A Beautiful Hodgepodge

Wow, I'm really late getting to the Wednesday Hodgepodge today, but this is the first moment I've had to relax all day.  Better late than never, I hope.  Please, be sure to pop over and visit Joyce @ From This Side of the Pond to join in the fun or just to read posts by other bloggers.

1. 'Beauty is in the eye of the beholder'  What's something you've seen recently that you thought was beautiful?

Spring was really showing her face today and as I was driving the bus I was taking it all in and thinking to myself that Pennsylvania's Laurel Highlands really is a beautiful area (just don't ask me about that in January and February...my answer will be quite different).

2. Our culture and beauty...your thoughts?

I think we tend to put far too much emphasis on it.  In fact, I'd say we're obsessed with it...keeping it and getting it.  We'd be better served by putting that much emphasis on character.

3. Age before beauty, beauty queen, beauty mark, beauty sleep...which beauty-ful phrase resonates with you today? Why?

Beauty sleep, because I am always in need of more sleep and that has been especially true this week.

4. I read here a list of the top ten beasts animals that scare us the most-

alligators, coyotes, black bears, birds (but pigeons in particular), sharks, bats, bed bugs, rats, rattlesnakes, and the black widow spider. 

Which 'beast' on the list scares you the most? What is the liklihood of you having an actual encounter with that particular beast? Did a movie contribute to your fear of this creature? Have you ever had a real life encounter with any of the animals listed?

It's pretty much a tie for me between sharks and snakes of any kind.  My fear of sharks was born when I saw Jaws as a child.  The probability of me having an encounter with one is practically nonexistent since I do not go in the ocean past my ankles.  For me to have a shark encounter any boat I am on is going to have to sink.  I don't know where my fear of snakes comes from (the garden of Eden?) but it's much more likely that I will encounter a snake.  I live in the mountains of Pennsylvania.  We have snakes.  Including rattlesnakes and copperheads.  I have never once in my entire life seen a snake in this neighborhood which thrills me to no end, but I do leave my neighborhood and go to the many state and county parks where it wouldn't be unexpected to see a snake.  In fact, when I was a child, I found a rattlesnake on our front walk.

5. Where were you when you last heard a bell ring? Was it alarming or musical?

Alarming, I guess, since it was the dismissal bell at the high school this afternoon.

6. What's your favorite carb? How's that for random?

Chips of any kind...wonderful crunchy, salty carbs.

7. Let's wrap up another month of Hodgepodging and life with an acrostic. Recap your month using the word MARCH.

M - Muddy A - Auctions R - Rain C - Colton (grandson) H - Hurried

8.  Insert your own random thought here.

I saw an allergist today as the next step the great quest to find out why once I get sick in the winter, I can never shake the cough.  To make a long story short, I'm not allergic to any of the common triggers.

Go figure, though, that he says I don't have allergies but with everything starting to bloom, the grass growing, and a nice breeze I had more than one episode of congestion, coughing, sneezing, tickly throat, or watery eyes.

The allergist suggested getting rid of our pellet stove (my thought was a humidifier might help) and seeing an eye/ear/nose/throat specialist and have my sinuses checked out, that maybe they are the problem.  Whatever.  I'm just glad I haven't had any more coughing since taking the Prednisone and antibiotics.