I hope you had a strong start to 2020. Here are a few of my favourite things this month… maybe you’ll get ideas for things you’d like to read, eat, or listen to.
Read
My favourite reads in January were The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared (a quirky Swedish novel), Rules of Civility (a literary novel set in NYC in 1938), and It’s Not About the Broccoli (a nicely laid out approach to teaching kids good eating habits).
I love the illustrations in the picture book Water is Water (incidentally it teaches kids about the water cycle in spare language).
Eat
At the end of December my brother gave me a sourdough starter and there was no turning back! I’ve mainly consulted this website for detailed instructions and recipes. So far I’ve tried white, 50% whole wheat, raisin cinnamon, and seeded loaves. Our Saturday night pizza has also gone up a notch — and we’ve enjoyed sourdough pancakes and banana bread. Next I need to haul out my wheat grinder and experiment with freshly ground flours. (If you’re worried about my sudden obsession, rest assured that I’ve put the starter in the fridge for a little break… Now let me go Google recipes for sourdough muffins.)
Do
Not many activities out of the ordinary this month, which is fine after a busy December. The older girls did go to a birthday party without their parents for the first time, and had a blast.
We finally got our printer set up (first time since we left Calgary!) and I found a source for printing hymns, so we don’t have to remember the page in the hymnal (we are learning one each month for school and I want to easily review past ones too). PDHymns.com has really nice pdfs with lyrics and music (as well as other file types).
Listen
Even though my TBR list needs no help to grow bigger, I have to recommend a new podcast, Strong Sense of Place. In each episode Mel and David talk about five books set in one place (be it Prague, restaurants, or Japan). I signed up for their email newsletter and dropped them a line about my favourite books and travel memories. Mel quickly responded with such enthusiasm and humour. I hope you’ll listen (or read their blog if that’s more your speed).
Meditate
For 2020 I chose a word of the year, a question, and two Bible verses to keep in mind.
“Blessed are the people whose God is the LORD!” – Psalm 144:15b
“[L]et every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.” – James 1:19b-20
Margaret : In the category of books you’ve read, I was reminded that my sister had recommended Rules of Civility and I had forgotten about it! I will be checking that out after finishing listening to Jane Eyre. That is one of my favorite books and will probably take me a long time to finish listening to! There are no wasted sentences! I so look forward to your monthly list of favorite things! You are incredibly gifted as well is interesting!
I’m curious to know what is the word of the year and what is the question?
The word is “attention” and the question is “what do I want now and what do I want more?” (The never-ending struggle to be more disciplined.)
Oh my. Very thought-provoking. Now I’m going to be thinking both the word and the question too.