Life | Book Chatter

Sunday Matters

I know many of you are still dealing with weather but here in California it’s been very mild with temps between 65-79 degrees. As I was walking around the neighborhood the other day it really did feel like spring was just around the corner. Everything is blooming and the grass is green again. We had a few weeks of mucky brown grass. This is one of my favorite times of the year. I feel so hopeful when the sun is out and the plants start popping.

Right Now:

We’ve been debating in-person church services. It would be nice to go back but I am not quite ready. Every time I drive by there is a large crowd. I miss it but we have online viewing options available to us so I’d rather be cautious. My youth group is about to meet in-person again so after that we’ll probably pull the trigger on regular service as well.

I really wanted to go to the zoo today but it’s a timed entry and you have to book in advance. Many of the exhibits are closed. I will wait. Instead, I will get a long walk in.

This Week:

Speaking of walks. I found this podcast recently and I’ve added it to my walking routine. Bookish talk. Lots of it. Each episode is roughly an hour long so it’s perfect for walking. Shelf Care is available for free on Spotify but you can also listen via Apple, Stitcher or SoundCloud. I’ve already added a few books to my want list.

Reading:

I am finishing up The Sanatorium. It’s a Reese Book Club pick. It’s gotten very mixed reviews. I’ll write up the review as soon as I am finished but I usually do pretty well with Reese’s picks.

My next book will be Murakami’s new one, First Person Singular. It comes out in April but I can’t wait anymore. It’s a collection of stories. If you’ve read his stories before then you know how many of his stories could easily be the premise for a novel and some do become that. I am looking forward to it!

Watching:

Almost to Season 5 of Schitt’s Creek. Still super enjoyable.

The Walking Dead starts again tonight. Only six episodes this season. I will see how this season goes and then decide if I want to continue. I keep giving these showrunners a chance to rally this show back to what is used to be but it’s not been great and my loyalty has run out.

Grateful for:

University faculty who take the time to talk to a potential student. These people are invaluable.
Art and music and the different ways we can access it now. I’ve been listening to some great concerts lately. I’ve signed up for a few museum tours too.
Green juice. It’s a weird thing to be grateful for. I used to make green smoothies but I’ve found that V8 Healthy Greens has all the good stuff. No sugar or artificial flavors added. It’s quite affordable and shelf stable so I stock up. This is not sponsored but it helps me feel good so I wanted to share.

What does your March look like? It marks my one year anniversary of working from home. Feels so strange to say. I remember those early days and how weird it all felt. The streets were empty. You had to gather up all your courage to run to the market only to find that bread and milk were sold out, along with every cut of meat. My city eats well apparently. Forget shelf staples. They went for the meat case. Remember those days? I guess we have come a long way from that if you really sit down to think about it.

Neighborhood plants

Good morning! I don’t know what it is but I’ve been in a really good mood. Perhaps I am feeling hopeful that this pandemic is finally being dealt with in a proper way. We are still ridiculously short on vaccines here in LA County but every day I hear that someone has gotten their vaccine so that is very good news. We are definitely moving in the right direction.

As you can see from the photo, our weather has been very mild and pretty. That photo above is a plant the pup and I walk past almost every morning. I love the pop of color. A piece of it broke off in the wind so I picked it up and popped it into soil. We shall see if it takes. Plants and the outdoors in general continue to keep me happy so whatever I can do to be outside, is done.

On a health note, you know how my doctor suggested I try a plant based diet because I was unable to lose any weight and she felt that my issue was inflammation? I didn’t go fully plant based although “I” easily could have. Between the Celiac and plant based diets it would be too much for the fam to digest. Pun intended. I went vegetarian. I have lost ten pounds in about a month. I am not tracking food or recording weight or anything. Just eating plant based when I can, vegetarian other times and the energy is there and good and I am happy. I am now looking into reactive foods which cause inflammation and one food that was a staple of mine before was salmon and it’s highly reactive. You do what you need to do for your own body so this is just what I am doing but it’s so interesting.

Okay, now books. I am really making good progress with my review copies. So much so that I’ve been dipping in and out of Edelweiss and NetGalley to find some new reads to add to my list.

This one is not a review copy but it just came out and it looks so good, The Oak Papers by James Canton. All about the human need to connect to nature. This is my new thing. Connecting to nature. I hope to pick up a copy soon.