Things of Beauty #61

Zines, flowers, and porching it

After what felt like a little taste of winter here last week (where everyone seemed to be piling on the layers to avoid pulling out winter coats in October in Virginia), we're back to what feels more traditionally like fall. Cool mornings and warm, sunny afternoons. And the sky is just SO beautifully blue. I don't know if it's just the contrast from a stretch of gray days we had recently or if it's some unique seasonal shade due to the particular position of the sun at this moment—but whatever it is, I'm trying to remind myself to look up and appreciate it.

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In addition to savoring blue skies, here are some additional beautiful things I’ve squirreled away lately:

🐿 Bop Spotter -

Austin Kleon

shared this in one of his recent weekly lists of ten things worth sharing and it's just random and delightful. A little peek into what people are listening to from one very specific spot in the world, updated in real time.

🐿 The So Relatable zine from

Chrissy Hennessey

. It's pretty impossible to narrow down just one short little snippet about why I love this project. I've so related (see what I did there...) to Chrissy's newsletter in many ways, since I started reading it a couple years ago. But I think the main thing that always makes me feel connected and understood is the way she so honestly discusses her journey toward traditional publication of a novel and the impact of rejection on her, both personally and creatively. As someone who has also had a number of close-calls followed by no thank-yous in the publishing world, Chrissy always seems to be able to put nebulous things I'm feeling into the words I can't seem to find for myself. I loved her lines in the zine about re-thinking her relationship to art:

What if . . . my only goal is to create art in obscurity and outside of capitalism? To make things for me and you and anyone who needs them?

What if I’ve been measuring my life by the wrong grade? What if I’ve been paying too much attention to what I lack, rather than looking at everything I have?

🐿 I highly recommend grabbing yourself a copy—details here!

🐿 Porching. The area of the city I live in throws a fun party on the first Friday of every month. If we're around, we typically hang out on our porch and often invite people to join us (sometimes one, sometimes several, occasionally planned, more often just spur of the moment). It's become a welcome common practice for my friend April to text on these evenings to ask if we're "porching it." Thanks to this article that

Kat Vellos

shared recently, I now feel like I'm part of an important movement. Perhaps we can squeeze in one more porching evening before it gets too chilly.

🐿 Speaking of porches, we just had some new landscaping done! The plants are already so colorful and lots of them aren't even blooming at this time of year. I can't wait to see them in the spring. If you're in or around Richmond, VA—Parallel Nursery is the best!

🐿 Mary Oliver's poem Mindful. I discovered this one recently and, as always, so appreciate how Oliver captures sentiments and feelings so beautifully with so few words. For example, that whole paragraph I wrote at the beginning about the blue sky is summed up in her words: "the untrimmable light of the world."

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What are you listening to, reading, looking at these days? Done any porching, lately? Would love to hear about your daily joys!

Be well, find tiny joy-

Mary Chris