Wednesday Hodgepodge

1. Share a winter memory from your childhood.

I've probably shared this before, but it's a strong memory...

It was Christmas Eve, and it was a bitterly cold one.  I was four years old.  We were gathered around our new puppy when our older dog started going NUTS.  We went to the front window of the house, where he was, and saw the local firetrucks headed up the street across from our driveway.  There was a house up the way that was fully engulfed.  The hydrant was right in front of our house, and we watched as they hooked up the hoses and started to put out the fires--only to have the hoses shatter almost immediately due to the cold.

They couldn't do anything but watch that house burn down to the ground.

Some weeks later, I seem to remember the community coming together to help them rebuild, and my parents simply explaining that that's what neighbors are for.

2. What was on your blog this time last year? (Besides the Hodgepodge of course!) If you weren't blogging, what in the world were you doing with all that free time? 

Probably not much.  I don't think I was using this blog for much this time last year.

3. Ellen Goodman is quoted as saying, 'We spend January 1 walking through our lives, room by room, drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched. Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives...not looking for flaws, but for potential.' 

Do you see more flaws or more potential in your life at the start of a new year? Have you done anything specific this month to address either one? Does the new year truly begin for you on January 1, or is there some other month of the year that feels like a fresh start and new beginning?

I hope like anything I see more potential.  I plan on a lot of things this year, without all the "Well, here's what I need to fix this time..."

4. Who's an athlete you admire or respect and why?

Eric Berry, Kansas City Chiefs.  Diagnosed with cancer, what, a year ago?  Played through this season with the "yes I will" attitude that I can't help but respect.  He said once that football sore is way better than chemotherapy sore, and I definitely believe him.

5. Do you like cream in your coffee? Whipped cream on your pumpkin pie? Cream cheese on a bagel? Sour cream on a baked potato? Cream of wheat for breakfast? Have you ever had a scone with clotted cream? Of all the creamy foods mentioned, which one sounds most appealing to you right this very minute?

Sometimes I do take cream in my coffee, but not all that often.  If I'm lucky enough to get a pumpkin pie, yes, I take whipped cream on that.  I do love cream cheese on a bagel, but going gluten free has made that not a thing anymore. (have you ever tried a gluten free bagel? they're underwhelming.)  I've never had cream of wheat or clotted cream, but of the above, I would definitely take a cup of coffee with cream at the moment.

6. Where were you last kept waiting for 'hours on end'? Or for what felt like hours on end? How well did you cope?

Standing in line at the grocery store.  It was just ahead of the winter storm--usually I go on Saturday, but good sense made me go on Friday along with ALMOST EVERYONE ELSE IN PITTSBURGH so the lines were long.  But I understood, so I kept my mouth shut and read the covers of the magazines nearby (and nearly bought a few--for the recipes, of course).

7. Believe it or not, when next week's Hodgepodge rolls around it will be February.Huh?!? Bid adieu here to January in seven words or less.

Thanks for a good start to 2016.

8.  Insert your own random thought here.

Scout is doing a solo in the spring orchestra concert.  So, of course, his violin is in need of repair.  Thankfully, the shop I bought it in is one of those small businesses that I can trust.  Small, locally owned businesses are pretty much one of my favorite things.