Wednesday Hodgepodge: This one is strangely apropos

From our Hodgpodge Hostess:  "Here are the questions for this week's Wednesday Hodgepodge. Answer on your own blog, then ski back here tomorrow to link answers with your friends and neighbors. Also, one item of blog business to note-I'm declaring next week Winter Break in the HP, so no Hodgepodge on Wednesday February 24th. I've got some things going on next week and I'm not sure what my computer access will be. Thanks for understanding. We're here this week though, so let's get started--"

1. February 17th is National Random Acts of Kindness Day. It lands on the calendar one day after National Do Something for a Grouch Day (February 16) which somehow feels related. Perhaps the 16th inspired the 17th? Tell about a time you performed a random act of kindness or were the recipient of one. Will you make an effort to perform a random act of kindness on the 17th? Share details if you're so inclined, and if you have something specific in mind.

Isn't it difficult to talk about times you yourself might have done something kind? It seems as soon as you think "gee, that was kind of me," it stops being about the thing or the recipient and turns back into being about you. It seems like kindness, on our own part, is kind of like bearing a grudge in reverse: better to forget about it once it's done.

But yes, we have been recipients of kindness many times too, and on our side it's not forgotten.

2.What's the most uplifting or encouraging thing you see happening in the world right now? You may have to dig deep for this one.

A quote from Pilgrim's Inn by Elizabeth Goudge:

"To most of the occupants of the cars the world seemed a dark enough place, but at the sight of that light their heavy hearts lifted a little There were still children in the world, and while there were children, men and women would not abandon the struggle to make safe homes to put them in, and while they so struggled there was hope."

3. Black olives, black currants, black grapes, black beans, blackberries, Oreos...your favorite food the color of night? Your least favorite on the list? 

Actually I like most of those, although not all on the plate (might be fun on Hallowe'en). I am about the only person in my family who likes black olives, so I save my cravings for the occasional times we're at Subway, or someplace that offers feta-olive-sundried tomato pizza.

4. A while back I read (here) a list of twelve things you should do before you turn 50. They were--

travel when you have the chance,

take care of your skin, 
learn a foreign language, 
make exercise a habit, 

leave a toxic situation, 

stop caring what others think about you, 

stop worrying, 

volunteer, 

spend time with your grandparents,

 pledge to work less,

learn to cook an amazing dish, 

and seize an opportunity as it arises 







What do you think of the list? What would you add or remove and why? If you're over 50, have you done all 12? If you're not yet 50, have you done any at all? What's on the list that you haven't done, but would like to do? 

I put all those cool pictures in solely to deflect attention from the fact that I have a very short time left to attempt that formidable list of attainments. We're talking weeks. And no, I haven't done more than a few of them.

5. Besides the classic Christmas flicks, what's your favorite film where winter plays a part in the setting?

Snow, not Christmas, and not a disaster movie? How many people out there are going to pick Frozen?

I'll vote for a book instead. Oliver and Amanda and the Big Snow.

6.When did you last feel helpless, and what did you do about it?

Not sure, and not sure.

7. Share a favorite proverb.

On my fridge right now: 

Begin; to begin is half the work. Let half still remain; again begin this, and thou wilt have finished. ~~ Ausonius. 

I suppose that could also apply to the list of 12-before-50!

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