Wednesday Hodgepodge: Short-answers edition

I'm twenty thousand leagues under the writing sea right now, so this week's entry in the Hodgepodge is going to be brief.

1. Something little you are loving right now? 

Our current hamster. His name is Alcibiades.

2. Red roses or pink peonies? Red wine or pink lemonade? Red lipstick or pink polish? A cotton candy colored sky or a fiery red sunset? A book-movie-song you love with the word red or pink in its title? 

Roses, lemonade. Pink lipstick. Sky pictures, I like them all.

3. What's something you currently have your heart set on doing-going-seeing-or experiencing?

Story here.

4. Who would you most like to have a heart to heart with right now? Is that possible? 

Only virtually.

5. Write an acrostic for the word L-O-V-E. 

Lasagna

Or

Very

Easy Takeout Burgers: Which would you rather have for Valentine's Day dinner, honey?

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

That doesn't involve complaining about whatever?

Well, no legislator or bureaucrat can stop the sap rising in the maple trees. Spring will be here soon.

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

Wednesday Hodgepodge: All Right

Here are the questions to this week's Wednesday Hodgepodge. Answer on your own blog, then hop back to From This Side of the Pond (click the graphic) to share some Christmas cheer, aka link up to the party. See you there! 

1. What's something about Christmas that most people like, but you don't? Elaborate. 

Most of the "Christmas" music played on most commercial radio stations? Our choice for today is an "All Beethoven, All Day" program to celebrate his birthday (Schroeder would be happy about that). Yesterday it was a Stuart Townend live in Ireland CD we thrifted.

2. Tell us about one cherished tradition from your childhood and if you'll make it happen this year? 

This Santa: a gift from relatives when I was really small.

3. In 1941 FDR declared December 15th Bill of Rights Day. Citizens were encouraged to fly the flag and gather for prayers and other ceremonies as appropriate. Did you know this? Will you fly a flag? Can you name all the rights and protections guaranteed in the first ten amendments of the US Constitution? Of the ten, which two do you value most? If you need a list you'll find one here. 

Jingle bells, jingle bells.

4. Do you know someone named Bill? Tell us something about him? Is there a famous 'Bill' you'd like to meet? 

Multiple Bills in our family.

Want to meet: Bill Shakespeare, Bill Wordsworth, Bill Shatner.

5. A step in the right direction, on the right track, bragging rights, be in the right place at the right time, get off on the right foot, right as rain, right side up, give your right arm for, have one's heart in the right place...choose a 'right' that applies to your life in some way in recent days and tell us how it's so.

Then rang the bells more loud and deep
God is not dead, nor does he sleep
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail
With peace on earth, good will to men. (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)

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

Wednesday Hodgepodge Bake-Off

1. What do you think it means to have the holiday spirit? 

I think we have to be careful about how we do or don't define it.

My mother loved watching holiday T.V. specials as much as the kids did. She was particularly fond of the original Grinch special, and although our Christmas decorations and food often did look somewhat Who-ville-ish, we did get the point that "Christmas Day is in our grasp, as long as we have hands to clasp."

But when the hands are no longer there, for whatever reason? Or in a year when you can get fined for clasping those that are? Or for doing the other simple Who things such as singing in public? The Christmas world has turned virtual and drive-by, and that leaves out an awful lot of people who don't have computers, or cars, or who just can't fathom it all. 

Is the holiday spirit only effective if we can pretend that everything is good and normal?

Actually, for Christians, I think it's the other way around (and I'm not the only person to say this). Perhaps, if our own Advent seasons have always been cheerful and "normal," we now have an opportunity to better understand the darkness, and to trust less to the things of our own making, more in God. It also puts more responsibility on us to be aware of those who are troubled or alone.

Maybe that's the holiday spirit.

"In deepest night, in darkest days,
When harps are hung, no songs we raise.
When silence must suffice as praise,
Yet sounding in us quietly, there is the song of God."

~~ Susan Palo Cherwien, "In Deepest Night"

2. What's one thing you've baked this month? Have you eaten the finished product? How much baking do you do around the holidays? What baked sweet something does your family insist is on the menu during this season of the year? 

I have not done any baking at all, and our eating of cookies has consisted of Chips Ahoy and a bag of chocolate-covered lebkuchen.

However, I've had requests for a couple of our Christmas standards like Apricot Slice (what the girls called Fairy Dust Bars) and cheater fudge. I think I might cut the recipe for Apricot Slice in half this year, though, because it makes a big panful.

3. Your most recent 'half-baked' idea?

Not sure about that one.

4. Where were you the last time you 'baked' in the sun? The top ten sunniest destinations in the world (most sun from January-December according to this site) are Dubai, Bali Indonesia, Los Angeles CA, Miami FL, Barbados, Dominican Republic, St. Lucia, Mauritius, Antiqua, and the Canary Islands Spain. Have you been to any of the cities listed? Which one on the list appeals to you the most? If the world were not upside down crazy and you could lie on a beach anywhere right now where would you go?

I have not been to even one of those, but the Canary Islands sound nice. Or somewhere like Corfu. If it weren't December, Lake Huron would do fine.

5. Today I wish I had more _____________________.

I could answer that one in a lot of ways, most of them not that helpful.

How about yarn? I like to crochet, but I've let my stash get down to almost nothing. Maybe in the new year I'll work on thrifting some extra yarn and try out some things I've saved on Pinterest.

6. Random thoughts:

Family gathering about twenty-two years ago. Me, my kids, my mom, my grandma. Hands to clasp (and good bakers too).

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

Wednesday Hodgepodge: Scraping, Scratching, Scrabbling, Scrooging

1. Here we are entering the last month of the year 2020. 2020!! Every year The Oxford English Dictionary publishing team chooses a word that captures the general mood of the year we're leaving behind, or the one word that will leave a lasting impact on the world at large. This year they needed sixteen words in order to cover the whole enchilada. 

My response: I am not pasting the OED list of words here because I think I could get censored or have to post warnings or something for even mentioning them. And that should be enough of a response in itself.

2. What one word from your own list of words describing this year sums up/best reflects your 2020? Tell us why. 

Did you ever see Richard Condie's animated film The Big Snit? A middle-aged couple argue over a Scrabble game, unaware of  nuclear devastation going on outside. I could say that I have tried to focus on the game (and the work, and the walks, and the thrifty wardrobes, and the small mercies) as a way to cope with the otherwise much much much that I am aware of..

However, if I had to choose one word, it might be arrows. Arrows everywhere. Arrows on floors, arrows outside doors. I'm very tired of arrows. (And doors.)

3. Do you like peppermint? Peppermint mocha, a candy cane, peppermint bark, peppermint tea, York Peppermint Pattie, peppermint ice cream...of the peppermint treats listed, which one is your favorite? Will you bake anything featuring peppermint this holiday season? 

Now that's a much nicer thought. Bring on the peppermint.

I bought some peppermint-striped Hershey's Kisses this year to put on top of cookies. (Bake the cookies first,  white, chocolate, whatever; let them cool just a few minutes, then press in the Kisses while they're still soft.)

4. Besides Christmas, what do you associate the color red with? How about the color green? 

Have you seen my Be an Elf post? Oh, sorry, I guess that's still Christmas.

Red? Roses. Ketchup. Hair. Maple leaves. Canadian Smarties.

Green? Frogs. Salad. Scout uniforms. Bits of unpeeled zucchini in muffins.

5. Is your tree up? Real or artificial? Is your house decorated? Is your shopping done? Started? Wrapped? On a scale of 1-10 with 1 being Scrooge-like and 10 being Buddy the Elf, how's your Christmas spirit?

We have an improvised Advent wreath and a couple of things out, but mostly no. No tree yet, but we will pull it out when we have time. 

As for the rest, I'm working on it.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

I just finished reading a short essay by C.S. Lewis on "Forgiveness." He is most emphatic that, whether we like it or not, Jesus makes it clear that forgiving--though not excusing or trivializing our own sins or those of others--is not optional for Christians. 

"To believe in the forgiveness of sins is not so easy as I thought. Real belief in it is the sort of thing that easily slips away if we don't keep on polishing it up."

Then I opened up a much re-read copy of Jan Karon's novel Somewhere Safe With Somebody Good, and  the characters were discussing how "love is an act of endless forgiveness." Is someone out there trying to get my attention about that? 

Yes, there's a lot to forgive this year, though perhaps not to excuse. Perhaps also to confess. And for all that, as Lewis said, we have to admit that there is sin.

But without that: no Advent. And no Incarnation. 

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

Wednesday Hodgepodge: Eleven is not just a TV character

Here are the questions for this week's Wednesday Hodgepodge. Answer on your own blog then hop back to From This Side of the Pond to add your link to the list. 

1. It's the 11th day of the 11th month and bloggers often make lists on days like today. Let's go with a list of eleven things you're feeling grateful for today.

In no particular order:

1 Computer, Internet service, and electricity to run it

2 A writing project to keep me busy

3 Vitamins

4 Chihuahuas wearing Santa Claus suits

5 Freezer that works better than the one we had at our apartment

6 Frederick, the mouse who stored up colours

7 Chocolate covered raisins

8 Thrifted sweaters

9 Not needing to buy new glasses this year

10 Books still out there to be read

11 Shoes.

2. What's something you decided to do or act on at the '11th hour'?  

The above-mentioned writing project, something I decided to start a few days ago but which needs to be finished quickly. So why am I working on this instead? Wednesday habits, I guess.

3.  Apparently the Kentucky Fried Chicken recipe contains 11 herbs and spices. What's a dish you make that calls for exactly eleven ingredients? Feel free to share the list and/or recipe. 

OK, I'll bite, I thought, and started browsing through past posts with recipes. Most of them, unsurprisingly, called for fewer ingredients, because that's the way we roll here. I did find a recipe we had made once for Cinnamon Cake, and when you add in our own suggestion of nutmeg, it adds up to eleven.

Then I found one we've made more often: Oatmeal-Raisin Cookies, and these are not-your-average-oatmeal-cookies, but totally worth the making. And there you go, eleven ingredients. Don't skip the coarse salt, kay?

And I just noticed that Pumpkin Pie also calls for 11 ingredients, if you count the pie crust as one ingredient and don't count the whipped cream on top.

4. Something you remember about your 11-year old self?

Not a place I revisit too regularly, but okay. Late 1970's, fifth to sixth grade, the year of a house move. It was the first year I remember wearing blue jeans as school clothes. We jumped rope, played outside, and watched Happy Days and Little House on the Prairie as if they were religious rites.

Enough for today. More on From This Side of the Pond.

Wednesday Hodgepodge: Less Nasty and Mean

 It's time to ask the weekly Wednesday Hodgepodge questions.  Come on in...it's a friendly space. Answer the questions on your own blog, then hop back to From This Side of the Pond to add your link to the party. 

1. How do you define peace? 

"....I wish to place on record that I am in unrepayable debt to Francis of Assisi, for when I pray his prayer [Make me an instrument of Thy peace], or even remember it, my melancholy is dispelled, my self-pity comes to an end, my faith is restored, because of this majestic conception of what the work of a disciple should be.

"So majestic is this conception that one dare no longer be sorry for oneself. This world ceases to be one's enemy and becomes the place where one lives and works and serves. Life is no longer nasty, mean, brutish, and short, but becomes the time that one needs to make it less nasty and mean, not only for others, but indeed also for oneself." (Alan Paton, Instrument of Thy Peace)

2. November 3rd is Election Day in the US of A, but did you know it's also National Sandwich Day? Let's vote, shall we? egg salad or tuna salad? chicken salad or grilled chicken on a bun? peanut butter and jelly or a bagel with cream cheese? turkey and swiss or ham and cheddar? grilled cheese or pimento cheese? roast beef-corned beef-or make mine veggie? 

Peanut butter is always good, and grilled cheese is classic. But if I were going all out I'd order a sub with mozzarella and black olives.

3. When did you last say (or feel) 'no rest for the weary'? 

I usually prefer the Mitford version: "No rest for the wicked, and the righteous don't need none."

4. This time last year, where were you?

Here, most likely. The fourth of November was a Monday, so I was probably getting started on the week's work in my last university course. (I was learning online before everybody was learning online.) 

5. Share a favorite song, verse, or quote featuring the word 'peace'. 

"People who are anxious, confused, and looking for answers are quick to search for solutions in the pages of books or on the Internet, looking for that 'killer app' that will make everything right again. The Rule [of St. Benedict] tells us: No, it's not like that. You can achieve the peace and order you seek only by making a place within your heart and within your daily life for the grace of God to take root." (Rod Dreher, The Benedict Option)

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

Wednesday Hodgepodge: The Cream in my Coffee

It's the Wednesday Hodgepodge! Answer the questions on your own blog then hop back to From This Side of the Pond (click the graphic) to share answers with the rest of the world.

 

1. When is the last time you experienced nostalgia?

Probably a couple of days ago when we visited an outdoor flea market.

2. September 29th is National Coffee Day. Do we need this? Ha! So are you a coffee drinker? If so how many cups per day, and tell us how you like it. Is there a recipe you enjoy that calls for coffee as one of the ingredients? 

In spite of the fact that I love teapots, I am more of a coffee drinker. Those who believe in nature would say that it seems to run in my family. On the nurture end, I spent my early years living around the corner from a Tim Horton's doughnut shop (when there were less than ten in existence), so maybe that counts for something.

One of my favourite holiday recipes was originally called Coffeeberry Loaf, but it doesn't have any coffee in it. I sometimes use coffee as the liquid in chocolate cupcakes. We made these Cappuccino Thumbprints a few times for special occasions.

If you missed the National Coffee Day, it appears you can still enjoy International Coffee Day on October 1st. Looks like we just can't get enough coffee commemoration.

3. Do you find praise or criticism to be more motivating? Explain. 

Not sure about that. Praise is, obviously, less painful. It would depend on where the criticism comes from and if it's based on something real and/or something I have any control over.

4.  What's a television series you keep coming back to and re-watching? 

When we were at the flea market, I bought a copy of this 1996 tribute to PBS Mystery. We have watched a LOT of those shows over the years, but there are some others in the book that we've never seen. One page of the book shows a list of episodes by season, and Mr. Fixit thinks it would be interesting to start at the beginning (in 1980) and watch through them all in order (to 1996), at least the ones we can find, which would mean starting with She Fell Among Thieves and probably working through a lot of Rumpole of the Bailey before getting back to Inspector Morse and the final Sherlock Holmes episodes.. Last night we watched one from the Partners in Crime miniseries (Agatha Christie's Tommy and Tuppence).

5. As the month of September draws to a close give us three words to describe your mood.

It feels slightly profane, though not untruthful, to make it "Come Lord Jesus."

Something less heavy?

"Stay Sidelined, Snow." Hoping for some good October weather.

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

Wednesday Hodgepodge: The Second Day of Fall

Here are the questions to this week's Wednesday Hodgepodge. Answer on your own blog, then hop back to From This Side of the Pond (click the graphic) to share answers with the universe.  Here we go-

1. It's fall y'all. What's something you love about this season and also something you don't? 

Love: blue skies, gold trees. Temperatures cool enough to bake muffins.

Don't love: stores trying to do Thanksgiving, Hallowe'en, and Christmas all at once.

2. When you think of the colors of fall, which one is your favorite? Is there somewhere you could easily day trip to see the leaves in all their glory? Will you?

We are in the city, but we live near a natural area so it's easy for us to go on a walk or a short drive and see autumn colours. (Don't have to be Jan Karon "leaf peeper" tourists.)

3. What's one thing you've let 'fall' by the wayside during this season of staying home and staying away?

I'm going to let that one fall.

4. If you're wearing a sweater is it most likely a cardigan, crew neck, v-neck, or zip up hoodie?

Not so much into hoodies.

I still like this pullover (found at a consignment store four years ago).

5. What's your secret to dealing with change? 

"Seas will roll where we stand now, and new lands will rise where seas now roll. For all things on this earth, from the tiniest flower to the tallest mountain, change and change all day long. Every atom of matter moves perpetually; and nothing 'continues in one stay.' The solid-seeming earth on which you stand is but a heaving bubble, bursting ever and anon in this place and in that. Only above all, and through all, and with all, is One who does not move nor change, but is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And on Him, and not on this bubble of an earth, do you and I, and all of us, depend." (Charles Kingsley, Madam How and Lady Why)

6.  Insert your own random thought here.

My husband said yesterday, "You can only make things last so long." He meant that they eventually fall apart, which is true and inevitable; but it made me think that you could focus on "making them last," the part you do have some control over.

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

Wednesday Hodgepodge: Out of touch, out of time

Still here, Hodgepodging on Wednesdays. This week's questions are below. Answer on your own blog, then hop back to From This Side of the Pond to add your link to the party. 

1. What's one thing you learned at the ripe old age of whatever age you are now?

I can finally fold fitted sheets, more or less.

2. I read here a list of foods that can help you look younger-

extra virgin olive oil, green tea, fatty fish, dark chocolate, vegetables, flaxseeds, pomegranates, avocados, tomatoes, spices, bone broth

How many of the foods listed have you tried? How many do you eat regularly? Your favorite from the list?

Chocolate, but not quite as dark as Mr. Fixit likes it.

3. Something you miss from the 'good old days'? When were the good old days anyway?

The good old days, if we're feeling cynical, are anything pre-2020.

A lot of people, if you ask them, will describe something relating to technology. Not necessarily those good old days of dial-up...but, let's say, the summers at a campground when the only phone in sight was the one at the store (for emergencies).

Other people will say something about people who used to be there. Those dreaded visits with an elderly relative that, looking back, you wish you could have back (from your more mature perspective of course).

Some people will mention foods, either something somebody cooked, or a product, maybe a drink or a candy bar, that's no longer available. I miss Canadian Smarties when they came in brighter, more toxic colours (and you could blow on the empty box to make it squawk).

4. What are two or three of the most rewarding things to be found in growing older?

Being less worried about growing older, because you're already there.

5. What's your favorite part of your life right now?

The townhouse we moved to a year ago last summer. We may not be here forever, but it works for us right now. There are amazing trails to walk on, and the view of the trees from the back deck makes me think we're at a campground or a cottage, and the only phone in sigiht is the one at the store...

6. Insert your own random thought here.

I did a riff on The Vivienne Files here yesterday: want to read it?

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

Labouring over this Wednesday Hodgepodge

Here are this week's questions...you supply the answers on your own blog then hop back to From This Side of the Pond (click the graphic) to share answers with the universe.

1. Something you've done in recent days or months that might be described as a labor of love?
See the Welcome-Summer Hodgepodge. Still working on the same project. 

2. Last time you 'worked your fingers to the bone'? 

Maybe the last time I had to pack moving boxes? 

3. According to a recent survey people named the following ten jobs as the hardest-nurse, doctor, paramedic, police officer, firefighter, surgeon, healthcare worker, bomb squad, farmer, and prison warden. Of the jobs listed which would you say is the hardest? The one you'd most like to do? Least like to do? What's one job you would add to the list?

Most of these would turn up at the bottom of just about any vocational test I ever took. Not because they're nasty jobs, but because I'd be awful at them. Answer to the last question: pastor. (I was going to say kindergarten teacher.) 

4. A recipe you make that is labor intensive, but worth it? 

Most of my recipes are chosen to avoid labour. 

Chocolate-chip icing used to be fairly labour-intensive, and therefore reserved for great celebrations, but I have found that it can be made decently well in the microwave. 

5. Last job you did or task you completed that required teamwork? 

Getting ourselves to the Big City last weekend to visit our daughter (The Apprentice, for longtime readers). Mr. Fixit drove, I navigated. 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Today was our regular thrift store run. Best thing I found: a fall table runner. 

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

Wednesday Hodgepodge: Just a Second

Here are the questions to this week's Wednesday Hodgepodge. Answer on your own blog, then hop back to From This Side of the Pond to share answers with the universe. Here we go-

1. The Hodgepodge lands on the second day of a brand new month. Tell us one thing you're looking forward to in September. 

The calendar's kind of empty, but that could always change. 

Small things, weather changes, fall sweaters, apples. 

2. Do you enjoy browsing second-hand shops? Last thing you bought or 'inherited' second hand? 

Welcome to my life (and my blog). Both the browsing and the buying can be fun. Visiting one particular antiques market last weekend was almost as good as an art gallery. I often note the names of artists from paintings I like, and try to find out more about them later on. 

Here's one we noticed: Andre Bertounesque, No Blank Walls. (I'm not going to paste the image as I'm pretty sure it's copyrighted to the auction site.) 

The last thing I thrifted? This pair of printed cotton pants, which I bought the second time that I'd seen them. 

 

 I've been wanting to do a blog post about making outfits with them, but today (rainy weather, terrible lighting) isn't going to be that day. 

3. Something you had second thoughts about after committing to, purchasing, or posting/commenting  online? 

An interesting question, and I could probably say "yes" to that about a lot of things, some little and some very big. But it's often the third thoughts that matter most. 

4. What's a product or service you use that you'd rate as second to none? 

Idaho brand instant mashed potatoes, unflavoured. Tastes like potatoes. 

5. Something you do so often or that comes so naturally to you it's second nature? 

Good habits or bad ones? 

Reading...using a keyboard (although I had to retrain myself not to leave two spaces after periods)...thinking "cooking rice, water's twice" (but I have better luck with "water's one-and-a-half")...praying when stuff happens. 

6. Insert your own random thought here.

For years, it was second nature for us to read the morning paper (local) and to watch the six o'clock news (local)...I think those were habits handed down from our own parents. In recent months, we've stopped watching the newscast, and we also let the paper lapse. They say old habits die hard, but we haven't seemed to miss those particular ones much. (We do listen to the radio and read news online.) 

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

Wednesday Hodgepodge: Why Five?

Here are the questions for this week's Wednesday Hodgepodge.|

 Answer on your own blog, then hop back to From This Side of the Pond (click the graphic) to share answers with all the other world wide webbers. See you there!

1. Five years ago this month hubs and I relocated from New Jersey to the Palmetto State. What were you doing five years ago this month?

The biggest event for me that month was what didn't happen: it was the first August in almost two decades in which I was not preparing to homeschool anybody. We had two Squirrelings still living at home, and the youngest was getting ready to start ninth grade, which meant acquiring things like backpacks and and running-for-the-bus sneakers. I had also just published my first book, and that had taken a slice out of me, so I was refueling by doing a lot of reading.

2. What was the last 9-5 job you worked? Tell us about it.

During my first year of marriage (which mostly consisted of pregnancy), I was doing "floater" work at a university: temping in whatever departments needed office help. One of the human resources people had me come in a couple of times a week to handle her typing, make overheads, and book space and order muffins for meetings. We got along so well that she offered me a permanent part-time job, but I turned it down (I  didn't want to make her have to find yet another temp while I stayed home with the baby). On my last morning there, I was supposed to come in and take minutes of a meeting, but I phoned in to explain that I had a two-hours-old baby and didn't think I could make it.

3. Plead the fifth, high five, take five, it's five o'clock somewhere, or the big 5-0...which number five phrase relates to your life in some way currently? Tell us how.

'Well, Jack, and where are you off to?' said the man. 'I'm going to market to sell our cow there.' 'Oh, you look the proper sort of chap to sell cows,' said the man; 'I wonder if you know how many beans make five.' 'Two in each hand and one in your mouth,' says Jack, as sharp as a needle. 'Right you are,' says the man.

Thanks to Jack and the Beanstalk, "to know how many beans make five" has become a synonym for "to know what's what."

This year I'm not only less certain how many beans make five, but whether they're still going to be in my hand the next time I look

4. During this season of spending so much time at home, what distractions get in the way of being your most productive? Or have you been extra productive since this whole thing started?

Productive in terms of...? Yes, I did a couple of extra computer-related projects I had been putting off, but other than that, about the same. It's not the actual distractions that get in the way as the apparently common problem of 2020 brain fatigue: see #3.

5. Give us a list here of your top five anything.

I'm tempted to write a list of the negatives, "top five things I haven't done since March that I'm annoyed that I haven't been able to do." But ahem, I'll go on from there.

Top five favourite things I've thrifted since the stores reopened:

This little teapot that has its own cup underneath

Floral scarf

Book I've wanted to read for several years

Floral vintage-vibe purse (I like flowers)

Pink coat for chilly weather.

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

In the Middle of a Wednesday Hodgepodge

Here are the questions to this week's Wednesday Hodgepodge. Answer on your own blog, then hop back to From This Side of the Pond to share answers with the universe. Here we go-

 

1. August 12th is National Middle Child Day...are you a middle child? If not, where in your family do you fall in terms of birth order? Do you hold true to the typical characteristics of oldest-middle-youngest-only child? (a quick list can be found here) Elaborate.

Oldest daughter of an oldest daughter of an oldest daughter. My fate was predetermined.

2. Tell us about a time you felt like (or you actually were) in the middle of nowhere.

Any time you feel seriously lost in a strange place can feel like nowhere. When you're a child lost in a store, that's big enough to feel like nowhere. When I was about thirteen, I went with a summer youth program to watch the Toronto Blue Jays play Kansas City (they lost), but after the game I got turned around and couldn't find the right bus. There were a LOT of buses in that parking lot, and who's going to remember the name of whatever company owned the bus? I had visions of living in the Exhibition Place parking lot forever (this was a few years before they built the Skydome). All of a sudden one of the names did look familiar, and there was everybody just lining up to get on the bus. My hour of panic turned out to have been only a few minutes.

3. What's something you're smack in the middle of currently?

A longterm book project which is starting to come near its end.

Also, helping our youngest Squirreling funnel her belongings from this Treehouse to her new place.

4. What's a food you love to eat that has something delicious in the middle?

Stuffed shells with ricotta-spinach filling.

You thought I was going to say chocolates?

5. Share a memory from your middle school days, or junior high if that's what your school dubbed kids somewhere between grades 6-8.

I thought I just did that...anyway, those aren't years I usually want to spend much time revisiting.

Okay. Regional French contest, third prize. Polaroid picture at the end of the day. The trophy was supposed to go to my school, but they didn't want it, so I kept it on the bookshelf for the next thirty-seven years.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

Last week I promised to post a picture of the thing I was waiting for in the mail. Here it is:

These are the Fierce Wisdom bracelets from Fierce Lynx Designs in New Brunswick. If you have spent any time on the Vivienne Files website, you will have seen Fierce Lynx bracelets mentioned there. I chose them to honour the spirit of some family members who are no longer with us. (I didn't mean I honour spirits, just their spirit.)  They're also one of my favourite colours.

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

Chocolate Wednesday Chip Hodgepodge

Here are the questions to this week's Wednesday Hodgepodge. Answer on your own blog, then hop back to From This Side of the Pond to share answers with all your friends and likely a few random strangers too.

1.  What's happening where you live in terms of schools opening? How do you feel about it?

They're opening, but everything's extremely complicated. My kids are post-high school, but if I did have younger ones and if I weren't already homeschooling them, I'd be very frustrated. 

2. What's something you still do 'old school'?

Read books.

Wash dishes in the sink.

Listen to CDs. (Mr. Fixit plays LPs.)

3. August 4th is National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day. Will you/did you celebrate by baking a batch? Eating a batch? Nuts or no nuts? Homemade or store bought? Soft and chewy or do you prefer your cookie to snap when you bite into it?

If you search this blog for "chocolate chip," you will find quite a few recipes. Neiman-Marcus cookies are a special favourite, but I made some this week with Bisquick that turned out really well. If you're trying them, these are my notes: I added another half cup of Bisquick, because it seemed to need it; and I cut the vanilla in half. Also, I melted the butter instead of softening it, but that was an accident.

4. What are you starved for?

Company.

You thought I was going to say cookies?

5. Anything new and interesting on your August calendar? What is one thing you're looking forward to this month?

I'm trying not to look forward too much. A lot of days, now is far enough.

Oh, I know: something that's in the mail that's supposed to get here tomorrow. I'll post a photo on next week's Hodgepodge.

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