jillsalahub

1. Snow. We got another ten inches this week. That along with extra cold negative temperatures inspired a midweek snow day for Eric — yay! I had made a funeral casserole the night before because I knew the cold and snow were coming, that something warm and delicious would be just the ticket. Eric stuck our Christmas tree in the snow burm of our side flower bed and the first morning I walked out and saw it there, I thought someone had planted a tree, like some sort of weird prank.

2. Working on my book. I haven’t said too much about it recently because a lot of other stuff came up and I sort of lost my way with it. I still write every day, no matter what, but I was in the weeds with the book project. It’s like making a collage, pulling pieces together not really knowing how it will all come together, where it will land. I’ve written so many pieces of it already and stored it away — on this blog, in files on multiple computers, in writing I’ve done with Laurie Wagner and my Friday morning writing sangha, and in the many many notebooks I’ve filled, even some of the recent conversations I’ve had with my therapist have led directly to writing. It can feel overwhelming and super confusing how to put it all together. This week I’ve been more actively working on it and it feels really really good.

3. Cooking, in particular trying something new. Eric and I have a favorite restaurant, Mount Everest Cafe, run by a Tibetan family. Their food is SO good. Eric and I made a few curry recipes this week to see if we could replicate some of our favorites. My eggplant curry turned out pretty good (not as good as Mount Everest) and Eric’s was weirdly bland for all the spices in it. It wasn’t a total fail, but we are ordering take out from Mount Everest this weekend to cleanse our palates.

4. Ringo being a jerk. Weird thing to be grateful for, yes? And yet, this past week he wasn’t feeling great, his arthritis was acting up and causing his front legs especially to ache. The way I knew it was beyond what he normally lives with is when things he always does that are super annoying — digging up the couch, humping the pillows, wanting to play, nudging me in the butt or nipping at my clothes to get me to pay attention, getting on our bed when I’m getting dressed for a walk to bark and sing and dig — weren’t happening. His physical therapy vet had some good ideas for how to help him and he’s feeling so much better … and being a total jerk. (Only the first of these pictures is from this week, the rest are simply examples of said behavior).

5. Morning walks. The one we took the day before the storm came supports my theory that the prettiest skies happen as a storm is rolling in.

6. My tiny family, tiny home, tiny life. How many times or ways can I say they and this are everything I ever wanted?

Bonus joy: Vaccines and pain meds and gummy supplements, snow tires and plows and shovels, ice scrapers, down and wool, a crunchy gala apple, apple pie filling as an oatmeal topper, dark chocolate covered caramel, house plants, sunshine, a big glass of cold water, a warm shower, clean sheets, pay day, the hydromassage chair, the pool, the sauna, the sound of our furnace, birds in the feeder, texting with Chloe’ and Mom and Chris, naps, good TV, listening to podcasts, finishing a book, starting another books, good music, that tiny little computer we call a smartphone that I can easily carry with me and use to access just about anything I need, a new dog treat pouch (I felt bad for needing another one until I realized it was at least six years old), blank notebooks and good pens, drinking a hot cup of coffee in front of my HappyLight while I write in the morning, raspberries, reading on my Kindle at night while Ringo and Eric sleep.

1. 40 Year-Old Comedian Who Died From COVID-19 Texted Brother He Wished He Got Vaccinated. “Cabrera’s brother, Jino, told KTLA that the comedian texted him just two days before his death and admitted that he regretted not getting vaccinated. ‘I can’t breathe again,’ Cabrera’s text message to his brother Jino read. ‘I really regret not getting my vaccine, if I can do it all over again I would do it in a heartbeat to save my life. I’m fighting for my life here and I wish I have gotten vaccinated.'” In related news, How Do You Respond When an Anti-Vaxxer Dies of Covid? on The New York Times.

2. What You Don’t Know About Family Estrangement. “14 stories of mourning, beauty, and power.”

3. The Most Valuable Thing I Can Teach My Kid Is How to Be Lazy on The New York Times.

4. Know Your Rights from the ACLU. “Everyone has basic rights under the U.S. Constitution and civil rights laws. Learn more here about what your rights are, how to exercise them, and what to do when your rights are violated.” May you never need this resource, kind and gentle reader.

5. My Young Mind Was Disturbed by a Book. It Changed My Life. on The New York Times. “Books can indeed be dangerous…They are not inert tools of pedagogy. They are mind-changing, world-changing. But those who seek to ban books are wrong no matter how dangerous books can be. Books are inseparable from ideas, and this is really what is at stake: the struggle over what a child, a reader and a society are allowed to think, to know and to question. A book can open doors and show the possibility of new experiences, even new identities and futures.” In related news, School Board in Tennessee Bans Teaching of Holocaust Novel ‘Maus’, also on The New York Times. “The board voted unanimously to remove the Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel from classrooms because it contained swear words, according to minutes from the meeting.”

6. Every Great Writer Is a Great Deceiver: Vladimir Nabokov’s Best Writing Advice.

7. Later Bloomer, “a captivating archive of lives well lived,” celebrating the artistic and creative achievements of people over age 40. I find this very inspiring. As long as you are still breathing, it really is NEVER too late.

8. Museums Challenge Folks To Recreate Famous Paintings At Home. “The Getty Museum in Los Angeles, California challenged art fans to recreate their favorite paintings using just 3 things lying around their house. The challenge inspired some of the most creative ideas and to be honest, some of these recreations are pretty spot on. Art inspires art, and these folks have a real talent for recreating famous paintings.” The examples here range from beautiful to hilarious.

9. Workers Share The Customer Interactions That ‘Haunt’ Them To This Day. After working 10 years in retail, I had my own to add, along with at least 20 others I didn’t post.

10. River Butcher: A Different Kind of Dude – Full Special (video). “River Butcher offers their thoughts on gender pronouns, people who put rubber testicles on their trucks, outrageously large fires, divorce and much more.” I’ve followed River for a long time, and this is some of their best.

11. Are you free, or are you just meeting expectations?: On fatness and autonomy. From Ijeoma Oluo.

12. On International Holocaust Remembrance Day, revisit NPR’s stories from survivors. In related news, A family helped a Holocaust survivor escape death. Then they became his real family.

13. Redwood Forest in California Is Returned to Native Tribes on The New York Times. “Ownership of more than 500 acres of a forest in Mendocino County was returned to 10 sovereign tribes who will serve as guardians to ‘protect and heal’ the land.”

14. 50 years ago, ‘Zoom’ spoke to children about their real lives. I loved this show.

15. What Does It Mean to Be ‘Done With Covid’? on The New York Times. “The desperate desire to get back to normal is understandable. What’s odd is seeing the absence of normality as a political betrayal instead of an epidemiological curveball.” In related news, Experts Call The Pandemic A Collective Trauma. Why Don’t We Talk About It That Way? and Counting Covid-19 Cases Doesn’t Capture the Pandemic’s Impact on The New York Times Magazine, “There’s virtually no aspect of our lives that the pandemic hasn’t changed. We’re just starting to understand some of the data on public health.”

16. Recipe I want to try: Amish Cinnamon Bread.

17. Archeologists Unearth a Roman Glass Bowl Dating Back 2,000 Years in Pristine Condition. I wouldn’t have even thought this would be possible. How?!

18. Readers’ global wishes for 2022: More kindness, more nature … and kitties!