041924: Things that made life special this week
Three (!) movies, oatcake enthusiasm, my spring coffee shop order, musings on babysitting, and more
Hello and welcome to Things That Made Life Special This Week, a celebration of the pursuits that add a little something extra to the everyday.
This week I’ve been pretty low-energy, so I read a lot, watched a lot of shows, and took some wonderful, relaxing walks with my husband after work during two days of warmth and sunshine. The Boston Marathon was Monday, which I unfortunately didn’t get to watch this year, but it’s always one of my favorite days regardless. The energy is palpable, and it’s really fun to see runners walking around the city in the afternoon, wearing their medals.
In case you missed it, the Wednesday newsletter was all about space planning! I wrote out my step-by-step process for figuring out floor plans and elevations.
Watching: The 1995 BBC Pride & Prejudice mini series on Hulu
Aka, the only Pride & Prejudice film adaptation that matters. I was due for a rewatch of this absolute gem, and last Friday night presented the opportunity.
Also watching: Scoop on Netflix
Sharp left from the subject matter of Pride & Prejudice, but this Spotlight-like movie follows the courageous producer, Sam McAlister, who landed the 2019 Prince Andrew interview for the BBC (though Emily Maitlis, the anchor who did the interview, ultimately got most of the credit for nailing him on his association with Jeffrey Epstein).
Obviously a heavy topic, but I love a story of hard-won investigative journalism success.
Also watching: Love at First Sight on Netflix
Sharp left back to romantic comedies! I am so glad I pressed play on this movie. It stars two charming young actors playing the leads Hadley and Oliver, Haley Lu Richardson and Ben Hardy (previously unknown to me), as well as the wonderful Jameela Jamil and Rob Delaney.
The plot, based on the book The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith, has some eerily specific similarities to my love story with my husband. We didn’t meet at 22, we didn’t meet on a plane, but we did meet on a trip, it was love at first sight, and we did take some dumb risks (that paid off) to be together in the early days. I sobbed at the end; I wish I could have been there for my husband during a very important period in his early twenties the way Hadley was able to be there for Oliver. But we are definitely living happily ever after!
Drinking: Oat milk matcha lattes (usually hot but iced is good too)
Something about spring just makes me crave matcha over coffee! Don’t ask me to explain it, but it also feels like the season for scones.
Eating: Oatcakes!
I first discovered oatcakes in Scotland and I think they are the perfect cracker. They remind me a little of the Carr’s ‘small wheat’ cracker in the Entertainment Collection variety box (IYKYK). As a child, I used to sneak into the kitchen and eat all of the ‘small wheat’ flavor out of the box my mom kept in the pantry because they resembled a cookie.
Anyway, oatcakes are not cakes; they’re dry, oat-based crackers. They can go savory with cheese, or sweet with jam. They have the perfect snap, they’re a little salty, they’re gluten-free, a true multipurpose queen of a cracker.
They’re a little hard to find in America, but Walker’s (as in Scottish shortbread) makes them, and my favorites are Effie’s Homemade.
Reading: “The Great Teen Babysitter Shortage” by Anne Helen Petersen on her Substack, Culture Study
I was so excited to start babysitting when I turned 12. The business was brisk on the street where I grew up, as there had been a recent turnover in homeowners from older folks to families slightly younger than my own. I felt so important to be trusted with the responsibility of staying home with young children, the job was really fun (you play, you eat pizza, you watch a movie, you put the kids to bed and watch another movie lol), and I credit babysitting with giving me useful experience for when I become a parent myself.
Before I was old enough to stay at home alone myself, I had wonderful babysitters, two sisters from around the corner who I absolutely worshipped and who gave me their archives of American Girl Magazine (I could not fathom why they would part with such priceless treasures???).
Apparently, tweens and teens do not babysit anymore? This came as a shock to me, as I basically assumed teens would want to work for cash and parents would want to hire cheaper-than-professional childcare?
AHP dives into this phenomenon with her characteristic insightful style.
Book-wise, I’m still working through Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution by Cat Bohannon. It’s so readable, but very researched and serves up a lot of science-y information to digest on every single page! Hoping to finish by the end of the weekend and start my book for book club, another nonfiction one that I’m really excited about.
Doing: Sitting quietly on a park bench and not looking at my phone
And watching dogs chase squirrels, people walk by, children zoom past on scooters, tulips dance in the breeze, clouds pass. It is doing wonders for my nature-starved winter brain.
Life hack: Strangers also talk to you when you’re not looking at your phone. My husband and I were at the park on Tuesday, observing a young man training his puppy—and lo and behold, he engaged with us, telling us the breed (Australian Cattle Dog, very smart and athletic) and asking the dog to show off some new tricks for us.
Talking to strangers—or at least smiling—is such a lost art that does wonders for making you feel part of the community (rather than just existing in the neighborhood, entirely in your own world). In my opinion, those little interactions also define the community, because that’s what a neighborhood is, right? People who loosely recognize each other, make eye contact, nod in acknowledgement, notice what’s going on around them?
Following: @alexandraskyee on Instagram
This young woman and her husband bought some land in the Great Lakes region and are farming their little hearts out. I find her a refreshing alternative to all the ‘homesteaders’ who are not-so-secretly backed by serious wealth—these two are really doing it themselves. She shares snippets of farm life, both idyllic and gritty. And she recently published an e-book about making herbal infusions, which you’ll find linked on her Instagram page.
Share your own recommendations in my thread on Substack Chat whenever you think of/experience something that’s making life special.
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Have a great weekend!
xx Jane
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I enjoyed reading this and I love the picture. That green drink reminds me of spring. Doing nothing in a park is wonderful!
Another wonderful post—another Effie’s fan here!