Well, That Was Something

What it was, was pneumonia.

As I said in my last post, I was sick in bed with the flu. What hadn’t happened at the time of my last post was that it settled in my chest and turned into pneumonia. I don’t recall being that sick before, ever. It took a round of antibiotics (which helped a little), and two weeks of an inhaler called Trelegy (which helped after a week and a half of use, but caused me to wake up to hives every morning), to get to a point where I could breathe somewhat normally. I’m 90% normal now. Depending on who you ask.

A few odd leftovers from the illness: 1. I have no desire for coffee, and I was a three cup a day girl. 2. I have no desire for bread. It tastes…salty. No idea what that’s about. 3. I crave fruit daily. I rarely ate fruit before. 4. I crave all sorts of hot teas. I wasn’t much of a fan previously. 5. The thought of drinking wine is very unappealing. Like, very.

Basically, who am I even? All that to say, I’m back. The same. But different.

Is it just me?

Recently, Substack sent out an email letting us know how much we had read here in this space over the summer. Did you get that email, too? I’m pretty sure the message I got from that email was not what the good folks over at Substack HQ intended.

Over the summer months, I was aware that my time spent on here was increasing. I read more than some people, less than others, nothing crazy, or so I thought. Then I opened that email and saw the word count of my reading on this app. A quick google search of the average length of a book, followed by some simple division, told me that I could have read seven books over the summer based on the word count I had read on here. I would love to have read seven books over the summer!

This knowledge given to me by Substack made me feel kind of sad. My quick number crunch got me thinking about reading for pleasure. Why have I, since becoming a mom, admonished myself for taking time to read a book when I could be doing absolutely anything else? And moreover, how did my feeling of guilt about reading for pleasure not translate to reading “newsletters?”

So, I canceled all paid Substack subscriptions but four, and have resolved to read more books.¹ No guilt. Just exercising the brain and giving myself a bit of an escape. Daily.

I say “heard” because I listened to this story. Fox 8, written and read by George Saunders. I love listening to authors read their own words. There’s just something about being able to hear how their writing sounds to them. This story of the beauty and the cruelty of humankind is under 30 minutes. Pick up the hard copy as well, if you want to see how a fox writes. I really think you’ll love this.

The Seventh Veil of Salome by Silvia Moreno-Garcia was a GMA Book Club Pick. That’s not why I read it. I read it because I loved the author’s previous book, Silver Nitrate. This one was a quick and fun read. The author jumps time periods and stories seamlessly and often. Not my typical genre(s) - historical fiction / psychological fiction / romantic fantasy - but a fun read nonetheless. Especially good for fans of the Golden Era of Hollywood.

As an avid sender of snail mail, I was super excited to watch Wicked Little Letters. I even stayed up past my bedtime on a school night for it!

Pinched from IMDB: When people in Littlehampton--including conservative local, Edith--begin receiving letters full of hilarious profanities, the rowdy, Irish migrant, Rose, is charged with the crime. Suspecting that something is amiss, the town's women investigate.

I promise, it’s a lot more fun and has a lot more heart than IMDB makes it sound. You’ll guess whodunnit pretty much straight away, but the acting is so brilliant that you won’t mind going along for the ride as if you had no clue.

Life Lately

And lastly, now that we’re into fall (with a high of 92 degrees today in Los Angeles. hmph), a glimpse into what summer hath brought:

Meet Victor, boy's best friend, and mama’s best studio pal. You’ll likely be seeing a lot of him around here.

Until next time! Xx

1. I’ll still be on here, reading my LWS friends’ posts, plus those few paid subs I didn’t part with. There are a few newsletters that I have on annual subscription and no longer read, which won’t expire for some time. Live and learn.