Links that may or may not be related to gardens, food, travel, nature, or heterotopias and liminal spaces but probably are. Sources in parentheses.
long essay: Mere Belief: Sliding down the curve of forgetting (Sallie Tisdale/Atlantic). A long, beautiful, poetic, and perhaps provacative (if you think memory isn’t fluid and also porous) exploration of memory.
list/essay: How to throw a cocktail party …a 10-point plan (Richard Godwin/The Spirits). “Some people fear hosting. I don’t, I love it and see it as the logical endpoint of becoming good at making cocktails.” Same! You may not be able to read this very useful piece of well-thought-out suggestions without a paid subscription, so here are the 10 points (could be applied to hosting many events): 1. Just DO it; 2. Don’t overthink the guest list; 3. Start making ice now; 4. Set expectations re food (“… should certainly not require you to go back and forth to the oven all evening, Mercy, no. You are a host not a martyr”); 5. Make a playlist (or use his playlist); 6. Send a reminder 24 hours before the party; 7. Make it easy on yourself (“squeeze lemons/limes in advance, cut the garnishes, freeze glasses, maybe even batch certain ingredients” — and have a coat strategy) and in fact, 8. Make a large quantity of something delicious (punch; large jug; fizz batch – can be topped with Prosecco; little something); 9. If someone wants beer, LET THEM; 10. Clear up systematically.
treasure trove: How To Fix Your Stuff: Extend the life of your favorite clothes, furniture, and appliances with simple fixes (Allie Volpe/Vox). Many on/offline resources to help you decide, re clothes, phone screens/batteries, kids’ toys, home appliances, wobbly chairs: Can it be fixed? Can you do it yourself? When should you hire a pro?
8-min video: I Turned this Cramped Space into a Minimalist Micro Apartment (Gemma Wheeler Architecture/YouTube). Nicely revamped, and nicely explained and shown in the video.
long essay: Wind Advisory: Chasing the Wind, the Panhandle’s Defining Resource and Relentless Foe (Lauren Hough/Texas Highways). “I never thought I’d see one in real life. But there it is, cutting the sky in two. To the south, a baby blue sky dotted with clouds. To the north, a yellowish-brown wall of dust. I am driving into a dust storm.” Of windmills, tumbleweeds, dust, tornados, and hats.
