People are looking at me funny, asking me if I’m all right in a heartfelt way and sending me email so I guess I should let you know I’m okay. Thank you for your concern. I know I’ve been writing some gloomy entries here lately, but day-to-day I’m in a pretty good mood.

In addition to keeping up with my regular job, I’m learning to use Cascading Style Sheets and re-designing our yellow house web site (yes, I’ve gone back to hand-coding, Bill). It’s exciting. I had a web design/programming job back in the dawn of the web so it’s fun to update my (very modest) skills.

I’m also reading quite a bit–just finished two books last week. Right now I am enjoying the short stories of Katherine Mansfield, alternating with some gardening essays by Anne Raver. My sister lent me a book yesterday that I couldn’t resist starting called “Birds in Fall.” I read the first chapter before bed last night. It was gripping, but afterward I dreamed about crashing airplanes. Maybe I’ll save that one for reading earlier in the day.

And, of course, I have my extensive dog-walking duties. When I need a lesson in enjoying the present moment, Cammy is ever ready to oblige.

I can’t believe it is the last day of April already. I have a lot to do, most important of which is the company billing. Oh, and make a ball gown for Friday.

I did want to share this video with you. It made my eyes well up (of course, I used to get teary over that old Folger’s commercial where the kid comes home and makes coffee before anyone in the house wakes up).

Free Hugs Video

If you’ve been wondering where I’ve been lately, I have a guilty secret. I have a podcast addiction.

I recently gave up on trying to make my WMA-based MP3 player do what I wanted it to do. I had a “to go” subscription with a music-streaming service and it just. Never. Worked. Right.

After a year and a half of struggle, I threw in the towel and bought an iPod Nano. I’m in love with it. Okay, so I can only listen to music I “own,” but I tend to buy what I want to listen to anyway. And those subscription fees add up.

The big revelation for me over the last month is all the fantastic Podcast programs available. There’s the pro stuff, like daily downloads of Fresh Air from NPR, and weekly downloads of the News from Lake Woebegon from the Prairie Home Companion broadcast and “This American Life.”

But the really cool stuff is by regular people — like Brenda Dayne’s program “Cast-On,” my new best friend while I’m knitting. And the fabulous “Easy French Poetry” by Camille at LearnFrenchInBoston.com.

And it is just so much easier to deal with than my old Rio Carbon player. I don’t even have to think about it — I just connect the iPod and it all synchronizes perfectly without any intervention by me. Life is hard enough without having to run interference between gadgets.