The longer I am off social media the more I realize how it keeps you in a format that is limiting and reactionary. So I really need to spend more time customizing this blog to get things the way I want them.

Meanwhile, I got a good swim in on an 80 degree day, and the next day it turned 15 degrees cooler and rained on the swimsuit that I had out to dry on the porch. Wacky Weather. But I can’t complain.

We are about a month into enjoying our new, shallower refrigerator and getting a shallower one where you can’t hide things behind other things, as easily, really teaches you about yourself and helps reduce food waste. It’s working so well that we are now attacking our pantry (slowly) to see what’s hiding in there that we can use up and what’s expired from being in the back and unnoticed.

It was a wacky week with AT&T doing work so Wifi connection was up and down at various times during the week. We also had roof inspectors doing their annual inspection (we have a cool roof that requires it) and so I got a lot of reading done. My favorite book so far, is Julia Morgan – An Intimate Biography of the Trailblazing Architect by Victoria Kastner.

Also book a good friend recommended to me has a funny title: In Case You Get Hit By a Bus – How to Organize Your Life Now for When You’re Not Around Later by Schneiderman and Seifer. This was prompted because of a freak accident she is recovering from and from our generation having to manage our parents. When I got restless reading one or the other of those, I picked up a National Geographic magazine on Memory. It’s a reissue of a National Geographic favorite. So there are my reading recommendations.

I also listened to a lot of podcasts. A favorite is Women Designers You Should Know. They presented a biography of Susan Kare. You really should give it a listen. I was so thrilled to learn more about a designer who was just slightly ahead of my design career, but whom I had forgotten about recently. She is still going strong at 70 and selling some signed prints of her original designs.

On the food front, we had some wonderful meals out and too many desserts. I also Just learned that my favorite Malibu restaurant that narrowly missed damage from the January fires, was used as a triage center and then was pounded by a mudslide – is not giving up easily. They still plan to reopen when they dig out and remodel. You can plan on seeing me there when they do! Go DUKE’S!!

I also learned about a wonderful B&B that is run by a pair of sisters, in Canada. I definitely want to stay there sometime. You can read more about them here: https://www.cnn.com/travel/kristen-kathryn-groom-rose-manor-inn-welland-canada?cid=ios_app

And a wonderful story about kindness cheered me up. It’s sad that this has to be “news”. It really should be just the way we are “there” for each other. At least someone was. You may have read about it already. https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/27/entertainment/survivor-joe-eva-autism-jeff-probst?cid=ios_app

We did a fruit swap with friends and for the dozen or so tart oranges we gave them, they gave us 3 HUGE grapefruits! One is so bumpy and large I had to take a photo. I am including that below.

Well I can’t top that! So that’s the update for this week my steady readers. May you have a week filled with peace, comfort, just enough challenges and gratitude for what you have.