1. Morning walks. It was so nice to get back to these once I was back from Oregon, but it’s a bit bittersweet because I have surgery on Tuesday and it will be a few weeks before I can get back to them again.
2. Being in Oregon with my family, then returning home to Colorado to my tiny family. It was good to be there and we got some things accomplished (got another MRI for Mom and scheduled a follow-up appointment with her neurologist, as well as getting another caretaker hired so my brother can be back home sleeping in his own bed and able to work more often, along with a haircut for Mom, getting her glasses adjusted and taking her to a dentist appointment, a birthday dinner for my brother, birthday present for Warren, and some futzing and organizing around Mom’s house). It was a lot, and it was good, and I’m SO glad to be back home.
3. Practice. It keeps my heart open, keeps me from falling apart, keeps me from giving up.
4. Rest. Since I got back to Colorado, I’ve basically been hibernating. Partly because I was exhausted and had a lot of big emotions to process, and partly because I knew I had surgery coming up and needed to be ready for that.
5. My tiny family, small house, little life. There’s nothing like being gone for a few weeks to remind me how much I love it here — not that I’d forgotten. The first morning I was back, Eric got up and he and Ringo left the bedroom to go to the kitchen for breakfast, and even though food is Ringo’s favorite thing, he turned around and wanted Eric to let him back in because he wanted to check and be sure I really was home. And remember when I posted a link to a tiny brass deer a few weeks ago, saying I was adding it to my list of things I didn’t need but still wanted? When I came into my practice room that first morning, one was sitting on my meditation shrine, a gift from Eric.
Bonus joy: good books, listening to podcasts, getting upgraded to a brand new rental car, having snow but not so much that it made travel difficult, pizza, learning how to make Eric’s homemade chicken noodle soup, being able to help, being able to maintain boundaries, getting good sleep, donuts from Depoe Baykery, visiting with family and friends, a few really nice days before the rain started, paying bills, doing laundry, cooking, a warm shower, sleeping with the window open, slowing down, cheese, peanut butter, clean sheets, ice cream, seeing Chloe’, dinner with Jon & Chelsey, canceled plans, hugs, reading in bed at night while Eric and Ringo sleep.
1. Free Palestine. Natalie Hinahara is a printmaker, muralist, and graphic designer born and raised in Wisconsin and currently based in Oregon. On her website, she offers four open source Free Palestine posters and shares the link to a folder of similar images that Artist Micah Bazant created for activists, organizers, and educators to download and use.
2. Statement from The Council of Bishops of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in which they call on the United States Government to immediately withdraw all funding and other support from Israel. “Since 1954, Israel has shown a willful disregard for the human dignity of Palestinians. Since October 7, 2023, in retaliation for the brutal murder of 1139 Israeli citizens by Hamas, Israel has murdered over 28,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children. The United States is supporting this mass genocide. This must not be allowed to continue. There must be an immediate and permanent ceasefire between these two communities.”
6. Wisdom from Kate Forster: “I think it’s a deep consolation to know that spiders dream, that monkeys tease predators, that dolphins have accents, that lions can be scared silly by a lone mongoose, that otters hold hands, and ants bury their dead. That there isn’t their life and our life. Nor your life and my life. That it’s just one teetering and endless thread and all of us, all of us, are entangled with it as deep as entanglement goes.”
7. ‘Chill’: Waldport honors quirky, kindhearted man. (video) In related news, CHILL: A SHORT HISTORY OF WALDPORT VIDEO. (video) “Chuck Hill ran a unique, cash only video store full of hidden gems and rare titles for over 30 years in the small town of Waldport, Oregon. It wasn’t just a video store but a gathering place, the hub of a small coastal town. Chuck’s store and his influence has shaped many lives. This is an intimate visit with a small town legend & movie messenger for offbeat films.” We got to meet Chuck and rented videos from his store each summer when we’d visit. He was a weird, cool dude.
18. After Shutting Down, These Golf Courses Went Wildon The New York Times (gift link).”Most defunct golf courses get paved over, but a number are getting transformed into ecological life rafts for wildlife, plants — and people.”
21. The luxurious fantasy of suffering in Hanya Yanagihara’s novels. “The author of A Little Life and To Paradise writes long, voluptuous books all about human pain.” This article is a few years old, but I’m just now reading To Paradise, (because there were no copies of A Little Life currently available at my library) and loving it.
23. ‘Black AF History’ examines American history from the perspective of Black people. In this episode of NPR’s Book of the Day, “political commentator and author Michael Harriot speaks with Here & Now’s Celeste Headlee about how revisiting American history in the context of the Black perspective shows the country’s story as one of triumph and survival.”
28. Heart Advice from Pema Chödrön: “We can try to control the uncontrollable by looking for security and predictability, always hoping to be comfortable and safe. But the truth is that we can never avoid uncertainty. This not-knowing is part of the adventure. It’s also what makes us afraid.”
31. Making Friends with Ourselveson Lion’s Roar. “Being our own best friend is a challenging feat. Kate Johnson explains how meditation can help us get to know our inner critics and prevent them from hindering our path to liberation.”
35. Louisiana Channelon YouTube. “Weekly videos on art, literature, architecture and design are produced by Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark. Louisiana Channel contributes to the permanent development of the museum as a cultural platform and wants to enhance the sense of the importance of art and culture.”
Kind and gentle reader: It’s going to be a bit quiet here for the next few weeks. I’m heading to Oregon to spend time with my mom, and to give my brother a bit of a break from being her fulltime caretaker (his birthday present from me). In the meantime, here’s the archive of 600+ Something Good lists. Take such good care of yourselves and I’ll be back soon. ❤
Open Space Practice, (AKA: A Thousand Shades of Gray) 