Wednesday Hodgepodge: A Change in the Weather

Notes from our Hodgepodge Hostess: "Happy to be back in the Hodgepodge this week, and here are the questions. Answer on your own blog, then hop back here tomorrow (Wednesday) to share answers with the universe. Here we go-"

 

1. What's changed in your life, home, or community since your last birthday?

Things that happened like going to Texas don't count because they're not a direct change. Having another Squirreling leave the nest, that was a big change. Our plaid couch became unsittable in May (unless you like wire springs poking you in the back), so we put that out to the curb and moved its sister loveseat into its place. Which is cozier, but admittedly harder to read the newspaper there together.

2. September is Classical Music Month. Do you like/listen to classical music? If so what's a favorite piece and/or who is a favorite composer? 

I like Leonard Bernstein's definition of classical music (not referring to the classical period itself) as written-down music, so it doesn't have to be old. One of my favourite pieces this summer has been Rebecca Pellett’s Una storia d’amore, from a recent Quartetto Gelato CD. (The link goes to a clip you can listen to.)

3. Besides The Bible, what's a book that has positively changed your life, relationships, career, or perspective? How so? 

I did a blog post called "Books That Stuck" almost three years ago.  Not books that I'd necessarily recommend, but those that got under my skin somehow, or changed the way I looked at something. Several of them, strangely enough, are books that I read before I finished high school. This was my list (including the note at the bottom):

1. Winnie the Pooh
2. What is a Family?, by Edith Schaeffer
3.  Tears of Silence, by Jean Vanier
4.  The Pilgrim's Progress
5.  The Tightwad Gazette
6.  Who Do You Think You Are?, by Alice Munro 
7.  The Blue Castle, by L.M. Montgomery
8.  The Educated Imagination, by Northrop Frye
9.  101 Famous Poems
10.  The Heart Has Its Own Reasons
11.  Brave New World.  Had to be in there somewhere.
12.  Material World, by Peter Menzel.
 
Which leaves no room for Charlotte Mason, David Hicks,  Jean Little, Jan Karon, Elizabeth Enright, Sir Walter Scott, Don Aslett, Narnia, Shakespeare, Rumer Godden, Ray Bradbury, Dickens, Plutarch, or Mother Goose.  But you can't have everything.

(Do I have an update on this list after three years? Yes, but it's less obviously about one or two books, more about ideas connecting across many of them. Right now one of my favourites is The Clown in the Belfry by Frederick Buechner.)

4. I read (here) these ten hobbies will make you smarter...play a musical instrument, read voraciously, meditate regularly, work out your brain (puzzles, sudoku, board games, etc), exercise often, learn a new language, write your feelings down (blog, journal, just write), travel to new places, cook different kinds of meals, participate in sports actively

Are any on this list your current hobbies? Which hobby on the list would you be most inclined to try? 

Reading, puzzles, writing, yes! I am not currently putting a lot of brain power into cooking, though. Last night we had freezer-meal Sloppy Joes, and today we're having freezer-meal Chicken Chili. The reason we had to have Chicken Chili right after the Sloppy Joes is that I thought it would be a brilliant idea to stuff the two plastic bags of chili mix into our juice jugs, so that the partly-thawed meals would fit into the round slow cooker without my having to bash them around to make them fit. It worked too well: the bags froze stuck tight to the sides of the jugs, and weren't coming out for anything. The only way to get at least one juice jug back was to thaw the chili overnight in the fridge, enough to move its insides around enough to unclench the bag from the jug. It worked, and it did actually fit perfectly into the pot. 

5. What sports traditions does your family have? 

None I can think of, unless it's watching golf on T.V. when my father-in-law comes for supper. 

6. In a few words, weigh in on the current football/National Anthem brouhaha. Keep it family friendly please. 

I have no idea what that's about! (Not tuned in enough, I guess.)

7. Where do you have loads of patience, and where do you most lack patience? 

I have lots of patience for searching things out online. I do that instead of Sudoku.

I'm lacking the patience to come up with a good answer for the second half, so let's move on.

8. Insert your own random thought here. 

For one reason and another, I'm hoping this turns out to be a Very Good Day. And you have one too.

Linked from Wednesday Hodgepodge at From This Side of the Pond.