Wednesday Hodgepodge - 25/2/26

Joyce provides the questions, we provide the answers and we link up here to share.

1. America celebrates turning 250 years old this year. Primary cities set to lead the celebrations on July 4th are Boston, Philadelphia, New York, and Washington D.C. Other significant locations for celebrating will be Charleston SC and the 'historic triangle' which includes Jamestown-Willimasburg-Yorktown Virginia.

Of the cities listed how many have you seen in person? Of the cities listed which would you most like to visit this year? Any plans to do so? What's one place in America you think everyone should see? If you're not American what's one place in the US you'd like to see?

We've been to Boston, Philadelphia, New York and Washington D.C. over the years but our travels to the US these days focus on Vermont where our son and his family are currently living.  We're very familiar with Boston airport!

2. Three sounds you love to hear?

Children laughing.

Bird song

Choral singing

3. Three sounds you hate to hear?

Children crying - when they're upset and need comforting

Children screaming when they're in the middle of a tantrum

Sirens - emergency services rushing somewhere is never usually good

4. February 24th is/was National Tortilla Chip Day. Are you a fan? With salsa, guacamole, queso, or just plain please? Do you like nachos? With what on top? Is there anything (besides nachos) you make that calls for tortilla chips?

I'm not a big fan of tortilla chips but I don't mind them with cheese melted on top (nothing else) or with an onion and garlic dip.

5. We March into March with next week's Hodgepodge...what's one thing on your March calendar that makes you smile?

Our eldest Grandson will turn 9 at the end of March. 

6. Insert your own random thought here.

Two more things to look forward to in March - our eldest son has a birthday and the clocks go forward!  Can't wait for lighter evenings.

Have a good day all.

In the News this Week - 24/2/26

Hmm it's been an interesting week for news.

Of course the big news here in the UK was the arrest of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor in connection with his role of UK Trade Envoy and his links to Jeffrey Epstein.  I've used his name in full here as that seems to be what all the reporters are using when talking about him on TV but it's a bit of a mouthful and some reporters were better at saying it than others.  This was followed today by the arrest of the former Ambassador to the US, Peter Mandelson.  

There are now calls for Andrew to be removed from the line of succession to the throne. I personally don't see the need for this.  He's 8th in line currently.  He's unlikely to get anywhere near the throne which hardly justifies the time and cost that would be involved in passing an Act of Parliament to remove him.  Unless there's some sort of fast track route that could be used which I very much doubt.  We don't have executive orders here in the same way the US does but there is something known as the Royal Prerogative but even that doesn't allow the King to do just as he likes.

In INTERNATIONAL News the war in Ukraine enters it's 5th year following Russia's invasion and shows no sign of ending, certainly not while Putin remains in power. 

In SPORTS the Winter Olympics have come to an end and although Team GB only won 5 medals 3 of which were gold, that makes it our most successful games yet and there were definitely some exciting moments.  I watched the final of the Men's Team Curling competition on Saturday evening and it was nail biting stuff.  And of course very disappointing for our team who finished with silver medals.  I loved watching all the Ice Skating events and marvelled at the tricks and jumps that were done by both snow boarders and skiers.  It has definitely been entertaining.

In ENTERTAINMENT it was the BAFTA (British Academy Film and Television Awards) event here on Sunday.  Unfortunately, despite all the great films and shows etc that won awards, the event has been overshadowed by the BBC failing to edit out offensive language from John Davidson who has the condition Tourette's Syndrome.  Robert Aramayo won the Best Actor award for his role in the film "I Swear",  which is based on John Davidson.

It seems the live audience were warned about the possibility of outbursts due to involuntary tics but the comments were not edited from the show which was broadcast 2 hours later or removed from the I-player version until the following morning.  I have a feeling heads will roll.

And for MISCELLANEOUS I'm happy to report that the 2 cygnets on our lake were rescued at the weekend and taken to a nearby flock as their parents had finally decided it was time for them to find a new home and had been chasing them off the lake.  Hopefully the young ones will thrive in their new environment and the parents will nest again and produce a new brood in due course.  Particularly as there seems to be an outbreak of Avian Flu in the Dockland area not too far from us where many birds have died in the last few days.  Very sad.

But just to cheer you up here's a photo of my daughter's family cat Milo who I had to go and feed and fuss on Sunday as they were away.

A bit of Waffle - 23/2/26

And another day when we had rain.

But another day of blogging.  I think I'm falling into a bit of a rhythm here and having specific things on the days of the week is definitely helping.  Although I am conscious that I don't always have enough time to respond to comments and get around to everyone else's blogs that quickly.

And today there was a post about the upcoming A-Z blogging challenge which will be upon us before we know it.  In fact the dates for doing a Theme Reveal post and signing up etc were released today. (See here for details.) 

I actually started putting a plan together for this year's A-Z challenge last June.  I was feeling very organised.  I had my theme and I knew what needed to be done.  I even did a draft of my A post.  In August I managed to draft B & C.  And that's it!  So I have 23 more posts to do.  I'd like to have them all done before 1st April but that may or may not happen.  Some of my best posts have probably been done at the last moment but it does make it all a bit stressful and leaves less time to see what other bloggers are doing.  I've met quite a few of the bloggers I follow through the A-Z challenge but others have been through the various link ups I do too.  

I really enjoy being part of the blogging community even if my input is a load of waffle!  

Weekly Photos - 15th - 21st February 2026

I don't think I actually took a picture last Sunday but this was what I was reading and I'm still reading it!  It's not grabbing me at all.

                                    

Monday Granddaughter Ella was here and we had a fun time playing lots of games and watching The Sound of Music Live.

Tuesday was pancake day - the only evidence of which was this photo:

Wednesday was the day I finished this puzzle only to find it was missing a piece. I was so annoyed as although I bought it from a charity shop it was still sealed.

Despite trying to be organised and ahead of myself with the food I was planning to serve to my friends on Friday, on Thursday I had to make a late night dash to Tesco as I found we had no white wine in the house plus I was also missing sun dried tomato paste.

As you can see Friday's lunch was well received. Everyone was very complimentary about both the main course - which was potato, mushroom and spinach traybake in a yummy cheese sauce, followed by chocolate and raspberry trifle. (And of course there were no before photos!)

And yesterday (Saturday) the only photos I took were of the weekly quiz from Saturday's newspaper which we all the immediate family do. Plus of course the answers.

So far I'm ahead with 11/20 but my son and DIL in Nottingham have yet to respond and they usually do quite well.  Although there's often a lot of debate about their scoring with no half marks allowed lol.

I need to up my game and be more creative with my photos but I have taken some today and I think you'll like them but that's for next week's round up.

Hope you're having a good Sunday.  We had rain (again) this morning but it seems to be clearing up a bit now so maybe I might venture out for a walk.