Weekly Journal 03.02.26

Reading

I feel lucky to share a planet with people who have both a taste for adventure and great writing skills to bring others along on their journeys. I've done so much vicarious living through nonfiction. Sometimes travel writing gives me a terrible, aching envy, since I haven't done nearly as much of my own traveling as I would like. "A Walk in the Park" has no such effect. I'd like to visit the Grand Canyon, sure, but through-hiking its interior can be left to the hardy and reckless. I'm very much enjoying this book from the comfort of home.

Watching

"The Pitt" continues to present many instruments being stuck into many patient orifices. I'm starting to wish they'd leave just a little bit to the imagination. I also don't need so much on-the-nose dialogue about America's social ills, but maybe it is necessary for some viewers to get the message, so I'm not complaining.

Meanwhile, in "ER", Mark Greene just worked his last shift at County General and I'm starting to fall apart. I'm not sure I can make it through the next few episodes, but I have a morbid streak, so I will probably dip my toe in a little bit.

I've been putting on "Schitt's Creek" when I need a reprieve from my dramas or something to fall asleep to. To take nothing away from Catherine O'Hara (rest in peace), Alexis Rose is one of my favorite TV characters in recent memory. Her mannerisms are delightful, her cluelessness hilarious, and her outfits on point.

Doing

I've successfully returned to Pilates after missing more than a month of classes due to illness. I tried to ease back in with a beginners' reformer class first, and it felt good, although I started to wheeze about 30 minutes into the session. That's how I learned to start keeping my inhaler in my purse for quicker access. I don't have asthma, but the effects of pneumonia linger in my airways. I did two more Pilates sessions last week, and my lungs felt a little more resilient each time.

Cooking

Even with plenty of food in the house, it was a takeout-heavy week. I had trouble getting inspired by our ingredients, like the endless dark greens and squashes of winter. I can braise a pile of chard and make it taste decent, but it's still soggy and unexciting.

I made waffles over the weekend, which my son got excited about because he doesn't get them often. I make them with Bob's Red Mill Egg Replacer because of his egg allergy, and I'm always a little wistful about the extra flavor and fluffiness I might be missing out on by not using real eggs. Still, they are pretty good.

My son has been learning to cut his own waffles/pancakes with a knife and fork. He tried to show off this skill for me, but his butterknife slipped and flung a section of waffle onto the floor. While I picked it up to throw it away, he bawled for several minutes and took a fetal position on the couch.

Nothing is easy as a parent. Not even waffles.

Listening

I've been in a slight podcast slump since "WTF" ended and them Threedom boys went on hiatus. I subscribe to a bunch of others, but my desire to listen to any given show waxes and wanes. I've added "Buried Bones" to my rotation for when I'm in the mood to hear true crime stories. The hosts make an interesting pair: one is a journalist who has written books on true crime, and the other is a retired cold case detective. I thought the detective's name, Paul Holes, seemed familiar, and it's because I read about him in "I'll be Gone in the Dark". His role in the podcast is to react to, and speculate on, old murder cases described by his co-host.