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Monday, January 14, 2019

January Life

Well here we are almost halfway through January. So far a busy month. The weather started out very mild for this time of year, we had a few days of almost fifty degree weather, it was very enjoyable. Winter arrived this weekend with five inches of snow on Saturday, and this morning when I left for work it was eleven degrees outside, brrr.






New Years day we celebrated with our children and grandchildren, Dave prepared pork shoulder and sauerkraut for everyone, and for sides I made roast potatoes and cabbage au-gratin. I had a delish bowl of vegan goodness :) In our family pork and cabbage is a New Years tradition, supposedly bringing good luck for the new year. I had red cabbage in my vegan bowl of goodness!




Last week we celebrated our youngest daughter and her fiance Joe's wedding, it was a simple affair with a fun reception afterwards at our home. Everyone had a good time and we wish Joe and Emily a long and happy life together.





This coming Friday our eldest, Matt, will turn thirty-five, I don't feel old enough to have a child that old, time really zooms along. One minute you are busy with babies and toddlers and school age children and the next they are all grown, married and have children of their own.

I am keeping a reading list for 2019, so far I have read just one book, Beartown by Fredrik Backman, initially I liked it, but liked it less and less as I progressed through the story. I have the sequel out from the library but have decided I don't want to read it. I am now on my second book of 2019, The Aloe by Katherine Mansfield, it was written in 1916 I believe, so far so good. I am not sure what will be next up, I think I am going to have a good peruse of my bookshelf and find something there.

I didn't make any resolutions for the new year, last year I did, for the most part I stuck with them, but struggled with the not buying things as the year progressed. I do feel an urge to talk less and listen more, to be slower to anger, to be more patient, it is a struggle. And I feel a strong urge to limit television viewing. In the past I have entirely stopped watching television for months and months at a time, but I don't feel that extreme. Sometimes watching a good movie is just the ticket, and there are several YouTube vloggers I subscribe to, they post short videos perhaps once a week, occasionally more, and I enjoy the content so will continue to view.

YouTube channels I enjoy:

Happy Healthy Vegan - a fifty something married couple based in Long Beach, CA, Ryan and Anji are long time vegans, who post a lot of informative, interesting, entertaining vlogs. They camp on Catalina Island each year and have uploaded some beautifully filmed travel vlogs, their trip to Hawaii for Anji's fiftieth birthday is so relaxing to watch, like you own personal mini vacation.

Hench Herbivore - another Vegan, a body builder from Norwich, England, he is a vegan nutritionist, body builder, personal trainer, vlogger. Paul is larger than life, entertaining to watch, provides a lot of good information, and his partner Jemma is an excellent cook.

Jane Esseltyn - another Vegan, based I believe, in Cleveland, OH - she is the daughter of Dr. Caldwell Esseltyn who is a huge proponent of whole food, plant based eating. Jane and her mother Ann demonstrate recipes from their cookbooks, they are short videos, fun, light-hearted, and I really enjoy the rapport between mother and daughter.

All of the above Vegans are huge proponents of whole food, plant based vegan eating. I find their channels supportive, when you are vegan you can feel a bit isolated as most times you are the only vegan in the room, their vlogs provide encouragement and support, I know I am not a crazy lady and I am not the only person who is into of whole food plant based living with exercise for optimum health.

Not too much going on for the rest of the month, more snow is tentatively predicted for Saturday, and the colder temperatures are to remain for a while, but the sun is shining and the snow looks beautiful and life is good.

Peace be with you,

Bean





4 comments:

Lynda said...

I've just finished Us Against You. It was very intense (as was BearTown), but I found it so very good. A friend read it, and seemed to get caught up in all the 'emotional' stuff and didn't like it. I seem to be able to stay emotionally disconnected, and really enjoy analysing the characters, plot, complicated relationships, etc.

To each his own... xx

affectioknit said...

...it looks like your year is off to a great start...
~Have a lovely day!

Pen Wilcock said...

What a lovely post — thank you!

I was interested in what you said about watching telly. I rely on it quite a bit for cheerfulness and to give me a rest from my own mind! I like quiz shows and historical documentaries and the milder detective stories. At the moment in England we have a lovely new programme about some modern-day craftspeople living for a month in a beautiful country manor, working on a series of rooms within to recreate the aesthetic (and underlying ethos) of the Arts & Crafts Movement. We have had only one episode so far, but it was so good we watched it twice!
On books — I read quite a bit of non-fiction, and my favourite from last year was Hans Rosling's "Factfulness".

Bean said...

Hello All,

Hi Lynda,
I had to move on to a lighter story line after Beartown, none of the characters were very nice at the end of the day, perhaps with the exception of Amat, his mother, and Leo. Otherwise they all had so much emotional baggage it was almost unbearable and that is before the crime is committed. No one seemed to have any happiness, life was just dark and cold for all them just as Beartown seemed to be, something to be endured, never to be enjoyed. A good book, yes, but so depressing. I much preferred A Man Called Ove. :)

Hi Pen,

I like you approach to the tele and that is kind of how I seem my approach being for the foreseeable future. Watch a show that I have an interest in but not just watch show after show. And, I tend to feel like this in the winter, most years by February I am so sick of myself watching TV, when we were kids it was referred to as the "idiot box", lol, mainly because we are much more so confined to the indoors. The new show you are watching sounds interesting, I am sure it will be on over here at some point, or show up on YouTube.
Bean

Hi Affectioknit,

Bean