Wednesday Hodgepodge - When (Not) In Rome

A hodgepodge is a jumble or assortment of things that might not appear to belong together. Joyce at From This Side of the Pond hosts a weekly link-up called Wednesday Hodgepodge that is a little collection of questions for bloggers to answer just for fun and to get to know each other. I always look forward to chatting with friends over coffee, so pour a cup of your favorite and let's visit for a few minutes!

Here are this week's questions - and my answers - for this week's Wednesday Hodgepodge.

1.  Are you a naturally trusting person? Is trust built on logic or 'gut instinct'? Does everyone deserve a second chance? Elaborate.

 

I don't think I'm a naturally trusting person, because I am reserved and cautious about what I share when I meet someone new. I suppose I'm inwardly a skeptic but unless something strikes me wrong right from the beginning, I'll give people a chance to earn my trust. There's an element of 'gut instinct' to it, and generally I say to trust your gut when it comes to safety and to personal information; but that intuition is probably based more on logic than we might realize. I definitely weigh how trustworthy someone is based on the logical conclusions I can draw, but listen to my intuition and instinct as well.  

 

Everyone deserves a second chance, but not everyone deserves a second chance with ME. I believe that everyone makes mistakes, and should get a chance to correct the mistake if possible. I also believe that everyone can change, so just because you lost my trust in the past doesn't necessarily mean you'll never get a chance to earn it back. But that depends on what you did to lose it. I'll forgive, but that doesn't obligate me to open myself up to someone who has proven themselves to be untrustworthy. Some people would just have to do a whole lot more to prove to me that they deserve their second chance FROM ME. And I can think of a number of examples of people that did me dirty in some way that I'm unlikely to trust in any significant way ever again, even though I've forgiven them for what they did, and I'm even still friendly with some of them. I just know the distance that I'm okay with and don't invite them any closer than that.  

 

2. 'Beware the Ides of March' . . . March 15th on the ancient Roman calendar, these words were made famous by William Shakespeare in play Julius Caesar. Caesar was assassinated on March 15th 44 B.C. Have you read any Shakespeare? If so, do you have a favorite? Have you ever been to Rome?

It's been quite a few years, but yes I've read a fair amount of Shakespeare and have enjoyed all of it. I like the comedies because the humor is so clever and yet so ridiculous in places. Maybe Twelfth Night would be my favorite because it's the first Shakespeare play I remember reading in school and I got a kick out of the wordplay and the obvious farce of it. Some of the speeches and soliloquies in the histories and tragedies are so memorable though. The St Crispins Day speech from Henry V is one that really stands out. When I taught high school English, that speech was studied as an example of persuasive argument so it has stuck with me. No, I've never been to Rome, but I'd love to see it someday.

 

3. Do you like a Caesar salad? If given the choice between a garden/house salad or Caesar which do you order? Anchovies or no? What's your favorite salad dressing?

 No thank you on a Caesar salad! I'll choose the garden salad every time, and anchovies are a hard no in every situation. (This reminds me, one of our favorite local pizza places in Maryland was called No Anchovies. They did, however, have anchovies available if anyone actually did want them on pizza.) My favorite dressing by far is Thousand Island. If this isn't available, I can make do with Catalina or French. 

Distantly related fun fact: The cocktail known as Bloody Caesar was invented at the Calgary Inn in Calgary, Alberta. I know this, not because I have ever had a Bloody Caesar (Clamato juice = blech), but because I stumbled across this info years ago and recognized the name of the hotel in my hometown. It's since been renamed the Westin.

 4.  Where do you typically work (or blog if that's easier) at home? Do you have a dedicated home office space? Are you happy with that space?

 I blog and do the household work related to bills and such at my desk in the spare room. So it's not dedicated as only a home office. There's a sofa in here that folds down into a bed so it can be used as a guest room. I'm pretty happy with the space, all things considered. In my ideal world, we would have a dedicated office space, but it's not totally necessary, and this has served very well. I should keep it tidier though, but that's on me, not the space!

5.  Snow drops, daffodils, lenten roses, crocus, hyacinth, or early tulips . . . what's your favorite early Spring flower?

 I love all of them (had to look up what lenten roses are) but tulips are my favorite. I like having cut flowers in my dining room, but in spring I often get small potted tulips or hyacinth instead or in addition. I'm looking forward to the Tulip Festival coming up at the greenhouse and garden center where my husband works!

 

 

6. Insert your own random thought here.

I looked in the archives to remind myself what I found out about the Ides of March a couple years ago for a Wednesday Quotes theme. The Romans had three set points in each month, based on the moon. The Ides was the first full moon of each month. The Nones is the 5th or 7th or 8th days before the Ides, and the Kalends is the first day of the following month. The Ides falls on the 13th of most months, but on the 15th in four months, including March. The Ides of March would be first full moon of a new year, and was the beginning of spring, which naturally meant feasting and celebrating. The Ides of March was also the day that consuls (state officials) took office. At least until 153BC when, for some reason, the consuls started their terms on the first day of January. And then, along came Julius Caesar and in 46BC he changed the Roman calendar to establish January 1st as the start of the New Year. Julius Caesar didn't get to celebrate very many New Years before he was assassinated. He was stabbed to death in the Senate house by a group of conspirators led by Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus on the Ides of March in the year 44BC, and of course that's how the date came to be such a well-known one. And it was obviously a huge event that changed the course of Roman history.

From WQ - The Ides of March in 2024.

Which spring flowers are your favorite? Or do you have a fun Rome-related piece of trivia to share? Leave a comment and let me know!

I'm sharing in this week's Wednesday Hodgepodge at From This Side of the Pond.

I host the Wednesday Quotes link-up every other Wednesday. Stop by and share a few thoughts and quotes on the current topic here:  WQ - Libraries. I host the Everyday Images photo link-up every other Thursday. And find the Scripture and a Snapshot link-up here every Sunday.

 

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