Hodgepodge Wednesdays-- Beauty, Trains, & Birthdays

 I'm finally linking up with Joyce once again this week for her Wednesday Hodgepodge.  

 1. How do you define beauty? 

When I think of beauty, I tend to thing of something I enjoy looking at that brings me joy. Mostly I associate this word with nature.  Here are a few "beauty" shots from Friday's hike.

 

2. Have you ever taken a trip by train? If so where did you go and what did you think of the experience? If not do you have any desire to do so? Where would you like to go? (You might find inspiration here-The Best Train Trips in The World) 

Sort of; we've taken a few scenic train rides. I took the boys on one down the Ct River one day and it was quite pretty.

 

 

My husband and I took a dinner train ride out of Burlington, Vermont. That one wasn't quite so scenic but the food was pretty good. 

 

 

However, we've never used a train as transportation for a trip. 

3. Shell shocked, bombshell, bandshell, shellacking, in a nutshell, walking on eggshells...choose one and tell us why you chose it, or how it relates to your life in some way currently.

Shellshocked or bombshell (in the sudden, shocking, unpleasant, surprise definition of the word)-- both describe perfectly how I've felt about my father's death and some of the things I've learned since then.  

4. Tacos, pistachios, oysters, clams, eggs...your favorite food on the list that comes in/with a shell? 

Pistachios are my favorite from this list. 

5. Are birthdays a big deal in your house? Is your own birthday a big deal in some way? Elaborate.  

Birthdays were a big deal in our house but not so much anymore as my boys have gotten older. In fact, Evan has already warned me he has zero intention of coming home for his birthday next week as he'd rather stay at school and celebrate with friends. I'm okay with that and will get a care package to him this weekend. 

As the boys' birthdays have gotten less and less, I feel like mine have gotten more and more though. My mom and I have always planned a shopping day near my actual birthday and we often had her and my step father over for dinner and dessert and presents that night and while we still try to do that most years my husband has been stepping things up and often plans an overnight away. This year, rather than going away for my actual birthday when Alec had just arrived home from Greece, he bought us tickets for a show next weekend and we've got dinner reservations and hotel reservations to go with it. It should be a really fun night.  

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

After chatting very, very briefly with a lawyer (actually I think it was a paralegal) in Florida on Friday and basically feeling at a loss with what to do I took myself on a nice long 4 or 5 mile hike around the dam. Hiking, listening to audiobooks (while I hike), and taking photos help center me and push aside all the frustration. I forgot my "real" camera at home but managed some pretty photos with my phone. In addition to the ones I already shared I also took these.