Apparently, yesterday was World Book Day. I thought that was last month. Books are a central part of my day, every day. I’m currently reading four – two are religious books, one is a daily through Easter and the second is a weekly for the entire liturgical year. The other two are: Unthinkable: Trauma, Truth, and the Trials of American Democracy by Jamie Raskin Lessons from the Edge: A Memoir by Marie Yovanavitch
My Top 5 Books in the last six months are (and yes, I’m well aware that there are more than five books on this list.):
The entire Amelia Peabody series by Elizabeth Peters Midnight in Washington: How We Almost Lost Our Democracy and Still Could by Adam B. Schiff After the Fall: Being American in the World We’ve Made by Ben Rhodes Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West by Dee Brown State of Terror: A Novel by Hillary Rodham Clinton & Louise Penny The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story by Nikole Hannah-Jones, The New York Times Magazine Taste: My Life Through Food by Stanley Tucci Mankiller: A Chief and Her People by Wilma Mankiller and Michael Wallis
There’s a lot to be said about gratitude. I had a really busy and good week and this one is looking to be equally busy; let’s hope it’s equally good. I’ve found myself coming out of a struggle and I am grateful for that. It wasn’t an overbearing or debilitating one, but it was like a constant dull headache: it was always there, and I was always aware of it, and I couldn’t stop it. The dull ache is still there, but it doesn’t seem to be constant and that is a blessing; one that I have much gratitude for.
March is always a busy month for retreats and workshops. The buds and birds are coming out of their shells and coming alive, and so it seems are the classes to break everyone out of their doldrums. There were two online and one in person, and they were splendid. I am very lucky with the quality of teachers and presenters in my life. I needed to add more circuits to fit everything onto my Lenten labyrinth!
Monday begins the week with my oldest son’s birthday. He is twenty-five! Two. Five. How?! When?! We’ll be seeing him and taking him out for dinner and then going back to his house for cake (store bought – I’m a good cook, but baking is not really my forte). I already have it in the fridge and I’ll spend this morning finding a gift for him. He is so hard to buy for. That is a complaint that I can deal with.
We are so lucky to have him (and his siblings)! They all hold a special place, but the first one is just the first one – the one that began it all – parenthood, mistakes, lessons learned; incredible, overwhelming, abiding, never-ending, unconditional love.
My week ends with the writing retreat that wasn’t. It was cancelled, but to bring about the positivity it’s given me the chance to sign up for a mini-scavenger hunt with Gish revolving around books – a Book Bash if you will, and that should be entertaining and loads of fun with friends.
And right in the middle of the week, I’m starting with a group after a two year forced absence and I am looking forward to reflect with them on my Cursillo tripod and recall and discern close moments and there were a few where they’re hadn’t been in so long.
Gratitude awareness is something that can change a mood from not great to better, lightening the darkness if only we can sit with it and see it. Light the proverbial candle. Sit by the open window. Name one thing that you are grateful for; one thing that gives you contentment, and then sit with that for a few minutes before continuing your day.
I usually post this closer to the start of the new year, but it’s still early. Goodreads offers a yearly challenge to set for yourself the number of books you’ll read throughout the year. I usually set it for my birthday. Last year I planned on 54 books and I read 70 books. It might have been more than that since some of the books don’t appear on Goodreads. This year’s goal is 55. I’ve already read 14 books and re-read 3.
I have not included links, but you can search any that seem interesting online, either to buy (in physical form or e-book) or borrow from your library (again either in physical form or e-book).
On this “official” Random Acts of Kindness Day, I wanted to remind readers of one of my favorite organizations: Random Acts.
Random Acts was started by actor Misha Collins and they have regional events for making life better for many people through the simple act of kindness. They are partially supported by his international scavenger hunt, GISH, which I participate in yearly in the summer.
Every little bit helps. One year, I donated $1.20 – there was a reason for that specific amount on that specific day, and after all was said and done, they had raised over $10,000.
In a Twitter thread unrelated to the books, I was introduced to the Amelia Peabody mystery series through her umbrella and a reference to whacking someone, who shall remain nameless, in the shins with it. This was in 2018 in the middle of July. I immediately checked the first five books out of the e-library and began my adventures. And that was that. No more books were available. And then recently, I was informed that all New York residents were eligible for an e-library card from the New York Public Library. And thus begins a new chapter in my reading material. I discovered to my delight that they had all but one of the books and I was able to read the rest of the twenty book series in a ridiculously short period of time.
And then I read them again.
Since the end of October, I have been in constant touch with Amelia Peabody and her family. I am currently finishing the last in the series (chronologically) for the third time and each reading brings with it notices of new things, new insights, new critical looks: at the Emerson journals, at the time period, at the caste system and bigotry of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
My first read through was in publication order; my second was in chronological order. I read some excerpts from the later books to witness more of Ramses and Nefret’s relationship and in my continuing reading I realized how much I have in common with Amelia, both to my satisfaction and my chagrin.
I wanted to share some of my thoughts today on National Umbrella Day as well as during the month of February when so many things occurred after the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun: the opening of the burial chamber in 1923 (February 16), the raising of the sarcophagus lid in 1924 (Feb. 12), and the suspension of the excavation (for a year) in 1924 as well, returning to work at the end of January of the following year.
National Umbrella Day. Art of Amelia Peabody’s umbrella, open and closed with the background of one of the pyramids of Giza. (c)2022
They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.
Andy Warhol
…any writer who waits for “inspiration” to strike will never finish a book. Inspiration is all very well, but it will never replace sheer dogged determination.
Author Elizabeth Peters in an interview that appears at the end of The Golden One, one in her Amelia Peabody series.
Pointsettia. (c)2022
Every year, just after midnight on January 1st, I take out my new calendar/blog planner. It is perfectly even. No bent pages, no stray marks, no correcting tape, no bookmarks, no stickers. Empty pages and I never go to bed until I’ve filled in the dates that have been piling up in lists at the back of the old planner. New appointments, new school days, new writing assignments and ideas. Over the days and weeks, it will fill in and be the guide that I use throughout the year.
Resolutions get broken. They start out with good intentions, but often they fall by the wayside. I try to set goals; to have determinations; to focus. I do this a few times a year beginning in the fall and adjusting and re-adjusting what I want to accomplish.
I have a few writing series that I will continue including this Inspire series. It may have a change of name, but all in all, it will continue in the same format.
I am continuing the new Instagram and Spotify compilations; Instagram as the mood strikes and Spotify during the last week of the month.
I would also like to begin a more definitive travel section, including places of interest as well as giving more time to my book writing.
So much to do, but I am determined to take those two quotations to heart and simply keep moving forward.
I am grateful for what I am and have. My Thanksgiving is perpetual.
– Henry David Thoreau
November is full of thanks and gratitude. If only, we held onto these sentiments throughout the year, what a wonderful world it would be. I don’t know that I can show gratitude for the difficulties I had in October, but I can offer thanks for the inauspicious start to November. Somewhat quiet and subdued. While we will not see our cousins for Thanksgiving, we will see my brother-in-law and hopefully have a nice get-together later on with my son’s girlfriend and something quiet for my birthday. I am hesitant, but cautiously optimistic.
Sitting in front of the typewriter/keyboard, I am clacking away at the keys, and while I still haven’t taken hold of my Nano projects, I have been jotting things down on all matter of things.
I still have hope to take Thoreau’s words to heart, and be grateful for who I am, for what I have, and remind myself perpetually of all that I have to be thankful for. Every day can be thanksgiving if given the mindfulness to quietly look around and take in the life around me.
The picture below is a reminder that not everything is expected. About once a week, my family goes to The Fresh Market chain. They have what they call a “little big meal”. It feeds a family of four for $25 and usually comes with five or six components. The most recent one was a chicken roll up dinner and surprisingly one of the items was a bouquet of flowers. I thought it strange since they are not edible, but instead they fed something that was missing from me recently. The brought on a quietness, a contemplative series of moments as I trimmed the stems and arranged them in my vase. I smelled each one, adding water and a bit of the powdered food daily. We got them Sunday and they are just as strong, just as beautiful as when I brought them home. They are a welcome addition to my work space. I didn’t know I longed for them until I received them.
(c)2021
Sometimes looking past the expected brings us from the ordinary to the extraordinary.
I’ve been struggling with focus and writing and motivation. This includes my plans for Nanowrimo. I’m hoping that I will pick up the pen and get moving on my Nano projects. It’s only the first week, so it is not an impossible task.
The above title is the title of the famous song, which was written by Queen Lili’uokalani. I did not know this. In fact, she composed many songs that are still sung today.
In addition to the history lesson, the book did also inspire me to draw and I share that piece below:
Art inspired by Queen Lili’uokalani and the book, Lost Kingdom by Julia Siler. (c)2021
My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.
Maya Angelou
New Writing Space for the next six weeks. (c)2021
Vacation’s over. School’s begun. The Jewish Holidays have come and gone without nary a new goal or resolution in sight. First therapy session of the new season is in the books. And what do I have to show for it?
It’s not nothing, but I honestly don’t know.
The monthly greeting: How are you doing always feels like a trick question. If I’m fine, am I fine? If I’m okay, why am I here in the first place? Will I actually say what’s really on my mind?
*shrug*
I don’t know. Somehow, I muddle through another session, sometimes wondering why I still come. I’m not suicidal. My anxiety is under control. It is more than the familiarity and routine of it. Part of it, I know, is that having it on my calendar gives me something positive to look forward to. If I have moments of struggle or lows, I see the appointment on the calendar and it gets me through; I know it will be okay until the next time. It gives me something to strive for. Could I get through the month without this one hour? Maybe. But why risk it?
It’s a safe place. We all need them. Big, small, in public or private, look around for yours.
The fall is the beginning of my year. Will it remain so when my kids are entirely finished with school? That day is sadly growing closer, and I both dread it (for me) and relish it (for them). I also have so many ideas. So much to write about. Places I’ve traveled that I want to share about, both as reflections and travel advisories, advice, and photos. I have ideas for new series, new columns, new book ideas. I have ideas to expand my Facebook page for those of you on FB. I even have a list of prayers to write.
My six week memoir class has begun again. The library is sponsoring it, and even though they won’t let us in the library (a change since we registered), they have found us a pavilion in a local park that really gives off a super creative writing vibe. We’re gathering with some people who we haven’t seen in two years. We’re missing a long time friend who died last year (not Covid related). Hopefully, it remains warm enough for the six weeks we’ll be outside, but cool enough to keep the mosquitoes dormant. For those of us who’ve been meeting in the park for the last year, this weather is a piece of cake. The library provided clipboards and the teacher brought cushions for the picnic tables. I brought my own chair but I may swipe one of those cushions next week.
Our ongoing park-meeting group has a new inside place to meet – the local fire house!
I’m hoping all of these writing groups with assignments will inspire me for the rest of the fall and into the new year to come.
Griffins and Ginger Snaps 