Momentum

A week in which I got intentional about metaphorically and literally shedding all that no longer serves me as the Year of the Snake drew to a close. Leaving me poised to gallop into the Year of the Fire Horse, which began Tuesday. It may just be the power of suggestion, but I’m feeling hopeful about leaving behind what felt like the suspended animation of the last few months and charging ahead into a juicier life. Stay tuned.

Ways I Found Joy This Week

Stopping for lunch at a Mexican restaurant with my next-door neighbors

Getting my little menace to include dog food in his diet again, which is key to his recovery

Pampering myself from head to toe in a mini spa week staycation in lieu of traveling

Being released from daily vet visits

Dining at the best Italian restaurant in the area with two of my beloveds

Listening to the driving rain before dawn from safely inside my cozy home

Getting back to Pilates after a two-week break

Things I Learned This Week

A bit about the complex and evolving history of the Maya

That there is a Curiosity Weekly podcast that I need to check out

A few facts about the US occupation of Haiti from 1915-1934

Quotes That Resonated This Week

I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it.

Maya Angelou

The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.

Khalil Gibran

Never look down on anybody unless you're helping him up.

Jesse Jackson

What I Watched This Week

Will Trent (Hulu)

High Potential (Hulu).

The Hunting Party (Netflix). Serial killers, profilers, government conspiracy, and attractive principals. The first couple of episodes drew me in.

What I Read This Week

Dorothy Parker: Complete Stories.

Husbands & Lovers, by Beatriz Williams. A novel that spans decades and the world and is full of secrets and longing. Loved the historical elements; not so much a fan of the romance thing of everything tied up neatly in the end.

Nobody’s Fool, by Harlan Coben. A private investigator and disgraced former cop gets drawn into a mystery that is connected to a traumatic event in his own life decades earlier. Prime Harlan Coben: propulsive, great description and dialog, and unforeseen twists.

[These next two were on my holds list forever and randomly arrived together; both dealt with the vestiges of first love.]

Loved One, by Aisha Muharrar. A moving examination of love and grief in their many forms.

Broken Country, by Clare Leslie Hall. Lots of unfinished business, buried secrets, and yearning. Simple but beautiful.

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Thanks for reading!