Wednesday Hodgepodge: Blessings Edition

1.What's something you wish you knew how to do, but feel like it's too late to learn?

Driving, I guess. I gave it a few tries, but it just wasn't going to happen.

2. Your least favorite thing to shop for? Why?

Shoes. I have strange-shaped feet that are happiest in something comfortable, but I don't want to feel like I'm wearing Grandma's shoes either. When I do find a pair that fits, I wear them into the ground rather than have to go back before, maybe, the decade is up.

3. How has the celebration of Thanksgiving today changed from when you were growing up?

Canadian Thanksgiving is in October and I don't think it's changed much. Church, food, usually good weather. But we never heard of Black Friday in November until a few years ago.

4. What's something that when other people see it, reminds them of you? Explain.

That's probably a better question to ask the other people! Maybe old books?

But I did have a couple of friends tell me that they liked my kitchen gewgaws, the jars and spice containers with names on them.  I've had some of those containers for a long time (Jam 'n Jelly was my great-grandmother's), but every so often I find a new one. The chicken jugs are marked as measuring cups.

5. If you could guest star in a TV show, what would it be and why?

I would avoid it like, um, shoe shopping. I hate being filmed.

6. Have you ever farmed or spent any time on a farm? Are there farm stands in your little corner of the world and do you make it a point to shop there? If so, what item do you particularly like to buy from a roadside stand or farm shop? 

 I once spent several days living in a pup tent at the Canadian branch of The Farm, in Eastern Ontario. If you know anything about the vegetarian food scene of the 1970's, The Farm in Tennessee was a big deal in the popularization of soy foods, and they also had a Canadian entity. By the time I visited in the 1980's (with a group of international students), there were only a few people left living there, but they were still making tofu and selling soy ice cream. I helped make the largest batch of tofu I've ever seen; I wish I still had the pictures.

 I live in the city, but it's only a few minutes out of town to farm country, and we have farmer's markets as well. We're most likely to stop and buy apples, because farm apples are so much better than supermarket ones.

7. What's something you've experienced recently that made you feel a sense of awe or wonder?

Miracles, literal ones, happening in the lives of people around me; but I can't tell those stories, they belong to other people.

 Little things that come together in ways you don't expect.

 The first real snow here this week, while it's still beautiful and not just a reason to have to wear boots.

8. Insert your own random thought here. 

I'll ask a question back, for anyone visiting: do you still bake the same holiday things, or the same amounts, that you did years ago? So many people have changed their diets for one reason or another, or there just aren't as many of us around...it's fun to think of making a lot of cookies and things, but then you have to have a reason to eat them. Is this ever a problem for you?