Every time I sit down to write you, I start trying to explain what life looks like here and I can’t, so I stop. And then try again later. This has happened multiple times over the course of multiple weeks so I’ve decided I’m just going to share some things even though it isn’t Tuesday.

Reading – Ripe by Sarah Rose Etter, Trust by Domenico Starnone, Morgan is My Name by Sophie Keetch*, Blue Hour by Tiffany Clarke Harrison*, Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma by Claire Dederer*, Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo*, Land of Milk and Honey by C. Pam Zhang (pre-print), Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree*, Women Talking by Miriam Toews, Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton, Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt*, A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles*, and The In-Between: Unforgettable Encounters During Life’s Final Moments by Hadley Vlahos. I especially enjoyed these.* My TBR is obnoxious so I’ve started making a stack of books, asking on social media what other people recommend I should read next and then grabbing whatever calls to me. Sometimes it’s what someone recommends, sometimes it’s not even something in the pile. They’ve become my favorite posts.

Watching: The Bear (Hulu), past seasons of Real Housewives of Orange County, the most recent season of New. York (Peacock). I could use some recommendations.

Making: These popsicles (and they are so easy and good), and BLT’s because we have so many tomatoes. So. Many.

Knitting: Not a thing. Just haven’t been feeling it lately.

Listening: I am not usually a podcast person, but Normal Gossip was recently recommended to me, I listened to an episode while traveling, and now I’m hooked.

So that’s things here. What about you? What are you -ing lately? Enjoying these last weeks of summer?

It’s summer. The days are an endless string of sunny and hot. Both of my children are the kind of brown I used to spend my days being (before we knew better). The Sun Bum I toss in their bag and my admonishments to reapply go ignored as they spend their days at the community pool either playing or working (depending on the child).

Abram is at camp this week. Violet is working. As I’m writing this, I can hear the clock’s pendulum swinging, the birds, a neighbor two houses down mowing. The laundry starts a spin cycle. I once longed for this kind of quiet. Now, I don’t quite know what to do with it. At some point they’ll both be home next week, watching some annoying YouTuber and bickering about who is taking up too much of the couch, and leaving the detritus of teenagerdom (chargers, earbuds, earrings, dirty socks, dishes, spare change) everywhere and I’ll wonder at myself feeling so sentimental. My feelings swing like the clock – just slower and wider.

I go to bed early. I get up early. Jesse and I sit and have coffee on the front porch until the house finches start harping on us that we are too close. I skipped hanging baskets for two years but forgot why. They are why. The baskets are absolutely destroyed. I don’t blame the finches- what a wonderfully safe place to build a nest if the humans are accommodating which, of course, we are.

We’re almost at the end of work without reward garden season. It won’t be much longer before I’ll start harvesting. We did more of fewer this year – tomatoes, green beans, pumpkins, cucumbers. Today, I weeded and thinned some of the green beans (I let them go too long). I smushed squash and cucumber beetles – resented the space I gave the garlic when I planted it last fall. (I can’t help but think of all the things I could be growing.)

I like to be busy with lazy things – reading, knitting, gardening. I organize drawers and sort yarn. I make lists of projects that need to be tackled and slowly, I tackle them. I putter.

Let’s talk things.

Watching: I ended up with a month’s free trial on Prime so had to watch Shiny Happy People. (The Duggar documentary.) Certain parts of it brought back things I grew up with in church that I hadn’t thought about for years. I talked about it with another person who grew up with an Assembly of God/fundie background and one of the things we realized is that our husbands (who did NOT grow up that way) noticed and focused on certain things, and we focused on very different things. I’m curious if there is a big male/female difference or a fundie/non-fundie difference (or both). I want to get to the last season of Mrs. Maisel before the trial expires.

Reading: Ripe by Sarah Rose Etter. It’s coming out in July and it’s very good. Dark. But good. I thought it was a quick read. (I go back and forth on whether the preprints/discount or book conversations are the best part of my job) Others I’ve finished: The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai – one of the best and most beautifully written stories I’ve ever read. Top 5. The Daddy Diaries by Andy Cohen – I love him and I love his books. Last Summer on State Street by Toya Wolfe – Great characters. Good debut novel. Will be interested in reading more from her. Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boullay – This was hard for me to get into but once I did I really enjoyed it. I don’t know if the difficulty was caused by the small amounts of time to read when I first started or if it had been super hyped or if it was just a slow start – but by the middle of the book I was glad I stuck with it. Solid 4 stars. Currently reading: Trust by Domenico Starnone. My next TBR will come from the pile above – any suggestions?

Knitting: Finished Jesse’s socks. Have to get those blocked this week. The picture above is the yarn I received from Wool + Honey’s Sleeping Bear Dune Yarn Club subscription and it’s gorgeous. I keep going back and forth on whether I’m going to make socks with it next or really truly get started on my sheep pillow. (Probably socks.)

So that’s me! What are you currently -ing? Hope you are doing well and enjoying your summer. Look forward to hearing from you!