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1. 8 Things I’ve Learnt About Going Gently from Satya Robyn. “My recipe for a softer life in a harsh world.”

2. Please Help Patrick Post-Bone Marrow Transplant. He’s still fighting and still needs support.

3. On Morning Pages from Summer Brennan. “The value and pitfalls of a daily writing practice.”

4. Mental Health Tip From My Dog from Andrea Gibson. “How to not add more pain to our pain.”

5. Learning to Embrace Goodbye from Frederick Joseph. “However the end comes, it is always within our grasp to say the best goodbye by weaving the essence of what is gone into the fabric of who we are and what will be.”

6. Why Introverts Need Alone Time to Be Creative.

7. Dani Shapiro: Dharma & Devotion on Lion’s Roar. “Dani Shapiro talks about being raised Orthodox Jewish, uncovering a decades-old family secret, and writing her new novel — her most spiritual work yet.”

8. Wisdom from Omkari Williams: “We cannot possibly address, or even keep track of, all of these issues. So what do we do? I think that what we do is we narrow our focus and get micro. It’s what I teach in my workshops and write about in my book. In a time when we are being confronted by so many things the best thing that we can do is focus. Pick one or two things we’re going to work on and dive deep. Put our attention there and make the difference that we can in that arena.

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We are living in complicated times and it can be so tempting to just turn away from all that is happening. Our job, as citizens of this planet, is to make a positive difference. It doesn’t have to be a huge difference, this isn’t a competition, it just needs to be the difference we can make. That’s the price we pay for our being here, on this planet, at this moment. We do what we can, in the way that we can, for as long as we can.”

9. Is There Life After Influencing? on The New York Times. “The internet personality Lee From America wanted to see what life was like as plain old Lee Tilghman. She’s not alone. But leaving behind lucrative brand partnerships and high follower counts is harder than it looks.”

10. Should You Pay For Twitter’s New Blue Check? from Chuck Wendig on Terrible Minds.

11. Introduction to The Language of Trees: A Rewilding of Literature and Landscape by Ross Gay.

12. Why You Shouldn’t Put Your Kids On Diets – Full Interview from Ragen Chastain.

13. David Rakoff in “This American Life: The Invisible Made Visible.” (video)

14. Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus. (podcast) “Julia Louis-Dreyfus wants to know why the hell we don’t hear more from older women, so she’s sitting down with Jane Fonda, Carol Burnett, Amy Tan, Diane von Furstenberg, Isabel Allende and Fran Lebowitz (and more!) to get schooled in how to live a full and meaningful life. Join the Emmy award winning-est actress of all time on her first-ever podcast, where each week she has funny, touching, personal conversations with unforgettable women who are always WISER THAN ME.”

15. Living for dinnertime from Austin Kleon.

16. A Path to Well-Being: Embrace Silence for Stronger Mindfulness. “Understanding how to exist with our own thoughts can provide powerful health benefits.”

17. Recipe I want to try: Chicken Pot Pie Soup. My husband makes a version of this that we call “deconstructed chicken pot pie.” Also, I need these oatmeal cookies.

18. Poet Rosemerry Trommer hits bestseller lists.

19. Tucker Carlson departs Fox News following network’s $787 million settlement.

20. Murphy the eagle steps in as stepdad. (video) On CBS Sunday Morning, “At World Bird Sanctuary in Valley Park, Mo., the plight of Murphy, a bald eagle who was reduced to incubating a rock, aroused social media sympathy, until an orphaned eaglet was brought to the sanctuary for care, and the two have hit it off. Jane Pauley reports.”

21. Formidable wood-carved sculptures of wildlife animals in miniature by Tomohiro Suzuki.

22. therxckstxr on Instagram. The most hilarious voice over animal videos on the internet.

23. 8 Books for Anyone Curious About Meditation on The New York Times. “We asked experts — mindfulness teachers, spiritual leaders, and scientists — for their favorite beginner-friendly titles.”

24. Amazingly intricate and colorful vertical tattoos by Jing.

25. The intricate figurative art carved out of feathers by Chris Maynard.

26. ‘Good Trouble Quilts’: Civil Rights Memorial Center exhibit celebrates John Lewis.

27. U.S. completes old-growth forest inventory, plans to protect woodlands.

28. 5 Expert Tips to Manage Burnout and Find Queer Joy. “Spiritual and mental health experts explain why queer people are burnt out, and what we can do about it.”

29. How stress can increase your biological age and how to reverse it.

30. What a U.S. Poet Laureate Wants to Pass Down on The New York Times Style Magazine. “Joy Harjo’s work is rooted in the Native community, a respect that’s shared by the poet and writer Layli Long Soldier.”

32. How to Break Up with Your Therapist. “Ending any relationship is hard, let alone one with a therapist. Queer mental health experts explain how to know when it’s time.”

33. Return of the romcom: the genre is thriving again – but with new values. “For a dose of hope in hard times, romcoms still do the trick. Just don’t expect to see a remake of Pretty Woman any time soon.”

34. How Rural America Steals Girls’ Futures on The Atlantic.

35. Wellmania | Official Trailer | Netflix (video). Just finished watching this and LOVED it. If you liked Fleabag, Somebody Somewhere, You’re The Worst, or I’m Sorry, you’ll probably like this too.

36. 5 things to remember when a friendship ends.

37. Everything But the Girl: Fuse review – still staking out pop’s frontier after 40 years. “Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt have absorbed the revolutions in dance and electronic music since their previous album in 1999, and shaped them into melancholic, finely detailed stories.”

38. Gastro Doctors Share The 1 Food They Never (Or Rarely) Eat. “The experts on gas, bloating, colon cancer and other digestive issues share what they avoid themselves.”

39. Netflix To Bring Down the Curtain on Its DVD-by-Mail Service.

40. My Transplanted Heart and I Will Die Soon on The New York Times.

41. How Do You Create a Container Garden? Start Here. on The New York Times. “From the choice and arrangement of your pots to how you think about what goes in them, one garden designer has some advice for you.”

42. Hobart quilter Katherine Jones wins national, international awards for two-year creation.

43. In a Daily Sewing Project, Karen Turner Stitches a Visual Diary in Vividly Textured Designs.

44. Vivid Hues and Intricate Embroidery Bring Yumi Okita’s Remarkably Tactile Moths to Life.

1. Rita. My “Aunt” Rita died Wednesday night. We weren’t biologically related but she’s been a part of my family for as long as I can remember, is/was one of my mom’s best friends. She and her husband John and two boys moved in across the street from us when I was maybe three or four years old, and my mom and her became fast friends and stayed that way for the rest of their lives even after they moved away, regularly writing letters and visiting.

Just before they moved away, the boy’s aunt got them a puppy to soften the blow of moving, a tiny black and gray cockapoo they named Muffin. If you’ve been reading my blog for long, you know that Muffy was the first dog I loved big. They moved about four hours away and at least once a year we went to visit. As much as I loved seeing Rita and her family, the biggest draw for me was that sweet little dog who loved me as much as I loved her.

When they moved again, it was to a house by the beach in Washington a little over three hours away. At that point, my brother’s girls were old enough to go with us, so it became their summer trip to see Rita and her two grandsons at the beach too. We’d spend our days walking on the nearby beach looking for shells and heart shaped rocks, taking the bus to the nearby town of Long Beach where we’d walk along the boardwalk and visit the little tourist shops, playing SkipBo or doing puzzles, reading and taking naps, eating good food (she made the BEST pies) and making each other laugh. Those trips are some of my best memories.

For the past few years, Rita has been in memory care and in the past few weeks in hospice, so her death wasn’t unexpected and yet, when someone has been a constant and beloved part of your life for so many years, it’s hard to imagine the world without them in it. I’m so grateful to have known, loved and been loved by her.

2. Colorado sky. I haven’t been able to go on morning walks, am still working my way back up to that, but I’ve gone on short walks and sat in the backyard and got to see the sky doing what it does.

3. Naps. In the comfort of my own bed with my blackout shades and sleep mask and various pillows and blankets and clean sheets and something playing on my phone, a podcast or a music playlist. As much as walking and getting in the pool and sitting in the sunshine these naps are essential to healing, to being well.

4. Spring, in particular the green and the blooms.

5. My tiny family, tiny home, tiny life. As I sleep in most mornings while I’m healing from surgery, Eric has been flooding me with kitchen counter love notes, along with all the other ways he’s loving and caring for me. Ringo got to go play with one of his favorite people this week, Teri his physical therapist. He doesn’t really need to keep going, he’s doing so well, but he just loves working with her so much and she has all kinds of cool “toys” to play with.

Bonus joy: the hydromassage chair, the pool, sitting in the sauna or the backyard with Eric, good books, good TV and movies, listening to podcasts, practice, being able to rest, not having to rush, seeing Janice, hanging out with Mikalina, a warm shower, peach sorbet, green grapes, muffins, how warm Ringo’s fur is when he comes inside after lounging in the backyard, the riot of birdsong in the morning, birds at the feeder, reading in bed at night while Eric and Ringo sleep.