What I’ve been into July

Here we are at the start of another month. Winter is almost over for another year. Though it never really felt much like winter. The highlights from July were a trip to Canberra during the school holidays. We took the kids to a few spots I hadn’t been to since I wore a School uniform, like the War Memorial, and I went to Old Parliament House for the first time. I really enjoyed eating out at Morks,  a great Thai restaurant on the lake. It was great to do this while off treatment, I certainly had a lot more energy and felt a lot more like myself.

Podcasts
For something different this month, I thought that I’d write about the podcasts I had been enjoying. Given my sporting bent, one of the podcasts I try not to miss is Ladies Who League. The host is league fan Mary K. It’s a great recap of the weekend’s games and the issues within the game. They had a great episode with some referees. I found it awesome to hear their perspective.

The other podcast I’ve been listening too is What She Said. The podcast is hosted by Andy Abey and Polly Butterworth. The podcast features the untold stories of Christian women. The first episode was centred on Queen Elizabeth II, and the most recent one about a few women from the suffragette movement. Really eye opening for me.

Books
I’ve been a little more productive reading wise over the last month. I read Rachel Held Evans book about the bible. Just beautifully written, and thought provoking. If you’re wrestling with how to read and understand the bible you could do worse than using this as a starting point.

I also read James Comey’s book. In some ways it’s a scary read. It highlights Comey’s career and some of the time he spent in Trump’s Whitehouse. His reflections on Obama and his leadership style was fascinating.

I started Jacqui Lambie’s autobiography. A great read so far. I don’t necessarily agree with all of her politics but I loved that she was from a different cloth to most other politicians. I miss her voice from parliament.

TV
Really enjoyed Masterchef this year. Though I still have the final two episodes to look forward to. Can hardly believe the show has been going for ten years.

Music
I’ve been listening to a lot of music. The albums on heavy rotation at the moment are Wildness (Snow Patrol), the live version of Bon Jovi’s This House is not For Sale, and U2s Songs of Experience.

I feel Snow Patrol are incredibly underrated, and this album is their best songwriting to date. Bon Jovi are an old favourite and This House is Not For Sale is their first album without Richie Sambora. I do miss him, but the album still sounds like classic Bon Jovi. I still have Songs of Experience on heavy rotation the lyrics of the albums are so close to what I’m living now, and the feelings I have towards those close to me. It’s hard to listen to without getting emotional. I’m sad they most likely won’t tour it here but am so thankful for the music.

What’s coming up? We have a significant family birthday and will go away to celebrate that. We might go away again in the school holidays. I’m looking forward to the climax of two enthralling football seasons and hope to find a few more books to read.