Reading, Eating, and Ruminating…
You know what I hate about running injuries? After a while it gets SO BORING. My calf is hurting me AGAIN, and I started to write a post yesterday all about it. First I was ranting, then I was wallowing, and then I thought about my husband’s friend who’s dying from ALS, and I deleted the whole post. Today I read SHU’s post about near-death experiences and how they can change your perspective. It reminded me of something I like to do when I’m feeling down: imagine that I suddenly end up in the hospital, incapacitated in some way, my whole life turned upside-down. Then I think of everything I would miss about my normal life, even in the absence of running. If I were suddenly out of commission I would miss getting up in the morning and feeding the cats; I would miss driving my daughter to camp; I would miss drinking my cup of Earl Grey in the morning; I would even miss going to work. Hey, my everyday life is pretty great- I don’t want to wait for some tragedy to happen so I can appreciate it in retrospect. Okay, onto the books! I finished two books this week, The Decagon House Murders and this one: The Decagon House Murders is another classic Japanese mystery, written by the same author as The Mill House Murders, Yukito Ayatsuji. If you appreciate mysteries, these are good ones! The Decagon House Murders was inspired by Agatha’s Christie’s And Then There Were None, and you will NOT guess the ending. The Claudia Gray book is the third in her “Jane Austen” series. Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy’s son, Jonathon, is now a young adult. He and Juliet Tilney (also a young adult, daughter of Catherine Moreland of Northanger Abbey) team up to solve another mystery. If you love Jane Austen, this book couldn’t be more fun. It involves Lady Catherine de Bourgh, who- Pride and Prejudice fans will remember- is the patroness of the fawning and ridiculous Mr. Collins. Mr. Collins and Charlotte, along with their two children, feature prominently in the story. If you aren’t a fan of Jane Austen, I wouldn’t recommend this book. The mystery is passable, but the real fun is revisiting beloved characters. Gray does a good job of writing in Austen’s style and keeping the characters true to the originals. And one more thing- definitely read this series in order. The third book has spoilers to the two previous mysteries. Eating- The Return of Kamala Kookies! Okay, this is a little weird, but if you’ve been reading for a while you know my family has some strange traditions. Right around this time four years ago, my sister and I discovered the Banana Bread Cookie recipe from Cadry’s Kitchen. Neither one of us can remember why, but we started calling them “Kamala Kookies.” I think it was just random silliness- as far as I know, Kamala Harris has no affiliation with bananas, banana bread, or cookies- but the name stuck. WELL. Obviously, it’s time to bake the Kamala Kookies again! I used this maple syrup and these chocolate chips: … and used the alternate flax/water mixture in place of applesauce (I also added 1/4 teaspoon salt, which wasn’t called for in the recipe.) I even made this batch with chickpea flour, and they still came out well! To be clear, these are definitely “healthy” cookies. I wouldn’t bring them to a bake sale, but I’m enjoying them. Many more batches of Kamala Kookies to come! (Note to self- next time, add walnuts or pecans. Yum.) What are you reading now? Do you believe in “healthy” cookies? Or do you think cookies should be a delicious treat-not a time to be worrying about health?
Weekly Rundown- Adding the Sparkle Back
In one of my recent posts I said that my life is a little less “sparkly” when I’m not running. Well, this week I was able to add a little sparkle back! Thanks as always to Kim and Deborah for hosting the Weekly Rundown. Let’s just see how this week went from gray to sparkly… Sunday I started the day with a 50 minute pool run. Finally, a slightly interesting pool running photo: I’ve been doing exercises to strengthen my piriformis muscles, and I knew there’s a good one in Brad Beer’s book, You Can Run Pain Free. When I dug the book out, I remembered that he has four hip stability exercises, including the piriformis one, and I decided to do them all. I used to do them years ago, but then I stopped. Why did I stop??? I re-committed to doing them on a regular basis. Monday I started the day with the Caroline Girvan deadbug workout,, and then did a 30 minute pool run. Later in the day I did the four Brad Beer hip stability exercises again. I’m on a roll! Tuesday I started the day with Caroline’s deadbug workout, and then a 40 minute pool run. Later in the day I had my second dry needling treatment on my calf, and then later I just did the Brad Beer piriformis exercise. My hips were a little sore, and I was saving them up for leg day at the gym! Wednesday As planned, I hit the gym, and decided to do a full body workout, including (but not limited to) squats, bench press, and rows. I knew it would probably be my only gym day of the week so I wanted to make the most of it. Later in the day I decided to go for a walk. In my running shoes. And, well, guess what happened… I walked two miles and then broke into a cautious run. My calf has been feeling good, and I wanted to get some feedback before my next dry needling appointment. I did run/walk intervals for a mile and my calf felt perfect! Thursday Ha, the result of my full body workout at the gym was that my entire body was sore today. I knew I should do a pool run, but I just couldn’t- I felt like I would have a mental breakdown if I had to run around and around in the pool again. I did the Caroline Girvan deadbug workout and called it a day. Later I had my THIRD (and last?) dry needling treatment. She gave me the green light to try a little running (er, oops- I didn’t mention that I already did that.) Hooray! Friday Okay fine. I’ll get in the pool. My calf was sore from the treatment- which is completely normal- so I didn’t want to do anything to stress it out. 40 minute pool run. Later in the day I did the Brad Beer hip exercises- everything was still a little sore from the gym, but these exercises don’t use weights so I figured it was okay. Saturday Run #2! This time I walked a mile and then ran/walked for two. I’m CAUTIOUSLY optimistic. My calf didn’t hurt, but I’ve been down this road twice before. I take time off, the first couple runs back feel fine and then the pain returns. I’m not sure if the dry needling worked, or if my calf feels better because I took time off of running. Only time will tell! Sunday On tap for today- sleeping in. Later in the day I’ll do some strength, definitely including the hip stability exercises. I do remember why I stopped doing them now- they’re boring, and they make my hips sore. But I’m determined to keep up with them this time and see what happens. What makes your life sparkly? Have you heard of Brad Beer or read his book?- It’s a good one! Top photo by Alexander Grey on Unsplash
Friday Coffee Date
Helloooo! The photo above is from my “reading retreat,” which turned out to be a really fun day. You want to hear all about it, RIGHT??? Pour yourself a delicious cup of coffee or tea and I’ll fill you in. The day of my retreat was Wednesday. I don’t like working Saturdays, but I do love having Wednesdays off! I started the morning at the gym, because doesn’t every reading retreat start with some weightlifting? Just kidding… I’m sure most people would skip that part. After that I felt like I earned the right to be lazy for a while. I went to Starbucks, where I sat for almost TWO HOURS, sipping tea and finishing my book. I love it when I sit down to read, knowing that I can read until the book is done. After that I went to Barnes and Noble, where I browsed for a while. Then I got another cup of tea, and sat in the cafe working on my TBR list. When I say TBR, it implies that I have a nice, tidy list. The reality is, when I’ve been saying “I’ll put that on my TBR” it could mean I made a mental note of it, took a screenshot, or put it in my notes app. So now I took the time to go through my notes, the photos on my phone, and my memory (ahem, I don’t recommend that last one!) and made an ACTUAL LIST. In my planner! I’m pretty sure this method will work much, much better. I bought two books, stopped at the library on the way home for a third, and put a hold on one more book. I didn’t want to get too crazy, because one of my new books is a long one and I don’t want a flood of library holds coming in just as I start a 900 page book. The Soji Shimada is a classic in the Japanese locked-room mystery genre, and my library doesn’t have it. I bought the Ken Follett because although I want to read it (Engie has inspired me!) it’s hard for me to commit to starting such a long book. I know I’ll read it if I spent actual money on it! And, the Claudia Gray is the third book in a series written in the style of Jane Austin, where various characters from her books become involved in mysteries. These books are really fun, but there’s absolutely no reason for me to own a copy, and it was available at my library so I snatched it up. Overall it was a great day. I read, I browsed, I thought a lot about books- what I want to read next, how I’m going to schedule my reading for the rest of the summer, what book I want to bring with me to Texas, etc. My reading retreat was a success! What would you tell me over coffee? Does anyone else have a weekday off of work? Have you read any of these books? If you could buy three books right now, what would they be?
Reading and Eating
I don’t know why this is happening, but I’ve been loving every single book I’ve read lately. Maybe it’s because I’m getting better at reading reviews, or more discerning. I’m not tempted to read a book that everyone else seems to love if I can tell it’s not for me. OR, maybe it’s just luck. Anyway, I finished two books this week: The Agatha Christie was a reread, as always. There isn’t an Agatha Christie I haven’t read, but since I read most of them in my teens and 20s, sometimes I can read one again without remembering the twist. This was happily one of those times! I got inspired to read this particular one from Stephany (I hope she enjoys it as well!) The Iris Murdoch book- just in case you think I’ve changed my mind am in now into horror- does NOT involve an actual severed head. It’s a story about marriage, infidelity, and “love,” although I would question that last word- more like “infatuation” and “passion.” I love Iris Murdoch’s writing- the people get themselves into some preposterous situations, and yet I find myself thinking “yes, I can see why he did that.” It was also funny, AND was written in the 1960s, which is my new favorite decade to read about. Eating! Well, there’s not much to report. We’ve somehow been managing to eat a dinner every night, but it hasn’t been exciting. I did, however, make donuts! This requires a bit of a backstory. Several years ago, we “cruelly” ruined my daughter’s 4th of July by forcing her to spend the day in the car driving up to Tallahassee. We had to pick my son up from camp, and she was too young to stay alone. I tried to make the trip as festive as possible, but she wasn’t having it. Then we suggested celebrating on a different day, but of course she pointed out that THE 4TH OF JULY HAS TO BE ON JULY 4Th. We tried to get around that by celebrating a few days later and calling it “July 4th Day.” She still wasn’t convinced, so I pulled out all the stops and made donuts. Hence, the July 4th Day Donut Tradition was born. This year, “July 4th Day” fell on Sunday the 14th, because that was the day I had enough time to make donuts. I’m talking about yeasted donuts, which have to rise, then are cut into the donut shapes, and then deep fried. When you only deep fry donuts once a year, it’s VERY hard to get it right. But, it didn’t matter. They all tasted good with a nice glaze on top, and everyone was happy. Phew, done with that task for another year. If you’re reading this on Wednesday, I’m on my “reading retreat” right now!!! I’ll be back with an update on Friday. Have you ever made fried donuts? What are you reading now? Top photo by Alexander Grey on Unsplash