In Which Our Author Talks About Random Things...

Things like...

* I'm currently reading The Bible: A Biography (from the Books That Changed The World series) by Karen Armstrong. It's essentially a history of how the Bible came into being, who wrote it, and why, and how it's related to the Torah, etc. It's completely fascinating and a little bit above my head. It's taking me forever to read. But it's so interesting! The rise of Christianity is particularly interesting, especially how historical events played a part in Christianity being 'rescued' from obscurity. I have many thoughts about this book. It's not a religious book at all; it's a historical accounting, which makes it even more interesting to me. It actually made me want to look some things up in an actual Bible. I don't even know if we have one? I'm sure we do somewhere...

* We rescued an adorable husky puppy yesterday. He was running loose, and we managed to grab him after almost hitting him while driving. Poor guy was totally frantic and worn out. Thankfully he seemed glad to be captured, and didn't fight us. We put him in the car and called the number on his collar tag. His owner was completely shocked that he was out -- apparently he is usually in the back yard, but somehow escaped. We were so, so glad that that story had a happy ending! Although, we wouldn't have minded having a puppy visitor at our house for a little while...

* Is there something going on astrologically? Everywhere I look, people seem to be having an unusually grumpy time. Or maybe it's just me. Also, things just seem weird. Weird goings-on at work. Weird interactions with people at the store. Weird mood swings. Also this seems to be coinciding with the sudden onslaught of spring allergens. I don't ever notice my allergies (I don't get itchy eyes or nose or anything obvious), but apparently they are the reason why every spring, my ears fill with fluid and I get ear infections. This year I am just going to take the allergy medicine and see if I can keep my ears safe. The downside to this is that I'm very susceptible to allergy medicine side-effects, so I either feel totally drowsy and weird, or totally speedy and weird. Basically, things just seem weird. Is it me?

* Using an additive approach, there are a number of things I'd like to do more of. They include, in no particular order:

Going to the library and reading magazines

Sitting in coffeeshops and writing

Hiking or trail runs

Watch more movies (I am really bad at this for some reason; I end up half-watching TV/half-reading instead, because somehow I think a movie takes too much time. Bizarre!)

And of course, paint. Tonight is Tuesday: time to paint!

And also, go listen to people/authors speak.

* It is becoming very obvious that if we buy in Oakland, it will be a condo or a townhouse. We are holding out hope for a townhouse. But we are also thinking that in the spring, we'll be looking elsewhere, because we'd really like a house with a large yard. Petaluma, or Martinez, perhaps. We're going to drive around and look at surrounding towns. It's a little disappointing, but you never know what will happen!

* Also, I'm thinking of starting a support group for families affected by chronic illness. There are a few support groups for the people actually afflicted, but not any, that I can find, for the families or partners of the ill person. I know that we could certainly use some community and occasional help (even with things like: carrying furniture up the stairs, or perhaps someone might need some meals delivered sometimes, that sort of thing). Other people must, also. We can't get to church (it's too early in the day for Terri) and frankly we'd like to be surrounded by people who 'get it.' I'm thinking it would be more sharing/fellowship than therapy-style support. Get together once a month to share what's going on, see who needs help with what, etc. I think this could be really great.

That's about it. Everything feels a little weird right now for some reason. But I hold firm to my idea that this year is going to be a good one.