Note: I published this, and attempted to send it to everyone via email, on May 15, but I discovered after the fact that it did not actually do the email part. It took me a minute to track down the issue and get it sorted out. So apologies for this
One year ago today, I was moving out of the apartment I had lived in for five years and into the first home I have ever owned, just purchased by myself as a single woman at the age of forty-two. While it was a good move (figuratively speaking, because
Well, hello. Fancy meeting you around here. It's been a minute. As I've noted before, winters tend to throw me off track. I've missed a couple of newsletter editions. But I'm back. In the meantime, I mostly watched movies. I went to
Well. What a calm, quiet and uneventful month January was, wasn't it. January always tends to do a number on my energy and attention and this one left me feeling particularly drained. I hope you are all taking care of yourselves and those around you. Stay informed but
I am not sure if I have ever known a New Year's celebration as a true celebration rather than a overcompensatory effort to make a celebration happen. I think I, and those I found myself with, were almost always trying too hard. It's hard not to.
Happy Halloween, dear friends and even dearer enemies. The past couple of months have been eventful on my end, so this edition might be light on the typical list items and heavy on the personal updates. So it goes. On the travel front, I've been goin' places.
It happens every year: As much as I like autumn, I mourn the loss of summer. I do like summer best. I like sun and warmth and the old conviction, cemented in childhood, that summer is for freedom and new opportunities. I'm twenty years beyond a life ruled
Last week I turned forty-three years old. It seemed like a momentous occasion until the day of, and then it seemed rather normal. Getting older seems to be a lot of that. In any case, I haven't felt as much impulse to reflection as I usually do
Hey, only half a month late this time. I'm improving. Apologies for missing May's edition entirely—I was in the thick of moving, which is an inherently awful process and, while nothing went terribly wrong, it was, inherently, awful. I am still settling into my new
April was quite a month. So much so that I completely forgot to send a newsletter at the end of it. My apologies for the delay, and for the fact that my list is going to be even more freeform than usual. I usually link to things I have made,
Note: this was originally sent out on 31 March 2024, but then gremlins got into my newsletter machine and I had to restore everything from an earlier backup. I've now recreated this newsletter as a post on the site, but if you are a subscriber and noticed any
Every year, I promise myself that I'll defeat February, and, every year, February ends up at least mildly defeating me. I felt particularly overtaxed this past month— although largely for good reason, because I added to my regular load of job, parenting, and part-time school the process
Traditionally, late January and February are gloomy times. The flush of the new year has faded and winter starts wearing on the soul around then. I took myself off for a quick trip to New York to go to the opera, which was lovely, but too quick. So I'
Usually, I send a list of things from the month just passed; but in this liminal time when one year blends into the next, I felt compelled to incorporate a bit longer range of retrospection than usual, and maybe a little more looking ahead. This past year was one of
I did virtually nothing throughout November (other than regular work and home responsibilities) but read, watch movies, walk long distances, go to yoga and write. It was lovely. I'm ready for a calm winter season. Here is a list of nice and quiet things I did, made and
Every October, I take a trip north to the land of the House on the Rock. I have done this for several years now and I have written often about that weird and wonderful place. I suppose it's not for everyone, but I get a lot out of
I am an autumn person, but I'm an autumn person who is also a summer person. I love, love, love summer, and I'm not generally fond of change. So when summer starts to fade, I start to mourn. For a bit. Then I remember I love
Over this past month, I read both of Mason Currey's collections of artists' daily routines and rituals (Daily Rituals: How Artists Work and Daily Rituals: Women at Work). The older I get, and the more I aim for simplicity and space to think, the more I am
Hey, it's the last day of July, my birthday month. I turned forty-two years of age last week. It's pretty cool so far. I'll keep you posted about how it goes. Here's a list of things I did, read, and made
Last month I sat down to put together a list of things for May and I discovered that my newsletter had inexplicably broken. I did many things to try to fix it and yet I only managed to melt everything down to a digital lump. Of course my backups failed.
