I’m sitting in my favourite chair under the gazebo in our backyard, where it’s currently 36F / 97F. Beautiful. There’s a slight breeze that might explain the absence of mosquitoes. They’re ridiculous this year.
I resorted to burning those green coils I haven’t seen since my parents used them back in the 1960s. They’re probably introducing garbage into my lungs while repelling mosquitoes, but it’s a trade-off I’m willing to take.
I’m 67 and a lifelong non-smoker. Both my parents and first husband were heavy smokers, so my lungs were exposed to some measure of pollution when I was younger, but, frankly, at this age we start to weigh things. Considering the number of years I might have left and the potential for lasting damage being done in that amount of time, I’ll take the risk. Bring on the mosquito coils.
As of today, we’re approximately 56% of the way through 2026, and it’s a good time to take stock. I entered this year, tongue in cheek, with”no” as my word for the year. I later softened it slightly to “discern” but, really, I still meant no. I needed a “no” year. Surprising to me were new things I picked up in the space created. A bit of variety challenging the old noodle has been good.
Now I’m working on a new little project. I’m jazzed by it, and working on it seemed to have enticed me to return to a place I have been all but absent from for months. (I’m talking to you, Substack.) Words. It’s always been about the words.
At the beginning of this year, I said that changes would occur in 2026 that we couldn’t imagine back in January. Halfway through, and that’s certainly the case. Who knows where we’ll be on December 31. And so . . .
I’m leaning into wisdom from the garden and natural world more than ever. It’s our best shot at coming through this whirlwind with our minds and hearts intact.
While I was out there this morning, my garden gave me a little love note.
A little reminder of my innate belovedness. Yours too. It’s something we can count on in this artificially intelligent world where knowledge wants to overtake wisdom. Rest assured. It’s not gonna happen.
Anyway, I just got the itch to come here again and tape out some words again. What’s a girl gonna do but scratch it? (It’s all about scratching these days. See above re: mosquitoes.)
Hope you’re enjoying this day as much as I am mine. I’m off to play with a new little gadget that the Amazon delivery driver just dropped off.
By the way. This post is entirely human-written. I usually drop my posts into ProWritingAid for a quick spell/grammar check before publishing, but that tool seems to have changed, and I don’t have the inclination to wade through it at the moment. So, this is me. Warts, typos, grammar mistakes and all.