What does your joy look like today?

So Marc and Angel Hack Life had a blog post recently that asked 365 "thought-provoking questions".  I've picked some of the ones that stood out to me and hope to occasionally use them as writing prompts.

What does your joy look like today?

I thought about waiting to answer this one until I had some amazingly wonderful & significant thing to share.  But really, my life is already significantly wonderful & amazing and I have opportunities for joy every single day.  Today I find joy in looking at baby pictures of my daughter, in the beautiful Colorado day, in friends who wish me well.  I find joy in looking in the mirror and thinking I might be sort of cute today and in looking at others and seeing their beauty.  I find joy in possibility and potentiality.  I find joy in peanut M & M's and grilled mushrooms.  I find joy in being treated to a scrap-booking weekend by my friend Leisl and in warm showers followed by a comfortable bed to sleep in.  I find joy in good memories and in good memories to come.

I find joy today.

Theme Thursday -- Color -- The Sherlockian by Graham Moore

Hosted by Reading Between the Pages
Rules:
*A theme will be posted each week on Thursday
*Select a conversation/snippet/sentence from the current book you are reading that features the theme
*Post it and don't forget to mention the author and title of the book
*Event is open for the whole week
*Link back to Reading Between the Pages

 

This week's theme is color.

 

His hair had only recently begun to gray, a process that Arthur couldn't help but wish along.  Though he was but thirty-three years of age, he was already a celebrated author.  An internationally acclaimed man of letters with light ocher hair would not do so well as a wizened one, now, would he?

~page 1, The Sherlockian by Graham Moore

Quote of the day

If we could read the secret history of our enemies we should find in each man's life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility.

~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Teaser Tuesdays -- The Ruby in the Smoke by Philip Pullman

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme hosted by MizB @ Should Be Reading. To participate, all you have to do is the following:

• Grab your current/upcoming read
• Open to a random page
• Share 2-3 "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
• Be careful not to include spoilers!  

But if the barrel could not contain the force of the explosion, she would lose her right arm.

She tilted a quantity of the black, gritty powder into the barrel and tamped it down firmly.  Then she tore off a little square of blue cloth from the hem of the dress Rosa had been altering, and wrapped it around one of the balls of lead to ensure a snug fit; and then the ball joined the powder in the barrel, and a patch of wadding followed it. 

 

~page 160, The Ruby in the Smoke by Philip Pullman 

This is my current read with my daughter.  It's pretty non-stop suspense and this is the beginning of a series (by the author of the His Dark Materials series) so we'll be reading about Sally Lockhart for a while!

What are you uncertain about?

Image via Wikipedia

So Marc and Angel Hack Life had a blog post recently that asked 365 "thought-provoking questions".  I've picked some of the ones that stood out to me and hope to occasionally use them as writing prompts.

 What are you uncertain about?

Boy, at this exact point in my life, it feels like there are lots of things that I'm uncertain about.  I really have no idea what my life will look like in another 5 months, let alone 5 years.  I'm looking for both work and housing right now and I don't really have even the beginning of an idea of what either might look like.  On June 8th our divorce (and Fiona's name change) will most likely be final and hopefully at some point the settlement from my car/pedestrian accident will be finished as well -- though every so often I'm given a reminder that the physical ramifications will always be a part of my life.  This much uncertainty makes the ground beneath my feet feel pretty wobbly but the people around me do much to keep me on steady ground.

On a less practical/more philosophical note (though with no illusions that I have anything even slightly new or original to say on the subject), I realize more with each passing day that I'm not really sure what I think about life after death.  And as silly as this sounds, I think it was much more Battlestar Galactica than being hit by a car that made me start thinking much more about my own mortality and that of humankind in general. 

A trip to South Valley Park with Aunt Vinnie, Uncle Craig, and Cousin Oliver

My cousin Oliver moved to Boulder in January and his parents came to visit this month from Indiana.  I was so glad to be able to spend time with three of my very favorite family members, and so was Fiona.  After our walk we went to lunch together and I totally forgot to get pictures there.  But a lovely time was had.

Sitting in the driveway pretending we knew where we were going.

Cheerful women in the back seat.

Aunt Vinnie & Fiona

My super cool cousin

It was a rainy, muddy day which made everything very green -- or very green for Colorado.

That's a really loud print I'm wearing, isn't it?

Uncle Craig and Oliver mirroring each other.

Fiona in the wilderness.

Cousins together.  Fiona really enjoys Oliver -- though it takes her a while to start talking when she hasn't seen him in a while...