I think we’re in the final days of Amaryllis Watch 2021 for this beauty. In fact, I’m hoping it will bloom this weekend while I’m home to enjoy it. The variety is Velvet Nymph and White Flower Farm describes the blossoms as deep garnet petals with a tidy flower-within-a-flower form . It sounds completely gorgeous!
Also completely gorgeous? A long weekend. I’ll see you back in this space on Tuesday.
I’m feeling a little random this week so I’m going to share 3 things that aren’t connected but are relevant in my life right now
And that’s it for me this Thursday. If you wrote a post for today please include your link below and thanks, as always, for joining the link party.
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Do you remember back in the early days of blogging, some 16+ years ago, when we used to send each other little gifts and packages in the mail? Sometimes it was an organized event where we would inquire about favorites and then get matched with someone. And sometimes it was just a surprise. It was fun! And we don’t do it anymore. I mean, I think we don’t do it anymore. Maybe all y’all are out there swapping gifts and not telling me.
In any case, I came home yesterday to a package from Vicki! It brought me right back to the blogging days of old. I had completely forgotten that I left the 30,000th comment on her blog a while back and she sent me a sweet little thank you prize.
In the box was a nice big mug, a leather measuring tape key ring, a lovely little box of chocolates, and a wonderful note. Truthfully, the note might have been my favorite part, reinforcing the idea that we need to write to each other and enforce that connection.
Thank you, Vicki for the goodies, for taking the time to send them to me, and for your steadfast and continual blogging. Your voice matters to our community and I’m so glad you’re here. You were a true role model to me back in those early days and I appreciate all you’ve done to connect this community.
In other news, I’m knitting socks. I can’t explain this, honestly, after confessing about the big old bag of socks I have to deal with but here I am anyway. They are pink, like Bonny’s current hitchhiker and Juliann’s current quilting. I’m declaring pink the color of 2021, despite what Pantone says.
Have a great Wednesday!
In an attempt to be more organized and mindful, I’m going to start sharing my reading updates on a monthly basis. Here are the books I finished in December.
The Obituary Writer by Ann Hood
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This is a fast, enjoyable read that could have been much better if the characters had been fleshed out more. The plot is fairly predictable, as is the connection between the two women it centers around. What made it stand out for me was the settings, the descriptions of San Francisco in the early 1900s and the suburbs of Connecticut in the 1960s. The insight into grief and the way people react to it were good and I would have liked to have more of that and less of the unhappy housewife plot. Worth reading, just don’t expect something exceptional.
Homeland Elegies by Ayad Akhtar
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I had to keep reminding myself that this is a novel because it reads much more like a memoir. However it’s categorized, it’s excellent, full of difficult realities and harsh realizations about the American lifestyle and what it’s like to be a Muslim in our post 9/11 world. Highly recommended.
The Boy in the Field by Margot Livesey
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is a beautifully written coming of age story, illustrating the impact of a traumatic event on 3 siblings. I appreciated how the author switched between each of the children in telling the story and I thought the author brilliantly captured the impact of their parents lives on the children as well. The ending is satisfying without being too perfect. Highly recommended.
The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South by Michael W. Twitty
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
My goal was for us to travel the South looking for sites of cultural and culinary memory while researching my family history and seeing the food culture of the region as it stood in the early twenty-first century.
This is a deeply personal account of Twitty’s exploration of his genetic make up and how it impacts the food he prepares and shares with others. It’s a bit scattered and sometimes the genealogy is confusing, but the descriptions of meals and the retelling of stories of his enslaved ancestors make for a unique and important approach to the discussion of race and racism in society.
Frontier Follies: Adventures in Marriage and Motherhood in the Middle of Nowhere by Ree Drummond
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
The first time I heard of Ree Drummond was when a friend linked to her blog and a recipe for French Breakfast Puffs – a muffin that is dipped in melted butter and then rolled in cinnamon sugar. I was immediately hooked by her down-to-earth style of writing and the recipes she shared, most of which were family oriented and the epitome of comfort cooking. Not much has changed in those 10 years except that Ree is now wildly successful and her brand has expanded far beyond her blog. This book isn’t great quality literature but it’s sweet and funny and I could hear Ree’s voice in my head when I read it. Recommended for readers of her blog and other followers.
It’s a bit of a shorter list than usual because the last book update I did included the first book I finished in December. Even as I typed that sentence, though, I thought . . . who cares? ha!
I have set my Reading Challenge for 2021 at 75 books, the same as the last few years. GoodReads tells me I’m already behind. And to that I say again . . . who cares?!
Happy Reading, friends. That’s really the best thing to care about.
When I shared my One Little Word for 2021 with you I didn’t say much about why I chose it. Today I’m going to fill in the blanks on this decision.
My word, Create, came to me back in the fall. I was reflecting on my journey with Open in 2020 and thinking that it had been very meaningful, totally surprising, and pretty abstract. Open served me well, helping me to embrace vulnerability and expand my self awareness. Thinking about moving forward, though, I knew I wanted a word that would feel more tangible. A word that would inspire action. A word that would ground me but still allow me the freedom to express myself.
Create is that word. While I’m sure at times it will be a word that inspires me to knit and sew and write, what I’m mostly interested in focusing on is creating feelings and experiences. I want to use this word as a daily reminder that I am making choices about the life I am living. I want to enforce that even when I can’t control the things that are happening around me I can create my response to those things. Create is the perfect word to build on the things I discovered last year when I was Open. The bottom line is this: I want to create a life that’s authentic and purposeful.
I’m really looking forward to sharing the journey here. I hope it’s full of surprises (good ones, anyway) and insights and lessons that will be good not only for me but for all of you as well.