Your heart
is a parachute.
Make sure
it opens in time.
~Andrea Gibson
1. Celebrate Native American Heritage Month With Films Featuring Indigenous Voices.
2. PEN America to Honor Darnella Frazier, Young Woman Who Documented George Floyd’s Murder.
3. Boy does incredible (and adorable) live weather ‘report.’
4. I’ve been craving Apple Crisp.
5. Japanese Artist Cuts Black Paper Against Colored Lights to Look Like Gorgeous Landscapes.
6. Enchanted Forest Family Owned Theme Park Survival. This place is a big deal where I grew up, was a big deal to me and lots of kids like me.
7. Laurie Wagner interviews poet Richard Blanco. (video)
I so enjoyed this interview with poet, Richard Blanco, Obama’s fifth inaugural poet, and whose poem, One Today, was read at the 2013 inauguration. Richard is a true creative who practices a kind of Wild Writing that he called Fever Writing. He also shares this great metaphor for writing as fishing – I loved it. He’s one of us, and man oh day, listen for the poem he reads to us at the end of this 20 plus minute interview. I hope you enjoy this. It’s meant to inspire all of us.
8. Face Mask Fogging Up Your Glasses? Here’s What You Can Do About It.
9. 7 Things Therapists Are Telling Clients Feeling Terrified About the Election. In related news, Are you suffering from 2020 election burnout? You’re not alone and Self-care in 2020: I’m handling the election and the pandemic by throwing a series of tantrums. and It’s not that you don’t care. It’s that you’re mentally exhausted and Eight Questions That Can Help You Survive Election Stress.
11. Look Inward To Make External Change: Advice From A Meditation Teacher.
13. AOC’s Next Four Years. “The history-making congresswoman addresses her biggest critics, the challenges that loom no matter who wins, and what she’s taking on next.”
14. The Best Dog Poems Reveal the Good and the Mischievous in Our Canine Friends.
15. Artist Hand-Carves Unbelievable Designs and Symmetrical Patterns Into Food.
16. “What Else Can We Do” – The Bengsons. (video) In related news, their cover of Angel From Montgomery is one of the best I’ve ever heard.
17. Life Isn’t all Hard Luck and Trouble. Because this:
The point I am trying to make is in the midst of all this hardship, every single one of us needs to figure out how to find joy in the world we are in, not waste away yearning for the world it is not. Because this one is here now and ready to squash all of us if we aren’t vigilant, and the next one is going to make us bloody getting to. So let’s make the best of this one.
18. What is a Dog? from Rita’s Notebook. Good boy, Rocky. ❤
19. be seen project. “The Be Seen Project is a platform and community for BIPOC artists and makers who are using their work to center marginalized voices and create social justice dialogue and change.” Check out their zine and podcast.
20. We need to build a movement that heals our nation’s traumas. “If we don’t have an unwavering commitment to healing as we mobilize this election season, we will always be in crisis.” In related news, Healing America’s Racial Karma on Lion’s Roar, “More than 150 years after the end of slavery, America’s tragic racial karma rolls on. If we understand how karma really works, says Buddhist teacher Larry Ward, we can stop it.”
21. With One Week [Day] To Go, Here’s My Prediction Of What Happens On Election Day from Chuck Wendig on Terrible Minds. “Anything could happen now. This is the final run-up and the chaos will continue. The chaos will worsen. We must be there for each other and for our democracy, in the voting booths, on the streets, in the charities that need us, for everyone who is reaching out and will be hurt by four more years of this venomous, inept administration.”
22. New York Times Neediest Cases Fund campaign. “Established in 1911 by Adolph S. Ochs, publisher of The New York Times, The Neediest Cases Fund has raised over $300 million since its inception. Throughout our history, The Fund has provided direct assistance to those who are facing tough times in New York and beyond.”
23. When I share, I learn from Austin Kleon.
24. Interviews with Titanic Survivors.
25. Winter Calm in the Middle of a Pandemic.
26. How to take a vacation without leaving your own home.
27. Stacey Abrams on minority rule, voting rights, and the future of democracy.
28. Whale Sculpture Stops Train From Plunge in the Netherlands on The New York Times. Or as I like to call it, “the most Dutch thing that’s ever happened.”
29. some words to get you through the next 48 hours from Karen Walrond on Chookooloonks.
30. A House Called Tomorrow, a timely poem by Albertio Ríos. Because, this:
The bad do not win—not finally,
No matter how loud they are.
We simply would not be here
If that were so.
You are made, fundamentally, from the good.
With this knowledge, you never march alone.
…
The river bridges and star charts and song harmonies
All in service to a simple idea:
That we can make a house called tomorrow.
What we bring, finally, into the new day, every day,
Is ourselves. And that’s all we need
To start. That’s everything we require to keep going.
1. Morning walks. I only have three pictures, because it snowed this week and the only walk I went on was dark, cold, and slippery. There wasn’t much to see or take pictures of and I was too busy keeping my “eyes on the road.”
2. Snow. We got 16 inches at our house, and were so happy to see it because the fires were bad, We’d had multiple days of wind and the Troublesome Fire (one of four fires burning here) was headed straight into Estes Park but the snow slowed things down.
3. The final days of fall. Fall is my favorite time of year in Colorado, even though this year it didn’t last as long and we couldn’t go hiking because of the fires. We spent the day before the storm raking leaves and washing ash off the cars. I also gathered up all Ringo’s toys from the yard, washed and mended them, after which I temporarily changed the “no toys in the house” rule to “no toys outside.” 
5. My tiny family. Sam has been gone five months now, and I still miss him so much. For now, we are enjoying giving every bit of attention and all the treats to Ringo and he seems to be okay with that. We’ll get another dog eventually, but for now this is enough. Eric is back in his office a few days a week, so I get Ringo all to myself and kitchen counter love notes. I especially like winter because Ringo and Eric get more cuddly.
Bonus joy: two hours in the pool, sitting in the sauna, a big glass of cold clean water, clementines, funeral casserole, onion buns, Fritos (my go-to pandemic snack seems to be chips), good TV, good podcasts, good music, making myself a new playlist on Spotify (I called it 
Open Space Practice, (AKA: A Thousand Shades of Gray) 