Work in Progress

Random Thoughts on Some Pretty Good Things

“Man is fond of counting his troubles, but he does not count his joys. If he counted them up as he ought to, he would see that every lot has enough happiness provided for it.”

~Dostoyevsky

I’m definitely guilty of spending more time thinking about what’s going wrong in my life than what’s going right; what upsets me rather than what makes me happy. I think it’s the factory setting on this human machine, and while it’s hard to change it, I do think it’s possible and definitely worth the effort.

So, on that note, I thought I’d share some random thoughts on the pretty good things I’ve encountered lately.

The classical music in the London Drugs parkade

I don’t know of any other parkade that does this, and I don’t even know if it’s true of all the London Drugs locations, but the one I go to plays classical music in the parkade. I now choose to park my car down there just to have the wonderful surprise of opening my door and hearing Mozart or Vivaldi.

One good strawberry

I’m the first to admit I’m not a great gardener. House plants, yes. Outdoors, not so much. This summer I decided to plant a garden. Of course, I was late getting it in because I was away for most of May, so my choices of what to plant were somewhat limited. Then I discovered that the soil was pretty poor and full of stubborn roots.

I have no idea if anything will grow, but one of the things I purchased was a strawberry plant which I planted in a container.

Yes, I cheated. There were already a few strawberries growing on it and one was almost ripe. When it looked ready, I picked it and ate it. Not only did it taste nothing like the strawberries I buy at No Frills (or No Thrills, as my late uncle used to call it, and he was right), but it was probably the best strawberry I’ve ever had.

Apparently the raccoons in my neighbourhood agree, because as soon as any strawberries come even close to being ripe, they disappear. We are now engaged in the gardening edition of The Hunger Games. My first ploy: covering the plant and container with a reusable shopping bag.

So far, it’s working, though I have a feeling the odds are not in my favour.

Home-baked sourdough

Not by me. My son’s girlfriend has gotten into baking sourdough and gave me a beautiful loaf, still warm, with a flower pattern pressed into one side of the crust. I splurged on some good cherry jam to go with it and my breakfast every morning is now a delight.

The bring-a-book-with-me-everywhere habit

I used to do this all the time, so that if I was stuck in a lineup or had to wait for someone, I always had something to read. Somewhere along the way, I started relying on my phone for entertainment instead. Boo.

My son was telling me about a classmate who brings a book with him and reads on the breaks. Now my son does the same thing. What a great contagion.

Today I took a book with me to the bank and read it while standing in line. It was wonderful. And bonus, maybe someone else will catch the bug.

The wonders of leftovers

Leftovers get a bad rap. Think: meatloaf that’s been in the fridge too long (who even makes meatloaf anymore?). But honestly? I love having leftovers. I especially love it when I’ve had to do something in the evening that does not include food and I come home hungry and tired and the last thing I want to do is cook… and then I open my fridge to discover there are leftovers and all I have to do is heat them up.

Still not gonna try to sell you a gratitude journal

Nor will I keep one. But when I’m feeling down for whatever reason, all I can say is thinking about the good things in my life makes me feel better.

You’re welcome.

Lots of news: I’m teaching or speaking in many places this week.

Canada Fiction Fest: Tuesday (June 23) at 10:30 a.m. PDT I’ll be reading from My Long List of Impossible Things.

Eyes on Books: Tuesday at noon PDT I’ll be doing a workshop with David Griffin Brown on the querying process.

Federation of BC Writers: Tuesday at 7 p.m. PDT another workshop with David, this one on editing dialogue.

Federation of BC Writers: Friday at 4 p.m. PDT I’ll be doing a Q&A session with Gail Anderson-Dargatz and Christina Myers on editing and submitting your work.

Maybe I’ll see you there!

I leave you with this random act of beauty I stumbled upon while on a run.

Have a great week!