Hope is a thing with feathers

My little one got sick yesterday. There are 4 school days left for her first grade. I joked that the little Typhoid Marys could not resist sending one more bug home as a send-off before the Summer vacation starts! But, she's not as sick, which is nothing short of miraculous to me. Perhaps she's turning a corner? I was told that I was a very sickly little girl so maybe it's a thing for the family to be a bit sensitive to garden variety bugs. I did make up for it as I got older and seldom became sick (until she started school at least). I hope she's like me in that regard. Next week will mark one year since she had a seizure. I feel a lightness and sense of hope that the last one marked the end of a scary era for her.

Other than my little one being sick, my week has been quiet and uneventful. I will confess that I feel like I am ready for the weekend. To breathe and relax a bit. I mostly played Stardew Valley, work, housework, and other odds and ends. I made a new drawing this week, which was fun. I feel I'm settling down to the Procreate brushes I like and that my rendering style is more intentional. When I started I was all over the place, trying new things which made my style a bit inconsistent. I also binge-read a thriller. "Daisy Darker" by Alice Feeney. It was a fun book, though not one I envision myself rereading. I don't know if this observation is spoiler-ey but just skip the below if you'd like to avoid it:

*

*

*

*<Spoiler>

So, I swear this book was a weird patchwork story blending "The Sixth Sense", a cheesy 90s movie called "The Man in the Moon" and Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None". And I'm not sure what I feel about the combination. Regardless, that family was hella annoying and the twist was, IMO, a bit of a cop-out, though that might have been me since other reviews pointed out that the twist was obvious. Perhaps it's because I have read other of her books and was not expecting a paranormal element to it. The writing was tight enough to make reading this a breeze, but the pacing was a bit off. Multiple timelines are tricky and it fell flat here.
*</Spoiler>

*
*

*
This morning, I started reading a Japanese novella called "This is Amiko, Do You Copy?" by Natsuko Imamura. I like to read shorter or less taxing things between longer reads because it keeps me more engaged. I read for fun and relaxation the majority of the time (I seldom watch movies or TV shows anymore, perhaps a topic for later), though I enjoy a well-written non-fiction on occasion. The thing lately though is that a lot of non-fiction is veering into the "shoulda been a blog post" territory which makes me a bit leery to read them. That and a lot of the people who write them are academics, as opposed to writers. Many people can write but an engaging, educational read is to me a rare gem. Dr Anne Lemke's book about Dopamine was a stunning read and Erik Larson is a reliable author for historical events. Speaking of, Erik Larson's latest came out recently. I should read it soon. I added it to my Book of the Month for May and am excited to dive in.