jillsalahub

Image by Eric

1. May, a whole new month. This means pay day for Eric, paying bills for me, which gives me such a sense of calm, knowing that we still have an income, can pay our bills and buy groceries, get the dogs the care they need. It’s also the full shift from winter to working in the garden. Things are blooming and we are getting our vegetable garden ready for the seeds Eric started. This summer will be something other than we planned — we cancelled our trip to Oregon to visit family, the 10 days we were going to spend at the beach, and my cousin postponed her wedding — and yet, there will be summer.

2. Working in the garden. Weeding our garden at the start of the season takes at least a week, maybe two to get things under control, since the grass and bindweed are determined to own the front yard, and I have no interest in using poison to stop their spread. So that’s the focus right now, cleaning things up so we can cover it with mulch, which we got delivered this week. Isn’t it funny how you initially think you’ll be able to weed an entire flower bed, and you work on it for an hour but barely get anything done? I thought I’d do the whole front burm the first day, but only finished one small section. The next day’s goal was the center bed and I only finished one corner. Gardening definitely teaches you patience, but also a particular sort of joy.

3. My goofy sun hat. It’s kind of ridiculous, but I also kind of love it.

4. Morning walks. I haven’t been able to do as many of these as I’d like, as I have some plantar fasciitis in my left foot. Something exciting happened during one of them: there was a heron standing at the edge of the river fishing, and it caught one! Swallowed it whole and then bent over to put its beak in the river, shook it around like it was washing its face. I’d never seen one actually get a fish.

5. My tiny family. I’m so glad to be with them, to love them, to be loved by them.

Bonus joy: so much good stuff, still; such as a livestreamed poetry reading and Q&A with Andrea Gibson, Do You Need a Ride? podcast, Maria Bamford’s new comedy special, hanging out with Mikalina, texting with my mom and brother, comedy, music, poetry, movies, TV shows, food, books, podcasts, plants, water, animals, sunshine, sleep, practice. And the things I miss: swimming pools, eating food at a restaurant, coffee dates, browsing bookstores, group yoga classes, tea with Chloe’, other people’s dogs, the sauna, teaching yoga, going to a movie and getting popcorn, grocery shopping, the beach, hugging my friends, my family.

1. Coping with Coronavirus: Use These Skills to Be Your Best Self on Zen Psychiatry. “Instead of going straight to habitual negative coping skills that may not be productive, take a pause and try one of these strategies instead.”

2. An Anxious Introvert’s Guide to Keeping Calm During the Crisis.

3. Every Covid-19 Commercial is Exactly the Same. (video)

4. What do Artists do all day?, a video series.

5. Morning, Sunshine, a morning meditation video series from Jen Lee.

6. The Best Acoustic Covers of Popular Songs, a full hour of music. (video)

7. Yoga with Adriene’s May Practice Theme: Meditation. “If you have been wanting to add a regular meditation to your routine, this is your month. Throughout the month of May we will be focusing on seated and moving meditations that will ease stress and create equilibrium for positive mental, emotional, and physical health…Take time to sit quietly or let it be a moving meditation. This month’s free yoga calendar includes opportunities for both. Commit to exploring the practice this month and observe it unfold and grow.”

8. Sarah’s Rental Cottage, “DIY adventure of fixing up a remote 1950s island cottage on the open water of Georgian Bay before the sun set on summer.” Proof that painted hardwood floors aren’t always wrong.

9. Good stuff from Austin Kleon: To wonder rather than know (in particular, I LOVE the blackout poem at the beginning of this post), and Survive the savage sea, and Do what you know how to do, and 3 thoughts on a decade of publishing books, and On praying, whether you believe or not.

10. How to grow your own tiny forest.

11. Shift your Mood: 7 Quick & Easy Body Tools.

12. A story of kindness from a flower grower in Kerry with lots of flowers and an idea to brighten people’s day. (video)

13. A Harvard student who traces the etymology of words and makes all kinds of infographics, from cities to apple varieties to Harry Potter characters.

14. Man dies from coronavirus after calling it a ‘political ploy’. This is just one story of many. Sometimes you find out you are wrong the hard way. In related news, “I Don’t Believe Your Science As I Believe My God” Says Anti-Lockdown Protestor.

15. ‘Instead of Coronavirus, the Hunger Will Kill Us.’ A Global Food Crisis Looms on The New York Times.

16. Native American Heritage Association, “Native American families suffer from food insecurity and hunger daily. Two of the poorest counties in America are on the Crow Creek and Pine Ridge Reservations in South Dakota. NAHA, with the help of our generous donors, is committed to fighting hunger with emergency food supplies and basic life necessities.”