A clear blue morning | LISB

Hey y'all!

On Thursday, I woke up at 5:30 and while the kettle was working to heat up the water for the coffee, I looked at the backyard weather station display in our living room.   

It said it was 65 degrees outside. I literally did a double take. The last time it was under 70 degrees at 5:30 in the morning was sometime in June.   

Summer is hard here. Not because it gets so hot, although this summer was hotter than normal. But because it doesn’t cool off at night. Last weekend I woke up at 3AM and went to the kitchen for a drink of water. It was 78 degrees outside. At 3 in the morning. Basically, from July until the end of September, your air conditioner runs nearly nonstop.   

So that day that happens each year around the end of September when it feels like somebody flipped a switch and you have entered a whole new season is always special.  

So when I saw (and confirmed!) that 65 degree temperature, I did what any sane person would do. I sat on my back deck and drank a cup of coffee. It was almost chilly.

And then, for the first time in several months, I went for a three mile walk.   

The birds were singing, as if celebrating the coolness in the air. The sun peered through the branches and once again I was in love with the world.   

It’s been a rough summer for me, and I know I am not alone in this. The chaos of my countries political situation, the financial struggles (also not unrelated to aforementioned political chaos), and just all the ways life has been lifeing have really held me down, and the heat has made all of that worse.   

With climate change, things will only be worse in the future. I know that sounds pessimistic, but that doesn’t mean it is not true. My wife and I are already talking about ways we can mitigate it’s impact on us next year, and what are responsible measures to take.   

But right this exact minute, that isn’t what I’m thinking of. Right now, I’m just ridiculously happy the heat broke.      

After Dolly's death last month, there has been a rush of folks to cover her songs. I have particularly loved this cover, by the Chaps Choir, of her Light of a Clear Blue Morning. 

The poem when your children ask me what i did while the planet was burning, by kai cheng thom.

Many people loved the Harper's Bazaar collection last week, so here is a digital collection of thousands of vintage restaurant menus - mostly from new York City, and date from 1890 to 1910. 

This piece in the Guardian on experiments vs goals is pretty much how I live. But it's great to have the validation. 

Tolkien reading from The Hobbit, the first time he ever used a tape recorder. ( There is also this YouTube channel I have shared before, where there are whole audio books of his work, narrated by him. Much more proffesionally done, but without the whimsey)

The most clicked link by far last issue was this video of 91 year old Lloyd Khan – author, builder, skateboarder, body boarder and all around excellent human.

On my blog this week I shared the origin story of how we ended up rescuing kittens.   

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Till next time,

HH