- This weekend I finished my fourth book of the year. Since I aspire to read a book per week, I should be at 6 or 7 rather than 4, but I could still easily catch up with a few quick, lightweight novels. Last night I started A Wee Murder in My Shop by Fran Stewart. It qualifies as lightweight. So far, the quality is about what you’d expect for a cozy mystery, which is to say not the finest, but it’s suiting my lazy mood.
- I had the day off today (Presidents’ Day), so I spent some of it with the kids. We worked on art for our February Art Contest. I wonder if they’ll grow up and be shocked to find out that it’s not a typical thing to have family art contests, and they’ll be like, “Wait, what? You mean that’s not a thing?”
Here is how my art project looks so far:
- I spent most of yesterday hanging out in Putnam with my friend Sprite. We did all the usual Putnam activities, starting with a delicious lunch. She had French toast and I had a Hawaiian-themed combo that included ham, fried pineapple, eggs, hash browns, and mango aioli. The food there is always decent and sometimes amazing. Yesterday was one of the amazing days. Sprite and I caught up on things happening in our respective lives and in politics as we lunched, took our traditional walk along the river, and checked for interesting books in the Little Free Libraries. We capped off the afternoon with hot beverages at the cafe, where we talked about old times, including English teachers of yore. It’s a rare and wonderful thing to be friends with someone for so long that you can talk not only about the present and the recent past, but also about the Way Back. We had as good luck with our beverages as we’d had with our lunches. Sprite had a delicious-looking cherry concoction topped with whipped cream. I had a lavender London Fog, which was unexpectedly yummy. Putnam is a great place to visit, and there is no one I’d rather spend a day with than Sprite.
- I had hoped to take down the Christmas tree and finish my 2019 photo album, but those things didn’t happen. That’s OK. It just means I know what I’ll be working on next weekend.
- Tonight is family movie night. We’ll be watching the 2nd LOTR movie. Movie time is at 7:30, so I gotta go!