Off the back of my previous post, it's occurred to me that reviewing a week's worth of journal entries at a time is reasonably doable, and maybe once I'm caught up I could make a weekly habit of it. So here are five things from my first week of journalling:

. One thing I have achieved in the past month, though not to as full an extent as I would have liked, is that I've done some yard work and weeded out the plants that have grown up around the sides of the house over winter, which I never quite found the time and energy to deal with when I was working full-time. In the first week, I concentrated on the side of the house where the clothes line is, because some of the plants had grown tall enough to brush against the clothes when they were hung there to dry.

. I've already mentioned that I didn't achieve any progress on reading The Female Man; I loaded it onto my ebook reader at the beginning of the week and then spent the entire week never quite getting around to starting it. Every evening I'd remember that I needed to read something to keep my streak going, then decide that I was too tired to start what would probably be a book requiring concentrated attention, and read the latest Letter from Watson or Wildfell Weekly or a story from He Do the Time Police in Different Voices instead. On the Friday, there was a power outage lasting much of the day, which presented a prime opportunity to get a concentrated bout of reading in - and that's when I decided it was about time I got around to reading the latest Liaden novel.

. I am still really enjoying the D&D actual play series Natural Six. Each new episode premieres with a half-hour live pre-show on Twitch, with many of the more dedicated fans watching it and chatting together as soon as it premieres; due to time zones, that happens in the wee small hours of the morning here, so I'd always missed it. On my first week of leave, I decided to try getting up early and watching, since missing a few hours of sleep wouldn't be a problem when I didn't have to work later in the day. I made it through the pre-show before deciding that I was way too tired to sit up for another three hours watching the actual episode, or to get any enjoyment out of interacting with the other watchers, and went back to bed. I watched the episode on VOD later in the day, and it was a lot of fun and ended in a really dramatic place.

. During the week, I received a phone call which, after a confusing beginning, turned out to be from someone who was calling because they still had me down as the contact person for the brass band. That reminds me that it's been several years since I last talked about the band here, back when it was starting to rebuild after the pandemic hiatus and the loss of several key members, so I should probably at least mention that I haven't been playing with the band for a few years now; I wasn't comfortable with the direction the band was moving, and, to be fair, would have been uncomfortable in any case since the pandemic had left me with a lingering discomfort with the basic idea of getting together in a group to operate devices that spray bodily fluids into the air. I told myself when I stopped that I'd go back if I found that I missed it, but that hasn't happened yet; I miss in a general way being able to regularly make music with other people, but not the brass band in particular. (And partly that's because one of the reasons I stopped going to the brass band is that not very much time was being spent at the rehearsals actually making music.)

. On the Wednesday, I decided to go and have lunch at the café that recently opened a few blocks up from where I live. It's at least the third café that's tried to make a go of that location since I've been paying attention, and we'll see if it lasts any longer than the previous two. There was a good range of food, but the menus showed signs of being hastily assembled and could have done with at least one more round of proof-reading; I particularly remember that the burger I ate purportedly contained "friend onion".

Fiction books
Anne Brontë. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (e)
Edgar Rice Burroughs. A Princess of Mars (re-read)
Sharon Lee, Steve Miller. Ribbon Dance (e)
Sharon Lee, Steve Miller. Trader's Leap (e) (re-read)
Yoon Ha Lee. Hexarchate Stories (e)
Arthur Upfield. An Author Bites the Dust

In progress
Arthur Conan Doyle. The Hound of the Baskervilles (e) (re-read)
David Langford. He Do the Time Police in Different Voices (e)

Non-fiction books in progress
Andrew Ford. Try Whistling This: Writings on Music (e)

( short, screen, and stage )
( books bought and borrowed )

Top of the to-read pile
Joanna Russ. The Female Man (e)

Fiction books
Alan Bennett. The Uncommon Reader
Gail Carriger. Soulless
Catherine Johnson. Mamma Mia!

In progress
Anne Brontë. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (e)
Arthur Conan Doyle. A Study in Scarlet (e) (re-read)
Alexandre Dumas. The Count of Monte Cristo (e) (re-read)
Robert Louis Stevenson. Catriona (e)

Picture books
Margaret Wild, Jane Tanner. There's a Sea in My Bedroom (re-read)

Non-fiction books in progress
AC Grayling. The Good Book
Gerard Jones. Men of Tomorrow

( short, screen, and stage )
( books bought and borrowed )

Top of the to-read pile
Thomas Babington Macaulay. Lays of Ancient Rome

Fiction books
Sharon Lee, Steve Miller. I Dare (re-read)
Sharon Lee, Steve Miller. Saltation (re-read)
Robert Lopshire. Put Me in the Zoo (re-read)
Tamora Pierce The Healing in the Vine (e)
Terry Pratchett. Eric (e) (re-read)
Terry Pratchett. Guards! Guards! (e) (re-read)

In progress
Sharon Lee, Steve Miller. Ghost Ship (e) (re-read)
George MacDonald. At the Back of the North Wind
Terry Pratchett. Moving Pictures (e) (re-read)

Non-fiction books in progress
Simon Singh. Big Bang

( short, screen, and stage )
( books bought and borrowed )

Top of the to-read pile
Kylie Chan. White Tiger

Fiction books
GK Chesterton. The Innocence of Father Brown (e)
Mem Fox, Pamela Lofts. Koala Lou
Sharon Lee, Steve Miller. Crystal Soldier (re-read)
Tamora Pierce. Page

In progress
Sharon Lee, Steve Miller. Crystal Dragon (re-read)

Non-fiction books in progress
Chad Orzel. How to Teach Relativity to Your Dog

( short, screen, and stage )
( books bought and borrowed )

Top of the to-read pile
Sharon Lee, Steve Miller. Balance of Trade