A Respite for the Screen-Weary

About ten days ago a mysterious package arrived in the mail for me. There was no sender listed, but the return address gave me a clue. I eagerly tore open the wrapper and found myself holding a copy of Johanna Basford's My Secret Garden along with a very pretty pair of gardening gloves, size small, with hot pink accents. For those of you who don't already know, My Secret Garden is not a book about gardening at all. Rather, it is a coloring book full of beautifully intricate illustrations begging to be filled with color. I've been wanting a copy of this book for a while now, and apparently this desire was duly noted by my long-distance secret gift-giver. You can see that I've just begun and it will take quite some time to complete even one page!

I'm enjoying the interaction with pencil and paper, the tactile sensation of color scratching across the page, the quiet time I get to spend with myself, lost in my own thoughts, the simple joy of picking out the next color. 

It's a very refreshing break from - - - everything!