A Month in Summary - March 2022

Little Whale Cove

Depoe Bay, Oregon

March 2022

Happy Spring! Living in a forest, you wouldn't think that we'd see a lot of spring color, but some of the rhododendrons and red flowering currants are beginning to bloom and a few of our neighbors have daffodils, tulips and hyacinths that are blooming. I'm just glad the deciduous trees and shrubs (elderberry, scotch broom, etc.) are starting to leaf out again. Who knows, maybe the daytime temp will start climbing closer to 60 than 50.

I had a decent month of reading with two big winners (Setting Free the Kites and Water Like Stone) that I'm still thinking about. I love a good book that lingers long after I've finished reading it. 

 

Books Read (click on the title for my review):

Water Like a Stone by Deborah Crombie (4.5/5)

Setting Free the Kites by Alex George (4.5/5)

The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller (3/5)

The Women of the Copper Country by Mary Doria Russell (3/5)

Anne of Avonlea by L. M. Montgomery (3/5)

Movies & TV Series:

Murder in Provence - Loved it! Both Roger Allam and Nancy Carroll are wonderful. Now I want to go to Provence.

CODA - I enjoyed this feel-good coming-of-age story despite the predictable ending. Emilia Jones is great, as is Eugenio Derbez.

The Chelsea Detective - Another fun new series!

Line of Duty (Season 2) - A little confusing in the beginning, but very good and suspenseful!

Spooks/MI-5 (Season 4) - I love this show. The entire cast is fabulous, but Nicola Walker is my favorite. 

Puzzlemania:

"Olena Skytsiuk (Ukrainian, b. 1950) Paradise Birds, 2008 An imaginary forest of eclectically colored wildlife comes alive through the details of Olena Skytsiuk’s Paradise Birds. Petrykivka painting—a style taught to Olena from her parents, and one she passed on to her own daughter—is an ornamental folk art style particular to Ukraine. Paradise Birds, featured on this 1000-piece puzzle, makes use of the technique to build personality into every fantastical element, from the flourishing feathers to each individual blade of grass." (Pomegranate Puzzles)

Late to the Party:

I don't know when or how I stumbled upon Elyse_Myers on Instagram, but she is so funny, wise and inspiring. I might have binged on an entire year's worth of her IG posts. :) She's also on Tik-Tok, but I can only handle so many social media platforms, so I watch on Instagram.

Other News:

I used to be a runner. I started "jogging" when I was around 12 and really got into it in my 20s and 30s, running in numerous 10Ks and two half-marathons. Sometime around my 40th birthday, I began to have problems with one of my knees, so I gave up running and started biking. Every so often I would try to run again, but my knees always complained. Several weeks ago, I decided to give it another try, this time on a treadmill. I didn't have any problems, so I continued, running a couple of miles every other day. I am now up to three miles and hope to get to four without any problems.  

I've been using our air fryer quite a bit lately, trying out some of my favorite recipes to see how they do in the air fryer. We have an oven in the RV, but it's fueled with propane (which burns hotter than electric or gas) and is fairly small. The air fryer is a good alternative for cooking while on road trips. I'll also use it if it's raining or too windy to fire up the grill. So far, my favorite items to cook in the fryer are salmon, cheeseburgers, "fried" chicken sandwiches, chicken parmesan, Tator-tots, and flatbread/pizza. I've tried flat iron steaks and they turn out very moist and tender but lack the searing/grill marks. I especially love the easy clean-up of the fryer. Do you have one? What are your favorite things to cook in yours? 

We're kicking off the month with a trip to Nashville via Seattle. This will be the first time we've traveled by plane in over five years. We can't wait to finally see our daughter and son-in-law. Thanks to the pandemic, it's been 2 1/2 years since we've seen them! We're counting the hours!