Music, words, lentils

Listening to "These Days" by Ane Brun. I have discovered so many great new-to-me singers through listening to RTÉ lyric fm in the car. Since I always have to write everything down and it drives me crazy when I have very-important-to-me-thoughts that I worry I might forget, I often spend the rest of the car journey memorising the singer's name, the song title or album by repeating them in my head over and over again. With this song the line "you spelled your name in charcoal all over my body" drew me in.

Reading The Happiness Project. I have been a fan of Gretchen Rubin's blog for a long time and finally bought the book. On the very first page she says "I often learn more from one person's highly idiosyncratic experiences than I do from sources that detail universal principles or cite up-to-date studies", and I couldn't agree more. That's why I enjoy reading personal blogs, for instance. I love finding out about people's quirky habits, things unique to them, and these tend to be what comes into my mind first when I think of someone. (And contrary to the often-repeated objection to those of us sharing bits of our lives, I actually want to know what you had for breakfast.)
The book is interspersed with quotes by writers and philosophers on happiness, and there is an appendix with suggestions for further reading - she researched her topic very well.

I am taking my time with On Not Being Able To Paint - learning a lot about psychoanalysis.

Eating: rocket salad and puy lentils as side dishes to 70 % of our meals. They are a great complement to sweet potato or aubergine main courses.

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Picture: I spent a satisfying hour repotting plants earlier this week - they are beginning to perk up.