Wednesday Hodgepodge 21 September 2016

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1. Thursday (September 22) is the first official day of autumn in this part of the world...how will you welcome the season? I know some of you have been celebrating way too early, but it's official now so permission granted. House Beautiful recently listed ten ways to make your home smell like fall (you can read the list here. What's a scent you love this time of year and how will you add it to your home?

I will probably welcome it in the same way as I do every season here on the Texas Gulf Coast…inside with the air conditioner on high. While I can hope all day long for fall to bring cooler temps here, the likelihood of it happening is slim to none. For the last two days, we've had heat advisories with warnings to stay indoors due to a heat index right at 110 degrees both days. Fine, our air conditioner is indoors.

I love the smell of baking bread and cookies, etc. I like the smell of cinnamon, too, but sometimes that gets overwhelming. These smells will be achieved by cooking said items and probably eating way more of them than I should!

2. Apple pie or pumpkin pie? Apple cake or pumpkin bread? Warm apple cider or a pumpkin spice latte?

I love both apple and pumpkin pie, but I think I like apple the best. I don't know if I've ever had an apple cake, so I'll choose pumpkin bread. And most definitely the warm apple cider wins over the pumpkin spice latte!

3. Do you suffer from what is sometimes referred to as an afternoon slump? What helps ward it off before it hits and/or tell us what helps you shake it off once it's here?

I suffer from an all the time slump these days. I think I am dealing with anemia again, plus some things have come along to wreck our sleep schedule. Once it hits, my vision is worthless, so I can't read. Since there's nothing I can do once it hits, I may as well take a nap. Naps are happening a lot lately.

4. Ladies-how have your friendships with women inspired you or made you a better person? For the men here today- how have your friendships with men inspired you or made you a better person?

I don't know if my friendships have made me a better person or not, but they have shown me other points of view. New perspectives can be very eye-opening.

5. Are you a people pleaser? If you said yes, do you think that's a good or bad thing? If you said no, do you wish you were more of a people pleaser?

I have always wanted to please people, but this is something at which I have failed miserably my entire life.  One gets to a point where she stops trying because she knows it will never happen.

6. The seasons are a-changin'...share a favorite song relating in some way to change (not necessarily seasonal change, it could be change of any kind).

That's easy…Angels and Demons by the Aviators! While several parts of the song imply change, this is one that I really like:

That's why I'm here
I've been broken too
So maybe you can fix me
And I'll fix you.

7. What do you wish would never change?

The bond of family is something that I wish would never change. I wish that families were always together, never suffering times of estrangement or betrayal. I wish that things didn't come along to destroy the unconditional love that one should have from family.

8.  Insert your own random thought here.

I have had a great week in regards to finding family history tidbits. Over the last week, I have found where my grandma and her next older sister graduated from high school (1935 and 1931 respectively). AND I found the hospital announcement in the 7 March 1944 newspaper announcing "Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Spence, baby girl"…that would be my mama. I have also found articles about my grandma and her sister were both members of a literary society. Her sister, Aunt Julia, was apparently involved in quite a few activities with these clubs. I am hoping to find more in regards to my grandma's participation, too. I was hoping to find a marriage announcement for my maternal grandparents since I'd been able to find the graduation announcement for grandma, but no luck there. I am having a wonderful time searching and reading these old newspapers via Newspapers.com!

Family history aside, these papers are very educational when it comes to history in general, too. Some of the old advertisements are funny because they are worded in ways that maybe we don't talk anymore. Some of the advertisements were quite shocking to me, very graphic for that time frame, until I realize that the roaring 20s were "roaring" for a reason.

I have read way more about World War II in the last week than I ever read about in US History class or my college history classes. I've read the casualty lists, the obituaries for boys that were only coming home to their mamas in a box, and some not for many years later. How horrible it was for those families to not even have their sons' bodies to bury. Some didn't come home until after their parents were dead, too. Then, there are the articles about the pandemic of the Spanish influenza, columns and columns in the personal/society sections of sick people. Some got better; many did not. More sadness.

Well, obviously, I could go on and on about this because I already have. I am so happy that my Zing got me the subscription to Newspapers.com!(Not an affiliate link, just a regular link!)

Please read David's Wednesday Hodgepodge post over at Random Thoughts and Observations.

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