower, completed in ca. 1100, it was the tallest building in London at that time, and is the most complete and well-preserved Norman keep in the world

The entrance to the Jewel House, no photography allowed

Exiting the Jewel House, we found this tree decorated with jewel-like ornaments

Touristy, but fun

We gathered here at the base of the Bell Tower (1190) for our Yeoman Warder tour

Our guide was Emily Lewis-Garwood, she's featured in the Historic Royal Palace's Tower of London souvenir guidebook - she was so informative and entertaining

You'll know these two if you've seen The Lion in Winter (1968) with Peter O'Toole and Katharine Hepburn (along with very young Timothy Dalton and Anthony Hopkins)

King Edward I and Queen Eleanor

Vic and Emily - when she finished the tour she said, "If you enjoyed the tour, my name is Emily and if you didn't, my name is Louise!"

The Tower Hill Execution Site marked by a memorial that names 29 of the 125 people executed there, including Anne Boleyn and Lady Jane Grey

After the tour, Vic toured The White Tower, but I passed as it was four stories of steps.  Instead, an attendant took me via this lift (looked a bit like I was heading to the dungeon!) to the basement where the Armoury and the gift shop were located

Reunited with Vic, we walked across to the Fusilier Museum

A look back at The White Tower

We didn't make it to the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, so we found this mini version

It was time for a quick cream tea

After our tea, we headed to the gift shop where I continued my support of the felted ornament industry and Vic picked up a Battle of Waterloo chess set - we headed back to the hotel for a nap as our time at the Tower ended up being over four hours

We took an Uber to Liberty for a quick browse before our visit to the theater

This bear was 10,000 pounds (in sterling, not in weight!)

Another interesting and pricey animal decoration - it was so cute the way it moved its head

This reindeer was a partner (in price) to the bear

Ornaments galore

Vic enjoyed browsing through the pattern books

It was time to head to the theater and a mega fangirl moment as we were leaving Liberty when I realized we were sharing the lift with this guy - Christiaan from The Great British Baking Show Season 15.  I said I was such a fan and wished him a Happy Christmas and then the lift doors opened and my celebrity encounter was over!

Off to The London Palladium for the Sleeping Beauty Pantomime

Incredible sets, costumes, music, dance numbers - very cheeky as my gran would say - the innuendo would make Mel and Sue from the early seasons of the Baking Show positively blush, but it was hilarious!

After the show, we wandered around for a bit in search of holiday lights

Regent Street did not disappoint

We even managed a halfway decent selfie

Close-up of one of the angels

I shot off a quick Instagram message to Christiaan and was delighted that he responded

Next up, our final full day in London - no, no, no, I DO NOT want to go home!

Life Last Week (12-18 January 2026)

 

The weather for the week ahead:::

Lost my weather app details so had to find a new one.

On my reading pile:::

 

Nothing at the moment.

On my TV:::

Still working our way through this.  We're up to Season 3.

Also episode two of The Pitt.  Anyone else watching have an "OMG, was that real?" moment, lol.

Checked off the list:::

• Still working on putting away the Christmas decorations - so many and each in their own box.
• Very quiet week, in part because I was on hold for jury duty.  Had to call in each evening to see if my group number was up for the next day.  Now I'm off the list for a year.
• Lunch Bunch was cancelled this month - three out of the six attending had one form of ailment or another.
• Did a little experimenting with (and watching the process of) the new bread machine.  First attempt would have been very effectively used in a medieval catapult.  It's going to take some fine tuning.

• Federal holiday today so we're off on a little adventure - not sure what it is yet.
• Participated in a Zoom Q&A for the Outlander tours and went from the call to the booking page.  2027's vacation plans sorted!

Crafts roundup:::

Still the same - little to no movement in this area this week other than toying with a few December Daily layouts.

And in other news:::

Pretty much a Whole 30 fail but trying to keep the gluten to a minimum.  Didn't help that we had sushi on Friday and pizza on Saturday (and completely forgot to take photos).

Friday Favorites - How Did I Miss This?

 

Flicking through You Tube yesterday, I came across this - Inside M&S at Christmas 2025.  I LOVE Marks & Spencer - I shop there every opportunity I have and I'm sorry that I didn't spend more time there when we were in England in December.  I did notice a few of the items in the video when we were there but didn't spend enough time or I would surely have brought some of them home with me.

I learned a lot in the video - I had no idea M&S has a Christmas Panettone and 2025's dark chocolate and cherry version sounds delicious.  I loved listening to Harry, who is in charge of the panettone range, "I love all parts of my job, who doesn't want to eat cake?"  2025's panettone had a perfect elongated crumb and was pillowy and soft.  Not sure I've heard of panettone described this way, but I'll certainly look for it in the next one I buy.

Colin the Caterpillar is huge in the UK too.  I'd seen Peppa the Pig on the shelves, but I missed Colin.  Any mention of a Swiss roll dessert always makes me think of the Great British Baking Show and the sometimes-hilarious attempts to fill and roll a Swiss roll!  Each Christmas, Colin gets a new makeover and in 2025, he was a Christmas cracker.

I found the segment on cheese really interesting.  I guess I never thought about all the research that goes into selecting a new cheese.  I've never heard of a cheese technologist; Amy certainly has a great job, traveling and sampling various cheeses.  In her segment with Chris, a specialist cheese buyer. she calls him "a wizard when it comes to cheese".  Do you have a cheese board during the holidays?  Do you like Manchego?  How about Manchego flavored with mushroom, fig, or black garlic?

I love a Sunday roast dinner, and the Yorkshire pudding wraps in the M&S Cafe sound amazing.  From something that started out "looking like a dog's dinner" to a wrap that delighted cafe customers, it was a hit.  

And finally, party food.  Fish and chips in a one bite picky bit with a mushy pea sauce on top.  What's not to love?  They are shown on the far left of the photo below.

The segment on the renovation and expansion of the Northern Ireland Craigavon M&S was delightful and I just loved Ashley, the manager.  I think I could listen to the Irish lilt of the customers over and over again.  I'm a sucker for the accent!

I hope you'll check out the video - from the product developers to the test kitchens to the store, it's a behind the scenes look at what makes M&S such a fabulous place, not just at the holidays, but every day.