jillsalahub

Note: It was a busy week last week, and I kept losing track of the days. I’m trying to get a lot done before I have to go back to work next month but I’m also in that wonderful limbo of vacation time where some days the most important thing is to eat a ripe peach and take a nap, and stuff keeps coming up, like a broken tooth that needs to come out. I have so much I want to write about, share here, but it’s still one of those strange fallow seasons for a bit longer I think.

1. Morning walks. To be honest, I haven’t been going on many the past few weeks. This morning, as I was sleeping in (sleeping in around here means until 6 or 6:30 am instead of getting up at 5 am), I heard the click of the dogs’ harnesses and the open and close of the door, realized I was missing another walk, and I recommitted to getting up at 5 am every morning, even if I’m tired and it’s hard. I want to get back into the habit.

2. Flowers in the bathroom. My flower person at the Farmer’s Market was in Iowa last Saturday instead of opening her booth, so Eric brought me these amazing sunflowers from the grocery store. It was double gratitude – that he’s so thoughtful and the reminder of how amazing the Farmer’s Market flowers are.

3. Joyful movement and practice. Yoga, Pilates, meditation, writing, aqua aerobics, swimming lessons.

4. Sweet Sam and Ringo Blue. I didn’t take many pictures of them this week for some reason, even though they were just as sweet and cute as ever. Ringo had a play date with his best friend Pancho and I forgot to even take any pictures of how happy they were to see each other.

5. Eric. He is so kind, so funny, and takes such good care of me. He brought me flowers, has been so sweet as I manage the pain of waiting for a broken tooth to get pulled (followed by a bone graft and then an implant), bought me more Palisade peaches, and made me a pineapple upside down cake on the bbq grill.

It wasn’t pretty, but oh my did it taste good.

This is what it’s like when Ringo is done napping. “Wake up, Dad!”

Bonus joy: while Ringo was playing with his friend Pancho I got to hang out with his person who is one of my favorites, seeing the documentary RBG with another of my favorites and the rice krispie treat from the concession stand, seeing a movie with Eric and sharing his popcorn, the Japanese cucumbers from our garden (so sweet and super crunchy), good books (reading The Power right now), good TV, new music, swimming on my back across the pool, sitting in the sauna with Eric, eating as many peaches as I want, trying a new recipe, a quick Zoom chat with another one of my favorites, rain storms, our whole house fan, a glass of cold clean water.

It’s Palisade peach season in Colorado, y’all

1. This is an ongoing contemplation for me: The ‘King’ of Shambhala Buddhism Is Undone by Abuse Report from The New York Times. In related news, Matthew Remski and I talk about Shambhala, guru-culture, and my blind spots from Susan Piver (I haven’t had a chance to watch the video or read his article yet, but I plan to), and Confessions of a Dharma Sex Kitten.

2. A draft agenda for fat justice. This is such an important clarification and call to action.

3. Inside the Radical, Uncomfortable Movement to Reform White Supremacists. “As hate groups have surged, so has the number of extremists trying to escape.” In related news, from the same source (Mother Jones), Trump Says White Supremacist Terror Is Fake News. These Chilling Cases Prove Otherwise.

4. ICE Officers to Asylum Seekers: ‘Don’t You Know That We Hate You People?’ In related news, 22 people were rounded up in a two-day ICE raid in northern Kentucky (video).

5. ‘He loved them more than himself’: How a 25-year-old former monk kept the Thai soccer team alive.

6. Go with your hut from Alexandra Franzen.

This is the voice that, these days, I call my “hut,” which stands for “heart + gut.” Your hut is not the voice of reason, logic, or Excel spreadsheets. Your hut is the voice of instinct and intuition, that inexplicable feeling of what’s right for you and you alone. Your hut doesn’t always speak in words. Sometimes it speaks in feelings, tingles, an invisible hand on your shoulder, a fire in your belly, tears in your eyes that won’t stop.

7. A Buddhist Teacher’s 5 Ways to Resist on Lion’s Roar. “If the state of things sociopolitical has you downhearted, says Jan Willis, action is the only way to bring back hope. Here’s her advice for making the most of your bravery, your voice, and your vote.”

8. How Fat Shaming Leads To Eating Disorders.

9. Florida Police Chief Told Cops to Pin Crimes on Black Teens, Adults to Boost Crime Stats. In related news, Cop Fired For Calling Black People ‘Alabama Porch Monkeys’ … Then Re-Hired, and Man Who Drove Through Antwon Rose Protest, Ran Over Demonstrator, Only Charged With Misdemeanor, and A passenger racially abused this Muslim woman on a bus to Staten Island (video), and ‘Coupon Carl’ Calls Cops on Black Woman at CVS for Allegedly Using a Forged Coupon, But Was Busted Himself for … Forgery Less Than 2 Years Ago, and Woman Who Beat Elderly Mexican Man with a Brick on July 4 Charged With Attempted Murder, and Woman Studying Outside Grocery Store Attacked by Drunken Racist, and Papa John’s CEO Attempts Damage Control But Not An Apology, and These Two White Women Attacked Their Hispanic Neighbors And Called The Police On Themselves, and Puerto Rico Governor Wants Officer Fired Over Flag Incident Caught on Video on The New York Times, and California Prosecutor Suspended After Vile Attack On Maxine Waters, and Racist jerk attacks Latina for wearing a Puerto Rico shirt (video), and #SummerJobWhileBlack: Child Gets Cops Called on Him for Delivering Newspapers, and #NaptimeNancy Is The New #PermitPatty — And She Works For Harvard.

10. Chicago Neighborhood Explodes After Officer Kills Popular Black Barber; Police Say He Was ‘Exhibiting Characteristics’ of an Armed Person. In related news, any time there is a riot, it’s good to remember what Martin Luther King Jr. said,

And I must say tonight that a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it America has failed to hear? … It has failed to hear that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met. And it has failed to hear that large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice and humanity.

11. An Open Letter to All White Women Seeking Redemption. In related news, The Most Dangerous Person in America Is The White Woman, and This Is the America White People Wished For. This Is the America White People Want.

12. #CaucasianCallingTax: White People Need to Be Taxed for Wasting Police Officers’ Time. Agreed. In related news, Racist Caucasian Crusaders, It’s a Thing (video), and After Calling 911 On Black Family, Subway Worker Placed On Leave. And the winner is this one, whose title makes you think it’s an article from The Onion, but it’s not, it’s real: White Woman Calls Cops on California Man Chilling in His Car Listening to Yoga CD.

13. ‘See Ya Later, Suckas!’ The Obituary of a 5-Year-Old Boy in His Own Words on The New York Times.

14. Chris and Donella lead their interracial, cross-cultural, and multi-lingual blended-family with play, hard work, and love as they navigate the triumphs and challenges of raising two sons. (video)

15. Don’t be a Bystander: 6 Tips for Responding to Racist Attacks (video).

16. A Nervous Cat Helped This Guy Feel Connected To The World (video). “When this guy’s friends asked him to help walk their nervous cat Sawyer, he was skeptical at first. But Nick was having trouble forming relationships, so he decided to give it a try. Today on Soulmates, watch how Nick and Sawyer formed a very special bond that helped them both put aside their anxieties and have beautiful adventures together.”

17. 60 Second Docs Presents Sidewalk Confessions (video).

18. CSU caught a professor forging an offer letter to boost his pay. They kept him another year. This is some serious bullshit.

19. 12 benefits of having a cat (video).

20. Black Culture Problem? (video)

21. United Shades of America: Native Hawai’i (video).

22. ‘It’s Not a New Story’: Family Separations Open Old Wounds.

23. Weird Things Couples Do With Their Dogs (video).

24. Stephen Miller threw $80 worth of sushi away to protest a protester.

25. Me when fav songs comes on in the car (video).

26. Congress is only 20% female. What if it were 50/50? (via America From Scratch • PBS) (video)

27. After the president spread a weird lie about the late-night host, Jimmy Kimmel countered with a totally true, 100 percent not-made-up story of his own. (video)

28. Confession: I’m an Introvert, and Sometimes I Lie to Avoid Socializing.