Summer Time Summer Time

It's that time again. Here are the questions for this week's Wednesday Hodgepodge. Read my answers to the questions and if you want to play around answer them on your own blog, then hop over to Joyce's blog to add your link to the party. See you there!

1. The first day of summer rolls in later this week. What are ten things you'd put on your list of  quintessential summer activities? Will you try to manage all ten this summer?  I am teacher and for me I have to pack all I want to do into the 10 weeks I have before school starts back.  1.  I went to the beach for a week.  I love Panama City Beach.  2.  I attended Core Academy and got to hear Ron Clark from Ron Clark Academy in Atlanta at JSU.  3.  I earned some more hours attending a diabetes learning class at the Central Office.  I am trying to earn enough hours for Flex Days.  Hours that we did during the summer helps us get some days off....Whoooopie.  4.  I just got back from my 45th class reunion in West Palm Beach with my best friend Susan.  It was great fun.  5.  I am going to paint bookshelves and ready two rooms for the new school year.  6.  I want to go to the ARK in Kentucky....7.  I want to take another trip to see my friend Susan in Knoxville.  8.  I am going to organize my craft/junk room.  9.  I wish I could go to Moldova to see my daughter...bur with my health conditions I am afraid to be that far away from my doctors...so maybe next summer.  10.  I am going to paint some folk art pieces for my classrooms and learn to quilt.

2. Do you collect seashells when you're at the beach? What do you do with them once you get them home? What's your favorite place to comb for seashells? How many of these 'best beaches for hunting seashells' have you visited? Which one would you most like to visit?  I have never been to Galveston, Calvert Cliffs State Park, Jeffery's Bay, and Lanai Hawaii  and would love to go to any or all of thee..  I love collecting sea shells and have them in a large glass jar.  My favorite places are Shell Island, Sanibel, and Captiva...which are all in Florida, and Edisto in South Carolina.

 3. At a snail's pace, shell out money, come out of your shell, go back into your shell, drop a bombshell, happy as a clam, clam up...which 'shell' phrase could most recently be applied to some event or circumstance in your life? Explain.  Happy as a clam because I got to spend a few days with old classmates and my best friend in West Palm. We spent most of the day Friday having lunch at Russo's sub(an old hangout), and viewing how things have changed....which was a great deal!
4. What summer activity do you dislike? Why?  Yard work because it is hot!

5. What's something you see as quickly becoming obsolete? Does that bother you?  Reading a REAL book.  Everything today is in e-book format.  I love the smell of a REAL book...and it bothers me that you don't see people reading them anymore.

 6. Insert your own random thought here. I got to spend Wednesday night though Sunday morning with an old friend from my school days.  We have remained friends for a long time and when we are together it is like we have never been apart.  Do you have a friend like that????  Susan and I have been friends since 1959...almost 60 years!  Amazing isn't it.  The picture is Susan, Chet (one of our dearest friends) and me.

 

 

The Great Chattanooga Bicycle Race

 

 

About The Book:  Chattanooga society is turned upside down as a young woman has the audacity to ride a bicycle-in bloomers!  It's 1895. Anna Gaines, 19, struggles to conquer her insecurities after a horrible fall years ago from her beloved horse, Longstreet. On a visit with her aunt in Brooklyn, she's drawn to the new pastime of bicycling. But back at home, cycling is a scandalous sport for a proper lady. Southern women did not engage in activities meant for men.  Anna has her eye on Peter Sawyer, president of the Cycling Club. As community outrage grows, an unexpected turn of events pits Anna against Peter in a race between the sexes.  Will Anna prove that women deserve the same right as men to ride "the wheel?" Will she choose to live a quiet, traditional life of a housewife and mother? Or will she pursue college and become one of the "new women" emerging into the twentieth century on the seat of a bicycle? What will become of the spark between Anna and Peter?  Faith, patience, and courage help Anna to become the person she was meant to be.  Learn more and purchase a copy.

About The Author:  Mike Mizrahi has a master's degree in public relations, advertising and applied communication from Boston University. After a career in corporate public affairs, he retired to pursue a deep passion: writing.  Mizrahi and his wife, Karen, led a mission trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo four years ago and were so moved by the experience, Mizrahi wrote his first novel, which he hopes will one day be published. The Great Chattanooga Bicycle Race is his debut published work. Mizrahi loves reading and writing stories about "sozo," which means to be rescued in Greek. He and Karen are very active in their church and community and love to hike, travel and go the movies together. The Mizrahis live in Woodland Hills, California, where they raised their children who are now adults.   Learn more about The Great Chattanooga Bicycle Race and Mike H. Mizrahi at www.mikehmizrahi.com or on Facebook (AuthorMikeMizrahi) and Twitter (@MikeHMiz). 

My Thoughts About The Book:  The Great Chattanooga Bicycle Race by Mike Mizrahi is an entertaining story that is set in one of my favorite time periods.  It is a great story that  let us see the bravery of those who stepped outside the boundries and broke societal rules to give us the freedoms we enjoy today and take for granted.  I LOVED this book.  This is a book you will want to share after you finish reading it.  A must have for summer reading. 

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the Litfuse Publicity Group. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”