Historical Red White and Blue Jersey Kind of Hodgepodge

Summertime is definitely here in East Tennessee: heat, humidity, and the weather pattern of daily afternoon/evening thunderstorms.
Joyce has thoughtful summer questions for us this week. Click on the logo above to visit her blog and see what other participants had to say.

1. Security or freedom? Can you have both? Explain.
I definitely think you can have them both. I think we've had them both in my lifetime in the U.S.A. Or, it could be that that's just the way it was and I didn't know any different.

2. If you could visit any historical American site what would it be? Why?
I'd love to go to Boston and see all of the historical sites there. My youngest brother lives just outside of Boston; I just haven't gotten up there yet.

3. Free as a bird, free reign, be free of, free enterprise, free trip, walk away scot-free, free for all...which 'free' phrase can best be applied to your life in recent days or weeks? Explain.
Free as a bird. Summer vacay; no kitchen remodel going on this summer. Nothing else needs to be said!

4. Something in your frig that's red? Something in your house that's white? Something in your view that's blue?

5. July 27th is National New Jersey Day. Have you ever visited The Garden State? If so where did you go? Are there diners where you live? Have you tried Taylor Pork Roll? Do you like to play Monopoly? Saltwater taffy-yay or nay? How do you feel about shopping at the mall? Springsteen, Sinatra, or Bon Jovi-you have to pick one.
If the Newark airport counts, then, yes, I've been there.
We have Waffle House...does that count?
I don't even know what a Taylor Pork Roll is!
I don't really care for Monopoly.
Saltwater taffy: 😋
Shopping at the mall: 👎
Springsteen for sure with Bon Jovi coming in a close second.

Raise your hand if you know why these add-on questions are appropriate on National NJ Day.

🙋

6. Insert your own random thought here.
Here it is almost July & I feel like my summer is gone. Once I get back from a conference in a couple of weeks I'll have to start gearing back up for another school year. 6 more beginning of school years to go. The countdown is on!

via GIPHY

Hot Enough For You? {Wednesday Hodgepodge}

Things are steamy here in East Tn. Is it hot enough for you where you are? If so, stay inside, crank that air up, and read up on the answers to the questions  Joyce provided for us!

1. Summer is upon us this week in the Northern hemisphere. Tell us three things on your summer bucket list.
1. See my son graduate from Law School. (Check)

2. Spend time with Robert's uncle when they visit in July.

3. Spend a few days in Nashville for a conference.

2. Something fun you used to do as a kid in the summertime?
I went to the Small Town's pool almost every day. My mom made sure we had season passes so that's where a good part of the summer was spent.
The neighborhood kids used to come to our yard in the evening to play "kick the can", "hide and seek", or "rolly bats". We'd play until it got dark. Good times!

3. Rooftop or backyard? Why?
Backyard. I don't know that I've ever spent any amount of time on a rooftop.

This is a really cool backyard in New Orleans. There is a stage set up for jazz:

You go in, select your beverage(you can also order some hors d'oeuvrs)  and find a seat outside. This is a view of the back of the building:

4. Do you read food labels? Place importance on them? Make an effort to find out/care about where your food comes from?
I mainly look to see what the serving size is.

5. A song you'll have on repeat this summer?
I don't know that I'll have one. I rarely just listen to one song over and over.

6. Insert your own random thought here.
As I mentioned in my previous post, this summer is sooo different than last summer. There's a lot less stress, for sure! I've read, watched some shows (The Ranch & Shetland), and done some writing. I'm still walking the dogs around 5:45 a.m. The squirrels are still asleep, but a family of raccoons crossed the sidewalk a couple of mornings ago. I didn't even think about that possibility!

Scenes from the Backyard: Dusting off my Camera

Picture courtesy of Pexels

It's been ages since I've done a post on scenes from the backyard. I decided to dust off my camera last Saturday, sit on my back porch, and enjoy. What a difference this summer is from last! I'm not a prisoner in my own living room this summer (see: State of the Kitchen a.k.a. The Kitchen Remodel from Hell). I'm free to sit on the back porch in my pjs until 10:00...and snap away!

These blooms belong to the butterfly bush below.

 I kind of forgot to cut the butterfly bush back at the end of last summer. Oops!

Get ready for some bird pictures! 

Ahhhh, success!!!

Of course, there's a Cardinal picture!

You may remember my acrobatic squirrel from this post.

This bunny is safe...as long as he stays on the other side of the fence!

These flowers are right on the fence. I don't know what they are (I'm sure they're just weeds) but they're really pretty.

Gurl Dogg let me take quite a few pictures of her.

Laika

I was a bit disappointed that I didn't get a picture of a hummingbird. One came to the feeder but as soon as I moved to put the camera to my eye she flew off. It's amazing to me what I see as I'm sitting on the back porch, especially since we're in town. It was nice to dust off my camera and see the scenes from the backyard!