Reading: Last year, about a month into “Lockdown Life”, the internet was a-buzz with ways to “pass the time”; reading was high on that list, for many people. Have you read more/more widely/differently/less during the past 12 months? Please tell us a bit about what, and why?
I have to admit that – about a year ago – I was working through the publishing process for a book that came out in June and I wasn’t really tuned into what was going on in terms of, “Help me out, I’m bored”. At least, that’s what I thought…until I checked my Facebook news feed and noted that I’d been sharing a LOT of “now available online” tours of art galleries, recordings of concerts, on-stage plays etc., visits to wonderful locations around the world, and lots of ways to entertain and educate children at home.
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| At The Louvre, "a few years ago" |
GATEWAY TO GALLERIES IN EUROPE
All of which made me stop for a moment and wonder – have we all changed so much in the past year that our expectations of what’s available, online, free will never be the same again? At this blogsite we’ve all considered how our own reading, writing, and interactions have changed because travel to other places isn’t available. Am I alone in thinking many of the changes we’ve made to our lives will remain permanent?
I’ve mentioned (probably many times) that I find it difficult to read when I’m writing, so it was last summer, at home (!) that I first experienced how my reading patterns/preferences might have changed because I was in lockdown…but, you see, I wasn’t really living a lifestyle so very different to my normal one. It wasn’t until the autumn kicked in, and there were no more afternoons reading in the sun on the back deck, that I noticed a change. And that’s because I often spend the autumn, and winter, away from home – which means that’s when my reading patterns changed. No days spent lolling about with my Kindle on a ship in the Caribbean or somewhere in the Pacific; no long flights across continents or oceans to attend conventions or visit family; no periods of time when it wasn’t all go…because we’d decided to decorate, since we were here anyway. And the garden got much more attention than it usually does.
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| My reading spot, on board a ship, for a couple of months each year. Not recently, nor soon, I suspect! |
So – and please don’t hate me…you know I use this blog as something of a confessional! – I have read a great deal less than I would normally have done during this past year, but the house is looking lovely, and I have watched a LOT of streamed TV and movies from around the world - which is almost like reading, when they are well written/well adapted from books...but it's best I don't go there, because there's so much "poor" stuff that seems to get financed that I might start loosing it!
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| During decorating... |
The title of this piece, by the way, is in reference to the process I went through to choose the final paint colors for the walls in our sitting/dining room and TV room/kitchen.
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| Done! (Not purple, but black, sofas...colours all off!) |
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| Cover art just revealed...coming June 3rd |
I wonder how my reading will fare this year, LOL!!
What about you – have you read more/less/differently?
Want to catch up with Cait's nine adventures before the tenth comes out? Please do!
2 comments:
That's two people I know - you and one of my sisters - who've done this thing for real that I thought was a cruel wind-up: pitching in a decorating the entire house during lockdown. It looks lovely!
No cruel wind-up...but it is more than a little amusing that we've used mainly the same colours as before ;-) This photo...same curtains, same walls, same sofas (with stretchy over-covers) same decor bits...but it's fresh. That'll do us forever now - which is such a weird thought! We reckon 20 years from now when it needs redoing, we won't care!
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