Penny for my thoughts: January 2021

Thursday, January 28, 2021

One Word - Grateful

January 2021

Grateful - feeling or showing an appreciation of kindness; thankful.

Each year I choose One Word to direct me in my outlook, accomplishments, communications, etc. For more information about One Word 365, check out - https://oneword365.com/#join-us I have been doing this activity since I retired from my career as a librarian. Some years are more successful than others.

2020 has been such an anxiety driven, isolating year that I have been especially careful in choosing My One Word for 2021. I tried to find "joy" in some fashion every day. Because of the pandemic, it was difficult to find joy in every day activities.

My One Word from past years:

2020 - Joy

2019 - Opportunity

2018- Clarity

2017 - Balance

2016 - Promise

2015 - Abundance

2014 - Believe

2013 - Simplify

Grateful and Thankful kept jumping out at me while contemplating my One Word and when I found these dishtowels, it seemed serendipitous.

I am grateful that my family is healthy entering the New Year, my Grandson had Covid at Thanksgiving and has fully recovered. We are following CDC Guidelines; wearing masks, hand washing and socially distancing. No Christmas Eve celebrations and we socially distanced while opening Christmas presents. We have never gone out for New Year's Eve, so we won't miss those celebrations.

I am grateful:

for my husband and best friend - I can't imagine what it must be like quarantining with someone who is difficult, controlling or abusive.
for my family and friends
that I am healthy
the distribution of the vaccine has started and gives me hope.
family members have had Covid and survived.
that I quilt and read and write book reviews, those activities have kept me sane during the last 9 months.
that I have a home, heat, health insurance and food for the table (sadly, many do not have these most basic needs met right now).

I love it when I choose my word and then I start seeing it everywhere. This pen was in a three pen set at Home Goods.

I love when I start seeing my word everywhere!

Paper napkins at HomeGoods.

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#2021grateful #grateful #MyOneWordGrateful

Sunday, January 24, 2021

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce. New York: Random House, 2012. 320 pages. ****

Harold Fry receives a good-bye letter from a friend he hasn't seen in 20 years. Queenie Hennessy is dying of cancer and the letter brings back memories of how things ended when Queenie left the brewery where they both worked. Harold writes a reply and heads out for a short walk to the mailbox to post it. Leaving behind his wife and his cell phone, Harold has a hard time mailing his reply and gets it into his head that his response is inadequate and he needs to deliver his good-bye in person. Harold begins his six hundred mile pilgrimage ill-equipped with boat shoes, no umbrella, no sense of the best route, only the clear conviction that it must be on foot and Queenie must stay alive until he gets there.

This story chronicles Harold's journey and the people he meets along the way and the realization that "he had come to trust in the basic goodness of people." (page 198) He acquires a few followers along the way who attempt to hijack his pilgrimage and steer him the way that they want to go and they provide another valuable life lesson for Harold.

As much as I liked Harold's story, I realized that Maureen, his wife left behind, had many of her own life-affirming moments in his absence. I could totally relate to both of their situation and points of view. Joyce captured some of the feelings of couples that have been married for many years, reach retirement and lose their individual and combined sense of purpose. I laughed, I cried, I worried whether Harold was going to make it and cheered him on. I couldn't help but wonder if I would be up to the task, could I do it?

A neighbor who stopped at my Little Free Library recommended this book and I am so glad she did, sometimes the exact book that we need finds us.

The Love Story of Miss Queenie Hennessy is the sequel and I have placed it on reserve at my local library.

Fans of The Elegant Gathering of White Snows by Kris Radish or The Story of Arthur Truluv by Elizabeth Berg will enjoy Harold Fry's pilgrimage.

Rachel Joyce is the author of the Sunday Times and international bestsellers The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy, and Perfect. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry was short-listed for the Commonwealth Book Prize and long-listed for the Man Booker Prize and has been translated into thirty-six languages. Her latest book is Miss Benson's Beetle, an Amazon November 2020 Best Book. Joyce was awarded the Specsavers National Book Awards New Writer of the Year in 2012. She is also the author of the digital short story A Faraway Smell of Lemon and is the award-winning writer of more than thirty original afternoon plays and classic adaptations for BBC Radio 4. Rachel Joyce lives with her family in Gloucestershire.

#bookstagram #flamazing_books

Thursday, January 07, 2021

Seven Perfect Things

Seven Perfect Things by Catherine Ryan Hyde. Lake Union Publishing, 2021. 318 pages ****

Thirteen-year-old Abby Hubble is out walking when she sees a man throw a sack into the river. When the sack starts moving, Abby feels that she has no choice but to dive into the river. Imagine her surprise when seven puppies wriggle out of the sack Taking them to the pound seems her only option until she finds out what the future holds for them. Taking the puppies home is out of the question; her father already makes life miserable for her and her mother. Abby remembers a cabin in the woods where she may be able to keep them and visit them daily. Elliot Colvin has lost his wife and the purpose for his life when he crosses paths with Abby and the puppies at his cabin. That chance encounter gives them both the hope that they had lost.

Hyde's strength in her writing is her message of love and the belief in the goodness of people. The subject matter is not always an easy one, in this case abuse, however, Abby and Elliot find each other at the exact time that they are needed. Hyde brings humor and lightness through the antics of seven puppies and the lengths to which Abby hides caring for them.

Seven Perfect Things is a heart-warming book filled with the joy of new beginnings and courage found in unexpected places.

I received an ecopy for a review.

Other Hyde books reviewed by me:

My Name is Anton

Brave Girl, Quiet Girl

Have You Seen Luis Velez?

Catherine Ryan Hyde is the author of forty published and forthcoming books. An avid traveler, equestrian, and amateur photographer, she shares her astrophotography with readers on her website.

www.catherineryanhyde.com

Follow me on Instagram: flamazing_books

#grateful #sevenperfectthings #bookstagram

Friday, January 01, 2021

2021 Monthly Color Challenge - January

January - Eggplant- Purple

Patterns by Jen hosts and designs the Yearly Color Challenges - this is my fourth year participating. The theme for this year is fruits and vegetables and all of the information and monthly patterns will be found on her blog. There are two choices for block size - 6 and 12 inches finished.

The themes for the previous years:

2020 - Birds

2019 Flowers

2018 Colors

January - purple

Information about eggplants - https://www.britannica.com/plant/eggplant

The benefits of eating eggplant - https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/279359#benefits

25+ Recipes That Will Make You Fall in Love With Eggplant. - Eggplant isn't something that I eat, I may have to try some of these recipes.

I have decided to use fruits and vegetables fabric coordinating with each month. Some months may be a challenge, however, I will try to substitute a fruit or a vegetable of the same color.

On a whim, I stopped in a fabric store Obie's Country Store.

Look what I found, who would have thought?