April?

What a crazy week or two or three? Life just keeps getting in the way sometimes. We had a fantastic Easter weekend. It was gorgeous weather. Beautiful sunshine all day long. Gabe was happy with what the Easter bunny brought him. Lots of Reese’s chocolate and Starburst jelly beans, and some money. And of course, crepes and a little mimosa on the side.

Grateful For:

1. I got my first vaccine jab last week and DH got his second this week. So there is light at the end of the tunnel and I keep hearing that Pfizer's vaccine trials for kids 12-15 shows promising results so I hope that means G will be able to get his in the fall or at least by the end of the year!

2. My soda bread and crepes were super yummy and it was a gorgeous day for Easter!

3. For good friends. It's been a rough week with family stuff and they have been here and are helping me deal. 

Reading Life:

I have finished off 3 books over the last few weeks...Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda, The Likeness (The Dublin Murder Squad #2) by Tana French, and The Salt Path by Raynor Winn. Oh, I also forgot Go Tell it on the Mountain by James Baldwin.

Reading Challenges:

I'm still reading The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas for my 1000 Books Project: French Edition. I just made it over halfway at the end of March. That Count of Monte Cristo is quite the revenge maker! It's so fun to see how he's setting it all up.

For my Back to the Classics 2021 challenge I am slowly making my way through The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir. And I am reading this one for my philosophy reading with my friend who lives far away. The first half is where she establishes her theory and history and it can be a bit of philosophical mumbo jumbo and disheartening details of men's ideas about women throughout history. We're almost done with the first part and hopefully the second part where she applies it to her life will pick up!

I finished off Go Tell it on the Mountain by James Baldwin for the Classic by a BIPOC author prompt in this challenge.

I also plan to start Dust Tracks on a Road by Zora Neale Hurston for my Classics By a Woman prompt.

For my I Read Horror Year-round Challenge I have started The Deep by Alma Katsu for my Body of Water prompt and this month is also the Spring Into Horror Challenge. The Deep will go with this one and Faithful Place (The Dublin Murder Squad #3) by Tana French (which I also started).

For my Nonfiction Reading Challenge 2021 I just finished off The Salt Path by Raynor Winn for the Travel prompt. My next plan is to either pick up Cork Dork: A Wine-fueled Adventure Among the Obsessive Sommeliers, Big Bottle Hunters, and Rogue Scientists Who Taught Me to Live for Taste by Bianca Bosker or The Book of Eels: Our Enduring Fascination with the Most Mysterious Creature in the Natural World by Patrik Svensson for the Food and Oceanography prompts respectively.

Listening Life:

I have a couple of chapters left in Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. Very excited to be almost done. Beautiful book that has lasted me many months. It's one to be savored and pondered.

I also finished of The Salt Path on audiobook. I really think all memoirs should be listened to.

I'm also listening to The Great Courses: The Story of Human Language by John McWhorter.

Watching Life:

DH and I watched the newly edited version of The Justice League on HBO Max a couple of weeks ago. We never actually saw the original version when it came out...it was really long but when you're watching from home you can take breaks and eat and bathroom breaks, so it wasn't so bad. It had a very creative storyline and the Flash saved the movie for me. We also watched Tenet this last weekend together. I liked it. I liked Inception a bit better since I liked the actors better but this was still different and fun.

As a family we watched the new Shaun the Sheep movie Farmageddon which was awfully adorable and just what we all needed. Check it out on Netflix.

Over the last few weeks I've managed to watch the horror movie Possessor on Huly by Brandon Cronenberg. Really bloody and violent but cerebral and kind of thinky. I liked it.

Another Round which has been nominated for the best international film for the Academy Awards. Also on Hulu. It was really good. It has a lot to say about friendships and loyalty, and the role of alcohol in a society. Lots of fantastic stuff to chew on in this one.

Documentaries...I watched Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution on Netflix. It's also nominated for Best Documentary Feature for the Academy Awards. Really well done. Fantastic look at how hard and long the American Disabilities Act was fought for. And a look at who the main players were and how their voices haven't been heard.

For something different...A friend recommended Derek DelGaudio's In & of Itself on Hulu. He's a performer and an illusionist/magician...he performed this "play/performance" in New York over 500 times with big celebrities coming to see him live...I can see how it would be an interesting performance to see in-person. But I didn't get it. Not my favorite. But each to their own.

For TV...I binged Behind Her Eyes on Netflix the day I got my first Covid jab once I started feeling really poopy. It was good! I didn't guess it till right before the end. Highly entertaining.

Looking forward to the Tulip Festival at our local gardens tomorrow. We're right in the middle of spring break for G. One day was spent helping my dad take down his waterbed...which took hours! DH got his 2nd jab and he's been out for two days so tomorrow is really our only day to get out of our house!!!!! It's sooooooo needed! Looking forward to beautiful gardens and a nice outdoor walk. Maybe a little takeout on our way home too.

Also my Nala kitty's seizure meds will be reduced next week! We lessened it a bit back in February and so far there have been no seizures on this new dose. So crossing our fingers that the new lessened dose will not result in any seizures. I'm hoping that we'll be able to not have her on any meds soon and if that's the case we will be able to actually plan a vacation this summer or early fall! Hallelujah!

Joining in with Deb from Readerbuzz Sunday Salon