now, on this road trip, my mind seemed to uncrinkle, to breathe, to present to itself a cure for a disease it had not, until now, known it had

9. Places to see in your town 

    the best things, from my perspective, are the natural features (water and hills) and the historic buildings. There are plenty of better-known and more celebrated things going on, but I like the quiet ones. 

10. Road trip must-haves 

    something to drink, something to eat (both a salty and a sweet, if possible), and a phone charger. Everything else is negotiable.

11. Guilty Simple Pleasures 

    • a hot shower

    • sunshine on kitty fur

    • talking jigsaw puzzles with my dad, who loves them at least as much as I do

    • photographs of snow coming down, under a street light

    • comparing Wordle and Letter Boxed results with my mom, who is ten times better at word games than I am

    • hand massage, which feels transformational when it's done well

    • the ride home from (parental) breakfast every Saturday with my brother, who is funny and insightful and soothingly quiet

12. Things I'd rather be doing right now 

    sleeping, reading, cuddling a kitty, watching a movie, vacuuming (eh, you'd have to see it), walking, working a jigsaw puzzle

13. Books I'd like to read this year 

    Some of my current "wishlist" entries, which serves as my to-read list:

• Quiet Power by Susan Cain

• Jill Ciment's Consent

• The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami

• Jan Jarboe Russell's The Train to Crystal City

• Every Tom, Dick & Harry by Elinor Lipman

• William Least Heat-Moon's Blue Highways

• The Polar Bear Expedition by James Carl Nelson

14. Lessons learned 

     today? That the day or so before an "extreme weather event" involves some of that event, so it's best to (for instance) dress warmly before going outside.

    That there is no limit to my affection for one certain guy.

    That Amazon has a "this was a particularly good delivery" option, too, and not just the complaining response.

    That it's possible to get a lot of work done even when one feels bored to death.

    That a tiny can of Coke can work wonders against an oncoming headache.

15. Vacations to take 

      I'm working on a list of day trips I'd like to take when the weather warms. As for some time, I'd like to go to Maine to visit a friend from my library days. It would be cool to visit the upper part of this state, which I've never explored, and maybe to spend some time with friends from high school and college who live up in that direction. I'd also like to visit the next states west, skipped over in my travels thus far.

Extra question: Olympic events I like to watch or follow 

    Summer: Table Tennis, Badminton, Rowing, maybe Tennis

    Winter: Bobsled, Luge, Curling, Speed Skating, maybe Hockey

[from here; the title quotation is Elizabeth Berg, from The Year of Pleasures]