Spotlight Photo of the Week

_{A fall leaf with recent raindrop along a morning walk.}

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Quote of the Week

“Patience is also a form of action.”

– Auguste Rodin  

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Mira’s Photo of the Week

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Word of the Day

Will you find it?

As a fun challenge each week, Rachel visits Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day when she sits down to write the weekly story. Whatever the word of the day might be, she must find a way to fit into her story. Will you find it?

New Jersey Motorsports Park

After returning home from his trip abroad, Jimmy was quickly packing once again for a trip closer to home in Millville, New Jersey. Jimmy served as a Black Flag Steward (BFS) for the weekend’s vintage auto race. As the Black Flag Steward, Jimmy is like an enforcer of sorts. In the event that a driver loses control, has contact or breaks some other rule, they are required to stop in the pit lane and talk to the BFS. For those who know Jimmy, he’s as kind as they come, but break a rule and watch out, drivers!

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Taco Time

Greetings, humans! My name is Taco, or shall I say, mi nombre es Taco. This is my first contribution to the My Monday Memo newsletter. I’m very excited to fill a valuable spot left open by the late Honey and provide feline feedback to you humans. As you see by the included photo, my humans, Zahra and Alec, thought it would be fun to dress me up in a Halloween shirt in honor of the holiday weekend. Do I like this? Absolutely not. Do I look very handsome? Oh, yes. The lady felines will surely dig my new look and come calling. Who is a handsome boy? Taco, that’s right, it’s me. It’s Taco Time.

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22 for 2022 Happier Project

Here we come, November…

As the year is hurdling to an end, Rachel’s 22 for 2022 goals are shaping up nicely. She is happy to report a major success in reaching a majority of her goals thus far. She is already working on her 23 for 2023 Happier Project list and plans to publish said list in the beginning of December. She will publish a 2022 summary in January to share her successes and what she learned by having a year-long goal list to work with. A few October successes are listed below.

October successes:

Learn Spanish- 319 days of Spanish lessons to date.

Walk 7,000 daily steps on average- October average 10,416.

Happiness Project Audiobook- Chapter ten completed.

New Adventures- Visited a new museum.

Oral Communication- Talked with both moms in October.

Journaling- Wrote in both Blake and Alec’s journals.

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Story of the Week

Tacoma City Ballet: The Haunted Theatre

On Saturday, October 29, 2022, Rachel was accompanied by a little friend to the Tacoma City Ballet for a viewing of The Ballets of the Haunted Theatre. Each week, Rachel scours the Internet and signs around the neighborhood for fun activities in her area. She found this one and knew she had to attend. A girl’s day it would be. The Tacoma City Ballet is a non-profit organization in downtown Tacoma that provides instruction from pre-ballet to professional performing company. Saturday’s ballet was a younger generation of dancers.

The theater was decked out in fun Halloween décor with a fortune teller at the ready for those interested in learning their fate. Families and children came dressed in costumes with a cookie being awarded to a little princess deemed the best costume. Just prior to the show beginning, the children in the audience were invited to come forward and sit on the floor at the front of the audience for the best viewing opportunity. At the end of the show, they would be welcomed to join the dancers on stage and participate in a final dance of the show.

The performances were colorful and creative. There were nine dance numbers in total. Rachel and her friend enjoyed several of the dances with the No Bones About It being their favorite performance of the show. The Blob was a close second. Click the links on the dance names to share in the enjoyment.

After the show, as they headed down 6th Avenue (a bustling area in Tacoma), the Cat Café was discussed. Rachel’s friend was interested in a peek, so they stopped for a look. They went inside and got to view the cats and their visitors of the hour through the window. There were eight cats in attendance on Saturday. Wow. Rachel has never been gifted with that many in attendance before. The two will be planning another girl’s day to the Cat Café sometime in the future.

Another 6th Avenue fun find on Saturday was the Dia de los Muertos celebration. They stopped to check out the fun. The two wandered around the event and enjoyed seeing the attendees in costume before heading home for the day.

Saturday was a fun fall day and Rachel was happy to get to share it with her young friend. Until next time, be well.