Hello, fellow Hodgepodgers and Wannabees. You don't have to sit on the sidelines - 

You too, can join in on the fun. 

It's EASY! - 

You copy down the questions that get sent out on Tuesday - From This Side of the Pond - copy the questions onto your blog and answer them on your blog.   Then you come back here on Wednesday after you have published to add your link to the linky party. 

Thanks to Janice for her weekly creative and thought-provoking questions. 

1. What's one thing you're excited about in the coming month? 

Well, we have started an impromptu home repair - new flooring in the craft room and our office. So we're in the throes of pulling up old flooring and moving things out. It will be nice once my Husband is done with it. Right now it is a mess and I will be happy when it is behind us. 

2. What was your life like when you were ten years old? 

Standing at the top of the streetcar tunnel and spitting down onto the streetcars as they go in or come out - 

I got in BIG trouble for that! 

Riding my bike down the city street, cashing in my bottles for candy at the many mom-and-pop stores - we had one on every corner.  All the store merchants knew us, kids. My mom would call in to place a grocery order at the market and I would walk down to pick it up for her.  I was just starting to get my independence and then we moved to this boring sleeping oceanside town with farms all around. 

It took me a year before I found the pleasures of living in a more rural area - Like running through the artichoke farms, and dodging buckshot - climbing trees.   Another farmer in the back of the valley had a trout farm which was a fun place to hang out - if you dared.  Those poor farmers hated us, kids. We also had the Sun Valley Dairy - and I loved hearing that back screen door slam on the way out and the hum of the freezers outside.   Playing hide and seek and neighborhood games on warmer nights. Going to the beach with our dads, when the bass was running and watching them fish where we would sometimes enjoy a delicious fish fry. And walking San Pedro Creek all the way to the ocean - about 2 miles, catching frogs and tadpoles along the way. 

3. What's something from your childhood you still enjoy today? 

I was going to say, spitting on streetcars but you probably wouldn't believe that - 

4. What state (that you haven't been to) do you most want to visit? Tell us why. 

I've always had a fascination with Alaska and when my husband and I first married we were planning to move up there. I have a friend who moved up there a few years ago and she loves it. Her winters, so far have not been any worse than a mid-west winter. Plus she gets to watch moose from her living room window. 

5. Do you like to drive? Tell us how you learned to drive. 

I love to drive. I'd rather take car trips than fly. I had a boyfriend and he taught me how to drive. My parents did as well but mostly around our little town. I had more driving practice with my boyfriend.  We'd drive in the fog, up and down the coast - in San Francisco up and down the hills -

 I learned to parallel park on those hills - and to this day I am still the best parallel parker. My husband is amazed. I nail it every time! 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

No random thought comes to my mind at this moment. 

Until next time, thanks for reading -

Debby