Folds

send me your recommendations (please)

cacti at Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix

Hello!

Did you know that the concertina folds in a cactus help to keep them cool by creating a bit of shade for them?

I have fallen very much in love with the cactus. I’ve always liked them of course, who doesn’t. But seeing them in person, in the wild, in their natural home… They are so beautiful and have so much character! It feels like you’re looking right at another person, another soul. The Saguaro, so iconic, what an amazing thing. A home for so many creatures. And they are OLD. The bigger ones that look like people are already around 30 years old and they live much longer than that - apparently once they reach their full height they’ll be about 173 years old.

I really liked these paintings by Elena Goldberg that I came across whilst peering through gallery windows in Scottsdale :

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This week I’ve been reading Arnie’s book “Be Useful : Seven Tools For Life”.

I picked it up after having seen that Netflix documentary about him; I watched it out of curiosity and wound up being a fan of his attitude. I’ve really been enjoying the book, it’s refreshing to read stuff something like this (an inspiring and vaguely self help / goal oriented book) written in a straight-to-the-point manner but without a boring corporate feel. He’s funny and he’s straight to the point.

from Arnold Schwarzenegger’s book “Be Useful: Seven Tools For Life”

I also watched “Woman Of The Hour”. If you haven’t seen it yet, the film (directed by and starring Anna Kendrick) tells the story of an aspiring actress who appears on “The Dating Game” with a serial killer who had already murdered several women and girls at the time of appearing on the show. It’s really well done but it is a difficult watch for sure - I watched it in two halves, it actually gave me nightmares the first night. I had to watch something funny after I completed it last night, it’s very very sad. But worth a watch, especially for my fellow true-crime fans.

I’m looking for recommendations for a few things - firstly, any films I need to see? Books I need to read? Plus I forgot to cancel Audible, so if you have a recommendation for a non-fiction audiobook then please send it my way! (I like to read fiction, but only really listen to non-fiction - while I’m at work usually.)

Also, do you know of any interesting guitar pedals that I can check out? I haven’t bought a new pedal in literally ten years and that was only a Red Mist to replace my broken Big Muff. Sometimes I get stuck in the same old same old, so if there’s anything fun, interesting or different that you’ve been playing with that you like and think I might like to check out then hit me up! I fancy trying something new.

Thank you!