An Apple A Day Keeps The Hodgepodge In Play

Who else thinks October is flying? Thank you for joining this week's Wednesday Hodgepodge. If you've answered today's questions add your link at the end of my post. I always ask participants to at least comment on the blogger before them on the list because comments keep s a blog hop hoppin'. Happy Wednesday! Here we go...

1. Monday was National Apple Day...did you eat an apple or enjoy something made with apples on Monday? Do you like apples? Do you prefer your apples raw, baked, or in cider? Do you have a favorite variety of apple? 

I did have an apple on Monday. The variety was Empire and I grabbed a few at the market because they looked firm and unblemished. Sadly the one I ate Monday was a bit mushy-ick. I sliced it and sprinkled it with cinnamon which helped, and am hoping the others have a better texture.  

I don't have a favorite variety but just go for what looks best on my particular shopping day. I tend to buy Gala and Honeycrisp for eating and use Granny Smith for baking. I love apples, one of my favorite fruits, and pretty much always have some on hand. I like them raw, baked, in cider, whatever...it's all good. 

2. Do you think there's any truth to the saying 'an apple a day keeps the doctor away'. Of the following healthy habits which do you find easiest to incorporate into your life and which is the most difficult for you to adopt-

adequate sleep, a balanced diet, plenty of water, eat breakfast, don't smoke, exercise, limit alcohol,  include fruits and vegetables in your diet, manage stress, limit screen time

Not sure there's scientific proof of that particular saying, but there are many health benefits to eating an apple so it's possible. A trainer once told me I should have an apple every day. I read eating one medium apple a day is good for lowering blood pressure, cholesterol, and inflammation. 

Of the healthy habits listed the easiest one for me to keep is 'don't smoke'. I've never been a smoker and it's never held any appeal for me, so that's not difficult to manage. Most of these healthy habits are part of my daily life, but if I have to choose one as most difficult I guess it would be screen time. 

3. Who taught you how to drive? Do you enjoy driving? Would you rather be the driver or the passenger?  Do you have a favorite scenic drive near you? 

I enjoy driving and am fine in either seat. I got my first license in the state of NJ. At the time you couldn't even get a permit until the day you turned 17 so I was just beginning my senior year of high school when I started driving. Hubs got his license in Tennessee and I think he was in the 9th grade lol. 

Driver's Ed was a part of our high school health curriculum. It wasn't behind the wheel, more like 'Scared Straight' where they showed us all the film clips of horrible accidents resulting from someone not wearing a seatbelt, drinking, having too many friends or distractions in the car. Let me just say those film clips stayed with you. 

My dad taught me to drive. I don't remember it being stressful for either of us, but perhaps if he were here to tell the story he'd remember it differently. I was not an impulsive teen, and I was always a rule follower, so those traits probably helped in the driving department. 

I live on a lake so there are many scenic drives in my daily life. The drive across this bridge just a couple miles from my house is a favorite-

4. What small habit has had a big impact on your life? 

Daily Bible Reading

Keeping a prayer journal

5. Tell us about something nice that's happened to you recently? 

The day we got home from our two-week holiday in the aftermath of a hurricane my next door neighbor brought over homemade soup and sourdough bread for dinner. So thoughtful! It was nice not to have to worry about cooking when we were jet lagged, had a mess in the yard, and a freezer to empty and clean out. 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

We've been enjoying our new griddle and it's a learn as you go kind of thing in terms of trying new recipes and figuring out the heat, etc. 

Hubs loves to grill so I mostly do the prep work and make any sides we're having, and he cooks the main.

 We grilled (and by we I mean he) a pork tenderloin on The Green Egg on Sunday and it was so good. 

We had about half left over so we cubed that and he made pork fried rice on the griddle. 

We used this recipe, and it was delicious! 

Hibachi-Style Griddle Pork Fried Rice  

We mostly cooked as instructed but used leftover tenderloin that had been grilled in a garlic and black pepper marinade so lots of flavor. I made the rice early in the day so it could sit in the frig all day and this is key. 

Have a great day everyone! 

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Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 574

Here are the questions to this week's Wednesday Hodgepodge. Answer on your own blog then hop back here tomorrow to add your link to the party. See you there! 

1. Monday was National Apple Day...did you eat an apple or enjoy something made with apples on Monday? Do you like apples? Do you prefer your apples raw, baked, or in cider? Do you have a favorite variety of apple? 

2. Do you think there's any truth to the saying 'an apple a day keeps the doctor away'. Of the following healthy habits which do you find easiest to incorporate into your life and which is the most difficult for you to adopt-

adequate sleep, a balanced diet, plenty of water, eat breakfast, don't smoke, exercise, limit alcohol,  include fruits and vegetables in your diet, manage stress, limit screen time

3. Who taught you how to drive? Do you enjoy driving? Would you rather be the driver or the passenger?  Do you have a favorite scenic drive near you? 

4. What small habit has had a big impact on your life? 

5. Tell us about something nice that happened to you recently.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Stray Thoughts And Observations

There are a few things I've wanted to mention here, but mentally I feel drained. Doesn't everyone these days? Our area is still very much all about the devastation left by Hurricane Helene, and now here comes Milton hot on her heels. We're not expected to see any weather related impact from Milton, but some of the linemen and other folks skilled in disaster recovery and relief, working so hard to get NC up and running, will need to shift their immediate focus to Florida. 

Add to that war in the Middle East, the heartbreak of Israeli families whose loved ones continue in captivity or worse, and the most contentious election cycle the US has experienced in a long time and whew. It's a lot. 

Is it any wonder people are feeling like their emotional bandwidth is full? 

When everything feels huge writing helps. And writing about nothing is okay too. Life carries on in an everyday kind of way even as it teeters on what feels like the edge of a precarious cliff. 

Our trip feels like it happened a million years ago but of course we've only been home a week. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit and it's made me extra grateful to have had the opportunity to live abroad in an era before the internet took over and everyone decided they needed to see the world. 

And pose in front of it. 

There are lots of what used to be little out of the way places that are now filled with tourists. I'm not suggesting people shouldn't travel, I'm just saying it's a different experience than it once was. If you could see the queue of people standing in line for an hour just to snap a photo of the Harry Potter Platform 9 3/4 wall in Kings Cross you'd know what I mean. 

There's less discovering something for yourself with the world in the palm of your hand. 

We opted not to go back into London after the day spent there because there were just so many people. Throngs of people. And protests. And then more people. In 2024 the world feels somewhat less stable than it did even right after 9-11, and I have a greater sense of caution in big crowds than I did fifteen years ago. My teenagers used to hop around London with friends and honestly it felt fine. 

There were no Iphones, but they did have a 'top up' phone and we'd put money on that so they could call in an emergency. Mostly though, my teenagers learned how to figure some things out for themselves and that most certainly helped shape them into who they are today. 

Timetables were little printed cards you held in your hand. You checked the tube maps (actual maps hanging on the wall) to figure out what line you needed, and you had a paper ticket you entered at the gate to get to the correct track.

There's an app for absolutely everything now so all your travel related documents, questions, and needs are right at your fingertips. So long as your phone is working I mean. 

The countryside is where it's at. It's beautiful and ancient and green, and in every little dale and borough there is something to see. Not with your camera, but with your own two eyes. To feel a sense of history and place and wonder as you stand where others have stood, and see what people made centuries before you were born with rough hewn tools and their bare hands that still stands today. 

We did a lot of driving, mostly on small roads with high hedges opening up into big vistas. We crossed many a roundabout, and hubs and I both say that in general we think people in the UK are better drivers than Americans. I know the narrow streets and multi-lane roundabouts and single track roads with oncoming traffic in your!! lane all feel a little bit crazy to those of us who learned to drive on this side of the pond, but somehow it works. 

People seem to obey the rules of the road, and this of course helps. The passing lane is for passing. Keep up with traffic. If you're approaching a roundabout the highway number is painted in the appropriate lane so you know exactly where you need to be. 

Also roundabouts. Just go round again if you somehow ended up in the wrong lane. 

There's very little honking. 

One thing that felt especially odd to us was how fast the speed limits were on some of the smaller roads. We were on a 2-lane road with high hedges on either side and I kept asking hubs how fast he was going because it felt like we were literally flying. He was going 45 and the speed limit was 60!! In the US you don't find two lane roads with hedges on either side with a speed limit of 60. 

Hubs loves driving in the UK. 

You see very few police officers/speed traps on the roads in England, but there are speed cameras everywhere. So many cameras. And there are signs telling you there are cameras so no excuses. 

Driving in the UK is definitely easier with GPS, but you miss out on the feeling of accomplishment you get when you navigate a place on your own. When we lived there we carried pages of printed instructions off of Mapquest and also had a huge atlas book in our car. We used it too! Actually I like an atlas because it allows you to see the whole of your trip which I find helpful. We're all about verbal instructions from our devices now, which I'm not complaining about exactly because my sense of direction is pretty much nil, but driving around England was more of an adventure before GPS. 

And we always carried a 'torch' aka flashlight in the car back then too, so we could read house numbers or house names as the case may be. Now we all have phones with flashlights at the ready. You don't have to figure out as much on your own or learn by doing like you did in the early 2000's. It was nerve jangling fun and I'm so glad to have had that experience. It helped shape me into who I am as well. 

We rode a lot of buses while visiting my daughter, and unless you live and commute in a major metropolitan area of the US chances are you never ever ride a city bus. When we'd have visitors and  suggest a bus they would usually recoil at the idea. But in England everyone rides buses. 

My daughter has a bus stop very near her house and this is most often the easiest way to get around her area. Like everything else bus lines, timetables, and tickets are all on your phone and she had it all figured out before we ever got there. She knew which bus we needed to be on (there are many many), where to catch them, and where to get off depending where we were going.

My daughter. 

She treks all over her city with three kids in tow, usually 'wearing' one while the two oldest each grab a hand to hold. Sometimes she's carrying shopping bags too. Y'all. It is something. She weighs about as much as a feather and it's no wonder.  Her youngest of course can walk but in general you're moving at a clip so as not to miss the next bus. Plus safety is a factor and it's just easier to have the littlest one contained when they're moving from home to bus to town and back. 

The boys always want to ride up top (a lot of the buses are double decker) so it's get everyone on board, show your ticket on your phone to the driver, schlep three kids up a flight of spiral stairs and then find a seat. Her boys act like they've been riding public transport all their lives and one of the cutest things you'll ever see is my almost two year old granddaughter, with an arm outstretched at the bus stop to let the approaching driver know he needs to stop. 

One thing I've been thinking about a lot since arriving home in the wake of a hurricane is cash. We still have a large supermarket chain in our area that is cash only because their servers are underwater in nearby North Carolina. We found on our recent trip to England so many places would not take cash. Most places it seemed were card only. 

Helene (and also Hurricane Sandy several years ago) have shown me we don't want to be a cashless society. At least I don't. When there's no power your card won't work and you need cash. 

When we travel we like to keep a very loose schedule. We don't want to book every minute before we even set foot in country but in 2024 booking some things ahead is sometimes necessary. We love to go where the locals go and eat where the locals eat and we love to meet people along the way and think about all the ways our lives are different, yet the same. It's not as easy to get off the beaten path now because it feels like people have a giant check list and they are going to check it. I get it but I don't love it. 

We always make room for spontaneous side treks and unexpected finds. For sitting in coffee shops and plazas and on park benches to watch and taste and learn. We did a lot of that this trip and it's our favorite. 

Add grandchildren to the mix and it was pretty much the perfect holiday. 

Coming Full Circle

Our last full day in the UK was Monday. The forecast was for a mostly rainy day, but as my daughter told my grandson, 'if we don't go out when it rains here we'll never go out'. So out we went. It does rain a fair amount in England, but it's generally manageable in that you can go about your day if you have a proper jacket, proper footware, and a brolly or hood. 

As we were driving along my daughter asked me if it felt weird for me to be sitting in the passenger seat while she sat on the 'wrong' side of the car and navigated roundabouts and single track lanes and new places and parking. 

Yeah. A little. 

Teenagers. Sigh. 'Twas a sweet season. Mostly lol. 

We moved to the UK when Daughter1 (on the left) was fifteen. She actually first learned to drive here at the age of seventeen, on a manual no less, sitting on the right side, driving on the left. We hired an instructor and he pulled into our driveway and she climbed into his small slightly dinged car and he told her to go. She had not the first clue about how to make that vehicle go. 

Never in a million years could I have imagined that one day she'd be living back here again, driving me around the English countryside with three kids in the backseat, yet here we are. When I look at this moment I'm struck by how very much God loves us and knows exactly what we need in our current circumstances to make us ready for the future He has planned. 

On Monday we visited Wimpole Estate, a country house begun in 1640 that sits on 3000 acres of park and farmland now owned by The National Trust.

Absolutely fabulous. 

Wimpole is listed in the Domesday book of 1086. At that time there was a moated manor house with a 200 acre deer park around it. The estate was held by the Chicheley family for 250 years beginning in 1428 with Henry Chichele who at the time was Archbishop of Canterbury. 

The last of his family to hold the house was the politician Thomas Chicheley who was responsible for the 'new house' completion in 1650. It changed hands a few times through deaths and marriages and financial strains and such until finally in 1938 George and Elsie Bambridge purchased the home. Elsie was the daughter of Rudyard Kipling and used her inheritance from him and the royalties from his books to make some much needed refurbishment to the house and grounds. 

She did an excellent job. 

We had the nicest day here and all of us agreed this was one of our favorites. There's what's called a home farm on site with rare breed farm animals and the property is spectacular. So very well maintained and cared for.  Protected too which is always good in an era of development. 

I love a black barn, and these had that charred look-

They have a great layout in the barnyard and stables for you to get close to the animals. 

Baby pigs y'all! Just two days old and I totally get why Fern had a fit and would not let her father take Wilbur for 'fattening up'. 

Sheep are always my favorite and there were whole herds in the pasture and some in the barn too. 

There were also all sorts of chicken breeds we'd never seen before, cows, ducks, donkeys and enormous Shire horses which are beautiful too. They're a rare breed and the farm is working to keep the breed alive. 

The property is extensive but they've cut beautiful pathways all around and you can even walk out into the pasture where the sheep roam. 

And then there's the house, which is stunning. We were able to visit upstairs, the main level, and the basement too, which had quite the Downton Abbey feel. 

The library was amazing-

And of course they have their own chapel-

There are several cafes and a restaurant on site and we had lunch in one of those. There was a small drizzle or two throughout the day, but for the most part the rain held off and that's so often how it is here. It was a wonderful way to wrap up our stay in this beautiful country. 

My blog is where I 'dump' things...thoughts, pictures, opinions, memories and hopes. I know these posts have been the equivalent of inviting people over to see slides from their holiday, and I appreciate you following along. I do have a few stray thoughts that I'll mush into one more post before resuming regular life here. Have a great day everyone! 

Cheers to Monday

Linking today with Holly and Sarah for their 'what I did this weekend' party. Ours was full so grab a cuppa and strap in. 

We left the UK fifteen years ago after living here for six. Our home was in a little village about fifteen miles outside of central London, and my hubs worked in Oxford. My girls were young teenagers then and attended an International school not too many miles from our home. 

My daughter's current home is in the Cambridge area, about an hour and a half from where we once lived.  We knew we wanted to spend a day there....to wander through the old neighborhood (or estate as they're called here), visit the pub, walk down the High Street, see once more some of our very favorite green spaces, and most especially catch up with some old friends. 

We started the day Friday by parking outside our old house, our favorite house of all the houses we've ever lived in, and that's saying something, as we've had more than a few. A delivery van was parked on the road out front, and the driver tried to get us to sign for packages because he thought we were the owners. 

Sadly we are not.  

Is it creepy to lurk outside a former residence and snap some pics? Perhaps, but we did it anyway. We didn't sign for their packages so there's that. 

The house looks mostly the same from the outside, but we know it's very different on the inside. I don't think I'd want to see the inside now. The garage has been closed in on one end and another added on the opposite side. They've also put up a gate which is common here, and added shrubs behind the stone wall out front, so you can't really see the house very well from the street. So glad the gate was open and I could be a little nosy. 

We decided to be 'those Americans' and knock unannounced on the next door neighbor's front door. They were the loveliest couple whose children were already grown when we were living there, so several years older than us. We exchanged Christmas cards for a number of years, and we even met them for dinner in NYC one year when they were visiting the states and we were living outside the city, but it's been quite a long while.  

We knocked and there was no answer at first so I started speaking to their doorbell camera because that's what you do in 2024. I figured they'd see the video and at least know we tried. But soon we heard the locks turning and the door opened a crack. It was the Mrs. and I could tell at first she didn't recognize us. Then I started speaking and it clicked and she threw the door open wide for us to come in. 

So we did. Her hubs was at a doctor's appointment so we didn't get to see him, but we had the nicest catch up with her and talked about all manner of things including the political scene in the USA. She brought it up and it was so interesting to hear her take on everything. It might surprise you. 

She asked about our girls and their children and we were so sorry we didn't get to see her Mr. who we adored. The sweetest man who grew a wide variety of the most beautiful heirloom peonies in his back garden which he would show us from time to time. I love an English garden. 

We had plans for lunch at the local pub with friends so we headed there next. Definitely one of my favorite parts of our entire trip. 

The lovely lady on the left used to attend a women's Bible Study in my home and the one on the right, well we raised our teenage girls together. She has three daughters, but the two oldest were the same age and grade as my two and they were all great friends. The women I met and grew to love in this country are still some of my favorite people on the planet. 

Honestly I could have stayed at that table all day, but we're visitors in this place now and time marches on.

We eventually peeled ourselves away and hubs and I walked down the High Street, which we thought had changed a lot since we were last in town. So many more people. So many more cars. 

Most of the shops had changed names, hands, and product but there were a handful that remained the same. 

My younger daughter had a job in this little cafe once upon a time and we snapped a photo to show her it's still standing. 

Next we walked into The Camp, which thankfully had not changed a bit. Actually I'm pretty sure it hasn't changed in the last thousand years or so. The camp is a piece of land classified as a plateau hillfort because it's not on a hill, but is a slightly elevated spot sitting between two rivers. 

There are theories as to it's original use but some thoughts are that it was of Roman construction, that the Saxons built it to fight the Danes, or that the Danes built it to fight the Saxons. The age of the camp is uncertain but it's old, really old, most likely from the Early Iron Age, around 600-500 B.C. 

It may have been constructed by the Romans a long long time ago, but when we lived here we walked our dog in this camp several times a week. Sometimes there'd be people on horseback there too, and that was always fun to see. We had our sweet Gordon Setter when we lived in England and walking the camp was one of her favorite things to do. Ours too.We used to say she walked five miles for every one we walked. 

Walking. Another thing I miss. We walked nearly everywhere when we lived here. To town. To church. To the pub, the shops, the library, the bank, the cinema, the pharmacy. I miss that. 

After the camp we got back in the car and made a couple of small drive-by trips to nearby favorite villages before heading back to Cambridge. The grands were happy to see us and we all walked to a nearby pub for dinner. 

Saturday morning was spent at the pitch. 

Both boys are playing soccer futbol and we were able to watch their practice, which is a rare treat. I will add that the program is so well run, so organized, and the coaches were wonderful with the kids. 

They had a plan for the entire hour and moved seamlessly from one drill to another, with a short match at the end. The program is mostly focused on skill building and they had the kids attention every minute.  The grandboys are in two different age groups but conveniently their practices are back to back. 

Speaking of futbol...my son-in-law had tickets to the Tottenham-Brentford match in London on Saturday, so the plan was he would take the Mancub to the match (which he absolutely loved) while hubs, Little Miss, Daughter1, Max, and I would all go into London a different direction and see what we could see. 

Let's talk public transportation. We live in the country now, and we're a little bit out of practice when it comes to all all the various modes of transport city living requires. We do have a car here, but parking is always a concern. Quite often taking public transport is much easier than getting a car into a congested city center with a lot of one way streets and bus lanes and very limited parking in teeny tiny itty bitt spaces. 

Public transport it is. 

First we walked to the nearby bus stop and rode a bus to the train station. Then we took a train to the city, but not before grabbing a Cornish pastie from the West Cornwall Pasty stand on the platform for lunch. 

Once we got to London we took the tube to the part of the city we needed to get to. It's a lot and you kind of forget that. 

We took the tube to the Tower Hill stop and were going to walk across Tower Bridge, but did I mention the city was absolutely mobbed? 

We snapped a couple of pics thinking we'd come back by there later, but changed course midday given the crowds. 

Hubs and I have plans to come back into the city another day so we just rolled with the crowds and the walking and the people and having little ones in tow. 

Also, my daughter is an absolute rock star. Just sayin'. 

We ended up walking across London Bridge (which is not the same as Tower Bridge), and were able to see some of the Great River Race happening on the Thames just below. 

I read there were 300 boats competing which I'm sure was exciting, but only added to the downtown masses. 

So what did we see on Saturday?

People. That's what we saw. Have mercy there were so.many people. One of my favorite places in London used to be Borough Market. It was a collection of mostly food stalls beneath London Bridge and you could buy the most delicious Chorizo sandwich from a little cart there.  

All kinds of goodies were for sale, both sweet and savory. There was always a ginormous skillet of paella cooking, lots of fresh produce, cheeses, sausages, pastries, and more. 'Back in the day' the market was only open Thursday-Friday-Saturday and the internet hadn't completely exploded so a lot of tourists didn't even know the market was there. 

Not so anymore. Hoo boy it was jam packed. Of course it was a sunny September Saturday afternoon but the stalls were four and five people deep and you really couldn't even see what was for sale. The market has doubled or maybe tripled in size and it's now open six days a week. 

Daughter1 carried Little Miss and we had Max by the hand. It was ka-razy! I always used to tell people not to miss the market, but not sure I'd recommend it now. At least not on a sunny Saturday. 

We finally made our way out, no easy feat given the crowd, and treated Max to a gelato because he was a real trooper. 

We came out near the riverwalk and were greeted with a rainbow.

We walked some more before crossing the 'WobblyBridge' aka the Millennium Bridge, and landing in front of St. Paul's. 

Still such a beauty. 

We didn't go inside this trip, and instead found a pub so hubs could finally have a pint of London Pride. So many of the pubs are now run by Greene King and London Pride is a Fullers pour so it took some searching. We finally caught the tube back to Kings Cross, the train back to Cambridge, and the bus back home. By then we were all pooped and ordered carry out from a Thai place for dinner, which was delivered to the front door by a guy on a bike. City livin' y'all. 

Sunday we slept in. Everyone was tired and we needed a slow morning. After breakfast hubs and I made a run to the local grocery store. I love to visit grocery stores when we travel outside the US and we walked up and down every single aisle, thoroughly enjoying ourselves. 

It was fun to see so many of the foods and treats we'd forgotten about on the shelves. The choice of creams and dairy products in general, prepared meals, cuts of meat, baked goods, a whole section of cream cakes, and all those flowers. 

Hubs reminded me we have fresh flowers in our stores in the states, but not like this. You don't buy a bouquet of roses for $4. The flowers are so reasonably priced here, and so fresh. I used to buy a bunch every week just because. 

Add that to my list of things I miss. There are of course things I don't miss, but that list isn't nearly as long. 

We bought jammy dodgers, but there's no picture because we ate the whole bag when we got home lol. It was only eight cookies and there are 7 of us. We also grabbed a bag of our favorite flavored crisps-Thai Sweet chili, which is similar to a barbecue chip only not exactly. 

You can say that about many things in the market here. Some things you just have to try. 

After lunch the two dads went off to the Imperial War Museum in Duxford to check out the British planes on display. The little boys worked their legos, Little Miss slept, and Daughter1 and I sipped tea, chatted, and worked on our blogs. 

We all met up for dinner at yet another local pub (this never gets old) before calling it a night. Today hubs and I are off to York for a couple of days, a place I've never been and look forward to seeing. 

So how was your weekend? I hope it was full of the people and places you love too.