Restoration: Week 49.

Stories are like sparkling stitches, and I've been reading a lot of stories this past week. I finished one collection and started another. Though I should be focused on fall (creative non-fiction), I'm stuck (happily) on stories as if this were summer.

Bruce and I finished season two of American Horror Story. Murder House was dark. Asylum was darker. What comes next? I'd love to write for a show like that. I wonder if I could write something that could scare anyone.

The Michael Ball CD Josh found for me is my favorite at the moment. I remember my grandparents playing "Love Changes Everything." They gave me some good coping strategies.

I got to see Dad briefly. He was waiting with a Shirley Temple. Oliver talks about his grandparents almost constantly.

I'd like to discover some new Christmas music. I think Michael Crawford has a Christmas album. It's sort of weird hearing Phantom singing Christmas songs, but Erik gets to celebrate too.

I only have to buy for one more person, and I've got most if not all the wrapping I need. I even got some I like (hot pink with white snowflakes) for Josh to use. More and more, I'm learning simply to ask for what I want.

The other night, I was feeling rough. I couldn't do much of anything. Finally, I went to Target. I latched onto the red everywhere and the sparkle all over. That's when I bought gift bags and tissue. And always, I got a pack of Pentel Sparkle Pop pens. Another set to plant and grow.

Restoration: Week 47.

This past week, I read only a little poetry. But I read many tiny stories. They seem to patch me up somehow. I don't know if I could really writer that way. I do have lists of story ideas and first lines. Perhaps some tiny stories wait among those.

We spend two nights in Charlotte with Mom and Shane. Thanksgiving lunch was delicious. I probably had three slices of pumpkin pie while we were there. We love to eat pie for breakfast. It's a restorative joy.

James and I talked a great deal about movies. Mom asked about our favorites, telling James, "Your sister thinks questions are love." Yes!

Shane drove Mom and me all around on Friday. We went to Cheap Joe's Art Stuff, a place that plants me firmly in the concrete but also makes me feel like I'm floating. I chose 20 dark metallic and glitter Gelly Roll pens (my perennial favorite) for my upcoming journals. We stopped at a yarn shop for Mom (we all need our tools) and a mini bundt cake bakery for Shane (my carrot cake bundt lasted two days). I mentioned Paper Source, and there we were! I love the atmosphere and merchandising. It makes me think that some creativity is about to bubble out of me. The rubber stamps were lovely: a trees with star-like leaves, You Are Magical, and a cluster of snowflakes. It was a restorative day, soaking up beauty and potential beauty.

We had dinner snacks (my favorite! Salami, cheese, and this time, Mom's crab dip!) on Friday night. I drank soda, jumping off the one-soda-a-week wagon temporarily. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

I finished a journal on Sunday. Getting ready to start a new journal is a thrill.

The week restored my joy and many of my connections. I'm grateful for that.

Restoration: Week 30.

I'm hurting over the death of my mentor and friend, Kay. I had only read three of her six poetry collections, so I read another this past week, and that made me feel a little closer to her. I have the last two books waiting.

I finished an anthology of flash fiction, which felt nourishing. Short stories can have a certain kind of magic. I like the idea of writing a story every week--Ray Bradbury said something like after 52 stories, surely the writer will improve. Maybe next year!  I hope that reading stories will fill me with the desire and motivation to write stories.

Josh was home for part of the week, and I was grateful for that.

I started watching Girls, an HBO show created by the rather fascinating Lena Dunham. I checked out the show because Bruce is a fan of hers. I'm not going to recommend it, but I have enjoyed having a show to watch when I'm alone. I look forward to it. The first two seasons are free with Amazon Prime, and I started a seven-day free trial of an HBO subscription. So I have about six days to watch the remaining four seasons! Ha, we'll see how that goes.

I've also been enjoying my magazines. I have so many, and Oliver constantly wants something to shred, so I'm getting into the habit of reading a magazine in the evening. I'm enjoying that. And Oliver is so pleased when I give him a magazine. We've also continued to dance.

A Bold Reader: Week 30.

This past week was a big win! I finished three books! It just works out that way sometimes.

I finished Slice of Moon by Kim Dower. She's a new favorite; I found inexpensive copies of some of her other books. I finished Best Small Fictions 2017, which was awesome. 50+ pieces of flash fiction! That brought me far along with my goal to read one short story a day for the summer. I'll probably read another volume. And I finished Wildwood Flower by Kay (Kathryn Stripling Byer). I only have two more of her books to read. The remembering that she is gone is hard.

So I began Standing Water by Eleanor Chai. I don't remember how I got this book of poems. And I've started Billy Collins's Horoscopes for the Dead, which I plucked from Josh's office shelf. Billy Collins is almost always soothing to me, and I haven't read anything of his in a long time.

Bruce and I only have nine stories left in The Unreal and the Real by Ursula K. Le Guin. Just a handful!

I'm thinking about reading an Alice Munro story collection next--I think I've only read two. I'll surround myself with books this week.

A Bold Reader: Week 28.

I'm still struggling with my reading. but I did keep up with poetry. I finsihed The Candle I Hold up to See You by Cathy Smith Bowers, former poet laureate of NC and one of my professors from grad school. I should have read it long ago! I replaced it with Wildwood Flower, one of Kay's books. We now own all of Kay's books, and I want Josh and I read them all. We've only read half.

Bruce and I are still working on The Unreal and the Real. The last couple of longer stories have been absorbing. But I move slowly. We have copies of our next book, which I'll reveal when we're ready to begin.

I've been reading The Best Small Fictions 2017 on my phone, and I'm on track with my goal to read one short story each day of the summer. That's a bold goal! Of course, the flash fiction helps!

I'm excited about what I'll read this week.

Restoration: Week 19.

I read a lot of poetry this past week. I think it keeps me healthy somehow. It certainly makes me think in unusual ways.

Bruce and I have watched most of Electric Dreams, based on Philip K. Dick stories. Every episode has been good. Science fiction makes me think about what it means to be human...or even sentient. I like sharing those thoughts with Bruce without even talking.

I wrote a flash fiction piece a few days ago! It restored a little of my confidence in my ability to write. Josh and Bruce both liked the story.

I wen to my psychiatrist and had my medication adjusted. I hope this small change will restore my peace of mind and remind me how to be free.