I’m making an effort to start these up again, to get myself writing more often. And I’m using the Magic of the Internet to post this one in the past, due to a slight hiccup with my hosting provider.

1. My uncle died last week, and so I spent a good portion of this week in transit so that I could make the funeral. My brothers both made it out as well, which meant that the three of us got to squish into the backseat of the rental Kia. You can guess who got the middle seat. I remember going to a cousin’s funeral, back when I was still married, and thinking about what a beautiful community my cousin had built and comparing that to my own life and social circles, which was limited almost entirely to my husband. This time, as I looked around at the community who came for my uncle’s funeral, I thought about all the various connections I’ve made in the past few years, all the community building and volunteering I’ve done, and had a moment of profound gratitude for all the people I’ve made part of my life.

2. Speaking of community, I finally managed to get to the Sex Positive Womxn’s Sangha yesterday. I love that I’ve created something that doesn’t need me present to happen – and I love even more when I am able to show up.

3. Interested in hanging out with me? I’ve been running a social experiment the last few months with an Activity Buddies Google Form, as a way to increase the amount of friend dates in my calendar. It’s definitely producing interesting results.

4. Z made red velvet cupcakes this week, almost entirely solo. I’m equal parts proud of them and concerned that I no longer have an office to take baked goods into. If you’re local and willing to take extra goodies off my hands, let me know!

5. I ordered a Little Free Library kit a few months ago, and it’s sat in the corner of the dining room waiting for me to have time to tackle it. I’m hopeful that my dad and Z will be able to get it assembled, painted, and installed while my dad’s in town the next few weeks, but it’s entirely possible that it will spend the next few years half assembled in the basement.

Links and things

You should have asked: French webcomic artist Emma has a great explanation of the mental load and how this invisible aspect of household labor is borne almost entirely by women.

I’ve been loving Heather Cox Richardson’s Letters from an American, which takes the political events happening today and situates them in an historical context. It never ceases to amaze me just how often history repeats.

I was recently given this recipe for the world’s moistest chocolate cupcakes, and if you can get past the inordinate amount of times the word moist is used, the recipe is pretty spectacular.