1. Morning walks. After all these years, I have finally figured out routes close to water we can take that aren’t overrun with mosquitoes in the heat of summer, or maybe we don’t have as many this year. Either way, I’ve been loving walking around various ponds and next to parts of the river. There also seem to be WAY more wildflowers this year. In one spot, a deer followed us for a bit. I think she may have been hiding a baby close by and wanted to make sure we kept moving.
2. Peach season. Which also means watermelons and grapes and corn.
3. Honeybees, and how much they love our golden rain trees. At a particular time in the morning, there are so many, the hum of them collecting pollen from the tiny yellow flowers is the most gorgeous golden noise.
4. Naps. There’s a lot of that going on around here lately.
5. My tiny family, tiny life, tiny house. I know neither of us are ready for him to retire, but I sure love it that Eric has summer vacation and can be home more often. He’s my favorite person to hang out with, and when he gets bored, he cleans. 🙂
Bonus joy: being able to cancel everything and sleep all day when I need to, good books (it seems like everything I read lately is so good), watching TV, listening to podcasts, brown noise, Bubbly grapefruit sparkling water, a/c, texting, memory, grocery shopping, clean laundry, clean sheets, down pillows and blankets, meditation, restorative yoga, that video of a bear taking a four hour nap, reading on my Kindle at night while Ringo and Eric sleep.
4. America Outdoors with Baratunde Thurston, a 6-episode series on PBS hosted by author, cultural activist, and Emmy®-nominated host Baratunde Thurston, executive producer and host of How to Citizen with Baratunde, which Apple named one of its favorite podcasts of 2020.
6. Meditation Is a Political Acton Lion’s Roar. “Meditation is about facing suffering squarely and seeing reality clearly. That’s why it’s the best starting place if you want to help a troubled world, says Zen teacher Dan Zigmond.”
7. Stepping Into Truth Podcast: Detoxing from America’s wellness culture with Kerri Kelly. “In her new book, American Detox: The Myth of Wellness and How We Can Truly Heal, and in this conversation, Kerri explores the ways in which our culture of wellness perpetuates systems that are deeply unwell. She leads us in a conversation that helps us find our way towards the deep, connected wellness that nourishes us all and away from individualistic focus that keeps us stuck in unhealthy comparison and competition.” The subtitle of this podcast series is “Conversations on Social Justice and How We Get Free,” and is described this way, “Navigating our way through this complex, challenging time requires taking a clear look at the issues we’re confronting. Join Omkari Williams and her guests as they take on some of the most pressing issues of our time.”
16. The Pleasures of Tsundoku, Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Book Piles. “That the haphazard placement of titles around the house is not a mess, but an invitation to serendipitous rediscovery. That the seeming randomness of individual piles is not disorganization, but a potential generator of illuminating juxtapositions.”
18. The Healing Power of Strength Trainingon The New York Times. “Everyone knows that weight lifting increases physical strength. But, for some, it can give psychological power, too.”
33. Uncovering the Asian American Old West. “Asian Americans were conveniently written out of history about the Old West. But they were present—and prolific.” How wild and wonderful would it be if we actually collectively committed ourselves to facing the truth, our real history?
40. How to Follow the News Without Spiraling into Despair. “Name your emotions. Take action. Know your limits. These seven mindfulness-based strategies can help you stay grounded while caring deeply about the world.”
Open Space Practice, (AKA: A Thousand Shades of Gray) 