Saturday 18 March 2017

I'm alive!


Whoa, what happened to the last week? I just realized that the last post I published is from eight days ago, but I could swear it was just yesterday. Time is weird, isn't it?

I thought I better let you know that I'm still alive and well, and I want to go back over the last week to try to figure out what I actually did every day. 

The tail end of winter is hard on everyone. Not just us humans, who crave warmth and flowers and patio drinking, but especially wildlife. 


We went on a little drive last week for a much-needed change of scenery. Plus, I was on the hunt for a sign of spring: A crocus, cherry blossoms, daffodils, anything. While we didn't find any blossoms, we found wild horses:


They were walking along the road, unimpressed by our approaching car. We slowed down to a stop, and watched them first walk towards us, and then past us. 
They looked old and tired, and in even more need of spring than us. As you can see, there's still some snow where we saw them, but it's melting fast now - I hope they'll find lots of fresh grass soon!


On Wednesday, we went to Vancouver to visit a close friend in the hospital. Many of our friends are older than Rich, often by ten or more years, like this one. Watching them age and getting sick is heartbreaking, and a reminder that life is precious and short. We have to make the very best of it!
That also reminds me of a quote Taylor used in her recent post When My Blog Became My Job:

"Why spend your entire life working on a painting you don't want to look at?" -Warren Buffet

Do what makes you happy, and drop the shit that doesn't!

In that spirit, I have decided to turn our house into a rainbow, one room at a time. Bright colours make me happy! After painting one bedroom pink and the other one orange, I added a mermaid-esque turquoise to the mix:


I just finished it yesterday, and I'm really happy with how it turned out. 

But the main reason why I have been MIA on the blog, is that I'm currently in a heavy reading phase. I'm devouring books like they're going out of style!

I rounded up five books I love in a recent post, but have since found a few more to add to the list:

"The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the last True Hermit". It's the fascinating true story of how Christopher Knight disappeared into the woods when he was 20 years old, and lived there alone for 27 years. In all this time, he only encountered one single person while on a hike, and all he said was "hi". Instead of hunting or fishing, his mode of survival was stealing, and he broke into nearby cabins to steal everything he needed: Food, clothes, books, toiletries, sleeping bags, tents, even a TV, and thousands of batteries over the years. When he was finally caught, he had committed over 1,000 burglaries. The journalist Michael Finkel conducted extensive interviews with Knight, and wrote a spellbinding book about what motivated him to leave the world behind and how he survived all by himself for such a long time. 

Currently, I'm reading another one of Finkel's books,  "True Story: Murder, Memoir, Mea Culpa". 
It's another true story, this time about Christian Longo. In 2001, his wife and three children were found murdered, and he had disappeared. He took on Michael Finkel's identity and hid in Mexico, where he was picked up by the FBI three weeks later and arrested for the suspected murder of his family. 
The real Michael Finkel got in touch, and they developed a bizarre friendship, exchanging dozens of letters and talking on the phone once a week for over a year. In the beginning, Longo denied the murders and swore that he was innocent. 

The book was made into a movie, here is the trailer:

It's another fascinating read!

I didn't realize it until today, but a few days ago my blog turned 4! Every year I do a celebratory "walk down memory lane"-post, and I will do it again this time. Until then, you can take a look at my previous ones:

That was my week. How was yours?


 
P.S. My blogging may be sporadic, but my love letters are not. Want to get a little ray of sunshine in your inbox every Monday? Sign up here!



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10 comments

  1. You're an amazing writer, Miriam! Keep going... (and I love your colours).

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    1. Thank you so much, Elaine! I love writing as much as I love cheerful colours 😉🌈

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  2. I've heard of that movie and knew it was based on a true story, but I didn't know it was a book. Fascinating.

    I love the colors of your house!

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    1. Thank you! I'm thrilled with how it turned out, and I'm starting on the living room next. I'm on a roll!
      I finished the book yesterday, and it was excellent. Very well written, and suspenseful till the very end. I recommend it!

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  3. The Michael Finkel story is really interesting.
    I'm loving all of the bright colors in your house!! So fun! I know they make you feel a bit more spring-like while actual spring is taking its sweet time.

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    1. Spring is finally coming our way! We've had a fierce wind over the last few days, and it melted all the snow. Temperatures are rising too!
      I've read the 2 Michael Finkel books back to back, they were both amazing! He has a gift of keeping you at the edge of your seat the entire time. They're both great reads!

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  4. I recently read What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding, on your recommendation, and I liked it! Glad you've been making your house colorful and enjoying books. Hope spring comes soon.

    Has the seemingly relentless winter made you and/or Rich question your decision to move to that colder area?? Or do you still love it and think it's just something you'll get used to as the years pass?

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    1. That was the first winter in many years we really enjoyed! It may be cold, but it's sunny so often that you can't help but be in a good mood. Our old home was grey and rainy for months, and that always got us down. Besides, this winter was an anomaly everywhere, they had more snow where we used to live than ever before! (Plus, they had more than we did in our new town 😊).
      I'm glad you liked the book! I think her writing is amazing. I haven't read that much in a long time, I love it. I'm even sacrificing TV and Netflix in the name of books! 🙊🙊

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  5. The Christopher Knight story is fascinating. I had no idea they made it into a book. I am adding that one to my must read list!
    And happy blogaversary!!! 4 years already? Time sure does fly!

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    1. It does! I'm working on a recap post (those always take forever to write), and it's such an interesting look back. A year ago I and no idea that I would be where I'm now! I wonder where we'll all be next year?
      And yes, read the book! It's a fantastic read, suspenseful from the first page until the last.

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