Open Space Practice, (AKA: A Thousand Shades of Gray)

1. Morning walks. We saw an owl one morning, or rather heard it before we saw it. Because it was squawking rather that hooting, I though at first it was a hawk. We were searching the massive cottonwood where the sound was coming from and finally saw it way up at the top. Eric started to “hoo, hoo, hoo” at it and it barked back a few times. I joined in, and then Ringo made a sound somewhere between a howl and a soft yip, trying to mimic us. It was SO cute, especially considering usually when he sees an owl, he gets mad and barks at it.

2. Practice. Yoga at Red Sage that included one of the staff’s dogs, the sweet Mabel, who reminded me so much of Sam only smaller. Yoga where I wasn’t the teacher, a class at the gym that got taken over by a person who I get massages from sometimes and turns out is also a really good yoga teacher. I missed practicing in person in a class where someone else tells me what to do next. Writing with my Friday morning sangha, almost the whole group this week — people get busy over the summer so it can be hard to have a full set. It also worked out that Chloe’ could “stay after class” and we got to hang out for a bit after.

3. Cooking with Eric. I especially like it when there isn’t really a plan but rather some protein that needs cooked and a few veggies and such that need to get eaten, and we just come up with something. It usually ends up being so yummy.

4. Bears, oh my! There have been a record number of bears in town this year. I LOVE seeing them AND it’s sad because it’s due to the drought, the dry winter and hot summer combining and creating conditions where the bears have to roam further to find enough food. A friend down the road posted pictures of one in his front yard, playing in his sprinkler. There was even one on campus at Colorado State University on move in day. The spot where it was found is right outside the building where I worked for 20 years. Some of those students had just moved to Colorado and a bear on campus was not what they were expecting. Turns out it was a baby that had gotten separated from its mama so it wasn’t much of a threat, but they darted and moved it to keep it safe and to keep mama from coming to look for it.

5. My tiny family, small house, little life. Ringo and I are still adjusting to Eric being gone so much more now that he’s back at work fulltime. I sent Eric pictures around midday during one of his longer days, said, “Ringo and I are napping. How’s work?” and he just so happened to see it when he and his colleague where talking about how busy they were going to be this semester and that they didn’t know how most people worked all day long five days a week, so they got a good laugh from my message. I am making sure to really enjoy every walk, every nap, every moment with Ringo because at almost 13 our time together is naturally winding down. I’m just so happy he’s doing so well and that even though he was so much harder, more difficult than our other three dogs, I was able to give him a really good life too.

Bonus joy: a cranberry bagel with cream cheese, making everyone laugh in Pilates this morning, getting in the pool, using the hydromassage chair, sitting in the sauna with Eric, a good watermelon, peaches, fresh tomatoes and basil, clean sheets, a warm shower, kindness from the tech at my appointment with the dermatologist, air conditioning, finding Ringo sleeping in the bathroom or under my desk in the morning where he’s been waiting for me to get out of bed (he gets up with Eric an hour before I do and is sometimes content to just nap on the couch by Eric, but sometimes he wants to wait “close by” for me), feeling sore, feeling stronger, doing the things I know I want the benefit of even when I don’t feel like doing them, my morning writing practice, poetry, comedy, audiobooks (I find that memoirs can be especially good when read by the author), listening to podcasts, getting all the laundry done before lunch, down blankets and pillows, book club, pizza, ice cream, texting with my brother, reading in bed at night while Eric and Ringo sleep.

1. Poetry: French Chocolates by Ellen Bass, Primary Hue by Katie Kingston and It’s Not Your Beeswax by Kat Lehmann on Rattle, The Well by Jena Schwartz in her recent Friday Dispatch post, In Dark Times and A Piece of the Dream by James Crews, Song at Capri by Sara Teasdale and Dusk After Your Passing by Ada Limón and How to Continue Loving the World Despite Years of Impediment by Marcus Wicker on poets.org, Southern Constellations by Brandon Kilbourne and Go by Kathleen Ossip and Different Kinds of Sadness by Jenny Molberg on The Slowdown with Maggie Smith, A Surprising Wholeness and In the Noticing by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer, A Slice of Actual Light by Deborah Tremont shared on Heart Poems, and Meanwhile It Rains for Two Weeks and the Heat Never Breaks by Morgan Parker shared by Patti Digh.

2. “Sara Bareilles: Good Grief” Documentary Trailer. (video) This looks amazing.

3. The recipe of your longings and a list of recents by Lisa Olivera on Human Stuff. Also from Lisa Stay fog and welcoming the blur.

4. Smoke Days are the Opposite of Snow Days by Britchida on Play is the Opposite of Survival Mode.

5. On Description by Alfred Jung Lee. “If a depiction only distinguishes one thing from another, what else is lost?”

6. Are We all Looking at the Same Moon? “What curiosity teaches us about writing” by Laura Lentz on Writing at Red Lights.

7. Rejected! by Elizabeth Kleinfeld. “On the apologies we hand out for things that are not ours to apologize for.”

8. rowing for years on the midsummer pond* “On Being Neither Young Nor Old by Elissa Altman on Poor Man’s Feast.

9. Why older people are happier and what we can learn from them by Xianmin Gong and Natalie Wong, lifespan psychologists. “Around the world, happiness tends to peak later in life. It has more to do with balancing priorities than elderly wisdom.”

10. Let’s stop talking about A.I. on The Imperfectionist by Oliver Burkeman.

11. Beating yourself up by Seth Godin.

12. You’re capitalism-ing wrong on the Awkward Yeti by Nick Seluk.

13. Ann Patchett and Jenna Bush Hager Share 5 Modern Classics You Need to Read Right Now. “From dark academia to literary fiction, their recommendations span a variety of genres.”

14. The Office actor Lucy Davis says she has incurable stage four breast cancer on The Guardian. “I’m not scared of whatever comes next. I’m at peace with it. I’ll see my Gracie [her late dog] sooner than expected, and for me leaving my physical body just means going home. Any and all grieving is for my family; it’s far harder for them than for me.” *sob*

15. Good stuff from Lion’s Roar on sleep: How to Practice Deep Relaxation (“Relaxing the mind is a big goal of Buddhist practice, but to do that you need to relax your body as well. Sister Chan Khong teaches us a three-step practice to access a deep restfulness that rivals sleep”) and What to Do When You Can’t Sleep (“Meditation and mindfulness can help you get the shut-eye you need. Joseph Emet on how to feel more rested”).

16. 67 Things I Know For Sure by Patti Digh.

17. How Love Comes to You by Maria Popova.

18. Siri Hustvedt on Grief, Memory, and the Marriage That Doesn’t End, a recording from Amanda de Cadenet’s live video.

19. It’s not just the Odyssey effect: poetry is booming because it’s the only language for these times of violence and chaos by Charlotte Higgins on The Guardian. “From Homer’s epic to conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza, we can see how poetry fills the gap when ordinary ways of writing or speaking aren’t enough.”

20. Back on track: Matt Haig on finding acceptance. “Best-selling author of The Midnight Library, Matt Haig, has made his career addressing regret and mental health. Now, at 50 years old and with the release of his new book The Midnight Train, he explains why acceptance descended on him.”

21. How to Use Social Media to Amplify Your Joy—Not Your Anxiety from Camille Styles.

22. Nine life lessons from the happiest man in the world: from embracing tiny changes to not overthinking meditation on The Guardian. “Stressed out, endlessly scrolling and never satisfied? Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, the Buddhist monk with off-the-charts levels of contentment, may have the answers.”

23. How to think clearly when everything feels like an emergency. “People whose jobs deal with actual emergencies are trained to slow down first. Here’s how to borrow their strategies.”

24. It’s OK to Hate Summer on The New York Times. (gift link) “If you need help staying positive in the midst of heat waves and out-of-office disruptions, start with these tips.”

25. Five Reasons We Self-Sabotage by Sara Kuburic on Notes From My Phone. “The gap between the life we want and the one we keep choosing.”

26. Radhika Chitalia’s Late Father’s Passport Transforms into a Memory Capsule.

27. The Language of Things by Josie George. “Handmade brushes, ink and my deep fascination with a question. Can we ever really let things speak for themselves?”

28. Finding My Way Back: Rituals of Remembering by Danusha Laméris. “And so I arranged a pot of begonias to keep on our patio. I offer it here as show and tell even though it has not yet filled in. It’s a beginner. And its beginning makes me feel new again. Such a small thing. Which now I remember is a big thing. However bad it gets out in the world, or whatever dire straits––or mere discomforts–– I find myself in, these things seem to matter. Tending a rose bush. Planting some tomatoes and watching the red fruit ripen. Surely you, too, forget and remember what feeds you. Consider this an invitation to remember.”

29. And finally, a few random things I saved to my phone this week.