5 Quick Things #405 🚀

digital fasts, fopdoodle, the old neighborhood, & our grandma’s lives

Apr 10, 2026

Hi there,

Happy Eastertide! As we continue to celebrate the longest feast season in the Church calendar (remember, Easter lasts fifty full days, all the way to Pentecost), may we keep a lively spirit in the midst of all our to-do lists and plate-spinning. I often find it ironic that this long feast sits smack-dab in the middle of what is arguably the busiest season for many of us (I’m looking at you, the end of a school year), yet here we are.

Our family had a wonderful Triduum this year, participating in our parish’s Spy Wednesday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and finally Easter Vigil masses and services, and phew, was I wiped out… 😴 My middle son and I also walked ten miles on Good Friday in a pilgrimage starting thirty miles away from our front door. We left our house at 5:30 a.m., and let me just say I felt that. I may or may not have napped for almost three solid hours Monday afternoon.

I’m now spending most of my waking hours steeped in book edits, and probably will be for the next few weeks until I get the next draft of this book to my editor. Which is to say: I’ll most likely be unapologetically absent, quiet, and/or brief on the internet for this current season, but it’s all in the name of making this book what it most needs to be.

Pass the dark chocolate and whiskey. And prayers. Thank you in advance!

*Frühlingsstimmung*, by Marie Hager (1947) #

5 Quick Things ☕️

1. Did you fast from screens, social media, or the internet in general for Lent and kinda want to still keep up a fast of some sort? Ruth Gaskovski and Peco wrote a comprehensive guide for how to carry on the digital fast: “Like monks and hermits, we need a new structure for how to live, one that replaces what has been removed with a pattern of life that accords with our human creed.”
2. I can’t remember if I’ve ever shared this in 5QT, but my go-to recipe database for literal years now has been Plan to Eat. I use it almost daily as my online recipe storage box, and I can’t imagine functioning in my kitchen without it. It’s super-duper handy if you’re looking for something like it.
3. Whenever I have some reading downtime (and I make sure I do each day, even if it’s ten minutes), these days I pick up two novels-in-progress by two writing friends of mine: Austin Suggs and Faith Moore, both of whom have asked me to read their books in advance. Are both these novels delightful? Yes. Am I woefully behind in getting back to them? Also yes. Alas.
4. If our grandmas had oura rings, would their lives have been less of a thrill? I nodded my way through stems from home’s short but punchy words: “Have we dwindled life down to scores? Have we literally sucked the fun out of living?”
5. And finally, no one utters fopdoodle with their dignity intact—a fun list of goofy English words from Joel J Miller.

Currently Reading, Watching, Listening 📻

Alexandre Desplat Radio—good background music for deep-focused book edits

Quotable 💬

“That is one good thing about this world...there are always sure to be more springs.”

-L.M. Montgomery

What’s the best Easter candy? 🍬

Yep, good-old plain chocolate is by far the best choice for Easter (though I don’t mind a jelly bean here and there). Peeps are an absolute abomination.

Chocolate Bunnies/Eggs: 36.7%
Cadbury Creme Eggs: 24.4%
Robin’s Eggs: 18.9%
Jelly Beans: 17.3%
Peeps: 2.7 %