Inspired By In June

Inspired by:

Clutter-clearing. 

For almost two years, I have been amassing video equipment: Mics, adapters, tripods, lights, cables, teleprompters—you name it, to make my yoga videos during the pandemic. I “stored” all this stuff at the top of the stairs, along with file boxes and other assorted detritus. The other day, G and I cleaned it. Below is the “after” and “before” situation. I can finally breathe when I arrive at the top of the stairs—huge kudos to G for all her organizational skills and for breaking my “I don’t even know where to begin!” paralysis.

Mountain Laurel on the Rim Trail 

We took the dogs to the Rim Trail, a mile-and-a-half loop from Colton Point, for our first Whimsical Wednesday. The mountain laurel is spectacular this year!

G and Rookie:

Annual Solstice Bike Ride 

Every year we ask the same question: when did we start doing this? None of us can remember, so from now on, we’re just going to say, “Twenty years ago.” 

Here we are at our ending point and ice cream destination: Cedar Run: Fred, G, and me.

Getting the Kayaks Wet 

This was our second Whimsical Wednesday. We went out before dinner, paddled around for a while, then had beer and pizza at Yorkholo.

 Good times.

Keeping My Meditation Streak Going

Day: 8

Anne Helen Petersen’s “Culture Study” Substack

There is so much garbage writing on the internet. So many things I read make me feel sludgy and depressed, but not this. I love this newsletter. Anne Helen Petersen is a wonderful writer; her readers, and most especially her commenters, make me feel I’ve found my tribe. This is the only Substack I subscribe to. You can check her out HERE.

Trello

I started using Trello when I was creating a lot of videos for my Yoga Membership and had a lot of stuff to keep track of, such as scripts, photos, and timetables. But eventually, I left it. I’ve recently gone back to it, purging some of my old boards and creating new ones for monthly goals, summer to-do lists, reading, and Whimsical Wednesdays. It feels like clutter-clearing for my brain.

Thinking about:

The difference between how I express myself when I write longhand as opposed to when I type. 

I am not taking my laptop to Portland, just my Remarkable tablet, so I’ve been doing my morning pages longhand on my tablet for the past few days just to see how it feels.

The nice thing about the Remarkable is that it will convert my longhand to text. This will allow me to copy and paste my entries into my ongoing Scrivener project when I get home —then add pictures. 

Watching:

Somebody Somewhere (MAX)

I’m finished, and I’m so very sad and so very hungry for more of this. I love Sam, but I really love Joel! But there’s no more left, sniff, and I fear with the writers’ strike, it may be a very long time until these characters come back into my life.  

Black Mirror (Netflix)

This show is a series of stand-alone dramas. I don’t think I will be able to withstand it, but I can withstand this first episode very much. Thank you.

I can’t stop thinking about this first episode called Jane is Awful. 

I will come back and talk about this one in a future post. 

Shrinking (Apple TV)

Finished Shrinking, too, and I’m missing those characters as well. 

Reading

David Copperfield.

I both love it and struggle to pick it up. I think I resist because it takes me so long to get into its headspace, but once I’m there, I never want to leave. I decided to read this after I finished Kingsolver’s Demon Copperhead.

A Million Miles in a Thousand Years 

I found myself recommending this to a friend the other day. I read it long ago and remembered it fondly because of its theme: Live A Great Story. So I re-read it.

The “live a great story” part was still inspiring, but I liked it more the first time.  I found Miller’s god and faith references a bit unnecessary, so I was disconnected. 

Coming Alive

 I just added this to my Kindle for the plane. Emily just finished it and loved it, and since I love nothing more than discussing books, I want to read this so we can do some yummy in-depth book chat.  If you’ve seen Stutz on Netflix and loved it, Phil Stutz is a co-author of this book, and he and Barry Michels go into their system more deeply.

One Hundred Saturdays

This is The Yoga Lounge Book Group’s 

pick for this month.  I haven’t started it yet, but I’ve already heard from someone that it’s become one of her favorite books of all time. Wo. 

If you ever want to join this group, you can. We meet on the second Sunday of the month from 3:30 to 4:30 on Zoom and talk about the book we picked to read the previous month and then pick the next one. We alternate fiction and non-fiction.  If you want me to send you the Zoom link, comment below, and I’d be happy to.

Today I am on my way to Portland, Oregon. I am visiting my daughter and grandkids for a long weekend. It’s been a while since I’ve flown.  

When I asked G this morning if she could remember the last time, she couldn’t.

So let’s just call it twenty years ago. 

Thanks for reading! 

See you next Thursday!