June | 2021 | Open Space Practice, (AKA: A Thousand Shades of Gray)

1. Morning walks. Not too many pictures this week. Since we can’t go by the river because of the mosquitoes we’ve been walking to City Park and around the lake, but most of our walk is through neighborhoods, which are pretty to be sure but not necessarily something to take pictures of to share.

Found sign. Should probably say “Bark If You Are Horny!”

2. Peonies! I am going to miss most of them, but have been able to see and smell a few of them open.

3. Our garden. There are so many blooms this year. Eric is busy putting down the load of cedar mulch that got delivered on Tuesday and it smells so good!

4. The chance to visit family and see the ocean again. It’s been too long.

5. My tiny family, my tiny house, my tiny life. Ringo got to see three of his favorite people in the world besides myself and Eric yesterday, and I finally mended all his toys. He was one happy dog, except when I told him that my new crocheted mini Ringo wasn’t a dog toy — he really really really wanted to play with it. Eric went to a D&D event last weekend and he was pretty cute in his costume.

Bonus joy: Running into Chloe’ and Franny yesterday and getting to hug and pet them and hang out for a bit, writing and hanging out with Calyx knowing I get to see them in two weeks and hang out for four days in person, potato salad, strawberries from our garden, looking forward to three whole weeks off social media, breakfast burritos, onion buns, clean sheets, our whole house fan, a/c, vaccines, good TV, podcasts, naps, reading in bed at night while Eric and Ringo sleep.

1. The Millennial Vernacular of Fatphobia. In related news, Fat-shaming by doctors, family, classmates is a global health problem, studies find, and Her doctor weight shamed her. Then she found out she had stage 3 colon cancer at 27, and But What About Health?

2. How to pick the best sunscreen for you.

3. Once, a series from Andrea Corrona Jenkins, one picture at a time with a short memory. It reminds me of the story slices practice we do with Laurie in Wild Writing.

4. Critical race theory is a lens. Here are 11 ways looking through it might refine your understanding of history. “The following list is by no means comprehensive, but it lifts key and oft-overlooked elements of America’s story to the fore in an attempt to analyze how they’ve molded the present and might shape the future.”

5. She Put Her Unspent Love in a Cardboard Box on The New York Times. “My mother’s gifts, her letters, are a constant reminder that I have already been given what every child, what every human, needs: I have been fiercely, extravagantly, wildly loved.”

6. A Proclamation on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Pride Month, 2021 from The White House.

7. Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain Official Trailer. (video) “An intimate, behind-the-scenes look at how an anonymous chef became a world-renowned cultural icon…this unflinching look at Bourdain reverberates with his presence, in his own voice and in the way he indelibly impacted the world around him.”

8. What Matters: Austin Kleon, an interview.

9. Cornflake Marshmallow Cookies. (recipe)

10. An Alt-Rock Queen Returns to Take Back Her Crown. “After an 11-year hiatus, Liz Phair is older, wiser, and no less crushing.”

11. How will our pandemic trauma translate into emotional growth?

12. 10 Things I Never Realized I Do Because I’m an HSP. In related news, 9 Ways Highly Sensitive People Can Benefit From Yoga.

13. A glance at a hummingbird nest and its newest residents. (video)