this week

pineapple mint from the garden, with green tea,

steeping in the sunshine.

• READING Here If You Need Me, by Kate Braestrup, the true story of a woman's calling to be a chaplain to search-and-rescue workers in the wilds of Maine.
• A MEET UP with the delightful Kate, who I met online via the Sew-Mama-Sew giveaway. Kate lives in Paris and is visiting family in Vermont this summer. We met at the Billings Farm to view their 25th Annual Quilt Show. And, of course, to see their lovely Jersey cows.
• REVIEWING "28 Secrets to Happiness", listed in The Simple Living Guide by Janet Luhrs. (for example, "live beneath your means and within your seams").
• PROMOTING our son Stewart's new Etsy shop, Artful Geographic. Cool old maps and such. (He's a high school history teacher).
• SMILING every time I think of my buddy, Potts, and her family as they celebrate a family wedding this weekend. They are WAY overdue for some joy.
• HOUSEKEEPING as we get ready to host my sister-in-law, Ra, and some of her gardening buddies, "the hedgehogs" for the weekend. I'm looking forward to field tripping with them.
• NOTICING the shifting seasons. Still summer, but with a faint chill in the evening. Goldenrod is blooming in the meadow and the vegetable gardens are at full tilt. Here's an Etsy treasury in celebration of the season.
• SOBERED by the news last night. Where are we headed? So much uncertainty. It's hard to take. And so, I focus on the present. There will be a lot of mindfulness around here today, and perhaps some meditation in the garden.
• LISTENING for the quilt top to speak to me, but I'm leaning toward a small quilt. Thanks for all of your suggestions, friends.

What have you been up to? Do you have plans for the weekend?