{"id":4746,"date":"2019-07-26T11:25:18","date_gmt":"2019-07-26T01:25:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/veritysparks.com\/?p=4746"},"modified":"2019-07-26T14:10:19","modified_gmt":"2019-07-26T04:10:19","slug":"winter-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/veritysparks.com\/?p=4746","title":{"rendered":"WINTER"},"content":{"rendered":"

Winter goeth on and on!<\/p>\n

Over thirty years ago, when I was in freezing and still actually frozen (lakes, rivers, snow everywhere) Canada in early spring, I vowed not to whinge about our winters here. But…
\nWith a just few bright days to remind us how lovely it really is up here, the dull, grey, miserable and chilly weather grinds on.<\/p>\n

I am reading a lot, as you do when it’s cold outside. \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Book group title was Major Pettigrew’s<\/em> Last Stand<\/em> by Helen Simonson; a sweet and funny and very English seniors-in-love story. I’m not sure that it will generate a lot of discussion, however…for me, it was a kind of woolly knee-rug and hot-cup-of-tea book, a welcome rest from the heavier stuff. Which we all need – or at least, I do. In winter, especially. Comfort reading. Though, oddly, it’s crime fiction I find the most comforting a present. Watching Shetland<\/em> on DVD – addictive – and I’ve just read a couple of Ann Cleeves’ Shetland novels as well.<\/p>\n

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Maybe You Should Talk to Someone<\/em> by Lori Gottlieb was a therapist’s tale of seeking therapy for herself. Entwined were the stories of her own clients – the self-absorbed LA film producer, the young newlywed with a terminal diagnosis, the guilt ridden older woman, the\u00a0 self-destructive millennial. Moving, uplifting, honest and surprisingly humorous. We humans are a funny lot!<\/p>\n

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With After Buddhism: Rethinking the Dharma for a Secular Age<\/em> by Stephen Batchelor, I continued my decades-long habit of dipping my toe into Buddhist spirituality when life just seems to be too much. I am yet to submerge or even really step in, but everything I read about the dharma makes so much sense, and I suppose that little by little by very<\/em> little I incorporate some of what I’ve learned into my days.<\/p>\n

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And Wordslut: A Feminist Guide to Taking Back the English Language<\/em> by Amanda Montell\u00a0 was smart, funny, eye-opening and potty-mouthed (that’s a good thing!) while seriously exposing the ways in which language is gendered.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Winter goeth on and on! Over thirty years ago, when I was in freezing and still actually frozen (lakes, rivers, snow everywhere) Canada in early spring, I vowed not to whinge about our winters here. But… With a just few … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/veritysparks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/veritysparks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/veritysparks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/veritysparks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/veritysparks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4746"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/veritysparks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4746\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4755,"href":"https:\/\/veritysparks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4746\/revisions\/4755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/veritysparks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/veritysparks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/veritysparks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}