Happy Friday, my friends!
Nothing says Spring like snow, rain, and twenty degree sunless days. I hope you’re in a warmer hemisphere, and enjoying a REAL spring. I shouldn’t complain, as better days are on the horizon. This made me think of a Roethke poem:
Against the stone breakwater,
Only an ominous lapping,
While the wind whines overhead,
Coming down from the mountain,
Whistling between the arbors, the winding terraces;
A thin whine of wires, a rattling and flapping of leaves,
And the small street-lamp swinging and slamming against
the lamp pole. -Theodore Roethke
Well, here are seven things I paid attention to this week:
1. I’m an old school notebook and pen guy. I keep journals and write many things longhand. Here is my go-to notebook and pen. Do you believe handwriting can make you happier?
2. I watch little regular season college basketball. But when March Madness starts, I’m all in. A great article on the magic of March Madness.
3. When I read books, I always do with pen in hand (see above), and then I use a notecard system to document what I read. I stole this idea years ago from Ryan Holiday, who stole it from Robert Greene, and a modified version appeared here. Ronald Reagan used this notecard indexing method to write speeches. This notecard method helps me with research, my book projects, talks, essays, sermons, or anything, for that matter.
4. Every St. Patty’s Day we celebrate our daughter Samantha’s Heaven-Day. I wrote about it.
5. Eye Candy: every year I say wouldn’t it be cool to watch the Oscar nominated films, but I don’t. Until this year, and I watched The Whale. Brendan Fraser deserves of all the awards he received. Also, with the anniversary of the Branch Davidian, David Koresh cult-debacle, we watched Waco.
6. People don’t read for a variety of reasons. I still have hope based on this article. Heed the words of C. S. Lewis:
“You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.”
7. Ear Candy: If you haven’t entered the world of Jason Isbell, you need to. He is a slow burn, but his lyrics are like no other. Here’s a taste:
“Mama says God won't give you too much to bear
That might be true in Arkansas
But I'm a long, long way from there
and that whole world's a lonely and faded picture in my mind
Am I the last of my kind?” -from Last of My Kind
Grace + Peace,
Ryan