Friday Five: BOOKS

 Years ago, my friends and I did "Friday Five" diligently. Unfortunately, life and laziness took over, our weekly blogging slowly disappeared. 

Inspired by my friend Ty, Friday Five is back!!! 

1. Have you read more books, or fewer books, this past year than usual?

I have read fewer books this past year...maybe even years. I got hooked in watching Korean dramas, that I stopped reading books. I do read subtitles A LOT. That should count towards reading, right?

2. What book are you reading now (or what book did you read most recently)?

Thanks to the show Bridgerton on Netflix, I started reading the series. I read 3 out of the 8 books, and listened to 1 audiobook from the series.

I am currently listening to "The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World" by the Dalai Lama IXV, Desmond Tutu, and Douglas Carlton Abrams.

I started with audiobooks since the books I wanted to read had a long waitlist in the public library. I have listened to Harry Potter audiobooks before, but since I have read the text, I used the audiobooks as background noise while I work.  "Viscount..." my first audiobook since HP. Let's just say, it was quite a different auditory experience for me. 

3) What is the best book you read in the past few years?

How many years is a few years? 3? 5? It's sad that I can't think of any books that I can categorize as best.  "The Book of Joy..." has potential though. Listening to the words of the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Tutu about finding joy, warmed my heart.

4) Do you read more than one book at a time, or just one?

I used to, but lately I can't even finish one book!

5) How big is your to-be-read pile (or list)?

I have 71 books under my Goodreads "Want to Read" list, and 5 tagged titles in my public library account. My "2021 Reading Goals" is for 10 books. 4 down, 6 to go. Granted, 2 of the 6 were audiobooks, but it is better than not reading at all. 

AUDIOBOOK is my preferred way to "read" at the moment. I started learning how to crochet late last year, and I realized that it is hard to 1) watch anything with subtitles, and 2) read a book while crocheting.  A typical night for me now is crocheting while listening to an audiobook. 2 birds, 1 stone! 

Down Memory Lane (a series...maybe): BOOKSTORES

Every morning, one of the first things I look at before getting out of bed is FB Memories. This morning was no different. However, a scene from the past (that was not on FBM) flashed through my mind. It was from before cellphones or e-tablets. Before technology ruled our lives.

Long before all the gadgets, we had brick and mortar bookstores. There we were, 2 young women sitting on the floor of a bookstore, passing time while we wait for our ride home. A stack of books we weren't going to buy next to us, just quietly reading. There might have been a few tears shed as we came across a poignant passage...it was the self-help aisle after all.

The bookstore itself was quite nice, if I remember correctly. Two levels, with glass walls on the main floor.  It was nestled in the midst of the bustling office buildings in NW WDC. There was no Starbucks yet, not that we could afford it at that time. 

Now mind you, the scene I described above wasn't isolated to one afternoon. We spent many afternoons and even sometimes, weekends that way.  When you are young with limited funds (what am I saying? I still have limited funds!!), and we just wanted to get hang-out, we always ended up at a bookstore.

Gardening 101: What we've learned so far...

Here’s what we’ve learned so far from our attempt to grow our own veggies -

1) Put crawlers/climbers together. 

We planted the cucumber plants with the bell peppers and it choked one bell pepper plant, and stunted the others. The melon snared my lemon-verbena herb plant, so now some branches are down.

2) Trellis for #1 and train them to climb up. Be diligent in cutting out secondary and tertiary stems (?). If you don’t, they can get wild!

3) Know what you’re planting. 

Our tomato plants were gifted to us. The giver couldn’t remember what kind they were. The plant got bigger and we were not prepared when the fruits came out. We have cracked tomatoes, fallen/down branches, and half-eaten tomatoes on the vine. 

4) Herbs are better in pots than the ground. (See #1)

5) For best results, plan well to plant better.

Overall, it wasn't such a bad season for first timers like us. We were just really shocked that we didn't kill any of them from the beginning!

How Does Your Garden Grow?

We (as in the husband actually) had been trying to grow a vegetable garden for a few years now. This summer, we finally did it! I don't know if we should credit it to the pandemic, but for whatever reason, the weeds are gone and we now have a vegetable garden.

Kudos to Jay. He worked hard from start to finish. He's been very diligent in watering and weeding as well. I was only there for moral support and photo ops!

Lavender, Italian Oregano and Lemon Thyme - Week 2

Tomatoes (2-3 weeks old) and Basil (week 2)

Tomatoes

Melon, Chili, and Lemon Verbena (week 1)

Flower from my childhood - Gumamela (Hibiscus)

Music, Pandemic, and Me

A few weeks ago, as I was looking for an old post, I realized that it has been a long time since I've written on this blog. I have forgotten how therapeutic and fun writing can be. The problem is, as always, coming up with things to write about.


As we enter day blah (I don't even know how many) of the pandemic, I've found myself perusing Facebook more. I have even found myself jumping in to one of those "post a photo of..." trend.  The one that I really wanted to do, but unfortunately didn't get asked to participate, had something to do with music. The task was to post a photo of the ten albums that greatly influenced their taste in music. One album per day, for 10 days. Just a photo, no explanation.

Well, since I didn't get to do it on Facebook, I'm doing it here instead and I am posting all 10 at one time! So here are the ten albums that influenced my taste in music.

It took me a few days to come up with a list. It was harder since I had to exclude the greatest hits albums, which in my own opinion is the best way to get into new music. I just thought it's more fun to come up with the actual album and not just a compilation.

What's on your list?