Shadows and a shelfie

I took Clawdia out for a walk in the grass in yesterday's warm sunshine, when it got up to 64°F.  On the way home after an hour of sitting in the grass (and eating it), she jumped up on one of the raised planters our gardeners use in the summer and sat looking back toward where we had been.  The sun was setting in the west behind me, so you can see our shadows on the fence.

My favorite "outing" last week was being in the Crown Center's library during the 15-minute wait after getting my first vaccine last Thursday.  The library has been closed for a year, as have all public spaces in our buildings.  This photo is my double-masked selfie, which is also a shelfie.

International Women's Day

March 8 is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women.  The first International Women’s Day gathering in 1911 was supported by over a million people in Austria, Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland.  The day, which has now spread all over the world, also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity.  Today, President Biden signed an executive order establishing a Gender Policy Council within the White House to focus on uplifting the rights of women and address gender-based discrimination and violence.  By establishing the council, Biden said, his administration shows its commitment "to ensure that every domestic and foreign policy we pursue rests on a foundation of dignity and equity for women."

Let's name strong women in the comments.

What this Doberman did

I found this great story on The Kindness Group on Facebook.

Take a break today

I saw a shirt that said:

2019 — avoid negative people

2020 — avoid positive people

2021 — avoid people

I had to think about each one of these.  NEGATIVE people bring down our spirits, and POSITIVE people are those who are positive for the Coronavirus.  But should we really avoid ALL people this year?  What does that mean to you?  I want to avoid people like the elderly man who saw me bringing my cat home from her vet visit and came closer to pet her.  I thought, "Oh, no, that's more like six INCHES from me than the six FEET we should stay apart."  So I told him I needed to take her on home and continued toward the elevator.

Whether or not you are avoiding people today, which of the things in the above illustration will you likely do — if any?  I'll read, for sure, and I plan to go for a walk outside.  I must admit that I daydream every day.

She's a wee piggy, can you tell?

I Know a Wee Piggy ~ by Kim Norman, illustrated by Henry Cole, 2012, children's book, 9/10

A day at the fair becomes color chaos when one boy's energetic pig gets loose.  Upside down, piggy wallows in brown mud, but that's only the beginning of this cumulative, rhyming text.  Soon, he's adding a rinse of red (tomatoes), a wash of white (milk), a pinch of pink (cotton candy), then yellow, black, green, gray, orange, purple, and blue.  Can the wee piggy be caught before he turns the whole fair upside down?

My great-granddaughter dressed up this morning as a "wee piggy" for book character day at her school.  She chose a book that teaches children about colors.  Notice the colors attached to the piggy outfit Shelby is wearing today — I see brown, pink, and green in the photo.  It's a cute book for early readers.  Click to watch the YouTube video.

Beginning ~ with a note from herself

Read Me

This is a note to yourself, Juliet.  At the time of writing you are ninety-two years old and worried that the bits and bobs of your story have begun to go astray.

The Last Letter from Juliet ~ by Melanie Hudson, 2019, historical fiction (England)

A daring WWII pilot who grew up among the clouds, Juliet Caron’s life was one of courage, adventure — and a love torn apart by war.  Every nook of her Cornish cottage is alive with memories just waiting to be discovered.  Katherine Henderson has escaped to Cornwall for Christmas, but she soon finds there is more to her holiday cottage than meets the eye.  And on the eve of Juliet’s 100th birthday, Katherine is enlisted to make an old lady’s final Christmas wish come true.

Gilion at Rose City Reader hosts Book Beginnings on Fridays.  Click the link for other book beginnings.

"Your mission, should you choose to accept it..."

Do you remember this TV series?  I believe our "mission" to get us all vaccinated against COVID is "possible," so I wore my decades old "MISSION IMPOSSIBLE" shirt when I went to get my first vaccine shot today.

Live and learn

I just read something that will make my blogging life much easier.  I had no idea that all the highlights and notes in my Kindle are aggregated online.  I have been typing those quotes for years, when I could have used this feature to highlight and paste whatever quotes I want to use in my blog posts.

Word of the Day

ag·​gre·​gate / ˈa-gri-ˌgāt / transitive verb = to collect or gather into a mass or whole.  "The underlined parts of my books are aggregated for me to use quickly and easily."