2022 In the Books

Hello friends, 

I don's use this blog very often anymore - but it's still a great place for an end of year re-cap so here I am, hello again :-)

Reflections from 2022 : 

2022 feels like a blur somehow with lots of big moments (and precious little moments too)...graduations, new drivers, family vacations, new jobs, family weddings, loss of a precious furbaby... no wonder it feels like it flew by. Here are a few photo highlights - I went through my photos and picked one from each  month:

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

2022 Reading Highlights:

I got a lot of good reading done in 2022 :-) Here is a link to my reading Year in Review from Goodreads.

And these were a few of my favorites:

Favorite Picture Book:

This was a beautiful, gentle book about what life was like when everything changed in March of 2020.  All the feels, and the authors note at the end brought tears.  I originally read it at the library but loved it so much I bought a copy for my personal collection.

Favorite Novel:

Definitely my favorites had a theme...I think they touched me because of personal experiences with Covid. and I'm sure unfortunately many of us have a personal experience.  I've never actually read Jodi Picoult before (I have no idea why, certainly a very popular author!) but I will definitely pick up others. 

Favorite Surprise:

I don't usually read Science Fiction but this was a bookclub choice and I LOVED it.  Should teach me to read outside my favorite genres more often. 

Do you have any reading goals for 2023?  I'd love to hear about them!  I'm going to try to read some more Children's and Young Adult books  - somehow I missed those this year.

Happy New Year and Happy Reading!

Peace, Love, and Paw Prints, 

Camping Librarian

Spring is in sight

 

Hello friends, 

Happy March friends!  Spring is so close I feel like I can taste it - in fact yesterday Camping Husband and I had an outside lunch date where we picked up some Panera, ate it at a local park and then took a nice walk, on the way home we grabbed some Rita's Italian Ice.  With all that said it was still a little chillier than I would have liked for those activities but hey, the sun was shining and some Vitamin D from sunshine is always nice🌞

Reflections : 

Winter has been pretty quiet here.  I've been reading, binge watching junk TV, and doing a few house projects (and dreaming of spring!).  Winter is my least favorite time of year, I'm like the opposite of nocturnal and I lose the desire to be active after dark🌘  The good news is that with spring in sight I'm starting to think of camping plans, looking forwad to seeing camping friends, and we are starting to spend more time outside in general. 

Exploration:

• After a few health scares we're working on making some adjustments to eat better and move more.  No diets here, just good old fashioned trying to eat more things that are good for us, cook more (eat take out less) and get those legs moving on a nice walk - or on the variety of gym equipment we have collected in our basement over the years lol.  I've been making this crustless quiche a lot - I use egg beaters because I dont like the way eggs look when you crack them (insight into a Camping Librarian weird-ism ).
  
  
  

What We're Reading:

I've really enjoyed all of these (the book covers are links to their goodreads pages) but The Great Alone and The Good Sister have really stuck with me.  I read The Good Sister as part of a book club and probably wouldn't have normally picked it up but I couldn't put it down! The Great Alone was beautiful and heart-wrenching and I wish I could keep following some of the characters further into their future!  If you read any of these let me know how you like them, and I'd love to hear what you're reading and loving right now!

Peace, Love, and Paw Prints, 

Camping Librarian

Snow Days Are for Posting

 

Hello friends, 

Apparently the only time I think about writing now is on snow days...almost a full year apart! ❄❄ I'm feeling extremely lazy today, currently on the couch with a good view out the window at the snow, two blankets on my lap with my laptop, phone, and kindle within reach for constant entertainment.  No need to move until camping pup needs to go outside.  (or to make more coffee!)

Looking back - 2021 feels so much the same as 2020, it was full of the ups and downs of life, including pretty low low's when covid took my brother at the young age of 55. But as life goes there were also sweet moments of family time and snuggles and peaceful moments of sitting by the lake with a good book. 

Reflections : 

I went back and read what word I picked as the my word of the year last year - yep, that's right, I couldn't even remember what it was :-) It was mindful(ness) with supporting words: balance and grace.  I don't know how good I was at achieving any of that.  I definitely have tried to keep grace in mind in the past year as we are all carrying extra burdens and we never know what's below the surface in another person's life...remembering that and also remembering to give myself grace has certainly found a place to live in the back of my mind.  So I suppose "grace" was my success story - balance kind of... well didn't happen :-)

Exploration:

Honestly, I don't really have the energy in this moment to think about any "resolutions" or a "word of the year" - just thinking about picking one seemed overwhelming and exhausting, and hey - I've gotten better at giving myself grace so I'm just not going to do it ... and that's ok :-) What I do want to try to do is be more mindful about is being present for the little moments of joy and peace.  So often I'm waiting for the next vacation or the thing that is stressing me out to be over, and of course that perfect season of everything being just right never comes, because ... well, life happens.  So in this busy, stressful, anxiety filled (that might just be me :-)) world I need to relish and appreciate when happiness, quiet, or love filled moments appear in the day to day.  I hope you will find ways to grab onto those little bits of sunshine too. 

What We're Reading:

Camping husband is working gazillion hours a day (hug your healthcare workers) so he's not reading much of anything other than medical information, covid news, and emails... 

I posted to my facebook asking for book recommendations from friends as a reading challenge for the year and the first one I jumped into is:

Here are also a few favorites from 2021:

Happy New Year and Happy Reading!

Peace, love, and paw-prints, 

Camping Librarian