New Friend

In (book-) related news, this reminded us of Jeff VanderMeer/Alex Garland's Annihilation and led to me obsessively asking At where our copy of the Richard Powers book The Overstory went...

Where is it?
Did you find it yet?

_

Mantra

today goes
tomorrow grows

with night,
then light

the heart's rise
the sun's shine

it may not be
my business

it may be
my life

-

Life's Beach-y

It was so hot at the beach today...

Kirk Park Beach allows doggies off-leash,

but Scout Akshaya and Huck Amulya 

were a bit skittish and stayed close to mama.

One with all the kids--whenever their album comes out, 

this pic could go on the cover.

_

Independence Day/#SecondCivilWar

Dinner with neighbors and then off to Adado Park 

for the concert band and fireworks.

The enemy suffered a rout because of our optimism 

and the extraordinary American dream 

of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all.

(Clearly, I spent a chunk of the day chuckling over #SecondCivilWar )

_

Hikes with L

I've been waking up earlier to go on hikes with neighbor L who has lived here for a long time and seems to know the most fun trails all around. A moment where the weather, time away from teaching, and my life crush (L is totally life goals for me) come together.

Over the past week, we've seen everything.

From tucked-away horticultural gardens,

to forest paths,

to graffiti wonderlands

(this one under a Red Cedar River bridge).

_

Lazy-day craft

A pom-pom garland from Target, an old pillow...

and ta-da, I have the perfect pillow accent...

I'll have to tether the strings, but otherwise...

we're all done. It took < 10 mins.
(And most of that was trying to open the package without scissors.)

_

New Calendar

Half the year is done, and I almost bought a new 2018-19 calendar when Amma and I were out shopping today. I've been terrible about putting things in my 2018 calendar, and I've been terrible about making posts here. It's a decades-long pattern of letting summer disappear into heat-induced happiness. But of course I thought buying a new calendar would magically fix that.

I'm aiming for more accountability this summer while I make memories with my mama and bebés, get all the writing done, tackle some overdue decor projects; get pool time and yoga time and book time.

Let's see.

_