Pushing Forward Back January/February 2018

This past month began with a funeral, frozen water pipes, and a dead car battery, but it did get better from there. The funeral was for my aunt, who died at the end of December after being in ill health for several years, and it was good to be able to remember her and grieve together as a family. Eventually borough workers were able to thaw the frozen water pipes and in the meantime we used water via a hose from a neighbor. We got a new car battery and a tire that was going flat was fixed for free at the place where we bought our car.

What I was reading: I didn’t read a lot this month, but did finish three books:

1. The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien
2. The Last Kashmiri Rose by Barbara Cleverly
3. Life on Mars: Poems by Tracy K. Smith

The last two I finished during the 24 in 48 Readathon last weekend. I also continued with The Two Towers and started Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil deGrasse Tyson on audiobook. The poem that struck me by Smith was this one: “Don’t You Wonder, Sometimes?” with allusions to Bowie.

What we were watching:  Among the highlights of shows and movies Kim and I watched this past month were The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Narcos, Lilyhammer, Psych, Monk, Man Down, Borderline, and Strictly Ballroom. All are available either on Prime Video or Netflix (or were at the time of this post). My favorite was Narcos, one that Kim had told me I needed to watch but I avoided for the longest time. Now I don’t know why. It was, and is, a really great show.

Here is the first episode of the The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel:

What I was listening to: Most of the time I was listening to a playlist made up of My Top 15 Albums of 2017. As usual, I also was listening to radio shows on Mixcloud, with my favorite track coming from Chris Coco’s Melodica Jan. 22 show:

I’m so naive that I didn’t know the song that was used most prominently in Moulin Rouge was a Nat King Cole song.

Pushing Forward

As for February, the month begins with a couple of highlights this weekend: our annual tradition of watching the movie Groundhog Day on Groundhog Day on Friday and then going to a Super Bowl party at our neighbors. Neither one of us really care about the game, but both of us will be pulling for the Eagles: me because I hate the Patriots and as a Pennsylvanian, I still like the Eagles; for Kim, because she grew up near Philly.

Then mid-month is Wellsboro Winter Celebration 2018, with the highlight for us being the chili cook-off. It is an event to which we look forward every year.

So far, we don’t have anything planned for the end of the month but I’m sure we’ll figure out something.

On the reading front, I’ll be continuing to read The Two Towers; TV and movies, we’re looking forward to Black Panther; and musically, I don’t really know.

How about you? How was your month of January? Any highlights with your reading, TV and/or movie watching, music listening? Any big plans for February?