Merry Monday to you! I hope you enjoyed at least one belly laugh last week. Here is what thrilled me this past week:

1) I finished reading The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón on Thursday. It is the inaugural book for my book club, and I told my husband that I felt like quitting the book club after the discussion for this book because there’s no way I will be as delighted with any other book we choose as I was with this novel. I was utterly infatuated with this novel, even giving up naps and time with my journal to sneak a few minutes of extra reading into the day. And I love naps and my journal. Reading it too close to bedtime led to strange dreams but, despite knowing I would toss and turn and wake up tired, I read it up until I crawled into bed and sometimes even after I was nestled under the covers. I haven’t been this obsessed with reading a book since I read The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver over five years ago. I could wax poetic about it, but I will end this love note to the book with this one piece of advice: Read it.

2) On Friday, I was sitting comfortably on the couch when I remembered that I needed to water the garden beds. I almost put off doing it, but I got up, went outside, turned on the water, and gave my little veggie babies a drink. The sun hitting the spray from the hose gave me my own rainbow to enjoy. I made a little sound of surprise when I first saw it and then a big grin spread over my face. Thankfully, my husband had left the camera home so I could go out and snap a photo. I am so grateful for everyday surprises.

3) This story is lots of sad and lots of happy all rolled into one. But in the end, Maurice Griffin wins and is finally adopted at the age of 32 years old.