Looking back at the first quarter of 2026

Despite being a slower quarter, photographically, it has been a busy one with a lot of focus and energy spent planning and working on both short and long-term goals. I expect much the same in the second quarter, so I’m trying to stay focused and moving forward. This is the first quarter in a great many years publishing a blog post every other week instead of weekly, and though I do miss the more regular posting schedule I’m also grateful for the reduced stress and extra time it’s giving me.

I hope you enjoy this look back at the first quarter of 2026.

Photography

The reduced blogging schedule has resulted in a much shorter photography section this quarter, though I did include a post that came out last year after the final quarterly look back of 2025 (favorite books and films of the year). I tried to rotate between recently created photos and some older ones, and I tried to balance out the types of posts I published into several categories. I hope you’ve enjoyed them.

Below are the posts I published this quarter. Please take a look back at any you missed or would like to see again.

waynesboro-model-rr-club-o-scale-2-rail-4-12-20-2025_THP.jpg

Reading

It’s been a decent reading quarter, though I’ve not read as many standout, 5 out of 5 star, books. That being said, though, I did rate almost all the others with 4 stars, and only one book, King Sorrow, with 3 stars which is still good, just not great. I read one translated book, The Premonition, from Japanese. The classics I read this quarter were The Old Man and the Sea and Dracula. And for non-fiction, I read The Traitor’s Circle and Printer’s Error.

Here’s the full list of books read in the 1st quarter of 2026:

The Premonition by Banana Yoshimoto (1988), The Pale Horseman by Bernard Cornwell (2006), Moonflower Murders by Anthony Horowitz (2020), The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway (1952), King Sorrow by Joe Hill (2025), Dracula by Bram Stoker (1897) (reread), The Traitors Circle by Jonathan Freedland (2025), Printer’s Error: Irreverent Stories from Book History by Rebecca & J.P. Romney (2017), Shogun by James Clavell (1975).

And of those, my favorites were:

Dracula by Bram Stoker

I’ve read Dracula several times now, and watched so many movie adaptations over the years. It’s a personal favorite that goes back to my childhood. What prompted me to reread the book again was watching the movie, The Last Voyage of the Demeter, which isn’t a Dracula retelling but instead focuses on chapter 7 of the book when we read pages from the logbook of the captain of the Demeter, the ship that unknowingly brought Dracula across the ocean. I love what the movie did, and it ignited a new desire to reread the book and see how well they fit together (pretty well). And for this reread I decided to listen to the full cast audiobook, a choice I’m very pleased with. It was such a fantastic way to experience this story. And it turns out it was so long ago I last read the book that there was that sense of rediscovery, of not always knowing exactly what would happen next. I look forward to my next reread, perhaps many years in the future.

The Pale Horseman (The Last Kingdom 2) by Bernard Cornwell

This is the second book in the series and it picks up right after the events from the first book, The Last Kingdom. We learn more of the story of Uhtred, whose homeland was attacked by the Danes (Vikings), and who was captured by them and adopted into their way of life. But then he finds himself in England, where he starts a family. And when the Danes return he’s torn between the two worlds. I love how Cornwell really puts us into that time period and into these people’s minds. He writes such gripping and emotional stories and I can’t wait to continue this series, and try some of his other works.

Movies, Shows & Anime

Movies watched in the 1st quarter of 2026 — Films I watched this quarter.

Movie watching this quarter to a great extent focused on either classic Peter Sellers movies or those related to Dracula, with a couple unrelated films mixed in.

I began the quarter watching anything and everything Peter Sellers, including After the Fox (1966), A Shot in the Dark (1964), The Pink Panther (1964), The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976), The Party (1968), and Trail of the Pink Panther (1982). I loved rewatching many of these classic comedies that I enjoyed as a kid, as well as watching a few I may never have seen before. Peter Sellers was fantastic in these comedic roles, especially when working with Blake Edwards.

Later I watched The Last Voyage of the Demeter (2023), a Dracula film that ended up being my favorite movie of the quarter, about the period of time from the book when Dracula is carried over the ocean to England. As mentioned in the book section, this prompted me both to reread Bram Stoker’s novel, this time in audiobook form, and to watch a couple other Dracula movies: the classic Count Dracula (1970) starring Christopher Lee, and the slightly more recent Dracula Untold (2014), that attempted to merge history with fiction in a new interpretation of the mythos.

I also rewatched Meteor (1979), starring Sean Connery and Natalie Wood, about how the governments of the world would handle an incoming meteoric threat. Could they cooperate to try to save the planet? There’ve been similar movies telling the same sort of story since then, but this was perhaps the first I watched when younger. It was good to rewatch but didn’t really age all that well.

And I watched the anime movie, Her Blue Sky, about music, youth, growing up, drifting apart, and trying to grab ahold of what was thought to be lost. I enjoyed how it mixed a bit of the fantastic with what is otherwise a coming of age sort of story.

Music

Last quarter I’d mentioned my discovery of the band Myrath. This quarter I’ve continued listening to their music, including some new songs they’ve released, one of which is below. I’ve also listened to a new song by another favorite band, Beyond the Black. Though I listened to much more, I’ve decided to focus in on just these two songs for this look back.

Myrath - Breathing Near the Roar

One of the many elements I love about Myrath, who originated from Tunisia, is how they mix many musical influences into their own work. This song is from their new album, Wilderness of Mirrors, which I very much look forward to purchasing and listening to.

Beyond the Black - Let There Be Rain

I first featured Beyond the Black, who hail from Germany, in the 2023 1st Quarter Look Back, and I’ve been listening to them ever since. This song is from their new album, Break the Silence, another album I plan to purchase and look forward to enjoying.

Life

As mentioned in the intro, this has felt like a very busy quarter, mostly spent planning for future events. This has cut into my time for other pursuits, like photography, reading, etc, though I’ve worked to keep a balance that still allows for some downtime and enjoyment. The difficulty is actually making use of any downtime and not allowing myself too often to choose mindless doomscrolling over things I actually enjoy and get some benefit from. That’s a struggle I’m sure many of us work at on a regular basis.

I’m still thoroughly enjoying my time learning about and trying different coffee beans from regions all over the world. This quarter I’ve mostly purchased beans from Red Rooster Coffee out of Floyd, Virginia, and Bluemont Coffee out of Bluemont, Virginia, which have become my go-to roasters of late, from regions such as Costa Rica, Rwanda, Guatemala, Venezuela, Ethiopia, Kenya, India, Nicaragua and Mexico.

Here’s my current brewing setup, for those interested:

1Zpresso X-Ultra manual grinder (great all purpose grinder)
1Zpresso ZP6 Special manual grinder (my newest addition, specialized for lighter roast pour over)
Metal and Glass Hario V60 pour over brewers
Small and large bodum French press brewers
Fellow Stagg gooseneck electric kettle

On days I have time to pause and enjoy my cups I use a V60, and on days I’m in a little more of a hurry I’ll use a French press. I have certain recipes (grinder, grind size, water temperature, ratio between grinds and water, brewer, pouring patterns) that I regularly use but I also like to experiment with new recipes. It fascinates me how much the flavor can change when adjusting any element of the recipe.

On the book front my father and I visited a bookstore he’d heard about in Woodstock, Virginia, called Bonfire Bookstore and Yarnery. It was a fascinating store that I described in one of my regular emails, and sold both new and used books, yarn and thread art items, and puzzles of all sorts and sizes. I really enjoyed the very comfortable feel of the store.

And on the food front we ate a couple times at the New Iberia Kitchen located inside The Marketplace in Sperryville, Virginia. It’s a real hidden gem of a restaurant, and The Marketplace is fun to walk through, full of little stores, a chocolate shop and a bakery. Check them out if you’re ever in the area, though you may have to look to find the place.

I hope you’ve been well this quarter. And I hope you’ve enjoyed this look back as much as I’ve enjoyed creating it. Thanks so much for reading and for all your support. I hope you have a fantastic second quarter of the year!

Do you enjoy these posts?

Sign up to receive periodic emails with updates and thoughts. Don’t worry, I won’t spam you. And please consider purchasing artwork or products from my online store, and using my affiliate links in the sidebar to the right when shopping online.

I appreciate your support!

More to Explore