Inspired by Nadia Bolz-Weber, who shares with her newsletter subscribers an occasional “Stuff I’m into right now…” list, here are some things that have my attention these days—and that mostly bring joy.
Tulips. In neighbors’ yards. Brilliantly on display in Baltimore’s Sherwood Gardens, which Graham and I visited this week. And—for another day or two—displayed in a vase on the dining table at home.
Detransition, Baby — This debut novel by Torrey Peters was, for me, poignant, uncomfortable, and at times laugh-out-loud funny. But mostly thought-provoking about gender, motherhood, bodies, identity, and what we can and can’t predict about who and how our future selves and future lives will be.
My smartphone’s camera. I love capturing images to remind me of moments of delight. As I walked through the neighborhood this morning, for example, a key caught my eye. It was hanging in a tree. In my head I’ve been composing stories about how and why it got there.
Wilmington’s Lie: The Murderous Coup of 1898 and the Rise of White Supremacy — David Zucchino’s book is the text for the upcoming gathering of the Cedar Hill Study Group, of which I’m a member. I’m listening to it, not particularly enjoying it, but also deeply grateful for this thorough exploration of a piece of U.S. history that was previously unknown to me. And how sobering to witness echoes of this history in our current 21st-century society.
Howard County Public School Students’ artwork on display at The Mall in Columbia. I love this exhibit every year, and it’s a special treat when I know (and am related to) some of the artists!
Spelling Bee, which has become a family game. The kids and I start on it together before they leave for school; I keep playing by myself for a while, trying to get to ‘Genius’ level before giving up or looking at hints (that’s our informal house rule—no hints from the Spelling Bee Forum until you’re a Genius!); sometimes Graham does clean-up. Once or twice a week we even manage collectively to be a Queen Bee!
I’m loving the sunshine, and longer, more pleasant walks with the dog, and the smells of spring (even the pungency of fresh mulch!). And in the chaos of all that’s awful in the world, I’m trying to take notice of delightful things.
I hope each of your days contains at least a moment of delight and meaning.
Love,
Paige
4 Comments
Phyllis
🙂
Gail Thompson
I love your making up stories about the key in a tree. I do that too about bits of litter, people, trees with strange shapes. Right now I am noticing that we have fewer plastic bags decorating trees but they seem to have been replaced with discarded masks.
John Guy
THOUGHTS ABOUTTULIPS -Thank you Rev Paige for loving tulips and for your photo of what I am guessing is the Getty trip to Sherwood Gardens in Baltimore. Best you enjoy other people’s planting of tulips , as they are a colder zone plant than ours here in mid Atlantic. Otherwise you dig up annually ,overwinter in the garage drying out and not freezing ,and replant the next year . On the other hand there really is a lovely garden of Nature’s own tulips ( not hybridized as the ones seen in local gardens ) in of all places The National Arboretum planted in the special garden of exotic evergreens in a far corner of TNA. It’s a marvel to see what Nature produced versus what humans hybridized. The colors are there but not the tall stems and very large flowers. When I was courting Segar back at University of Richmond I used to take her for Sunday walks in the even larger tulip garden in the city park near where the UU church is in Richmond ,better known as Maymont Park . Do you suppose being that near to UU (and not knowing it ) allowed us to become Unitarians decades later ? Ah ,the mysteries of life.
BARBARA JEAN WRIGHT
Thank you Paige! Loved your focus on the many positives right here in our own back yard! You and spring and nature and our grand children give us a wonderful reminder. We can still allow ourselves to feel Joy and Gratitude even with the overwhelming hurt and tragedy in our world right now. Taking those moments can allow me/us to restore our energy and reignite our commitments to help make our world a better place.
Miranda has an imaginative self photo among the Mt Hebron High contributions. We did not know it was there. It was a fun discovery!