Every Thursday, I share three good things from today, in the past week, and/or in the week or weeks to come, to focus on what is good. I encourage you to share in the comments your three good things too, if you want. I was introduced to thinking on three good things for the week by Deb Nance of the blog Readerbuzz who lists hers every Sunday on her blog.
Today begins a four-day break from work. Nothing special, just the way my schedule works part-time, with two longer days Monday and Tuesday. So really I have four good things this week to be thankful for.
Kim is off a couple of days within the four-day stretch: Friday and Saturday, but we have no big plans. Friday night we are doing a theme night, which I’m dubbing “Finale Friday.” We will be watching the finales of Season 8 of Rick & Morty and Season 2 of Peacemaker to start the night, and end with the final Mission Impossible movie, Final Reckoning.
Other than finales, I would like to get some reading in and catching up on podcasts with Tara Brach and Eckhart Tolle.
Every Thursday, I share three good things from today, in the past week, and/or in the week or weeks to come, to focus on what is good. I encourage you to share in the comments your three good things too, if you want. I was introduced to thinking on three good things for the week by Deb Nance of the blog Readerbuzz who lists hers every Sunday on her blog.
Today
Today, I am off from work and am using today as a “down day,” where I’m not going anywhere and am refueling after a long weekend for both Kim and me (see next section). Kim also is off today but she is away most of the day at a Pride event at a nearby university with Free Mom Hugs, a group with whom she volunteers. We’ll hang out tonight, but this morning and afternoon, I’m doing…not much of anything, maybe TV, maybe reading, maybe music, maybe listening to a podcast or two. I don’t know yet.
This past week(end)
Kim and I went to a multi-year high school reunion in southern New Jersey that included her class and the class of her sister, who graduated a few years before Kim. We stayed at the hotel where the reunion was for two nights, then at her sister and brother-in-law’s place in Delaware on Sunday night before coming back back home Monday morning. We also met up with one of Kim’s classmates Friday night since he was unable to attend the reunion Saturday night. Here is a photo of Kim in the hotel room before the dinner:
The week(end) to come
I work tomorrow and then I’m off for the weekend. Kim is working both days, and my plan is much as the same with the exception of catching up with a couple of long distance friends via phone. It’ll be good to reconnect as we often do, once a week with the one friend and at least once a month with the other. I usually end up talking an hour or more with each.
Every Thursday (or sometimes like today, on a Friday), I share three good things from today, in the past week, and/or in the week or weeks to come, to focus on what is good. I encourage you to share in the comments your three good things too, if you want. I was introduced to thinking on three good things for the week by Deb Nance of the blog Readerbuzz who lists hers every Sunday on her blog.
The First American Pope
Though my wife and I are no longer Catholic, we are glad to see that the man Pope Francis probably would have picked to succeed him: Robert Prevost, now known as Pope Leo XIV.
A rare Friday off
I’m off today, a Friday, normally a day I work, so I plan to take advantage of it:
Reading more of The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins.
Catching up with the last episodes of the Where is My Mind? podcast hosted by Niall Breslin. I discovered Breslin at the start of the pandemic with a podcast he had called Wake Up/Wind Down, which he then spun off into Where is My Mind? I will miss hearing his voice.
Maybe reading some poetry and fiction too. I have a poetry book or two and two poetry magazines checked out from the library on the Libby app. I also am on the last few of the Inspector Montalbano series by Andrea Camilleri.
Yankees baseball
At the start of the season, with our phone plan, T-Mobile had a deal for MLB.com for free for the season. When I was a kid, I followed baseball some, and only the Yankees. Since then, I’ve only kept up very sporadically, but with “the state of the world” the way it is, I decided why not another distraction? It’s been a good one, with the Yanks doing well to start the year. While they don’t have the best record in baseball, they are at the top of their division, the American League East, with 21 wins and 16 losses. I’ve also been enjoying watching affiliates of the Yankees in minor league, which MLB.com shows too, especially the Triple-A Scranton-Wilkes Barre RailRiders.
Every Thursday I share three good things from today, in the past week, and/or in the week or weeks to come, to focus on what is good. I encourage you to share in the comments your three good things too, ifyou want. I was introduced to thinking on three good things for the week byDeb Nance of the blog Readerbuzz who lists hers every Sunday on her blog.
A poem a day
For National Poetry Month, I’ve been posting a poem a day that I’ve written. I’ve also been sharing a poem from one of three websites that share a poem each day. If you would like to check them out, go here. I had most of the poems chosen at the end of March, which has helped.
Three days off for my wife…
…and two days off for me this coming weekend, which comes at a much needed time for her. She has cellulitis again in one of her legs, which unfortunately is one of the things that people with lymphedema are susceptible to. At least, the first couple of times she has had this year, including this time, have been caught early – unlike last year, which ended with her being in the hospital for a month. It doesn’t make it any less painful or annoying for her, but she is on an antibiotic that will help get rid of the infection. Unfortunately, because of medications she is on for her heart, there is not much she can take for the pain: Tylenol, which does almost nothing for the pain. All this said, at least she has a few days that hopefully will help with the healing. UPDATE @ 2:40 p.m., also on Thursday: She called for an appointment at the wound care center in Williamsport and was able to get in Monday afternoon before she goes to work at 6 p.m.So there is a fourth good thing.
Because of the cellulitis, we aren’t going anywhere for Easter, but we have, as usual, silly TV planned and we also will be peeking in on a few artists at Coachella for its second weekend this (most we don’t know and, to be honest, don’t want to know).
A day off today
I also a off today and while I often do laundry at the laundromat when I have a spare day, today I decided to postpone the chore until later in the weekend or early next week. This morning, I read some of Shift: Managing Your Emotions — So They Don’t Manage You by Ethan Kross and might read a bit more after putting this up. I probably will unwind with my ongoing alternating of watching Bones and Castle. I’m in Season 5 for both, so no spoilers, please, if you have seen either or both of them.
Every Thursday (this week Friday) I share three good things from today, in the past week, and/or in the week or weeks to come, to focus on what is good. I encourage you to share in the comments your three good things too, ifyou want. I was introduced to thinking on three good things for the week byDeb Nance of the blog Readerbuzz who lists hers every Sunday on her blog.
Like last week, I debated whether or not to post this week, but then thought why not? Just because I’m putting up poems each day for National Poetry Month doesn’t mean that I can’t share three good things too.
Poetry
No. 1 this week is poetry with today being the 10th straight day I’ve shared a poem I wrote plus a poem from one of three sites that share a poem each day. At the end of March, I selected 30 poems that I wrote, in the 1990s and 2000s. It’s been interesting to revisit these poems, most of which I read during a poetry reading at a now-defunct cultural society in suburban Philadelphia in 2004.
I would be remiss if I didn’t encourage you to go read them. Maybe a poem will speak to you, either mine or one by one of the other poets.
Two days off from work
Today and yesterday, I’m off from work. Kim was off yesterday too and we spent much of the day binge-watching silly TV, including finishing up the second season of an Australian comedy on Netflix called Fisk.
It’s the only Season 1 trailer I could find on YouTube.
Today I’m going to try to read Shift: Managing Your Emotions – So They Don’t Manage You by Ethan Kross. I read his first book, Chatter: The Voice in Our Head, Why It Matters, and How to Harness It, which I found helpful so thought I’d try this.
Therapy
After skipping therapy last month, I went to my teletherapy session on Wednesday. Even though my therapist was late and it was short, the session was good and much needed with everything going on in the world.
So, yesterday my wife and I watched two movies based on a book series: Enola Holmes and Enola Holmes 2, based on the series with her name by Nancy Springer. We had watched the first one in 2020, but when we started watching the second one, we couldn’t remember the first so we went back and started over.
As Benjamin Lee wrote in The Guardian, in his review of the second one in 2022:
There’s more of the same in Enola Holmes 2, an equally boisterous romp that’s equally as hard to remember once it’s over but one that should keep its many fans engaged enough to warrant further sequels.
And indeed, there is a third one in the works, according to Millie Bobby Brown, who portrays Enola in the movies. As well as I think there should be. It’s true, like Lee said, that they’re hard to remember, but Brown along with a great ensemble cast including Helena Bonham Carter as her mother and Henry Cavill as her brother, Sherlock, made the movies popcorn fun enough for me and my wife to want to watch more.
I must admit that I now want to try Springer’s series. I also realize that this isn’t the first time I have wanted to read a book or series after watching the movies. Probably one of the first movies with which this was the case for me was Field of Dreams, which was based on the book Shoeless Joe by W.P. Kinsella. I think I read the book or attempted to read it but as I remember at the time I didn’t like it and thought the movie was better.
Other movies based on books or series I wanted to read after watching the movie or movies include The Maze Runner, High Fidelity, The Last of the Mohicans, Bladerunner, Dolores Claiborne and Misery to name a few. Some I did and some I enjoyed (loved The Maze Runner series) while others I didn’t (High Fidelity – worked better for American audiences with a record shop since I recognized more of the music). On the latter, I did enjoy some of Nick Hornby’s other books such as A Long Way Down.
So, how about you? Any books or series you wanted to read after seeing the movie that they were based on first? Feel free to share in the comments.
This is part of The Sunday Salon hosted by Deb Nance of the blog Readerbuzz.And in case you missed it, on Thursday I posted about my three good things for the week, which this week mainly was one thing: a negative biopsy, a negative biopsy, a negative biopsy!for my wife.
Every Thursday, I share three good things from today, in the past week, and/or in the weekor weeks to come, to focus on what is good. I encourage you to share in the comments your three good things too, ifyou want. I was introduced to thinking on three good things for the week byDeb Nance of the blog Readerbuzz who lists hers every Sunday on her blog.
I won’t lie that sometimes it is hard to accentuate the positive when the state of the world is in such disarray. But I still think it’s important for me, and for you, to remember the good in our lives and those around us, maybe especially in light (or dark) of the state of the world. That said, today’s three good things for me are going to be brief:
I have the day off today from work, during which one of the couple things I had planned was a grocery pickup (already done). Also tonight my wife Kim is off work, starting tonight into tomorrow so we’ll be chilling, probably with some funny TV.
I finally finished my first book of the year, The Other End of the Line, the 24th in the Inspector Montalbano series by Andrea Camilleri. I don’t think it was his best, but it was an okay book for my first book of the year. Now on to No. 2, which maybe I’ll finish by the end of April. I used to read anywhere from 40 to 80 books a year, but since 2020, I’ve had a difficult time focusing on reading. I can focus on TV (not news), movies, music, podcasts, and of course, my own belly navel, but that’s about it. Why? Sadly, see about state of the world above.
As mentioned last week, I’ve given up on finishing Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art by James Nestor as my first book of the year. I also mentioned that I was going to test some poetry books for my first read but none of them stuck. Now I’m returning to a series I’ve been reading over the last couple of decades, the Inspector Montalbano series by Italian writer Andrea Camilleri. I’m up to No. 24: The Other End of the Line, which I plan on finishing today for my first book read in 2025, and I only have a few left until I’m finished with the series of 28 books.
After this one are:
The Safety Net
The Sicilian Method
The Cook of the Halcyon
Riccardino
The last one was published in 2020 after Camilleri’s death in 2019 at the age of 93. There are two other books of short stories with Montalbano that I also want to read, hopefully before the end of the year.
I think I’m going to have to give up on Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art by James Nestor as being my first book that I’ll read this year. Instead, today I’m turning to poetry. About an hour and a half ago, I went to Libby to pick out some possibilities. I have about half a dozen choices. I’ll let you know next week what I chose.
As for the rest of the year, I have three books I want to finish before its end:
Candide by Voltaire
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
The Complete Stories by Flannery O’Connor
The first is because two different friends recommended and at the end of the book is the inspiration in part for this blog: to cultivate my garden figuratively. The second is one that my wife has been trying to get me to read for a while, plus another friend. My wife and I are also playing quid pro quo with my reading this before the end of the year and her reading Bruce Springsteen’s biography Born to Run. The third is a reread for me, from a course on O’Connor and William Faulkner that I had in college.
What are you currently reading or what is on your radar for this year to read?
So, since last week’s Sunday Salon, I shared two posts here: on a podcast on The Five Remembrances and on 3 Good Things Thursday. I haven’t done much reading, though, and still haven’t finished what was/is supposed to be my first book of the year: Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art by James Nestor. I’m in the last third of the book, and I’m finding it hard going since he is getting into breathing techniques that are complex and aren’t for the laymen, i.e. me.
I have seven books on hold through Libby at three different libraries: my home library, Free Library of Philadelphia, and Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, the latter two which offer free cards to anyone in Pennsylvania. However, with the exception of one, the other six are a few weeks or even months out from being able to borrow. The one is The Promise, a part of the Elvis Cole & Joe Pike series, by Robert Crais and even might be available today. We’ll see.
I’ve also been dipping into some magazines via Libby, including a couple of poetry magazines. Maybe this week I’ll finish my first book of the year, even if it’s nothing what I intended.
Aside from reading, and the reason I haven been reading much, I discovered a new show High Potential on ABC and Hulu, which I’ve been binge-watching (some with my wife Kim). It’s based off a French and Belgian show called HPI, which stands for Haut potentiel intellectuel, “high intellectual potential,” an alternative term for giftedness. The main character is a cleaner at a police station and in the process of cleaning, comes across a case that falls out of a folder that she sees something the detectives don’t see. She writes “victim” under the photo of a woman they have identified as a suspect for the murder. It reminds me some, in a good way, of the British version of Sherlock with Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman.
As for what I’m listening to lately, I’ve been going back into my favorites from years gone by (2012) and discovered this gem, a bonus track from Kendrick Lamar’s second album, Good Kid, M.A.A.D City, a duet with Mary J. Blige:
Lamar coincidentally is the headliner at halfway point for for some big sporting event here in the U.S. tonight. We will peek in from time to time as being from Pennsylvania, we are pulling for the Eagles. Go, Iggles!
So, what have you been reading or watched or listening to or doing this past week? Feel free to share in the comments.
Bonus photo of brunch from this morning:
Impossible breakfast sausage, apple fritter bread French toast, and a pina colada.
Transmissions from the Northern Outpost 