Final update of the reading list for February. I got through three more books than I thought I wood for the month. I didn’t focus on self-care, though. I just plowed through my reading and tried to stay warm, like I was hibernating, but with books.
Good books, for the most part, though some of them were tough reads. I’ve read enough books in the “History of the United States” series that I expected the onslaught of people behaving badly. I could brace myself mentally, and keep reading.
Nothing prepared me for Spectacle. That one, in particular, was horrifying to read and know that American people actually treated another human being that way. I feel like it’s an important book to read because it brings out the humanity of Ota Benga and the tragedy of his situation.
Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick – Zora Neale Hurston Status: Finished
Uncomfortable Conversations With a Black Man – Emmanuel Acho Status: Finished
An African American and Latinx History of the United States – Paul Ortiz Status: Finished
The Witch’s Book of Self-Care: Magical Ways to Pamper, Soothe, and Care for Your Body and Spirit – Arin Murphy-Hiscock Status: Finished
Added: The Self-Care Prescription by Robyn L Gobin, Ph.D. Status: Finished
The Conjurer – Luanne G. Smith Status: Finished
Added: Spectacle: The Astonishing Life of Ota Benga – Pamala Newkirk Status: Finished
Added: The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South – Michael W. Twitty Status: Finished
I started a scarf mostly because I can work on it in bits and starts. The sweater requires enough time to work through a set of decreases on the sleeve, and I don’t always have that.
My reading list is coming along well for the month. I finished up An African American and Latinx History of the United States today, leaving two full weeks to finish The Conjurer, which shouldn’t take anywhere near that long.
Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick – Zora Neale Hurston Status: Finished
Uncomfortable Conversations With a Black Man – Emmanuel Acho Status: Finished
An African American and Latinx History of the United States – Paul Ortiz Status: Finished
The Witch’s Book of Self-Care: Magical Ways to Pamper, Soothe, and Care for Your Body and Spirit – by Arin Murphy-Hiscock Status: Finished
Added: The Self-Care Prescription by Robyn L Gobin, Ph.D. Status: Finished
The Conjurer – Luanne G. Smith Status: Not Started
I wonder if anyone would be interested in my impressions of the books. I hadn’t intended to do reviews of any of the books I read, but if someone said they were interested I could do that.
I’m progressing along well on my cardigan, but I’m not sure if I will quite finish before the end of the month. I cast off the body on Friday and started the first sleeve on Saturday, but there’s still another sleeve to finish, ends to weave in, and buttons to sew on before it’s really done. If I continue to make good progress, I think it might be possible to finish by the end of the month.
I’ve tried the sweater on in progress and I’m happy with the fit of it thus far. This will be the fourth sweater I’ve ever knit for myself, and only the second that’s really fit the way I wanted. I think that’s knitting progress.
February’s Theme is self-care and I have to admit that I’m still struggling to build a self-care practice. Any kind of self-care practice. Everything gets put ahead of it for everyone else but me.
The thing is, I’m not just tired anymore. I’m exhausted. Depleted. Overwhelmed.
I’m tired from feeling like I’m not connecting at work, and I’m not connected to my work at this time. I’m still looking at derecho damage we couldn’t get repaired yet. I feel like I never have any privacy at home due to always having a guest around. I’m sick of the pandemic and never feeling like I can get out or go anywhere.
Maybe I need to go further and just turn off everything for a bit until I can build back balance.
I know it’s oranges, not clementines that were promoted as “Florida Sunshine”
We’re in the part of the season where sunshine is hard to come by. Now I like an overcast and foggy day as much as the next monster loving lass, but even I have my limits. At least I have some sunny citrus fruit for a dose of palate cleansing sunshine.
Can somebody please tell it to stop snowing already?
I watched three separate vehicles spin out in front of me as I was going between work locations today. Now I’m listening to the wind howl as the snow goes from slush to glazed on the streets, but at least I’m safely at home.
I can remember when storms like this weren’t frightening to me. Now every howl of wind sounds like it could be the next one to land a tree on the house. Logically, I know that’s not the case. There aren’t that many trees left that could hit the house even if one of the gusts did blow something down.
In the meantime, our snowblower broke in the last snowfall. The replacement parts don’t arrive until Saturday. We only have two shovels, so watched as others worked to remove the snow by hand.
Maybe someday, I’ll find the majesty in the storm and not just the potential for disruption and destruction. I’m hopeful that one day I’ll look back on the picture and short video I took and see the majesty in the storm’s power and find grace in the good fortune that this time we didn’t suffer significant damage.
Bunny cat demands love. Now. Or snacks. Snacks are good, too.
I finished The Witch’s Book of Self-Care. It wasn’t my sort of thing. I found it heavy on the metaphysical, and I was hoping for less self visualization and candle burning with intention, and more practical ideas for self-care. Others may find it more to their preferences.
Because I didn’t find what I was looking for, I started The Self-Care Prescription by Robyn L Gobin, Ph.D. I am already happier with my choice. Chapter one was about the importance of social groups to self-care with ideas I will adapt to Covid times. Chapter two is about building in time for exercise as self-care. The structure is more what I expected and wanted.
Apparently, this is regularly misattributed to Emerson.
I’m feeling overwhelmed by the lack of hours in the day and the number of things I feel like I need to do. I’m just trying to hold on to the meaning in this quote and feel it: that there’s really something inside me that’s really got what it takes to overcome my challenges.
Yes, I still am knitting. I’m loving this Walnut Heather yarn. It’s not black as my soul, but it is a perfectly lovely shade of dead tree. The bead on the bottom progress keeper is a little skull, but they’ve turned the wrong way. They must be shy.
I had intended to blog more about creativity as my theme for the year, but January found me with time challenges no plan to address them. Instead I focused on knitting, finishing the books on my reading plan, and reading for pleasure.
I finished the following books in January:
Pines – Blake Crouch
Wayward – Blake Crouch
The Last Town – Blake Crouch
Lovecraft Country – Matt Ruff
The Accidental Creative – Todd Henry
Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View – by Renée Ahdieh, Meg Cabot, et al.
Meditations – Marcus Aurelius (Original Translation)
Star Trek Picard: The Last Best Hope – Una McCormack
The Practice – Seth Godin
I picked The Accidental Creative as part of my theme of Creativity. I moved the Practice forward from where I originally scheduled it because it seemed a good partner to The Accidental Creative.
I try to read intentionally, at least in part. In January, Meditations was my intentional, educational read. I try to include a few of these each year, to keep my mind learning.
Some of my reads are purely for joy. The Pines series proved to be one of those reads. Star Trek and Star Wars are two of my loves, so I new they’d be easy and enjoyable.
I always take recommendations from friends to heart. Lovecraft Country was recommended by a friend who passed away two days after recommending it to me. Finishing it proved bittersweet because I’d already started it and was looking forward to talking to him about how much I liked it when I heard he was gone. It will forever be the book that I won’t get to talk to CH about.
February is Black history month and my personal theme is self-care. My plans for the month include getting my writing schedule under control, scheduling time for fitness and relaxation, and fully outlining my current writing project.
I’ve pulled the following books to the top of my virtual and digital to be read (TBR) piles:
Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick – Zora Neale Hurston
Uncomfortable Conversations With a Black Man – Emmanuel Acho
An African American and Latinx History of the United States – Paul Ortiz
The Witch’s Book of Self-Care: Magical Ways to Pamper, Soothe, and Care for Your Body and Spirit – by Arin Murphy-Hiscock
The Conjurer – Luanne G. Smith
My educational book is the Paul Ortiz An An African American and Latinx History of the United States. It’s been in my TBR pile for a little bit now, and it seemed like a topical read for Black History Month.
The Zora Neale Hurston book is a collection of her short stories. It was recommended by a friend as a stunning example of short stories and has been in my TBR pile for a while now, so I’m looking forward to taking the time to read it.
I bought Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man because I’ve enjoyed and been challenged by Emmanuel Acho’s youtube series of the same name. It’s probably not going to be How to be an Anti Racist, but that doesn’t make it any less worthwhile to read.
The Witch’s Book of Self-Care fills the “theme of the month” spot. It’s a Kindle Unlimited read, which is part of why I picked it. I’ve already started it and I can tell it’s a little outside of my comfort zone, but I’m still hoping to learn something from it.
The Conjurer is the latest in the Vine Witch series of romances. It’s pure indulgence. A little Valentine’s Day fun never hurt anyone, right?
If all goes to plan, I’ll finish my cardigan this month, too.
