Brain bon bons

Instead of sharing my various and sundry bits of angst and whines (work, school, family), I thought I'd distract myself by listing out some of my latest shallow distractions.

Television: I've been watching quite a bit of green television, two shows in particular: "It's Not Easy Being Green" about a British family trying to create a sustainable life on a small Cornwall holding, and "Big Ideas for a Small Planet" on the Sundance Channel. I find both programs amusing and inspiring. Maybe they'll help me to think more greenly.

With the end of the primary television season, we're looking forward to just one summer season show: "Rescue Me". Several other shows that we have watched in summes past did not get renewed for this summer. I guess that's a good thing in some respects. Still, I'm looking forward to seeing Denis Leary this summer.

Books: I've been trying to DRASTICALLY pair down my book collection. We hope to refinish our basement in the next year. Since most of our book collection currently resides in our unfinished basement, I've been contemplating putting books in storage while we have the project worked on. And then, I've been contemplating how much space we'll have for books once the project is complete. Sadly, we'll probably have to lose about half our current linear footage of book shelving. This is making me seriously reconsider which books are important to have available to us in the future. Much of the rest will be donated (read or not) to several local charities.

In the mean time, I'm reading "The Film Club", "The Zookeeper's Wife", "The Pirates Dilemma", and "The Joy of Drinking". I hope to have them all finished before the end of summer. When I leave for vacation in a couple of weeks, I'm planning on taking "The Holy Road" (a sequel to "Dances with Wolves") and "Cathedral, Forge, and Waterwheel", which I'm reading in preparation for listening to "Pillars of the Earth" for my August book group discussion.

Homemaking, and such: June seems replete with social activities. I've been making dishes to share at potlucks. I recently walked Goblin through the making of deviled eggs. He's always enjoyed them and wanted to grok how to make them. This weekend, we're going to yet another BBQ. I'm contemplating making some really gooey fudgey brownies, to try to use up some flour and chocolate chips from my pantry.

Stay tuned for a film review.