Reading List (Or, Down the Happy Rabbit Hole)

Random musing: I was delighted this morning to see that the lavendar in the front garden is starting to bloom! This was the first thing I planted here at the Cottage, and I have hopeful plans for a larger lavendar bed somewhen down the road. I love the scent of this flowering plant, and just walking by and brushing the leaves to release the scent or clipping a small piece to carry with me can elevate my mood. I have also been reading that lavendar can be helpful with improving memory and reducing stress. 

I have difficulty focusing for long (and short) periods of time these days. (Thanks, fibromyalgia and PTSD.) The twisted one I live with suggested that I write just the first sentence and end this blog post there. I think not! It has taken me three days to write this, but I will see it through to the end. 

One of the things I am doing to work on healing my brain is reading. Remember books? Those physical objects, bound with paper or cloth or some version of it? I sure do. My love affair with books started before I was four years old, and actually holding a book, feeling the paper, and even the scent of a book can help to ground me. Those things can also send me off into a world of daydreams, but that's not important right now.

In a couple of weeks my pile of unread books will be stacked in a crate on my desk where they can tease my mind every day. I hope that eventually I will be back to my old reading 2 or 3 or 4 books a week self.

What's on your reading list? Please feel free to share in the comments below!

Here's what I have in my To Be Read pile, in no particular order:

• Touch the Earth Kiss the Sky: Allowing the Rational Mind to Welcome Magic & Spirtuality – Diotima Mantineia   (not yet available, but soon!)
• The Boy and The Girl Who Broke the World – Amy Reed (not yet available, but soon!)
• Carrots Love Tomatoes: Secrets of Companion Planting for Successful Gardening - Louise Riotte
• Roses Love Garlic – Louise Riotte 
• Hexology: The History & Good-Luck Meanings of the Hex Symbols - Jacob Zook and Prof. Johnny Ott 
• Hopkins: Poems (Everyman's Library Pocket Poets Series) - Hopkins, Gerard Manley 
• Cassandra: A Novel and Four Essays - Christa Wolf 
• Personal Mythology: Using Ritual, Dreams, and Imagination to Discover Your Inner Story - David Feinstein Ph.D.
• The Heroine's Journey - Maureen Murdock
• Writing Fiction, Tenth Edition: A Guide to Narrative Craft (Chicago Guides to Writing, Editing, and Publishing) - Janet Burroway
• Beyond the North Wind: The Fall and Rise of the Mystic North - Christopher McIntosh
• The Lavender Lover's Handbook: The 100 Most Beautiful and Fragrant Varieties for Growing, Crafting, and Cooking - Sarah Berringer Bader, 
• The Seven Perfumes of Sacrifice - Amy Logan
• Leaves of Grass – Walt Whitman 
• MISTY OF CHINCOTEAGUE - Margaret Henry 
• The Fern Herbal: Including the Ferns, the Horsetails, and the Club Mosses - Elfriede Martha Abbe 
• If Women Rose Rooted: A Journey to Authenticity and Belonging - Sharon Blackie
• The Mythic Moons of Avalon: Lunar and Herbal Wisdom from the Isle of Healing - Jhenah Telyndru