Wednesday Hodgepodge: Sense and Sensibility

 

Notes from  our Hodgepodge hostess:  "On the literal home stretch here with the house build, so not a lot of time to blog. I am determined though, to at least post the weekly Hodgepodge. Answer on your own blog, then fly back here tomorrow to share answers with the universe. See you there!"

1. What would you say is your strongest sense?

I've been told common sense, but nobody seems to be quite sure what that is.

2. Do you believe in the idea of a 'sixth sense'? Why or why not?

If you say the sixth sense doesn't exist, you'll hear stories from everyone about why it does; and if you say it does exist, it sounds like you are approving ESP and the occult and divination, all of which are not places Christians should be going (sorry Eleven). I do believe there are spiritual realms, and stuff much bigger than we are happening all around us, so it stands to reason that there is sometimes a kind of communication or knowledge that we can't account for. And there is also a "sixth sense" that is more scientifically explainable, such as just knowing (by long experience) that the cookies are about to burn or that the person ahead of you who has been driving erratically is going to turn without a signal. Some of the Christians I grew up with used the phrase "a word of knowledge" for something that they knew without being told, but maybe something slightly less stupendous than "prophecy."  They also used phrases like "obeying the urging of the Holy Spirit" to describe an action that might not seem logical but that was the right thing at the right time, like phoning someone who turned out to need help, or giving money or other material help that turned out to be exactly what was needed. That still makes sense to me. There may be some people who pay more attention than others to the patterns of what's out there, or who have better "hearing." 

3. When do you most feel like a slave to time? Explain.

I had to look up an explanation for this, and came up with this page. The suggestion to "get rid of excess clocks" is not going to happen in this clock collector's house (although he doesn't keep them all running at the same time, we'd go crazy). We are probably medium-time-centric here; working from home does give us flexibility, but there are still things like school bus times to keep us in line.

4. Have you ever worked in a restaurant? How would you rate the experience? If you could own a restaurant what kind would it be?

Not a restaurant, but a nursing home kitchen, briefly and part time during my last year of high school. It was definitely what you'd call a "slave to time" job, as every single thing we did was timed out on a mimeographed sheet. Something like: 4:15, fill twenty tiny paper cups with jam, 4:20, pour juice cups, 4:25, take trays upstairs, and so on. Lots of work, sore feet, an apron that never stayed clean. The one indelible lesson I got out of it was that if you have only five or ten minutes, you can probably squeeze in a small job  (like folding a basket of laundry), and then you don't have to do it later.

5. Ever traced your family tree? Share something interesting you learned there.

Both my husband's family-of-ancestry and mine did a lot of migrating around Europe, then around North America. If we were going to map out a family-hunting tour some day, I think it would take a year to hit all the places they lived.

6. What did your childhood bedroom look like?

I had several bedrooms, because we moved a few times. About the only thing that stayed the same was my bed: a vintage spool bed that someone had refinished for my parents as a wedding present (like the one in the photo). About the only other thing I can say is that my room was usually messy. Having such a big bed meant that a lot of things went under the bed.

7. Anyone who knows me knows I love_______________________?

Now what am I supposed to put in there? I love a lot of things. As Jan Karon's Father Tim says to his wife, "Cynthia, what don't you love?" And she usually gives him a list of a few things back.

I love it when garden vegetables actually grow (they didn't this year, much). I love it when my "sixth sense" tells me there's something good in a corner of the thrift store. I love the Saturday NYT crossword (which is actually the Sunday NYT crossword, we just get it a week late), because it doesn't contain words that don't exist like LIRAS (which was in yesterday's daily crossword). I love the moment on Christmas Eve when I put things into stockings (sorry, small children). I love it when Mr. Fixit picks me out a raisin doughnut or a fritter at Tim Horton's (not the usual) because he knows they're my favourites. I love hymns with four-part harmony. I love getting to see people I have been missing.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

We watched the first two episodes of Kiefer Sutherland's show Touch last night. Mr. Fixit liked the quantum aspects of it, but I thought it was just a different way to say something theological: that humans are all linked together somehow by our humanness, and that sometimes our stories overlap if we let them.

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