Wednesday Hodgepodge

It's time for Wednesday Hodgepodge with Joyce, who blogs at From This Side of The Pond.  Each week she'll pose some questions for us to answer. What a great way to journal life.

1. Are you a naturally trusting person? Yes, I do think I trust very easily. I trust that people are telling me the truth. I like to give people the benefit of the doubt. I like to think that people have my best interest in mind...I know sometimes that's naive because it's not always true. Is trust built on logic or 'gut instinct'? I think both. My mom used to call instinct our "God gut". If my husband says "you should try this, you'll like it", I will question it wholeheartedly and not trust him because often that means it contains coconut, which I can't stand...haha. Does everyone deserve a second chance? I do like to believe that everyone has the power to change and should get a second chance, but sometimes that means boundaries are in place for protection, sometimes it means facing consequences of the choice that was made...trust is also earned so if that trust is broken, it needs to be earned again. Elaborate. This is a tough one because there are "repeat offenders", let's say, in how someone treats us, and there are times we have to cut the cord. We can hope for change, but we have to remove ourselves from that person for our own sake. If we're talking hard criminal cases, I still like to think people can change, but that doesn't mean I'm going to trust you , or it might mean you change, but you are still going to face a long hard time dealing with those consequences.

This question can definitely go really deep and keep going. Good choice Joyce. 

2. 'Beware the Ides of March'...March 15th on the ancient Roman calendar, these words were made famous by William Shakespeare in his play Julius Caesar.  Caesar was assassinated on March 15th 44 B.C. Have you read any Shakespeare? I have not. I love to read, but haven't read much by Shakespeare or other classics. If so, do you have a favorite? Have you ever been to Rome? I have never been to Rome. My youngest was there last August.  

My daughter is on the far right. She has some great friends, who are willing and enjoy going on adventures with her.

3. Do you like a Caesar salad? I do like Caesar salad. I've only made it homemade (as in the dressing) once. If given the choice between a garden/house salad or Caesar which do you order? It all depends, but often I'll get garden. Anchovies or no? Umm.....well, I know sometimes the anchovie paste is in the dressing, so that's fine, but whole ones...I don't think so. What's your favorite salad dressing? ranch, blue cheese, oil and vinegar. I get these one salad mix packs, and I do like the dressings that come in some of those. 

4. Where do you typically work (or blog if that's easier) at home? Either my kitchen counter, or I have a desk in our family room that I will use as well. Do you have a dedicated home office space? Are you happy with that space? We have a spare room that is also an office but honestly I don't care for it a whole lot and my hubby uses it more. I love the desk I use but it's HUGE and heavy so we can't put it in the spare room. At some point we'll probably get rid of it. 

5. Snow drops, daffodils, lenten roses, crocus, hyacinth, or early tulips...what's your favorite early Spring flower? Tulips and daffodils are my absolute favorites. I do like crocus as well. 

6. Insert your own random thought here. I just got back from a 4 day trip to Canada with my youngest daughter. We traveled to Calgary and stayed in the town of Canmore. We visited Banff as well. She and a friend went on the 3rd and I flew up on the 6th, then we all came home together yesterday. The weather wasn't as cooperative as we would've liked, but you never know so you just have to go with the flow. We did enjoy ourselves and see some neat things. I always love trying foods that are common in an area so we had some poutine and I tried a beaver tail. 

My daughter and I standing on Lake Louise...I've never walked on a frozen lake before. 

We took a snowy walk/hike to an overlook. It was beautiful but cold. I wasn't overly cold, but I did forget to bring gloves...not sure what I was thinking.

I like finding unique street art and this was pretty cool. 

I actually really like poutine, especially if the fries are crispy. This gravy was a bit strong for me, but still good. 

I also ordered fish and chips, but got salad since we had poutine...ummmm, this fish was HUGE. I got two pieces thinking they'd be the size we get here, which is small...nope, I felt like I basically got an entire fish! I didn't even touch the salad. 

Beaver tail (fried bread) is a popular treat in Canada. I was looking for Bannock which is popular from the native communities, but couldn't find that exact thing. Beaver Tails are stretched, yeasted dough made to look like a beaver tail and topped with a variety of toppings. I went with a maple spread, dehydrated maple syrup (which was crunchy), and drizzled with chocolate syrup. Oh my goodness. This was so good, I literally inhaled it. It was sweet, but I didn't care. 

We also tried several local coffee shops. I did notice they were pretty basic as far flavors...vanilla, caramel, hazelnut. That as about it. Once in awhile you'd see something different, but not that often. They were still good. 

On Sunday when we were driving back to our Airbnb, there was a lot of traffic. We discovered there was an accident where a car hit a telephone pole. When we got back to the airbnb the doors to the parking garage were open and we didn't think much of that, but it was so dark inside, so we were kind of like "hmmm"...then the elevator didn't work, so it dawned on us that the power was out...so we climbed 4 flights of stairs. Thankfully the keypad to the room we were in (they are like condos) worked and we had good light from the large window, that we could see until the power went back on which thankfully was only a few hours later.

I always look forward to coming home even though I love to travel, but there's always an adjustment, especially if there's a time change...AND we had daylights savings time too while we were gone.  I always have to hit the ground running to some degree...thankfully I don't have to work today so I can have a little bit of a down day, though I need to go to the grocery store and make Kombucha, I plan to just edit photos and have a low key day. This weekend we celebrate our youngest daughters birthday so I'll be making lasagna (with homemade noodles), homemade sourdough bread with garlic butter, salad and peanut butter pound cake.  

With Joy Unquenchable,

Kirstin