March Ings
books, shows, series, movies, apps, things
I came across that painting above this past week and I love it so much. I don’t think I’ve seen it before and I’m surprised. It seems like it would be fairly popular. John Lavery (1856-1941) was an Irish painter and mostly painted portraits and wartime depictions. He has some really great paintings that include landscape.
They feel so refreshing.
Anyway- It’s Ing time!
Ings
Reading | I read the least amount of books in March that I’ve ever read. Too much was going on, I was in a flu haze, and I just couldn’t focus with everything happening in my personal life.
I only finished 3 books this month but they were really good so I’m happy with it.
The first book was The Perfect Golden Circle by Benjamin Myers (he’s also the author of The Offing that’s on my TBR). The Perfect Golden Circle was really good. It’s a book set in the summer of 1989 and two young men create crop circles over the summer across the English countryside. It’s their mission to stay absolutely anonymous so they venture out at night with a map of their planned crop circles. The next morning you see the newspaper article trying to figure out who did it and some write only an alien could’ve done that. The men get a kick out of seeing that and while they slightly grapple with wanting to be known for their artistry, they enjoy the anonymity and do it for the beauty of it.
It would make a nice book club book for late spring/summer!
The next book is The Correspondent by Virginia Evans which was also a great read. It’s a book of the correspondence of an elder, Sybil Van Antwerp. Letters from herself to her neighbors, family, friends, authors she likes, customer service reps, and letters from them back to her. I loved it so much and I think it would really entice anyone to up their letter/correspondence game. Such a fun read.
Lastly, I read The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chobsky - I’ve always wanted to read this since it came out in 1998 and never have. It’s the coming of age story of a teenage boy in high school. I’m no longer the target audience for it but I’m glad I finally read it. It was endearing and hopeful and great for older teens or college-aged people who think they’re the only ones struggling to figure things out.
Watching | While bed-ridden with the flu I finished watching the series Sullivan’s Crossing. I struggled getting through the 3rd season but it was fine. I think I mentioned it here before. It’s set in Nova Scotia and the landscape is stunning. I would absolutely move there. There’s a lot of town drama and stuff. A typical drama series. Canada is gorgeous.
The new season of Virgin River also came out this month so I’m a few episodes in to that. It’s a nice drama series and quite similar to Sullivan’s Crossing with the town drama and themes.
I watched the new Netflix documentary The Plastic Detox. It follows 5 couples who have been trying to conceive for 2+ years and haven’t been able to for no particular reason. So they start eliminating microplastics from their lives to see if that’s the answer. I’ll let you watch for yourself so no spoilers. But it’s all definitely alarming. Plastics enter our bodies in so many ways. It feels like an uphill battle we’ll never win but small differences in our homes and routines do help.
Anticipating | The East of Eden mini-series coming to Netflix. There’s not an official release date except “early 2026” but I can’t wait to watch it. That was my fav book of 2025. I’m also interested in how it’s supposed to be set in the Salinas Valley in CA but it was mostly shot in New Zealand! Interesting!
I’m also super excited about the Mary Oliver: Saved by the Beauty of the World documentary coming to PBS American Masters series this summer. I’m on the edge of my seat.
Visiting | Our local flower fields. Spring is in full swing here in SoCal and this month I’ve been visiting the flower fields when I can.
The flower fields are a sanctuary every spring. I wish I could bring everyone there to experience it at least once. You can see more of it on my instagram, notestothewild.
Starting | To post again on instagram after my 6-7 month break. I think it’s the time of year when optimism, new beginnings, and the flourishing earth makes me want to share those things with people- little bits of joy to interrupt their doomscrolls.
I have to say, after taking several months off, it doesn’t feel the same to me anymore and I keep forgetting to check it and post but I think that’s a good thing.
Improving | So I typically try to live a healthy lifestyle but this spring I’ve decided to make a couple more improvements. I purchased an air purifier for my home and it has become my new entertainment to watch the air quality number go up and down depending on different things like cooking, blowing out a candle, opening the door, etc.
I also downloaded the app Yuka (free!) and have been scanning all of my food and body care/cosmetics to check for chemicals and see the health scores. My 7 year old is also really into it now.
What’s cool about the app is when you scan something, at the bottom it shows healthier alternatives so you’re not just bumming out about having toxic food and products, but you can actually see better options to get in the future.
I fully intend on scanning everything in store before I buy it from now on. I think any little steps we can take to attempt to stay healthy in a country determined to poison us from birth is worthwhile.
Anyway, that’s about all for this month. What have you been watching and reading? See ya soon.
x,
Courtney
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