I didn’t write a blog last week. I had every intention of doing so, even though I was on holidays. But then I received a distressing message confirming my intuitive feeling that something was wrong with my son. He’d been mugged in downtown Montreal after returning from a wonderful holiday in New York City. One of the four youths involved had a knife. Thankfully he didn’t use it, so my son wasn’t hurt. They took his iphone, and ran off laughing. I was so grateful that he was safe. The outpouring of love from his family and friends helped comfort him, even though most of it was from a distance. I was also very grateful to have skype, as this enabled us to support him from afar. Thankfully he is doing fine now, so I am very relieved. I marvel at his resilience.

My husband Michael and I spent the last two and a half weeks having a holiday at home. It was a very relaxing, enjoyable time. We caught up with family and friends, visited the wonderful Melbourne Aquarium for the first time, and generally vegged out. I spent a fair bit of time catching up on lots of reading, journal writing, compiling more of my family tree online, and getting a healthy dose of laughter by watching old episodes of Frasier while Michael pottered around in the garage.

One of the highlights of the holiday was visiting the Melbourne Aquarium with our grandchildren. Seeing their sense of wonder as they looked at the amazing variety of sea creatures warmed my heart, and helped me get more in touch with my own childlike wonder.

I’ve decided to share some of my favourite things in this week’s post:

Favourite colour: purple

Favourite nonfiction books: Quiet: The power of introverts in a world that can’t stop talking by Susan Cain; Soul to Soul by Deborah Masel; The five books of Moses: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy; Love is the cure: on life, loss and the end of AIDS by Elton John

Favourite fiction books: The Chosen by Chaim Potok, and Exodus by Leon Uris.

Favourite animals: dogs, (especially King Charles Cavaliers and Labradors), and dolphins.

Favourite movies: A Star is Born, The Sound of Music, The Poseidon Adventure and Mary Poppins. I have seen all of these films multiple times.

Funniest movie ever seen: Serial (Bad) Weddings – I watched this award winning French movie recently and could not stop laughing.

Favourite TV series: Frasier, The Nanny, The Big Bang Theory, Downton Abbey, and Northern Exposure.

Favourite activities: reading, journaling, writing and researching topics of interest.

Favourite pop groups and soloists: The Monkees, The Partridge Family, The Carpenters, Elton John, David Cassidy and Barbra Streisand.

Favourite instrument: drums

Favourite food: Caesar salad (without the bacon) and Toblerone cheesecake

Favourite car: a blue one (!)

Favourite writing course: anything to do with writing that’s offered by the Australian Writers’ Centre

Favourite motivational speaker and coach: Brendon Burchard

What are you grateful for, and what are your favourite things? I’d love to read about them. Feel free to write them in the comments section below.

I’m looking forward to going to see the musical ‘Cats’ this week. Wouldn’t you know it….the forecast for that day is 42 degrees C! Thank goodness for airconditioning!

Wishing you all a great week!