Sunday Salon for 5 March 2023

Happy Sunday! Sunday Salon is hosted by Deb at ReaderBuzz. Check out her post and the links to see what other bloggers have been up to in the last week.

How’s the weather?

We (and places west of us) got enough rain on Friday that the Weather Service issued flood warnings for the Meramec River, one of our local tributaries to the Mississippi.

We expect a few warmer drier days, now, but it will get cool and rainy again later in the week.

What are you reading?

I’m working my way through two print books.

I mentioned Lipstick Brigade: The Untold True Story of Washington’s World War II Government Girls by Cindy Gueli last week. It’s helping me understand what daily life was like for my characters. Retail stores in Washington D.C. started staying open late on Thursday nights during the war to offer working women a time to shop during non-office hours.

The March selection of the Community for Understanding Hope Book Group is Becoming Abolitionists: Police, Protests, and the Pursuit of Freedom by Derecka Purnell. It’s my turn to facilitate, so I hoped to finish this early, but I’m way behind the first schedule that I designed. Time to come up with a new plan.

What are you watching?

I enjoyed three movies in the last week.

If you liked All the King’s Men or Spotlight, films about journalists breaking big stories, then I recommend She Said. She Said has the added delight of getting to watch strong, amazing women do wonderful work.

Thanks to Deb at ReaderBuzz for recommending the rom-com Your Place Or Mine. Like Deb, I enjoyed watching characters who loved books.

I hadn’t intended to watch Glass Onion, because we only watched about 15 minutes of Knives Out. But Rick wanted to try it, since we’d both heard good things about it. It turned out to be great fun. Now, I’m wondering if we should have held out longer for Knives Out. It may just have been that we were in the wrong moment for a dysfunctional family grouping, then, but in the right moment for a dysfunctional friend grouping, now.

What are you writing?

I reviewed the Netflix series Lockwood & Co for British Isles Friday. Thanks to Erin at Cracker Crumb Life for recommending it in her Sunday Salon post a few weeks ago.

I continued to play with villains last week. I worked with two books: 45 Master Characters by Victoria Lynn Schmidt and The Marshall Plan for Novel Writing by Evan Marshall.

This article was helpful: 8 Villain Archetypes: How to Write Different Types of Villains – 2023 – MasterClass

I also worked through these YouTube videos:

What are you doing?

Getting stronger. I just completed this five-week strength-training program on YouTube: One month to a STRONGER you | Strength Training Program for Seniors & Beginners | Day 1.

I love how strong that I feel, now, while walking up steps and while squatting to pick up something heavy on the bottom shelf of the grocery store.

I also was pleased to discover that my experience of sun salutations in yoga improved. I feel strong going from plank to chatarunga to up-dog and it’s pleasurable in a way that it wasn’t before. Now, I get why people like sun salutations.

If you’re a beginner or if, like me, you’ve failed at strength-training numerous times for numerous reasons, I recommend this gentle program for easing into it. The program is 5-days a week, with weekends off. I did it with two pairs of dumbbells — 5 pounds and 10 pounds. You can use smaller ones, if you’ve never done anything like this before, or just do fewer reps with the big ones until the muscles develop more to handle them.

How was your week?

Comments

Sunday Salon for 5 March 2023 — 11 Comments

Terrie @ Bookshelf Journeys on March 4, 2023 at 1:58 pm said:

Glad to hear you’re improving! Sounds like you’re reading some heavy duty books – hope you enjoy.
Terrie @ Bookshelf Journeys

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Cindy Davis on March 4, 2023 at 3:11 pm said:

Hi Joy, your name is still linked to your old blog, but I was able to find you through it. It is hard to get started back into working out, so congratulations on finishing a program! I have started walking again, a mile a day, but it is SOMETHING. My schedule keeps changing so it has been hard to have a system in place, but I am working on it. I hope you are enjoying your current reads and have a great weekend! Thanks for stopping by my blog earlier. Cindy

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Vicki on March 4, 2023 at 3:31 pm said:

Adding Your Place Or Mine to my watch list. Knives Out and Glass Onion are already on it 🙂

I’ve added the strength training program to my booksmark bar and plan to do it soon. I do a lot of lifting etc. at work but I’d like to do this too. I wish you were still doing Readers’ Workouts, it gave me a lot of motivation to move more and eat better.

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Mark on March 5, 2023 at 1:20 am said:

Debating how much I want to watch Glass Onion. I really liked somethings about Knives Out and really hated others. But since I don’t have Netflix, it’s kind of a mute point, I guess.

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Deb Nance at Readerbuzz on March 5, 2023 at 5:41 am said:

When my watch scolded me this morning about yesterday’s sloth and I arrived here at your blog, I happily grabbed two jars of mixed nuts (two pounds each) and did the strength training video for day one. Thank you, Joy! Perhaps this will motivate me to get back to the Y a few times a week.

You are doing so well with your writing. Villains are difficult, I think. I want everyone in my stories to be kind and helpful.

We liked the silly complexity of Glass Onion and Knives Out, so I recommend both as light fare.

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Lory @ Entering the Enchanted Castle on March 5, 2023 at 5:44 am said:

Oh, I enjoyed Knives Out! I much preferred it to the Glass Onion, which was too glitzy and over the top for me. Maybe you’ll give it another try some day.

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Erin @ Cracker Crumb Life on March 5, 2023 at 6:23 am said:

When I need a pick me up, I do sun salutations. 🙂

I am so glad that you enjoyed Lockwood & Co! It was such a neat world, and I really hope that there will be a second season!

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JoAnn @ Gulfside Musing on March 5, 2023 at 12:54 pm said:

Thanks for the link to the strength training workout. I just bought 5 pound weights last week, so will give this a try!

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Jinjer on March 5, 2023 at 1:05 pm said:

Thanks for the link to the five-week strength-training program! I’ve been a couch-potato for the past 6 years here at my Mom’s so now it’s time to start getting fit again. This looks like a good way to start and I actually LOVE strength training and do not enjoy cardio. LOL

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Gretchen on March 5, 2023 at 3:21 pm said:

Congratulations on sticking with a strength-training program! It does feel great to be stronger. We enjoyed Knives Out more than The Glass Onion, but we enjoyed them both. Hope you have a great week!

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Anne@HeadFullofBooks on March 6, 2023 at 12:47 am said:

I think I am getting phased out of physical therapy so I need to get to strength building activites. You are my inspiration.

https://headfullofbooks.blogspot.com/2023/03/sunday-salonmarch-in-like-lion-or-was.html

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