I know, I know, you get back what you put out so I shouldn’t be calling February gloomy. But for cripes sakes, it kind of is.  I mean, we’ve got the Donald, and here in Portland we’ve had so many ice and snowstorms I’ve lost count (give me plain old Oregon rain any day), and there’s just so much going on it is hard to concentrate. But, people, we must. And so let’s chat about good things. (Yes, you may call me Pollyanna.)

What I’m Reading. I’ve had the worst dry spell. Had a few books on hold at the library and when I went to pick them up I found more on the featured shelves. And then…disaster. They were all a bust. So I went back to the tried and true and I’m reading A Light in the Window, by Jan Karon, second in the Mitford series books.  For the uninitiated, Mitford is a charming town where nothing too terribly bad happens.  Truthfully, not all that much happens in general.  Perfect antidote to these times.  Oh, and another trip to the library netted another hopeful armload of books, among them The Fortress, a memoir by Danielle Trussoni. She had this rather wild and wonderful book about angels that I enjoyed a few years back. And, wait for it, this book is set mostly in a small town in the Languedoc region of France, where I go every year. (And you can, too.)  Not having a good book to read is like not writing….

(And don’t forget about my buddy J.D.’s book.)

What I’m Reading Online. This series by Shawn Coyne on love stories just wrapped up.  It is brilliant, and for the record, it is not just about romances.  He makes the point in earlier posts that love stories in one form or another underlie just about every story.  But, for the record, romances comprise 45% of the Ebook market on Amazon.

What I’m in the Market For: A new phone. Oh my checkered history with phones! I was an Iphone girl for a long time, and then I switched to Samsung, because I got bored and wanted something different.  Loved my Samsung Note 4 for a couple of months until it started doing odd things. Like rearranging the icons on my home page. Hanging up on people. Calling people.  And then there are the strange noises that occur in the middle of phone calls. I convinced the phone is tapped.

But, glory Hallelujah, this oddity is nearly paid off and I can get a new one! I was all set to go back to the Iphone and then they released the 7 without a headphone jack. People, I spend half my life on the phone coaching, I need to use headphones. So that’s out. I’ve narrowed the field to the Samsung 7 Edge or the Google phone (which I understand I can buy through Google, even though I use ATT. Does anybody have any suggestions? I would love to hear.

What I’m Excited About: Friday night at home by the fire. (Except it has been freakishly warm the last couple of days, so maybe no fire. Damn.) I’ve been out every night this week: Monday to Happy Hour with my biz partner and a new friend, Tuesday to babysit grandchildren, Wednesday to the bi-weekly writing group Debbie and I run, and last night to the Women Without Rules Happy Hour.  This last is a group of women who got together when one of them put out a call on Next Door Neighbor (one of my favorite obsessions).  They meet for coffee every Monday, have Happy Hours every other week, and do other fun activities as well. I don’t go nearly often enough because I enjoy it when I do.

What I’m Amazed About: That, even on the busiest days (and I had some doozies this week), the more regularly I take time out to meditate or knit a few rows on a current project, the more easily I get things done.  I just found an article related to this here. It speaks to the benefit of getting the freak away from computers and smart phones and tablets and having another hobby.

What is going on in your world? Please do leave a comment, I love hearing from you.