Today with the temperature mellowing down to 70 degrees, I walked the dogs in the forest near my house. I made some food for the week. I have massive amounts of kale, chard, lettuce and arugula in my garden that I am working through. I had 4 lbs of chicken thighs, a small bottle of heavy cream, sweet peppers, quinoa and pasta.  I made a garlicky cream sauce with chard for the pasta, grilled the thighs and charred the peppers.  I have WWOZ on and now I am on my couch in front of the big window, writing this and prepping for the week ahead.  Using pen and paper to write out my training goals is a kind of affirmation, engraving it in my brain.  Scratching out a realistic “to do” list for the week makes it more of a commitment then tapping a thought into my Notes app.   After dinner I’ll make sure my clothing is ready for work, my workout gear laid out to reduce my morning friction.  Then around 8 I will retreat to my room to read. 

It’s pathetic what I have become, that I must force a day of no phone, but it works. I took social media off my phone long ago so now I read and get through complete books for fun again.  I have sworn off nonfiction for being not fun. Those books make me feel like I should know more and do more with my life and honestly, I have done enough.  This week I finished reading I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings on my Kindle. Demon Copperhead is now on my nightstand, rescued from a church rummage sale on Friday afternoon.  It was published in 2022. I wanted to read it then but forgot about it.  Another shopper saw me fairly snatch it out of the box and asked what the genre was, “what?” I said and they said, “like is it a mystery or romance?” I had no idea.  “I am sorry I don’t know.” I mumbled something about it being set in the South and the author being from Charleston, I later learned the second part is a lie.  I confirmed the hardcovers were $2 and wandered off to the jewelry table.  After selecting a 3-strand jet bead bracelet to add to my (voluminous and hardly worn) jet bead jewelry collection, I got in line to pay. My book section friend followed me there and asked if they could take a photo of the book.  This prompted both the volunteer cashier and another person in line to declare what a great book it is.  And it is, it drew me in from the start.