The best laid plans…

This past week went somewhat as planned. In my last Sunday Salon post, I said that I’d begin with the month by buying a new lawnmower, which I did. However, I didn’t get to my first mow of the season as rain and work interfered. We still are continuing to watch the final season of Game of Thrones, but I didn’t finish All Things Wise and Wonderful by James Herriot last weekend as planned. Maybe that will happen Sunday evening as this afternoon (Saturday) I’m writing this post, then going to a Free Comic Book Day event at our library (a busman’s holiday of sorts) to pick up some comics for my nephew and niece as well as enter them for a chance for a few of the prizes.

I’ll be away Sunday morning:

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Booked. ✔️

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So I plan on catching up on your posts Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday mornings, and responding to comments that you leave here.

Tonight, just to reacquaint myself with the last Avengers movie, when my wife goes to work at 8 p.m. (12 hour shift until 8 a.m. as an emergency dispatcher), I’m going to watch it. I know. I know. Really I should watch Captain Marvel to be properly up to speed, but this will have to do. I’m not that much of a geek when it comes to these things. To be honest, while I’m looking forward to this “last” one, I am looking forward to it ust being over, which same goes for Game of Thrones.

With a few exceptions, I think I almost prefer the short season shows, the way a lot of shows are done in Great Britain: one, two, three or four seasons, then done. This coming Wednesday, Kim and I are highlighting our favorite short season shows in our weekly feature “What We’re Watching Wednesday.” This past Wednesday, we restarted the feature with a short review of “the latest incarnation of the Tick.”

Next Sunday, I also am away for most of the day as I visit my mom (and Dad), who live about 60 miles away from us, for Mother’s Day. The following Sunday, I plan return to my normal Sunday morning routine of Sunday Salon blog reading and commenting in the morning as I don’t plan on going anywhere. Then I’ll end the month with a four-day weekend as the library where I work is closed for three days and I am taking a vacation day on the Tuesday after. Last week I mentioned that I’d be working that day, but plans changed.

Two of the days that I am off, Kim and I can be together as it is among her normal three days off; she works four days (Friday, midnight to 8 p.m.; Saturday, midnight to 8 p.m.; Saturday, 8 p.m., to Sunday, 8 a.m..; and Sunday, 8 p.m., to Monday, 8 a.m.). As I said in my last Sunday Salon post, it will be nice to have a chance to…

How was your past week? Read, watch, or listen to anything good? Share in the comments.


I’ll leave you with Father of the Bride, the new double album from Vampire Weekend, because I couldn’t decide on just one track from this album that only was released Friday and I already love:

My One Word for 2019

I’m not sure when I started doing this or who got me started. I probably have it somewhere in my old blog (which unfortunately is gone). I did find a few notes on Evernote from previous years so I can tell you that in 2015, my one word actually was two words: “Focus” and “equilibrium.” The equilibrium part of it was because I had just discovered that year that I have tinnitus. In 2016, the word was “Reinvigorate.”

Without further ado, this year’s word is:

This morning, as many mornings, I was talking to my wife at a mile a minute and she said as she often does: “Breathe!” As it is New Year’s Day, I realized that this would be my One Word, because it seemed and seems so apropos. In late October, I was diagnosed with sleep apnea and have been on a CPAP ever since. I won’t rehash everything that I said in all the previous posts on the subject, but I will repeat this line as to why I don’t let the face mask bother me: “Because the way I look at it is that…um…breathing is better than NOT BREATHING AT ALL!”

So this coming year, as I turn 50 and focus on my 10 goals for the year, I am going to allow myself to:

  • breathe as I walk and talk.
  • breathe as I sleep.
  • breathe as I relax to start the day and end the day and remain chill in the times in between, from Matins to Compline.

After all, from what I hear, breathing is good.

Do you have a One Word for 2019? If so, what is it? Share in the comments or with a link to your blog post on the word.