There are so many “odds + ends” that don’t make it into the commentary about holistic nutrition, Ayurveda, self-care and life in sport…but they certainly IMPACT the way I think/feel/work about all of the above, and so I’m pleased to share this new monthly feature with you: a *subscriber only* digest the little things I encountered, ate, read, bought, thought about, was inspired by. Each month, I’ll share a members-only post just like this, announced in one of your weekly newsletters, so keep an eye out! This month, I’m talking about celebrating – specifically the special tradition I have for honoring my birthday, and how this helps me to celebrate more and “measure” less. If you have another question you’d like me to answer, or address next month, feel free to send an email to [email protected]!
Summer has been arriving ever so sweetly here in Boulder this year. For the first time since I can remember (and I remember back to about, er, 1989) we have had daily rainstorms, punctuating the day with a period of sleepiness and coziness, which subsequently punctuates our little valley with blasts of wildflowers and verdant greenery. The welcome moisture has made summer feel like it’s slow rolling its way to us – a pace that matches my own embrace of the passing of time – rather than blazing a path from winter straight into the heat, and I’m here for it.
Just as I can’t remember a time when the rain was this plentiful, I also can’t recall a time in my own life when the travel plans for summer were so wonderfully sparse. It feels like a moment in time dedicated to the simple riches; the kind of riches that I acknowledge in my work but often have a hard time acknowledging to their full effect in my own modern life. My summer will be spent here at home, enjoying all of the gloriousness that Colorado has to offer during this season, and I’m so very excited for it; I’ll finally have the space and time to feel spacious in these summer days, instead of scattered.
A few weeks back, when I look at the calendar and saw the lack of busy-ness, part of me wondered if I needed to book a trip, make a plan, and pack us up to “do something.” But then I took a look at the little list of all the little somethings I’m looking forward to right here and see that there’s already a whole lot of wholesome DOING on offer already. My goal of summer is to keep this sweet equilibrium we’ve found, and to even strengthen it a bit. Ayurveda has some recommendations for how to “keep our cool,” and it’s wild to note that all of these good things were “cool” (metaphorically AND literally) 5000 years ago, just as they are today.
There aren’t many things I feel I need to be equipped for such a homebody summer, but there are a few things that are on my stock up list.
…and there were quite a few!
My Audible account is absolutely loaded up. Here’s what’s on:
You can read more about each of these titles, and purchase, from my Bookshop.org booklist!
We spent Memorial Day weekend in South Dakota with dear friends, bumping around the woods, shredding on the trails, napping through the rain and eating up a storm. I brought a massive cooler with us, packed to the brim with vegetables and ingredients (mostly greens, herbs, radishes and turnips – our early season players!) but the star of the show was all the rhubarb. Some from Boulder, some from our friends garden in Spearfish, and almost all of it turned into treats to serve as a sweet nightcap after days of playing. I whipped up a version of this Rhubarb Cake one night and served it with strawberry compote and whipped cream, and an off-the-cuff Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp another night – I can’t decide what was my favorite but both won’t be forgotten any time soon.
