The PolyBlog – My view from the lilypads

#MoreJoy – Day 17-24 of 31 – Comfort TV

October 25 2021

I’m a bit behind again on my posting, and I wanted to write about a bunch of stuff that I have been “enjoying” partly as a distraction and partly just because I enjoy serialized storytelling.

I’ve mentioned this before that each fall I try to watch every new show that comes out that has any chance of garnering my interest, and some that aren’t even close, just to review the premieres. I’ve seen 29 premieres since January, and that is split pretty evenly between last spring and this fall. I’ve reviewed them all, but very few have made it through that gauntlet to make my “watch” list.… Read the rest

#MoreJoy – Day 16 of 31 – Car seats?

October 21 2021

I’m running a bit behind on my #MoreJoy series, and today’s is a bit puzzling, I admit. How could a car seat bring joy?

Jacob’s first car seat was the one we brought him home in. For many people, that transition is simply about coming home. For us? It was about escaping the NICU. And there was drama involved…we didn’t think he would be able to come home that day because he had refluxed during the night, I saw that the nurses had not used the special nipples he was supposed to use, and if we weren’t going to be able to take him home because they didn’t follow the instructions on the chart, I was going to rip someone a new one.… Read the rest

#MoreJoy – Day 10-15 of 31 – Word play in lyrics

October 15 2021

If my brain is going a mile a minute, I can frequently break the cycle with music. But it has to be more than simple background music, I need something almost “meta” about the song that pulls me out of the song and makes me think about the writing, or admire the lyricist’s choice of phrasing.

Harry Chapin’s songs from the 70s are almost all stories, from Cats in the Cradle to Taxi, so there’s lots of things in them that get me thinking about the backstory or the “other” elements that you could fill in if you were to flesh them out into a novel, for example.… Read the rest

#MoreJoy – Day 9 of 31 – Fall colours

October 12 2021

On Saturday, we headed up to the inlaws’ cottage for an annual Thanksgiving weekend event. The weekend is a combination visit / closing up of the cottage for the winter, but it culminates in a large family dinner on the Sunday. It couldn’t be held last year, due to the lockdown world we live in, and most people in the family were happy to reunite in a double-vaccinated world with a relaunch of the annual tradition, Andrea and Jacob among the hopeful participants.

I confess that I find the event a bit overwhelming at times, to be honest, with some 30+ people in attendance.… Read the rest

#MoreJoy – Day 8 of 31 – Writing reviews

October 12 2021

On Day 6, I mentioned the PolyWogg Reading Challenge (#MoreJoy – Day 6 of 31 – My Reading Challenge), and it is a bit of a chicken-and-egg dilemma which one I would write about first, as they go hand-in-hand.

I like reading, first and foremost. And after reading pretty much any book, I like writing a review. Some people like doing reviews as it is like a bookmark for them…a milestone that says “I read this”, while others are content merely to add the book name to a spreadsheet or app or website to track what they’ve read. Others are more interested in the next book than keeping track of other books.… Read the rest