enCouraging Bliss: List!

This week’s Encouraging Bliss project from Christine is:

Think back over your last week. Where, what, when, and how did you find moments of bliss? Were there times or activities during which you felt completely on this path of bliss?

Were there any moments when you were able to transcend the ordinary, the difficult, and see the bigger picture — the bliss that encompasses all of it?

Were you aware of the giant blissful response of Yes! to even that which was, perhaps, uncomfortable?

Here’s my list! For a lot of the past week, I was off – just not relaxing and enjoying the things I usually do. But I think every day and week has some blissful moments…

• It was so, so hot last weekend and at the start of this week. When the weather broke and cool, more spring-y air rushed in…ahhhh! That was wonderful!
• Before the aforementioned heat became too much for me, I did enjoy sitting outside in it – in the shade of course! While the warmth helped relax my muscles, I read and read some more.
• I had a few tiny flashes of insight this week. I try to hang on to the little flashes until I have enough to clump together into something that shines a noticeable light.
• And the Grand Finale: I got to watch a fox trotting along! It was beautiful and fluffy. And of course, WILD. Wonderful!

Would you care to share a moment or two from the past week?

 

BTT: Worse?

Today, Booking Through Thursday asks us:

Which is worse?

Finding a book you love and then hating everything else you try by that author, or

Reading a completely disappointing book by an author that you love?

This is a tricky little question!

I think I have to chose the second one – reading a disappointing book by a loved author.

It’s very exciting to me to find a new book/author that I love and to then not like their other books would be disappointing…

But for me it’s worse to pick up a favorite author’s new book and have that happy anticipation drain away. Maybe because I have developed more of a relationship with a favorite author than with one I’ve just had a single fun outing with.

That said, no author can please all the people, all the time, so I probably won’t hold it against them too much. :)

 

BTT: Library Week

I saw that National Library week is coming up in April, and that led to some questions. How often do you use your public library and how do you use it? Has the coffeehouse/bookstore replaced the library? Did you go to the library as a child? Do you have any particular memories of the library? Do you like sleek, modern, active libraries or the older, darker, quiet, cozy libraries?

Oh, libraries…

Sigh…

You probably already know I love libraries. I am at our main library at least once a week and 99% of the books I read come from our library system.

I love to browse the stacks, but I also use the online catalog to search for books from home, to renew books, to put books on hold, etc.

I also enjoy browsing bookshops or reading at a cafe. I’ve never spent a lot of time reading at a library, though that could be nice. I prefer to find my gems and take them elsewhere to read.

I love to encourage library newbies to give it a try.

Both new libraries and old ones have their own charms for me. We have the oldest public library in the United States not far away, actually! The Darby Public Library has been open and lending since 1743! (And they are in financial trouble, so library-lovers take note…)

The idea of a free library is charming and fun…and it’s also radically important for making information, education, and entertainment available to anyone who comes through the doors (or be visited by a bookmobile!) It gives access to worlds of knowledge and fantasy to anyone, whether they have two pennies to rub together or not.

Supporting your local library is a great way to give to your community!

 

Six Happy Things

I’m taking the challenge from the dancing mermaid – Name 6 things that make you happy!

1. The Ocean!! I love to just be near the ocean. I love the air and the sounds and the way I relax.

2. Murals. I love to see murals – big or small. Some day I’d like to help create one. This beautiful mural is by David Dunleavy.

3. When plants take over.

4. Making art/crafts.

5. Hallowe’en!

6. Making (and eating) good food.

Now you! I’d love to hear six of your happy things – either in the comments or in your own post!

 

BTT: Best Book You’ve Never Read

We’ve all seen the lists, we’ve all thought, “I should really read that someday,” but for all of us, there are still books on “The List” that we haven’t actually gotten around to reading. Even though we know they’re fabulous. Even though we know that we’ll like them. Or that we’ll learn from them. Or just that they’re supposed to be worthy. We just … haven’t gotten around to them yet.

What’s the best book that YOU haven’t read yet?

There’s probably a long list of books that I could answer with, but the first one that popped into my mind was The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman.

I have been planning to read that book (and the others in the trilogy) forever. They’re not very long, they’re readily available at the library…why haven’t I read them yet???

 

BTT: Too Much Information?

Have you ever been put off an author’s books after reading a biography of them? Or the reverse – a biography has made you love an author more?

I’ve been considering this question for a while this morning and no great stories come to mind. I haven’t had a dramatic incident where I learned something crazy about an author and either loved or hated them after that.

Thinking about it, I realized that I do like to know more about authors of non-fiction books – especially ‘issue’ books, so to speak. I like to understand a bit about the author’s experience and how they live their life, so that…well…so that I know how much I trust them, I guess!

Does this person show signs of really meaning what they’re writing? Do they have a secret and creepy agenda? What experiences have they had that add depth to this perspective?

 

Fabulous Links

Guess what?

A certain friend of mine tagged me as someone with a “Fabulous Blog!” Thank you!

I don’t feel like going through the (simple, quick) process of the meme, so I’m just going to highlight some great blogs – possibly ones I haven’t mentioned before.

First of all, I want to mention that the friend who tagged me is in the midst of posting a series of music videos, like I did here recently. Go and check it out!

I think I’ve linked to this blog before, but I’d like to highlight today’s Night Sky Awareness post over at the Difference a Year Makes blog.

Next up is a really remarkable year-long blog project called Opening the Door, Walking Outside. These are the beautiful photos and words of a friend who committed to stepping outside and exploring nature every day – and then blogging about.

And finally, the new blog by artist Marcy Hall – Ordinary Enchantment! If you love bunnies, you’ll especially want to go visit this lovely blog.

I hope these links lead you to some good, bloggy inspiration!

 

Thursday Thunks

Just for fun, I did today’s Thursday Thunks meme..

1. Do you like waffles? Yes, I do! Yum, yum. But I might prefer pancakes.

2. Name 3 things that is within your reach right now, excluding anything to do with your computer/laptop. Half-empty mug of tea, handmade malas and bracelets, and crayons I made that are shaped like starfish.
3. Do you hang laundry out on a line outside? Ohhhh, I wish I could! There really isn’t anywhere to do it here and we are also not ‘allowed’ to do it (rental property). But please check out Project Laundry List.
4. Loss of vision, ability to speak or hearing – which do you choose? (you have to choose one….) Not a fun choice to make, but I would pick the ability to speak.
5. On a scale from 1 – 10, how are your computer skills? Well, we need to define the scale a bit. Is “10″ someone who can build a computer from scratch and write a program from scratch? Or is it someone who is good at Excel? It’s hard to rate, but I have very good computer skills. At the same time, I am no programmer.
6. Do you volunteer or donate to anything around the holidays? I like to do both all year round. I don’t do particularly more of there at this time of year, really.

7. If a person receives a DUI while in government office, should he lose his/her position? Depends what the position is, I guess, so not necessarily. If the position is something to do with driving safety, then perhaps yes. Otherwise, the issue should certainly be addressed, but the person need not necessarily be fired.

8. Do you take vitamins? No, I don’t. I am not a fan of vitamin pills and I much prefer to get my vitamins from real food.

9. Do you wear fingernail polish? I haven’t in many, many years. Years ago, I was a big fan of crazy, sparkly nail polish – often black. But not these days.

10. If every flower in the world only grew into one color, which color would you want? How about…various kinds of beautiful blue?