Here are a few of the more noteworthy happenings of the last few weeks.

🌵 Continuing our stay here in Arizona, where the winters are much more appealing than Ohio’s despite reaching some chilly temperatures at night. I’ve gotten out for a few nice bike rides (including getting my first flat tire ever) and scenic hikes. We’ve been spending a lot of time getting our new (to us) place in shape—a few repair and update projects and a bunch of new furniture. It’s starting to feel like it’s “our” place.

🍸 Our new neighbors have a daily (yes, daily!) happy hour, which is sometimes referred to a “circle time.” Everyone has been very welcoming and it’s been a great way for us to get to know the folks on our street. I’ve learned pretty quickly that drinking alcohol every day is not the path to wellness, so I’ve dialed that back significantly!

✝️ Probably inspired by all the religious-oriented fiction I’ve been reading lately (see below) I launched Saint Bot, a Mastodon bot that posts daily blurbs about Catholic Saints. Follow along, if that’s your jam.

📚 I finished three books in the last few weeks. (I guess that’s where some of my time has gone lately!) Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain, Sign of the Cross by Glenn Cooper, and Three Marys by Glenn Cooper. All were very entertaining. (Links are to my mini reviews if you want to know more.)

🧠 While my body may not be getting quite the attention it needs, I have been spending time exercising my brain. In the hope (possibly in vain) of preventing dementia, I continue to do the workouts and puzzles in Elevate, where I recently completed my 500th workout. I’m also continuing to resuscitate my Spanish language skills, and just completed my 100th day in a row of studying with Mondly. I feel like I’m getting value for both paid subs.

That’s probably enough for today. Thanks for reading. See you next time.