To: Mom

Back in the Fall of 2022 there was a cool installation by artist Adam Chau at one of the Grounds for Sculpture buildings. 

Juni Pertroi Wisdom

Reading this earlier in the year has really helped me change the way I view myself. I'm not overly concerned with looking old, I've always been more concerned with how I am viewed by others. Even still, I do have moments where I have unkind thoughts and words about my body. I don't appreciate that my breasts aren't where they were when I was in my twenties, that my legs now have some little purple lines, and my hands resemble the desert sand more and more. I do love my body and although I'm insecure about my current weight, I still think I look really sexy when I'm a nudie-pie. But there are times I long to have my mid-30s body - fit, strong, supple, with a remaining blush of youthfulness. Now when I see myself and wish I looked "better" AKA younger, I think of this quote. I think of it and remember that I'm fifty and look it and there is absolutely nothing wrong with looking old or being old. It's thinking old that I don't ever want to be a part of. I'm so grateful to this gal for planting this in my world.

Drumming with Chad

So last month I signed up for a Legend of the 70s course on Drumeo featuring Chad Smith. Today all the classes dropped and I went over to show Jackson and watch him play along. Well....it was not what we had hoped for. The courses were more of a "workout" and the pacing wasn't as fast as the actual tracks. I think Jackson and I were thinking it would be the full song with maybe some practice beforehand. Oh well. We abandoned the courses and I wound up recording him play freestyle, which was way better. This kid, this kid is so freakin' good. 

A Package for Me!

Look at all the wonderful goodies that lovely Natalia sent me the other day. She spoils me like no other!

January 2026 Books

* Bear by Marian Engel - A short book that I heard about on a podcast, maybe? Or a TV show? Who can remember. It was written in 1977, set in Canada, and is the story of a woman, Lou, who goes to a rather remote island to study and catalog the contents it. There she meets the island's bear, who is somewhat tame, and takes a liking to him. This then turns into her falling in love with Bear which then becomes a sexual relationship with him. It's unique, to say the least, and very strange, but rather compelling. I'd love to have a cup of tea or two with someone else that has read it and dig into the deeper meanings presented. Definitely loneliness is the central emotion. It's the kind of book that people are either intrigued by or disgusted by. I fall into the former. 

♥ Darkness Descends on Princeton by Jeff Jacobs - Princeton-area artist Kate Gabrielle mentioned on an Instagram story that her father wrote two books and that he is her favourite author. I ordered both and dived right in to the first, Darkness Descends on Princeton. I absolutely love love loved it! It has a very Nancy Drew quality to it; a mystery involving a young woman in 1939, with a lovely beau who is always willing to go above and beyond to help his beloved, and the knowledge that no matter the pickle or predicament that Eve Krell finds herself, the reader always knows that everything will turn out okay in the end. Virtually anxiety free-reading! There's no swearing or vicious violence and the story is peppered with characters named after famous and not-so-well-known actors from back in the day. The writing is the sort that 100% plays out as a movie in your mind's eye. Absorbing and brilliant. 

* The Nightingale ¹ by Kristin Hannah - This is one of my mother's favourite authors and it's Isabella's number one book. I gave the audiobook version a try and it was good, but I didn't love either of the sisters or feel any real connection for most of the book. The end was well done and I genuinely liked it. 

♥ A Waffle Lot of Love by Ben Clanton - After the heaviness of World War II in The Nightingale I needed something fun and read the newest Narwhal and Jelly book. Oh my gosh it was cuteness overload and I want every book in the series. It's joyful reading and utterly adorable. 

♥ One Lonely Night ¹ ² by Mickey Spillane - I really can't stand when an audiobook version is abridged, buuuut I had to listen to Stacy Keach narrate. This early Mike Hammer novel was fabulous and I will be reading the paperback copy I have in the not-so-distant future.

¹ - audiobook
² - abridged version
* - liked
♥ - loved
Any unmarked titles were, in my opinion, so-so.

Snowie-men!

I was driving back from a doctor appointment the other day and squealed with joy when this gi-wom-bus snowman caught my eye. I made sure to go home the same way so I could snap a photo. It's as cool as the one Amy and her hubs built on Halloween back in 2011!

Bizarro Dream

On February 25th, 2022 I texted the following to Amy, having just woken up from a truly odd dream.

Mick Jagger, Ringo Starr, and Keith Richards had commissioned a mansion to be built for them to live in together. The unveiling was a huge thing in the press and the fellas came in on buses - Mick wore a robe like Christ, naturally - and the place was lousy with reporters and fans. So you and I went in to the house to one of the basement rooms to relax on couches. You were there bc Keith had asked you to be his carer for the last years of his life, you being a doctor and all. You declined. I assured you it was the right choice, it would've been fulfilling, no doubt, but can you imagine? Keith passed away and a Ghostbusters era ambulance came around back to take him out via the old coal chute. Bc clearly when building a new manor where money is no object you would want to include a coal chute. Just in the off hand chance that coal heating comes back in fashion. 

Amy's response was a succinct, "Hahaha. That's amazing. And you're right, I would not want to be Keith's caregiver."