Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. Rudi and I sprang for an hour at a cat cafe because it’s been ages since we’ve been away from family felines for this long. I had a kitten curl up in my lap for about ten minutes.

2. The bed in our third Air BnB this trip is substantially more comfortable than location number two. I took a nap in it yesterday when we arrived while Rudi did some paperwork.

3. Location #2 was, however, just a mile down the road from a used bookstore that had the first novel in one of Sherry Thomas’ earlier series. I look forward to spending some time with the Marsdens on my flight home Saturday.

How about you? What’s been beautiful in your world lately?

Thanks, everyone, for the kind messages about Rudi’s mom. We’re working on a tribute and I’ll be sure to share it here once it’s complete. Suffice it to say, 2022 has been challenging so far.

We’re still in Salt Lake and still dealing with things, so I’m not ready to start blogging every day yet, but I do want to step back in with a couple posts this week so I don’t get too accustomed to not writing.

Today’s Top Ten Tuesday topic from That Artsy Reader Girl asks about the books that came out last year that we were really excited about, but that for one reason or another (see: life), we didn’t get to cross off our TBR lists before 2021 headed out of town. Here are ten of mine:

1. Sherry Thomas’ Miss Moriarty, I Presume?
2. Beth and Amy by Virginia Kantra
3. The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles
4. The Road Trip by Beth O’Leary
5. Aristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters of the World by Benjamin Alire Sãenz
6. Aurora’s End by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
7. Kate in Waiting by Becky Albertalli
8. Mackenzi Lee’s The Nobleman’s Guide to Scandal and Shipwrecks
9. Pumpkin by Julie Murphy
10. Mary H.K. Choi’s Yolk

How about you? Were there books that came out last year that you couldn’t wait for — but it turns out that you did?

Rudi’s mom died tonight. We were with her when she went, and we had some good days with her before the end, but it’s still a crushing blow for our family. I’ll be going dark here for a bit while we figure out how to move forward with her loss.

Hugs to you, my dear readers, and hugs to your loved ones, as well.

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic from That Artsy Reader Girl asks us to share the ten most recent books we’ve added to our collections:

1. Miss Moriarty, I Presume? by Sherry Thomas
2. Call Us What We Carry by Amanda Gorman
3. Once Upon a Camel by Kathi Appelt
4. Vanishing Fleece: Adventures in American Wool by Clara Parkes
5. One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston
6. His Majesty’s Dragon by Naomi Novik
7. Throne of Jade by Naomi Novik
8. Black Powder War by Naomi Novik
9. No. 91/92: A Diary of a Year on the Bus by Lauren Elkin
10. An Elderly Lady Is Up to No Good by Helene Tursten

How about you? What have been some recent additions to your bookshelves?

Rudi got some time off to clear his head yesterday morning, and I got some this afternoon, when I spent a couple hours at a cafe reading and luxuriating in the sunshine.

This is the view behind me of the Uintas:

And this is off toward the west and the Oquirrhs (pronounced like ochres):