Brrrrrrr

A week in which I transformed into an iguana: paralyzed by the arctic blast. I’m the first to cheer when the temperatures drop into the sixties, and even the fifties (nothing like a vigorous walk without having to shower off again), but wind chills in the twenties are a bit more than I bargained for. Especially now that, after eleven years, my blood has officially thinned. While I’m not falling out of trees or being rescued from the middle of the road, I am spending lots of time indoors, mostly under a blanket or two. [Grateful to report that, as I post, temperatures are creeping back up.]

Ways I Found Joy This Week

Learning that Bruce Springsteen wrote, recorded, and released a song in just days in response to another murder by federal agents in Minneapolis

Finding a copy of the CWP’s first favorite book (it’s out of print), after searching for years

Hearing that the waste of $75 million also known as the Melania documentary had virtually no pre-sales

Spending lots of extra snuggle time with my assistant (under those blankets)

Making a big donation of unused meds and dog food to the vet, marking the end of our trauma and the continuation of our canine culinary adventures [Man plans/God laughs note: the very next day the dog began vomiting after several weeks of robust health—stand by for updates]

Cackling with the CWP over dinner and television and life in general

Discovering Aldi—great variety, great prices, and they don’t support inhumanity

Seeing Bad Bunny win big at the Grammys and hearing him call for love

Things I Learned This Week

All the gory (and eye-opening) details of the Chernobyl disaster

That wind chills are pretty accurate

About the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising

That apparently, I need earthshattering events to force me to truly slow down and reflect

A bit about Sikhi, or Sikh religion

About Vivian Maier, a photographer whose work was discovered and celebrated only after her death (she’d been working as a nanny and just snapping away, apparently)—can’t wait to watch the documentary about her

Quotes That Resonated This Week

Those who love us see us with their hearts and give us qualities beyond the ones we truly have. And those who refuse to love us will never be satisfied with all our efforts.

Frida Kahlo

Carefully honed fortitude is the backbone of resilience.

Simran Jeet Singh

Humility is not thinking less of yourself. Humility is thinking about yourself less.

C.S. Lewis

What I Watched This Week

Interview With the Vampire (Netflix)

Will Trent (Hulu)

33 Photos from the Ghetto (HBO). Difficult but important documentary with recently discovered photos that are the only ones in existence portraying the non-German (i.e. propaganda) viewpoint.

Schitt’s Creek (Hulu). A rewatch to honor Catherine O’Hara and to bring some laughter into these days.

High Potential (Hulu). Interesting premise, love Kaitlin Olson from her days in Always Sunny in Philadelphia, so I’m checking it out.

What I Read This Week

Some Bright Nowhere, by Ann Packer. I read Packer’s The Dive from Clausen’s Pier almost 25 years ago, and although the details are now sketchy, I still remember the way the book made me feel deeply. She’s done it again here: Claire is at the end of an eight-year battle with cancer, and her dying wish is breaking her husband’s heart. Devastating and beautiful.

The Light We Give: How Sikh Wisdom Can Transform Your Life, by Simran Jeet Singh. I mentioned this last week and feel it bears repeating. I’ve been slowly savoring and digesting this uplifting book.

Women’s Hotel, by Daniel Lavery. A fun novel that follows the quirky lives of the residents of a women’s hotel in 1960s Manhattan. Very smart and keenly observed.

I’ll Be Right Here, by Amy Bloom. A non-linear tale of two Algerian siblings and the family they chose after surviving World War II. Distinctive characters and scenes.

Dorothy Parker: Complete Stories. Finally getting around to the legend. She’s savage.

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Thanks for reading!