Links that may or may not be related to gardens, food, travel, nature, or heterotopias and liminal spaces but probably are. Sources in parentheses.
photo essay: Exploring the Isle of Mull: Travels in and around Scotland (Carol Anne Strange/Yonderspell). The first instalment of a travelogue about a visit to Mull, the second largest of the Hebridean islands, reached by car ferry, as well as the nearby Isle of Ulva. The two islands offer white beaches, clear rivers and waterfalls, mossy woodlands, collections of standing stones, small fishing towns, “undulating terrain populated with wildflowers and wildlife.”
essay: Enjoy! Enjoy! Enjoy! (Haley Nahman/Maybe Baby). “I think about that notion all the time: that forgetting is the price for presence. … There is a popular internet ‘tip’ for how to adequately enjoy your kid’s childhood, and it goes something like this: Whenever you’re struggling with your kids—tired, frustrated, angry—imagine you’re old and dying and have been given the chance to return to this moment, one last time, to experience what it was like to be with your children when they were young. I found this idea kind of charming at first, and eventually, a little sinister. What’s so wrong with being tired, frustrated, and angry? Why do you have to mind-game your way out of reasonable and necessary emotions? … The same notion is often projected onto young people: kids, college students, people screwing around in their twenties. Enjoy! Enjoy! Enjoy it! … But what if being present doesn’t mean feeling good? Or storing every important thing that happens for later recollection, or making the most of every moment, as if living is your job and you want a promotion? Maybe it just means, more simply, being present.”
Related: short video clips: Dr Rangan Chatterjee interviewing Gabor Maté (drranganchatterjee/TikTok). Part of a longer interview on Life Regrets, here Maté talks about the poignancy of Christopher Robin’s relationship with Winnie-the Pooh, and how Maté wishes he had lived his life differently. Another clip with Maté includes this: “All this stuff about longevity bores me to death. I just don’t care. … I think we can actually grow into the present moment.”
video: One Minute Park (Elliott Cost). One Minute Park “allows you to visit parks from around the world for one minute each” (videos, not webcams). You can also add your own park video to the mix. I really liked one from a park in Cambridge UK on 4 April 2024.
short essay: One album a day. But the same album (Rosecrans Baldwin/Meditations in an Emergency). On John Coltrane’s 1964 album, A Love Supreme.
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