Welcome back!

Thanks for spending a few moments of your Tuesday with me. Each week I will share excerpts from my current writing, quotes from others that have really resonated with me this week, plus what I'm reading, listening to, watching, creating and excited about this week.

Morning Page Musings

(Excerpts from my daily journaling)

On Self-Reliance: "I thought about waiting and asking for help, but it was very important I did this one by myself."

On Body Acceptance: "How do I love a body that's breaking down; not cooperating? One that's seemingly betraying me; not allowing me to do all the things my brain comes up with?"

On Cosmetics: "Why am I covering up dark circles, blemishes and other so-called "flaws" when men don't?"

On Companionship: "I need someone with skin on to navigate this next chapter, someone who will step into my path in such a way that she's obviously, unmistakably for me."

On Florida Spring: "Sometimes May throws us one more little cool front."

On Tess est. 2000: "It's crazy to think that our paths crossed 24 years ago and keep crossing even now."

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Quotes from Others

"I'll come back again soon." 2-year-old Clara as she looked deep into my eyes and bade me farewell kiss.

"When we are clear about who we are and what we are doing, the energy flows freely and we experience no strain." Julia Cameron, The Artist's Way​

"Embodiment means we no longer say I had this experience; we say, I am this experience." Sue Monk Kidd, The Dance of the Dissident Daughter​

"Reexamine all you have been told in school or church or in any book and dismiss whatever insults your own soul; and your very flesh shall be a great poem, and have the richest fluency, not only in words, but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes, and in every motion and joint of your body." Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass​

What I'm Listening To

​Metta Hour with Sharon Salzberg: Ep. 237 – Fireside Chat with Jack Kornfield on Apple Podcasts This was such a lovely conversation between friends and meditation teacher colleagues of 50+ years. As someone who is newer to the world of mindfulness and meditation, I enjoyed hearing about their respective journeys and how they've changed over time.

What I'm Watching

I finished up a long police series on Britbox called Trial and Retribution. It originally ran from 1997-2009, 22 seasons, each season has two episodes that total about 3 hours each. I liked the first six seasons a bit more than the later seasons. They delved a little more into the personal lives of the detectives, but all the seasons were interesting, and it was fun to see actors I recognized from other series as well.

I also watched two true-crime miniseries. The Barking Murders and The Pembrokeshire Murders. Barking was set in London and followed a sad failing of the justice system which cost the lives of several young men in the Barking area of London. Pembrokeshire is set in Wales and follows the reopening of three historic murder, arson and assault cases. I love stories like these, especially when the perpetrator is caught and convicted in the end. And I really love the very end where we see pictures of the real people involved and how they are doing now.

What I'm Reading

I finally finished Sue Monk Kidd's The Dance of the Dissident Daughter. I say finally because I tried to read it three years ago and just couldn't get into it. It came up on my radar again, and again, I almost tossed it aside before I got more than 50 pages in. Normally I would give myself grace and place it back on the bookshelf, but something inside told me I needed to keep going this time. I'm glad I did because, although it wasn't easy reading, it was a message I needed to hear. If you are struggling with your faith, your feminine nature, your place in this world, how you look at the world or how the world looks at you, I highly recommend this book. It's changing how I view myself and present myself as a woman in this world.

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What's Cooking?

I love saving cooking videos on social media and then NEVER cooking them, but this time I actually did! My inspiration was this stuffed cannelloni dish from @not_a_funny_chef on Instagram. I couldn't find cannelloni at my local supermarket, so I grabbed a box of manicotti instead. The recipe called for a bolognese sauce, but I was short on time, so I made what I call a "faux-lognese" by browning a package of Italian sausage, adding a jar of marinara, two cans of diced tomatoes, then hitting the whole thing with an immersion blender. Weird, but it worked. Then I also tossed the mozzarella balls and grape tomatoes in a little olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper and dried basil for a Caprese vibe. Lastly, I topped with parmesan instead of more mozzarella because: A. I had leftover fresh parm. and B. I really like fresh parm. Overall, the dish turned out amazingly better than I hoped, and I will definitely make it again.

Places

Sunday morning, Danny and I headed out to Bok Tower Gardens with Zach, Brittany and Clara for a family photo session. We have an annual membership the gardens and try to get there as often as we can, so it's definitely one of our happy places. And it's absolutely loaded with perfect photo shoot settings. Clara even enjoyed our wait for the photographer at the entrance and wiled away her time locating stones to toss in the water feature. I've historically neglected family photos, so I'm thankful to have a little (BIG) nudge in this direction. Can't wait to see the results!

Until next week...I'll be finding happiness in the pursuit.

Betsy

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