Hoppy Holidays (A Clothes Post with Rabbits)

The holidays are coming. Can you tell how excited Betty Bunny is? 

She makes a large pot of tea and contemplates the next few weeks.

Her bunny family is rather scattered, so she will be making a roundabout trip to see them all.

Here is her travel outfit: navy pants, a striped shirt, and her brightest pullover sweater.

What's in her suitcase? She's going for a Whatever's Clean Thirteen, so she decides to limit it to ten pieces of clothing.

A dark blue cardigan that goes with the shirt and pants.

A turtleneck top that goes with everything else.

An extra shirt and a pair of jeans

A winter-white t-shirt. She considers adding a pair of light-grey cords. Will they go with enough of the dark blue/navy things? Well, maybe not with everything, but they are pretty useful, so she decides yes for now. If her suitcase won't close, she'll leave them behind.

She adds a navy turtleneck sweater, plus a skirt that goes well with it.

She thinks hard about the last two spots in her bag. She doesn't really want another sweater. 

She does like this striped t-shirt, but she has a feeling she might need something a little dressier for adult-bunny festivities. In a flash of inspiration, she decides to pack her blue-grey wrap dress, which can be worn open like a cardigan or  tied closed on its own. And also her darker grey Revolve dress, which was made to be worn as a top or a tunic as well. And since she's feeling so buoyantly bunny brilliant, she treats herself to an extra piece of clothing that won't take up too much room: charcoal-grey knit pants that can make an outfit with the Revolve dress.

She also doesn't skimp on accessories. Some bunnies might be expecting her to wear holiday colours, like lettuce green and carrot orange. She's having none of that, but she can be festive in her own somewhat snarky Betty Bunny way.

So Betty sets off on the BunnyTrak train, with her bag of clothes and shoes and scarves, and gifts for the multitudinous cotton-tailed relatives.

Her first stop is to see Cousin Rosa and her little boy Bongo. She is rather glad that she will be staying there only one night, as they are a little noisy.

The next day she arrives at the home of Cousin Tom, who is very busy this time of year nailing up wreaths on burrow doors.

In fact, he has an emergency callout while she is there. 

"You won't mind staying here with the twins, will you?" 

"No, not at all."

"They'll probably just nap all afternoon."

More like twenty minutes. 

Betty is glad she brought along an outfit that can survive paint, juice, peanut butter, and ketchup.

But she Is happy to change into something else when some other relatives drop in after dinner.

Betty's next stop is the town of Hooten Holler, where she plans to attend the annual holiday concert. 

Two of her nieces, Clara and Maud, are performing a duet.

After the concert, her friend Lucy Pocket invites her to stop by for carrot cider and cinnabunny rolls. Unfortunately, young Maud has had a bit too much cider and insists on doing several more encores.

But she eventually calms down.

The next morning, Betty and Lucy go out for brunch with a couple of other old friends.

Betty then catches a Bunny Airways flight to visit her brother Robert, whose passions are table tennis, model rocketry, and cave hiking. 

When Betty visits Robert, she dresses for adventure.

Betty's final stop is Granny Babbit's burrow, where a great number of bunnies, old and young, are gathering for the annual Run-From-the-Fox-Night Fireworks Party and Swap Hop. 

There are so many relatives there that she ends up sharing a bed with a couple of the young cousins, who have trouble getting to sleep because of all the excitement. She has to sing them some lullabunnies.

The next morning she pulls on whatever-is-still-clean and hops home. 

She did bring back some interesting things from the white-elephant gift swap.

But now she has to write a bazillion thank-you notes.

She's not coming out again until spring.

NOTE: Most of the rabbits are vintage Pendelfin, and their names are as given by the makers. "Betty" is actually "Boswell," maybe because of the writing desk, but I think she's more of a "Betty."

The travel wardrobe ideas are adapted from this post and this one on The Vivienne Files.

The Art of the Wednesday Hodgepodge

1. October 25th is International Artists Day...do you have a favorite artist? If so tell us who and why. 

Fun question. It varies, but I seem to be drawn to Canadian artists, or those (like Arthur Lismer) who were born somewhere else but became part of the Canadian art tapestry. 

I am working on learning to like some of the more abstract painters like Mark Rothko. Not even contemporary, I know, but I'm still catching up.

2. Would you describe yourself as artistic? Elaborate. 

Can I draw or paint? Not worth a nickel. Some years I have made rather nice collage-style Christmas cards, though.

3. What's a skill, task, hobby, or job you've done so often you now have it 'down to a fine art'? 

Folding our laundry Marie Kondo style. I've been doing that now for five years, so, yes, it takes a lot less thought than it did at the beginning.

4. How often do you dine out? Fast food, fine dining, or somewhere in between? Tell us about a less than stellar restaurant experience you've had recently (or not so recently if that's easier).  

I had a Filet-O-Fish on the weekend, does that count as dining out? 

We go out for Chinese food or Swiss Chalet when we need a break from our own cooking. Familiar rather than fancy.

5. Do you celebrate Halloween? To what extent? Are there trick or treaters where you live? 

Barely, to all of those. We bought a box of mini Coffee Crisps and Smartie packs to have on hand, but we'll probably end up eating them ourselves.

6. Insert your own random thought here.  

Russ Ramsey (author of Rembrandt is in the Wind) writes about the disadvantages of working with marble: "it often has veins of impurities, it stains easily, it erodes when exposed to acidic rain, it is inflexible. You cannot add back to marble once you make a mistake." (Instagram post today) And yet...sculptors have used it for centuries, sometimes to make the most beautiful sculptures ever. Something about it challenges them, draws them to ignore or work around all those disadvantages because of what they can envision it becoming. Maybe like the way God sees human beings.

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

Wednesday Hodgepodge With a Sprinkle of Ginger

1. What's something small you tend to sweat even though you know you shouldn't? 

Trying to answer the first question on a Wednesday Hodgepodge.

2. October 17th is National Pasta Day...do you like pasta? What's your favorite? Cooked at home or eaten in your favorite Italian restaurant? How often do you make/eat pasta? 

Ooh, yeah, pasta. Did you know Canadians tend to say pasta with a very short a, as in, he pasta me the bowl of spaghetti? Apparently it's a Canadianism that most of us don't notice until someone from the U.S. points it out to us. Also "drama."

This year we have been extra fond of Greek spaghetti, both homemade and at a local diner.

3. Do you consider yourself a spontaneous person? Explain. 

More so than most people would probably give me credit for. I am up for a certain amount of "let's drop everything and go." Spice of life, right? But I like routine and order too.

4. Who are some of your heroes? Tell us why. 

Demosthenes, Publicola, and Timoleon. I like history.

5. Let's wrap it up with something light...Taylor Swift...are you a fan? On a scale of 1-10 how much so? (1=who's Taylor?, 10=a true Swiftie, seen her in concert more than once). If you're a fan what's your favorite T. Swift song? 

2. Sorry, daughters.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

I'm having a busy couple of weeks, as I published a book, my colleagues and I published a book, and this weekend is an annual retreat where we all get to talk about books (and insects, and Canadian art, and other things). I took time out to make a batch of pumpkin bread, because pumpkin and ginger really say "fall" to me.

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

Wednesday Spicepodge

 Here are the questions to this week's Wednesday Hodgepodge. Answer on your own blog, then hop back (click the graphic) to add your link to the party. See you there! 

1. What's something that scares you? 

The big serious things? not going there right now.

Small and silly ones? Mice. I do not think they're nice.

2. Do you care where the food you eat comes from? To what degree? 

Right now I care more about managing to keep it on the table at all. We do buy local produce when we can.

3. What's something you wish you'd spent more time doing when you were younger? 

It's hard to go back and think "if I had done this," because if it had changed my life dramatically, I might have missed out on other things that have happened.

But definitely less time spent watching T.V., more time talking to real people and finding out their stories.

4. Let's play autumn this or that....pumpkin spice or apple cider? Corn maze or haunted house? Horror film or Hallmark movie? Blanket or sweatshirt? Watch football or watch the World Series? Foliage-red, yellow or orange? 

Cider, yes, and all colours of leaves. The rest of the list, no real opinion.

I don't buy fake pumpkin-spicy things, but I do bake with pumpkin and spices, if that makes sense.

5. This time last year where were you and what were you doing? 

Pretty much the same as this year: getting ready for a fall retreat on Lake Erie, trying to salvage the last of our parsley from malevolent squirrels, and going to the flea market when we can.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

I saw a video this week about a family who were able to pack and move out of their rented (furnished) place in one day (three car trips), thanks to their already-minimalistic mindset. What was more troubling was the reason they had to move at all: somebody at the rental office apparently made a clerical error that couldn't be undone (didn't renew their lease). I also just finished reading The Watchmaker's Daughter by Larry Loftis, a new biography of Corrie ten Boom. If you don't know or have forgotten, she was released from a WWII concentration camp due to a clerical error. Clerical errors may have been responsible for more good and bad events in this world than we will probably ever know.

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

Booking My Wednesday Hodgepodge

1. It's National Read A Book Day...whatcha' reading? What's a book you want to read? 

What I'm reading: an older biography of British-Canadian painter Arthur Lismer. Slightly dated in style, as you might expect, but very interesting, especially about which artists influenced him (Constable, Van Gogh), and also his first impressions of Canada just before WWI.

Something I want to read? The Good Thief, by Leo Furey.

2. Which is better...having high expectations or low expectations? Explain why. 

Well, I suppose if you wander into an unknown restaurant, say, and the seats are worn and the menus are old-fashioned, you might not have great expectations for the meal, but they could still serve you the best bowl of soup you'd had in years, and a nice tasty BLT. But you could also have been told what a great place it was, and that's the day you get the grumpy waitress and they burn the toast. Maybe "medium expectations" are safer.

How about when it comes to books? What if people you like have told you that it's a great book, and you try several times and you either give up or you do read the book and you still hate it? I just finished one like that, and I'm having to come to terms with the fact that I am just never going to be an [insert author] reader.

3. Serenity is________________________. 

Expecting that the restaurant pie will be better than the burned sandwich.

4. What's  the most interesting thing in your purse or pocket right now? 

I just looked and found a partly-used bookstore gift card I had forgotten about. At least I think it's still only partly used. I have high expectations of this.

5. What helps you calm down? 

Familiar CDs. Bible verses. Lake water, sand and pebbles.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

I just learned a new word, habitus, from Alan Jacobs' website.

Ancora imparo. Always something to learn.

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

From the archives: The Thing That Lives in Your Brain

 First posted August 2006. Slightly edited.

We realise that there is an act of knowing to be performed; that no one can know without this act, that it must be self-performed, that it is as agreeable and natural to the average child or man as singing is to the song thrush, that "to know" is indeed a natural function. Yet we hear of the incuria which prevails in most schools, while there before us are the young consumed with the desire to know, can we but find out what they want to know and how they require to be taught. (Charlotte Mason, Philosophy of Education, p. 52)

We recently watched an episode from this past season's Dr. Who. In the classic sci fi tradition (as in, didn't we just see another episode like this about sucking up peoples' brains, and hasn't just about every sci fi show ever made plus The Exorcist used this idea?), the episode features an entity living in a little girl's head, using her brain (so that she sometimes talks in a REALLY WEIRD VOICE), and sucking up other human beings for its own purposes.

This particular entity happens to be sustained on love and companionship--LOTS of companionship (in fact, in its natural state it has millions or billions of siblings). The problem is that it's inhaling companionship in the form of people, at an ever-increasing rate (by the end of the show, it has sucked up an entire Olympic stadium full of spectators and has plans for the rest of the world). Of course in the end (SPOILER), it finds its proper companions and joins them inside a little egg-sized spaceship, leaving the little girl free of the REALLY WEIRD VOICE.

There is a point to telling you about this (and it's not meant as an advertisement for the show). We each have such an entity inside our physical brains (or somewhere in there): it's our mind, and it's sustained on knowledge. In its healthy state, it desires, craves knowledge; other things cannot properly be substituted. Knowledge, not information, and there's a difference: information is short term, spit back out again or forgotten, made up of facts without "informing ideas." Knowledge is long-term, swallowed, digested, processed, used. It's like when you say in French "Je connais," which is different from "Je sais." They both mean "I know," but they are different kinds of knowing. "Je sais" is used for a fact, like "I know it's raining out," but "Je connais" is used in "I know you."

If the food is available, the entity will suck it up in whatever quantities are available (even Olympic-sized). It will do whatever it can to find its proper food AND YOU CAN'T STOP IT. BWA HA HA HA.

Well, you can. Unfortunately.

There is a cure for knowledge-hunger. Just like vinegar smashed up the Slitheens, if you can get hold of some Incuria it's quite easy to stop the knowledge-hungry mind.

I can touch here on no more than two potent means of creating incuria in a class. One is the talky-talky of the teacher. We all know how we are bored by the person in private life who explains and expounds. What reason have we to suppose that children are not equally bored? They try to tell us that they are by wandering eyes, inanimate features, fidgetting hands and feet, by every means at their disposal; and the kindly souls among us think that they want to play or to be out of doors. But they have no use for play except at proper intervals. What they want is knowledge conveyed in literary form and the talk of the facile teacher leaves them cold. Another soothing potion is little suspected of producing mental lethargy. We pride ourselves upon going over and over the same ground 'until the children know it'; the monotony is deadly. (Philosophy of Education, p. 53)

Incuria is related to the idea "not curious" and it's properly translated "carelessness," but in this sense, it means a lack of appetite for knowledge. Not caring about it. Someone who's incurious is apathetic, unobservant, careless. 

"What would you like to eat? I don’t care. Some lovely cream of wheat? I don’t care. Don’t sit backwards on your chair. I don’t care. Or pour syrup on your hair. I don’t care." (Maurice Sendak, Pierre)

Where do you get enough Incuria to stop the appetite for knowledge? You can start by offering lots of TV and computer time; provide lots of dull school lectures; and most of all, spread the idea that knowledge is Dull and Irrelevant and that anything contained in a book of over 100 pages isn't worth the trouble. You can make the entity go away or at least not bother you much.

But please don't.

But what if all were for all, if the great hope of Comenius––"All knowledge for all men"––were in process of taking shape? This is what we have established in many thousands of cases, even in those of dull and backward children....we are so made that only those ideas and arguments which we go over are we able to retain. Desultory reading or hearing is entertaining and refreshing, but is only educative here and there as our attention is strongly arrested. Further, we not only retain but realise, understand, what we thus go over. Each incident stands out, every phrase acquires new force, each link in the argument is riveted, in fact we have performed THE ACT OF KNOWING, and that which we have read, or heard, becomes a part of ourselves, it is assimilated after the due rejection of waste matter. Like those famous men of old we have found out "knowledge meet for the people" and to our surprise it is the best knowledge conveyed in the best form that they demand. Is it possible that hitherto we have all been like those other teachers of the past who were chidden because they had taken away the key of knowledge, not entering in themselves and hindering those who would enter in?  (Philosophy of Education, pp. 291-292, emphasis hers)

From the archives: The Homeschooler Supply Chain

 First posted August 2009.

You know you're a homeschooler when...

your back-to-school supplies consist of four plastic magazine holders, eight pieces of posterboard, a roll of clear sticky plastic, a set of foam dominoes, Beaver Ed's Brain Busters Nature Card Game, Beaver Ed's Kids' Quiz: Human Body, three sketch books, ten pencils, two hundred file cards, two packs of Velcro dots, one pack of reinforcements, two sets of Scrapbook Kit Alphabet and Word Stickers, and four vinyl erasers.

All from Dollarama.

From the archives: Passion for Learning, Part One

First posted August 2013. Edited slightly to correct links.

 

When I think of passion in learning, I think of Cindy Rollins' Ordo Amoris blog.  "Passion" is not a recommended word to search for, generally, but if you limit the search to Cindy's blog, you get snippets such as "So that is what valor looks like but even more so that is how valor is memorialized, with passion not malaise" and "I just have a passion for literacy (reading and cultural)" and "I am passionate about the *idea* of living in a republic that followed our Constitution."  A shared passion for living and learning is definitely a good thing, and Cindy is one of its vocal and valued homeschooling proponents.

As a longtime homeschooling parent, and a pursuer of Charlotte Mason's philosophy, I would like to say that a passion for learning is something we just don't have a problem with around here.  But it wouldn't be entirely true...or at least not if  "passion for learning" equals "passion for schoolwork."  Almost-seventh-grader Lydia loves to read, but mostly the books of her own choosing, not the "assigned" ones.  She likes to write, but again, not so much when it's assigned work.  I've seen this pattern emerge with the older girls, too:  "out of class" time is separate from "school."   If they feel that "their time," when lessons are done, is honestly "their time," then they seem to feel that they also have to differentiate their own reading, writing and other activities from assigned "schoolwork."  I've never heard any of them begging for more math homework.  This question of ownership--and therefore passion, or lack thereof--has been a source of frustration (on my part, it doesn't seem to bother them!) for almost two decades.  Some readaloud books have blurred the line between "this is school" and "just Mom and me reading," but in general, that's the way it works, or doesn't work.

The funny thing is that some, most even, of what we do in school...even the difficult stuff, even if it's "coerced" or at least teacher-decided, has been very successful.  The Squirrelings have enjoyed Great Expectations and Silas Marner, and I'm pretty sure that Ivanhoe will also be a successful readaloud later in the year. They are good readers, and, when they want to, they can put words together pretty well too.  (Ponytails' work in public-school English class has earned her praise and high marks, in both ninth and tenth grades.)  But I hardly ever see one of them browsing for more Dickens or George Eliot or Scott; the Apprentice did read Jane Austen on her own, but that was the exception.  Lydia's current personal reading consists of Harry Potter and the Cornelia Funke Inkheart books.

Some homeschoolers (or teachers) might suggest that the way to get older students to engage with learning would  be to leave the curriculum up to them.  If it's put on their plate, it comes from outside, isn't personally meaningful; if they've chosen it, they'll be interested.  I would say yes, to a point; I do give options wherever practical.  But, thinking of Charlotte Mason's quip about expecting people to make their own boots, it's even less consistent with our family's homeschool practice to let the kids decide if they're even going to wear shoes.  So to speak.

Since we follow, more or less, the AmblesideOnline Curriculum, it's already pretty much decided: Year Seven follows Year Six and is followed by Year Eight.  This year is Lydia's Year Seven, and, within reason, I'm expecting her to take on the work that's given in that outline. Promoting engagement by completely freeing up the curriculum is not an option for us.  It's not in tune with Charlotte Mason, it's not what I'm comfortable with, and it's not even (really) what our kids expect.

So how else do we find delight, engagement, passion, without expecting too much (or too little) of 21st-century, somewhat-distracted kids, and without turning them into prigs about learning?

 ("Mr Samuel Arrow, a wonderful man who... used to get us up from our beds before dawn for a good flossing.")

More (and a book review) in Part Two.  Make sure to come back, especially if you think I'm too hard on my kids.  Because you might be right.

A Reminiscent Wednesday Hodgepodge

1. What's your earliest memory?

Hanging out with my grandparents.

2. What's something about you today that the old you would find surprising? 

The me holding the cookies? Probably everything, including the fact that I'm now as old as my grandmother was then.

3. Do you like to fish? Are you a fish eater? Favorite fish (to eat)? Favorite way to prepare fish? 

I fished only once in my life, and it's not something I want to reminisce over. Preparing fish: "Spread battered fish fingers on cookie sheet and bake until crispy." I am not an adventurous fish cooker.

See also this "fishy" Hodgepodge from a few years ago.

4. What's your biggest first world problem? 

Without getting too personal, serious, and outside the scope of a Wednesday Hodgepodge?

Telemarketers.

5. What one word would you use to describe your year thus far? 

Reminiscent.

Going to the flea market every couple of weeks will do that to you.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

I'm starting to see the end in sight for a project that has covered most of this year, and which accounts for a good deal of its reminiscent character. I'm not even sure what not having to have it actively in my mind will feel like. But everything has its right time.

Two nights before, my mother had snapped off a thread, looked at the quilt in surprise, and said, "I think it's finished. How can it be finished?"...She stood up and laid it out on the big kitchen table. There they were, all those orderly, geometric patterns of our past... (Lois Lowry, A Summer to Die)

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

Wednesday Hodgepodge: Get Me Down From Here

1. What motivates you to work hard?

If Socrates asked that question, he would probably keep asking it no matter what you answered. Why? "Because I need something to do." "Because I like to see things get done." "Because I don't want people to think I'm lazy." "Because I want to help support our household." Why? "Because I want to keep learning to do things better." "Because I want to feel like I'm a little bit successful." Why? "Because I want to be of some use in the world." Why? "God gave me a job to do, so I'm doing it."

2. It's been said "Ignorance is bliss"...is it? 

No way.

“Wisdom is the right use of knowledge. To know is not to be wise. Many men know a great deal, and are all the greater fools for it. There is no fool so great a fool as a knowing fool. But to know how to use knowledge is to have wisdom.” Charles Spurgeon

3.Would you rather be stuck on a broken elevator or a broken ski lift? Explain. Have you ever actually been stuck on either? Of the common fears listed here what's your #1-

heights-enclosed spaces-snakes-public speaking-the dark-flying

Neither. But the ski lift would be worse. And yes, I have been stopped on one long enough to make me very nervous.

And you forgot to include mice.

4. What's something you like about the town or city where you live? 

The free summer music festivals.

5. Life is too short to_________________________________. 

I'm not sure of the answer to that. I think one person's "doesn't matter" is another person's "really important." I personally have never spent time individually decorating sugar cookies, for example, other than sticking chocolate chips or raisins on gingerbread people for eyes. But I met a woman recently who said that she decorated cookies every single weekend for years because her grandchildren would come to have tea parties with her, so there you go.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Do you want to see my nebulous fall wardrobe? Some people might think that putting that much time into thinking about what one wears definitely falls in the "life is too short to" category. But for me, thinking it out ahead of time makes it easier, because I know I have what I need.

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

"Nebulous" (Fall Clothes 2023)

 

"Snow Fantasy," by Lawren Harris (1917)

This fall's wardrobe is going in a direction I didn't expect.. 

No, I haven't taken on an office job, or a hostessing position with a great clothing allowance. My life is very casual, and much as I like looking at blazers and dresses, I need to stay realistic. Working at home days are casual. Running around days are casual. Even church is casual. 

I've also had some changing thoughts about colour. Most years, my summer colour has been navy blue, and then in the fall I switch to grey, teal, and burgundy. This means, though, that if I thrift cool-weather clothes in navy, they tend not to get worn. But why not navy this fall, for a change? I'm a bit greyed out on grey.

Bead bracelets found here and there

While browsing through Vivienne Files posts, I came across the (imagined) story of a photographer who spends the fall at an observatory.  This is the first post about her; this is the second. Her (very casual) wardrobe is based on a photograph of "The Spinning Pulsar of the Crab Nebula," and includes navy plus bright pink, sky blue, and purple accents. Many of her clothing items match what is already in my closet (including the neglected navy things), and a couple of thrift store trips have  rounded things out.

You can read the rest of the post here.

Hello August (Wednesday Hodgepodge)

1. Hello August. What's one thing you're looking forward to this month? 

 I'm looking forward to not having anything in particular to have to look forward to.

2. What are you doing to beat the heat right now? If you live in the southern hemisphere are you enjoying cooler temps or counting the days until summer? 

We drove to Kincardine on Lake Huron yesterday, although it wasn't terribly hot.

3. How do you see the world? 

"Our capabilities seldom match our aspirations, and we are often woefully unprepared. To this extent, we are all Assistant Pig-Keepers at heart." (Lloyd Alexander, The Book of Three)

And also

"Simplicity, happiness and expansion come from the outpouring of a human heart upon that which is altogether worthy." (Charlotte Mason, Parents and Children)

4. What food product do you think is better store bought than home made? How about something you refuse to buy because it is so much better homemade? 

Better store bought: Cheerios. Peanut butter. Cabbage rolls made fresh at the European deli, because I'm not going to bother making two cabbage rolls.

Better homemade: Brownies, even if you have to make them in the microwave because it's hot out.

5. Are you easy to get along with? 

As easy as most Assistant Pig-Keepers, and possibly more so than some. Especially if we have brownies around.

6.  Insert your own random thought here. 

A couple of weeks ago (between me remembering to post Hodgepodge responses and then forgetting again), my husband and I went to a free jazz festival in our town. One of the musicians referred to the events (or non-events) of the past few years, and said that it was hard for jazz musicians to function while distanced from each other, because community is where this kind of music lives.

And I thought that could apply to many other things in life as well.

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

Wednesday Hodgepodge: The Pleasures of Today (or Yesterday)

 

1. Is your life simple? Elaborate. 

Oh dear. Is anybody's? I mean, to make your life perfectly simple, you'd probably have to walk away from legitimate challenges and responsibilities. I have never been a fan of the song "Gentle on My Mind."

But by "simple," do you mean not terribly overstressed and overworked and overwrought, able to enjoy simple things? Well, yes, my husband and I keep working on that. Homemade pizza and all the rest of it.

2. What simple pleasure are you are currently enjoying?  

Right now, this minute? Sunshine coming in through the loft window, the last of the microwave brownies, and the swish of a thrifted silk maxi dress which I decided to wear around the house today since I have no special other place to wear it to.

3. Travel by plane or go on a cruise? walk or ride a bike? swim or ski? ocean or mountains? 

Top choice out of all of those: walking. But I would travel by plane if it landed me somewhere interesting.

4. What's the last thing you bought online that you really loved? 

Do books for the Kindle app count? I haven't bought much else online lately.

Now if you asked me about flea markets, I might have a longer answer.

5. What’s your 'back in my day we__________' story? 

I go "back in my day we" way too much as it is, especially at flea markets and antique barns.

This morning I was thinking about a camping trip with my grandparents and my little sister in a very old travel trailer, when I was maybe five years old. I don't think we can have gone too far or been away too long, because I'm pretty sure my parents weren't there, so maybe it was just for a weekend. Anyway, my grandpa was worried that the two children were going to fall out of the quite-high bed in the trailer, so he scrounged around for a big flat board (because he always had that sort of thing around, it was like magic). He wedged it against the bunk and penned us in for the night. My grandma, as always, thought he was overdoing the worry thing, and said so; but that was just the way he tried to take care of things, and I still appreciate the thought (even if we had to be penned in like puppies).

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Well, that last one was pretty random.

Since the theme here seems be enjoying the simple things, here's a summer lemonade recipe I learned years ago from Amy Dacyczyn's Tightwad Gazette: 4 cups water, 1 cup sugar, 1/2 cup bottled lemon juice. Blend with a big spoon. You can halve it, double it, or whatever you need to do with it to make the right amount. It can also accommodate a bit of leftover canned pineapple juice or random things like that.

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

Wednesday Hodgepodge: Blame it On My Youth

1. What does productivity look like to you? 

I guess that depends on what species you are. A productive little ant or bee isn't the same as a human. Having been self-employed for the last dozen or so years, my husband and I are still trying to figure out what the right pace of things is to stay productive but not burn out. I think, whatever you're doing, you have to get a sense of the time something will take. If you know that you want to have a project done by the end of the month, then "being productive" means getting a certain piece of it finished each week, and you might even be able to break that down to getting a certain amount done each day. But since real life isn't always like that, and since some projects just go better in spurts, you might work really hard for three days, then take the next two off. And that's still productive.

2. What was your fondest (or one of your fondest) memory of High School? 

Graduation.

3. What did you do the summer after High School? 

I had gotten a first-year scholarship to university, so I somehow took that to mean that I could afford to spend the summer not making any money. Paying jobs for teenagers were a bit scarce right then anyway, so it wasn't a terrible idea.

So. The first half of the summer, I volunteered at a camp up north. Most of the time I worked in the kitchen, but towards the end I did one-on-one support for a couple of campers with special needs. 

Then I went to a social justice "work camp" in Toronto, with a group of young adults coming from several different countries. I didn't really know what to expect. At all. Which is probably a good thing because if I had, I might not have gone. Part of the time I did clerical work for a conference and met my first Macintosh computer. In between that, I went to a couple of protests, learned some Italian, and saw Paul Gross (a now-famous Canadian actor) performing Romeo and Juliet in the park. We also went up to the Canadian version of The Farm for a few days, and learned to make giant blocks of tofu.

Well, you did ask.

4. June 14th is National Strawberry Shortcake Day...are you a fan, and if so will you celebrate? How do you make yours? Have you been strawberry picking? If so what do you do with all those berries?

We had some strawberries last night to celebrate a friend's birthday. But really, that's about it, we just eat them. 

5. What's something you always splurge on? 

Good cocoa.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

We had a couple of bananas going soft, so I suggested to my husband that we make Smitten Kitchen's double chocolate banana bread together. I melted the half cup of butter in the microwave and left it in there, thinking I would pull it out when my husband, doing the wet ingredients, asked (as I was sure he would) "where's the butter you're supposed to put in now?" But he somehow missed that in the list, and I was doing the dry ingredients and didn't notice what went in the bowl.

So,  the three mini loaves went into the oven without any extra fat at all. I didn't find the bowl of melted butter until half an hour later.

Now, I've had extremely low-fat health food cafe muffins (not usually by choice), and they're usually either very tough or very crumbly, or both. This is the weird thing: this banana bread actually baked fine. I think there must have been enough high-fat ingredients even without the butter (see #5, plus there were the chocolate chips), plus enough moist things like the bananas, to make up for the oversight. It's not like I'd do it again on purpose, but I think we will probably at least cut down on the butter next time.

Anyway, it's nice to know in case you're either very forgetful or just out of butter.

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