Some things I loved this week

Dec 13, 2024

Hello, friends. How is everyone doing? Merry and bright? Or seasonally depressed? Or a little of both, like those sinks that have separate faucets for hot and cold water and you have to try to manually mix them together in order not to burn or freeze?

Here in — well, I almost wrote Boston, but I moved out of Boston this spring after twenty plus years there. Here in a smallish town south of Boston, things are going pretty well. I just had my one month post-op checkup after a hip replacement, and everything is healing up just fine. I’ve actually been able to walk more than before the surgery — yesterday I walked two miles in short increments! Today I got the all-clear to drive again, which means my partner doesn’t have to chauffer me around anymore. Although that was actually kind of fun. :) It’s going to take longer to completely heal and regain full functioning, but I’m encouraged at my progress.

I had initially thought I could go back to work part time as a nanny in January, but I think I won’t quite be up for that yet, so I’ve been doing a lot of book promotion to try to make February’s rent in book sales, and I’ve been really touched by the support of folks sharing my posts and their own experiences with my books. I do think they make good holiday gifts! Especially 365 Days of Peace, Good Morning, Friends, and, if the recipient doesn’t mind a few swear words, my poetry collection Open Things.

Today is the birthday of my internet-but-feels-like-real-life-friend, Aarik Danielsen, who is also one of the best writers I know, and two of his pieces went up today. If you are ready to have your insides turned outside and put back again different — well, read them yourself and you’ll see what I mean:

See, I have never lined up in a shadow like Chris Isaak’s or played notes of light into the atmosphere, accenting every surrounding star. I know nothing of per diem or the worn-out treads of tours and tires, though I have looked up to watch the clouds traveling above Albuquerque and my own head.

But I know the vice grips of anxiety and failure. I know what it is to hear ice splinter, then crack inside your mind, your heart. And I know what it’s like to lay your head down upon the pillow, feel yourself slipping away, and not care if you slide right off this humming planet.

Full piece here.

And the second of Aarik’s essays that came out today, a quick read:

It’s more than worth his time to watch a woman, her blazer framing a Blur t-shirt, fold into the waiting, and to memorize the poems she writes with a simple crinkle of her simple, perfect nose. There is no shame in spending your one witness on the older man who settles upon the metal bench, peels an orange as if he himself were the grower.

Full piece here.

In other news, I watched this TikTok about 73 times:

And I was too hungry to take a picture, but I made the most delicious sandwich today with smoked salmon, cream cheese, arugula, and cucumber on toasted sourdough bread. I salted the cucumber, obvi, spread the cream cheese on one slice and pressed the arugula into it so it wasn’t spilling everywhere. Then cucumber. Then on the other slice of bread I put a little olive oil and a little balsamic. Don’t skip the balsamic, trust me. I’m not a big fan of onions or capers, so this was my way of adding a strong flavor to balance the creaminess of the cream cheese and the smoothness of the salmon. (I was going to say fishiness, but it really doesn’t taste fishy to me. It doesn’t taste like cooked salmon, either. It’s its own thing.) I ate it up and it made me so happy.

And last but not least, I wanted to share a video my friend Matt Bays made seven years ago as a tribute to his sister who died of cancer. I watch this every year and it never fails to move me. The song, Matt’s voice, the videos of him and his sister Trina, and the gorgeous ritual at the end (which I won’t spoil for you) with the close up of Matt’s oh-so-expressive brown eyes.