Weekly Hodgepodge

It's Wednesday so I'm linking up with Joyce at From This Side Of the Pond for the Weekly Hodgepodge. Find Joyce here.

1. August 19th is National Aviation Day...do you like to fly? Last time you were on an airplane? The date is chosen in honor of the history and development of aviation, and celebrated on the birthday of Orville Wright. Have you ever been to the Kitty Hawk area of North Carolina? The city of Dayton in Ohio (their birthplace)

We are a flying family. We love to travel and my parents live three provinces away so, yes, we have to fly. I really like flying -- it usually means something exciting is about to happen -- like seeing my parents or exploring somewhere new. We have not been to either Kitty Hawk or Dayton but we're wanting to do an Ohio road trip at some point (to see the Guardians and the Reds play) so we should add visiting Dayton to that list!

The last time I was on a plane was just under two weeks ago when I flew home, with Sam, from Saskatchewan, where we were visiting my parents.

left: arriving in Saskatchewan during canola season; right: sunset over Saskatchewan as we left. The wheat was starting to ripen and it was gorgeous!

As of this summer, both kids have had their first solo flights and they rocked them! Sam flew to Saskatchewan on his own in summer 2024 and Rachel flew there on her own this past summer. Did I mention we are a flying family!?!?!

 

Edited to add: Until I was reading another post in the link up, I totally forgot that I even got to fly a plane once. You can read more about it here. Dave gave me a flying lesson as a birthday present and it was awesome!

2. In what area of your life do you tend to 'wing it'? Is this an area you should be winging?

Well, this week we haven't gone grocery shopping yet so we've been winging meals. Maybe we shouldn't be, but we have a lot of food in our house so we've just gotten creative! I think it's fine to "wing it" a bit for meals in summer because Rachel and I are both home with very few plans. During the school (work) year though, not knowing what we're eating for supper stresses me out!

3. A favorite book, song, or movie that relates to flight in some way?

I've always loved "Top Gun" (the original one) and a favourite book about flight is Wings by Danielle Steel, even thought I haven't read that one in ages. It's about a woman who flies a lot in the 1930s and 1940s.

4. Soft serve, gelato, sherbet, frozen yogurt, or good old fashioned ice cream...what's your pleasure? Your favorite flavor? How often do you indulge?

I just love regular old ice cream. I don't know if I have a favourite flavour but I do love checking out the unique flavours at our favourite ice cream shop. I really loved their May 2025 feature flavour of grapefruit orange blossom. When I was a kid I loved coffee ice cream but I rarely find it these days.

 

5. I never get tired of______________________.

Reading. It's a rare time when I don't want to read. I also rarely get tired of travelling or going to baseball games!

Throwback picture of me reading when I was about seven or eight!  

6. Insert your own random thought here.

I have a lot I want to get done today. We have produce in our fridge I'm going to turn into soups and freeze for a busy fall night when none of us want to cook, I want to finish weeding the day lily bed under the laundry line, Rachel has an appointment this afternoon, and I have a ton of laundry to fold. I guess it's time to stop blogging and go be productive. Sometimes I wish I could snap my fingers and have all the chores be done, complete with that feeling of accomplishment, without having to do the actual work. However, I really appreciate that I'm still on summer break and actually have time to do all these things.

And with those very random thoughts, I'm signing off. After all, those weeds won't pull themselves! Ha! Happy Wednesday! 

Savouring August (Friday Favourite Moments)

So can I be honest here for a moment? I've been a bit of a grumpypants for the past few months. It seems that Dave and I sailed through the renovation process with very few hiccups, but this post-renovation process (unpacking, settling in, cleaning -- oh, the cleaning) has pushed me over the edge and I've been frustrated and irritated. So I decided I needed to change my attitude and I am bringing back my "Friday favourite moments." I think we are all happier when we notice the good things in life, whether they be major things or small things. If I'm looking for something good every day, I know it changes my mindset.

In my Hodgepodge post a few weeks ago, I shared a quote from Kate Bowler about appreciating the good in August, rather than just rushing through to September. So for the past week, and for the rest of this month, my "Friday Favourite Moments" posts are going to focus on one (or two!) thing I've done every day to "savour August." Then in September, I'm going to try and get back to writing weekly favourite moment posts to help me focus more on gratitude, rather than all the minor irritations that pop up.

 1) Time to read

Sam and I arrived home from Saskatchewan at 3:45am. I was exhausted but didn't sleep well. So that afternoon, I sat in the sun, on our deck, drinking water, and reading a book. I did very little else and it was so lovely to not feel like I had to do anything.

 2) Outdoor movie at the farm

When Tessa invited us out to their farm to watch Mamma Mia! on the side of the barn, we were all in! I loved watching the sun set over the corn field and dancing along to Mamma Mia! It was so much fun!!! 

3) Homemade ice cream sandwiches

Rachel asked if she could bake chocolate chip cookies and then we made homemade ice cream sandwiches and ate them under the solar lights. They were soooo good!

 

4) Evening in uptown

We all walked uptown to help our friend label books for the Little Free Diverse Library project she has been running since 2020. She was inspired by someone in Washington, DC to start this. She has a big book drive every June (Pride month and her birthday month) so we were helping to label the books for the various libraries. Then we caught a bit of a concert in our square and picked up Starbucks for the walk home.

 

5) Peaches and ice cream and flowers  

I picked up a lovely bouquet of flowers at CSA and Dave and I enjoyed fresh peaches on ice cream after supper.

 

6) Visits with friends 

I didn't take a picture while we were visiting, but a friend who I hadn't connected with in awhile came over and we sat on our deck and talked for over two hours! I've reconnected with quite a few friends this summer and it's been so good.

 

7) Fresh corn on the cob and Uptown Night Market 

We got corn on the cob from CSA and it was delicious! Then Rachel, Dave, and I walked uptown to the library to check out the weekly Night Market. We ran into a few people we knew and visited. We also sampled some food and played cornhole for a bit. It was a really fun evening!

 

So that's how I  "savoured August" this past week. It really has helped change my outlook this past week and Dave said it's helped him appreciate this last bit of summer more. Let's see if I can keep the momentum going once I'm back at work next week!

Summer: Part Two In Saskatchewan

So I mentioned in my first post about our summer that my summer break this year is basically divided into three parts. You can read that post here. Part Two was our vacation to Saskatchewan. As Rachel flew out earlier than the rest of us, and Sam and I flew back later than Dave and Rachel, some part of our family was in Saskatchewan for over three weeks! I've written about a few our adventures in these posts here and here, but I wanted to write about a few other things which happened.

Saskatoon has an amazing art museum, the Remai Modern, and I've been wanting to visit it for a few years now. So we made it happen this trip. There were a few galleries with different exhibits including one of "found objects art" and an Indigenous woman who creates impressionist art with First Nations' themes. I loved that exhibit. She created art with paint and beads and it was so intricate. The Remai Modern also has the most comprehensive collection of Picasso's linocuts so those were very interesting to see too.

Another thing we did that I'd been wanting to do for a bit is touring a distillery near my parents' house. We had an extensive behind-the-scenes tour and got to see not only the distillery, but also the flower gardens and orchards.

 

The massive gladiola field is behind us with canola behind that. I love this view!!!  

We got started with a complementary drink and I got Rachel to take my picture in the gladiola field. Lastly, we toured their distillery. My dad bought some of their raspberry gin.

We enjoyed a couple of wiener roasts...

...and Rachel and my dad made a few batches of pesto. I also loved my mom's bouquet of sweet peas and zinnias.

We also enjoyed quite a few games nights. We played Skip-Bo, Trivial Pursuit, Phase 10, and other games. They were so fun and my dad often made milkshakes to accompany the game nights!

And that was the end of our Saskatchewan vacation. We had so much fun, a lot of relaxing time, saw some unique Saskatchewan sights, and most of all, got to spend so much time with Mom and Dad.

 

This current week has been one of the only weeks in the summer when Sam and Rachel are both home and I don't have to work. So the kids are hanging out with friends and we are getting appointments taken care of, but I will tell you more about that in a few weeks, when my summer break ends... Until then, I hope you have something fun planned today. I'm taking the kids to the dentist so I don't expect much fun in my day! Hahaha!!!

Weekly Hodgepodge (On A Friday)

If all goes according to plan, Sam and I arrived home very early this morning (like 3:30am) and are still sleeping while you're reading this. Hopefully, our flight was smooth. *fingers crossed!* I'm linking up, a few days late, with Joyce at From This Side Of the Pond for the Weekly Hodgepodge. Find Joyce here.

1. What's something on your August calendar you're looking forward to? Or dreading if that's easier to answer. 

Even though it's later than usual this year, I always dread my first week back at work after summer break. Only the secretaries are required to return two weeks before school starts so I'm alone in the building (except for the custodians who work all summer). I'm able to ease into my work days but it's much better the second week when the principal and the librarian (and eventually the teachers) return. I really do appreciate that I get a significant break from work in the summers as I know so many people don't, but I wish all educational staff had the same breaks. 

2. August 5th is National Oyster Day...do you partake? How do you feel about pearls?

I've never had an oyster, and honestly, I'm not really inclined to try them. I have a set of pearls which I got when Dave's grandma died and they are really special to me. I should find more occasions to wear them as they're very sentimental.

3. Tell us about a time when you felt like 'the world was your oyster'.

I looked up the meaning of this phrase and it means, "a time when you felt anything was possible." I think for me, that time was pre-Covid. Our province was locked down for so long during Covid (almost a year and a half) and, once that ended, the kids were pre-teens and just needed different things from us. Plus, both Dave and I were working full-time and it just meant we had less time.

In January 2020, we went on a cruise with my parents and we were all so carefree. It was just so fun! Then we came home to school strikes, which led to disrupted school and work schedules, and then Covid hit.

4. Trip Advisor lists seven islands in the US that require no passport (for US citizens). If you're answering today from outside the US you'll still need to produce yours. An-y-way, have you been to any of the seven? Let's pretend you get an all expense paid trip to one this month...which one do you choose and why? 

Catalina Island California~Martha's Vineyard Massachusetts~Mackinac Island Michigan~Key West Florida~South Padre Island Texas~or Kauai Hawaii

We visited Key West on our first Disney Cruise and loved it, although our time there was short. We *almost* made it to Kauai with my parents, but then my mom had some health issues and we had to cancel our trip three weeks before it happened. While I'd still love to visit Hawaii, I think of all of these, I'm most intrigued by Mackinac Island. A place with no cars?!!?!? Sign me up! Since Mackinac is not all that far from us, this might even be a possible vacation some day. I'm also intrigued by Martha's Vineyard, which again, is not all that far from us.

5. Sylvia Plath is credited with the following- 

"August rain: the best of the summer gone, and the new fall not yet born. The odd uneven time."

Agree or disagree? In other words, how do you feel about this month?

In the weekly newsletter from the synagogue, our rabbi included this quote from Dr. Kate Bowler:

Bless you who still have popsicles to drip, tomatoes to slice, books to leave facedown for just a minute longer, and evenings that don't yet know they are numbered.

May you resist the annual migration toward freshly sharpened pencils, color-coded calendars, and the familiar lie that next month deserves more of your attention than the one still sitting in front of you.

Bless you who linger over one more meal outside, one more chorus of cicadas, one more porch sit, trusting that ordinary rituals are already a life well lived.

May you savor what remains before you begin rehearsing what comes next, because August has always been generous with those willing to stay exactly where they are for just a little while longer.

I have a habit of rushing through August; it's one of my least favourite months. However, this quote reminds me that there is still a lot of good to soak up in August. So I'm going to try and do that this month. Instead of seeing it as "the Sunday of the year," as Sam once referred to it, I'm going to try and see it as still full of lots of good things yet to come; lots of things still to savor.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

I'm finishing this post, sitting in the airport in Saskatoon. Our original flight was cancelled, due to maintenance issues, and now our rescheduled flight is delayed by an hour. As I mentioned above, if all goes according to plan, Sam and I will have made it home by 3:30am. Travel is such a privilege, but also irritating when things don't go according to plan...

So those are my hodgepodge thoughts... I'm looking forward to reacquainting myself with our house today! I've been away from home for almost three weeks!

Currently: August 2026

It's the first Wednesday of the month so it's time for "Currently" hosted by Amy at Coffee and Cocktails at the Casa You can find Amy here. So let's get to it!

[savouring]

As I'm writing this post, I'm "savouring" a raspberry milkshake made by my dad. It's really good and I will miss my (almost) nightly milkshakes when we go home. We've had strawberry ones, sour cherry ones, and raspberry ones. I really can't pick a favourite flavour.

I'm also "savouring" every happy hour. Every afternoon, my dad mixes drinks and we've had so much fun making new ones this time. Below is a raspberry gin, basil martini. YUM!!! 

 

[wrapping up]

While Dave and Rachel flew home a few days ago, Sam and I extended our Saskatchewan vacation so we're "wrapping up" our last few Saskatchewan days in the next little bit. It's been such an excellent, relaxing trip, and I'm sad it's coming to an end :(

Sweet peas growing off my parents' deck. I'm already scheming about where I can plant a "cutting garden" for our yard as I'm also envying her zinnias!!!  

[preparing]

Well yesterday, Mom and I picked about a gallon of raspberries, and froze them. We're "preparing" for winter milkshakes when we just can't go and pick the fresh fruit off the bush!

[remembering]

Every day this year I've been going through my photos from that day from previous years. These past few days, I've been "remembering" our vacation here in August 2020. That was when Mom and I invented our first drink (the St. Petersburg Burro, which was the feature drink at my 50th birthday party!). 

We also picked raspberries that trip (although they were yellow) and had wiener roasts out back. We've had some wiener roasts this trip but haven't found any yellow raspberries.

 

[organizing]

I'm not currently "organizing" anything but once I'm back home, I will be organizing the laundry room. I've mentioned here before but that is the last lingering task from the renovation and one of the things I really want to get done before I have to go back to work.

So we're still enjoying our summer but we're recognizing it's not going to last forever, which makes me a little sad. Dang. How's your August started off?

What's Up Wednesday: July 2026

It's a "we're on vacation in Saskatchewan" What's Up Wednesday so this post will be less of a review of our whole month and more of a recap of the last week and a half, or so.

Answering these questions monthly helps me reflect on the past month and I really appreciate having a record of what we've been up to. The questions come from Shay at Mix and Match Mama and Sheaffer at Sheaffer Told Me Too.

image from here

 

What we're eating this week... We're eating all the yummy Saskatchewan food -- Saskatoon berries, carrot pickles, fresh veggies from the garden, excellent coffee-hot chocolate, and milkshakes. It's been a good week and a half of eating!

 

I'm particularly proud of the Saskatoon berry pie because I made it! My mom had surgery on her hand in June, and still doesn't have full use of it, so I've been baking a lot more here than I normally would. Mom still mixes things up and advises, so I'm not doing it all on my own.

 

I somehow managed to make a happy face in my coffee-hot chocolate on my first morning here! And Dad picked sour cherries yesterday and they're really good. Sam and I, especially, have loved snacking on them.

What I'm reminiscing about... We did a little road trip this past weekend and I'm remembering the Saskatchewan road trip Mom and Dad took us on a few years ago. We checked out southwestern Saskatchewan and visited Cypress Hills, the Great Sand Hills, Fort Walsh, and Scotty, the T Rex at Eastend. It was a fun trip!

 

 

What I'm loving... As always, when I'm at Mom and Dad's, I'm loving Mom's bouquets. These are all from their yard. I try to create bouquets from our yard but I'm nowhere near as successful at it as my Mom is.

 

 

What we've been up to... We've been up to a lot! Dave, Sam, and I flew to Saskatchewan a week and a half ago (Rachel flew out a few days earlier than us). We've enjoyed prosecco toasts... 

...we've picked Saskatoon berries (and made pies) and done a South Saskatchewan river cruise.

 

Rachel, Dave, and I visited Wanuskewin, an archaeological site and cultural and historical centre of the First Nations, just outside of Saskatoon.

We've seen buffalo...

... and our road trip was to attend a powwow. This was such a unique, and interesting, experience. These are pictures from the Grand March when all the dignitaries and dancers filed in. Then we watched some of the dancing and drumming. The powwow was beautiful.

The next day we went to a rodeo, which was on the opposite end of the cultural spectrum! We saw saddle bronc, calf roping, steer wrestling, and barrel racing. It was really fun! 

Since the weekend we've been weeding, eating good food, visiting, and playing games!

What I'm dreading... The mosquitoes are really bad in Saskatoon this year so I kind of dread every time I have to go outside. However, my dad ordered some really powerful mosquito repellent and it works really well so I don't know why I dread it. The other day when I was weeding, I didn't get one bite but the mosquitoes kept buzzing around my ears. It's not just my imagination that the mosquitoes are bad either; stores in Saskatoon are putting a limit on how much mosquito repellent you can buy right now. Read about it here.

What I'm working on... I spent about an hour earlier this week helping my mom weed and now Dave has taken over. I will go out again at some point but for now, I'm happy to advise Dave on which are plants and which are weeds, with my mom's overall direction of course!

 

What I'm excited about... As always when we're at Mom and Dad's, Dad is inventing new drinks. And I get very excited about drinking them! Hahaha!!!

On the left is the "Moon Lake Madness," a Moscow Mule type drink with Saskatoon berry juice. On the right is the "Burp 'n Fart," named after a hilarious ride in my dad's very old truck! This is again, inspired by a Moscow Mule but with some extra fruit additions. It's delicious and I've enjoyed one almost every day!

 

What I'm watching/reading... I've been watching the birds at the feeders -- goldfinch, chickadees, hummingbirds -- I'm definitely in my bird watching era!

On our road trip this past weekend, I was loving watching all the canola fields. We even stopped to get some pictures. I absolutely love canola season in Saskatchewan and I'm so happy we get to be here for it this year. 

 

What I'm listening to... As I'm writing this, I'm listening to Rachel and Dave work on a crossword puzzle together.

What I'm wearing... Earlier this spring, Rachel and I bought some rodeo inspired pajamas. They're so fun and I've loved wearing them with her!!!

 

Aren't these fun!?!?!? Image from here.

 

What I'm doing this weekend... We don't have any specific plans but vacation continues so I'm sure it will involve plenty of relaxing and enjoying life :)

What I'm looking forward to next month... August will contain some more time in Saskatchewan, some more time relaxing at home, and then, by the end of the month, I will be back to work. I'm hoping to tackle a few last corners which still need to get back in order after the renovation (laundry room, my office), so here's hoping I get to some of those spots while I have a little more time.

 

So that's what's up with us this last Wednesday in July. We're soaking up all the Saskatchewan goodness while we can, even if it does include a few too many mosquitoes! Happy Wednesday!