Designing Your Summer

I'm a regular listener of The Happier Podcast where sisters/authors Gretchen Rubin and Elizabeth Craft talk about happiness, good habits, the four tendencies and the five senses as a way to bring more joy into your life. Every year they recommend "Designing Your Summer." Here's the quotation that prompted the idea:

Every man makes his own summer. The season has no character of its own, unless one is a farmer with a professional concern for the weather. Circumstances have not allowed me to make a good summer for myself this year…My summer has been overcast by my own heaviness of spirit. I have not had any adventures, and adventures are what make a summer.
— Robertson Davies, “Three Worlds, Three Summers,"

     The Enthusiasms of Robertson Davies

Their idea is to pick something to do in the summer that will set the season apart. For some, it's reading a certain number of books. As a kid, I participated in the library's Summer Reading Club. It could be visiting new-to-you restaurants or trying out new recipes. It might be joining an in-person interest group or traveling to a special place. Maybe you want to try growing a small garden or learn to paint with watercolors. Perhaps it's fulfilling an item on your bucket list. It can be anything that peaks your interest and makes your Summer 2023 memorable. 

Since I'm a homebody (and a high achiever), I picked five close-to-home things instead of one. I'm calling it "The Summer of Ps":

• Patio - design our patio space this year to make it more welcoming and usable
• Parks - continue our Eugene Park Tour
• Picnics - take a simple picnic lunch along when we visit the parks
• Past - visit a couple local museums each month
• Purple - be more attuned to the color purple and take photos of what I see

Most of these are activities I hope to do with Dale. I'm on my own for "Purple," though. Being aware of purple things and photographing them will make for some simple blog posts.

How about it? How will you design your summer?

Margaret, the Living Barometer

All you need to do to find out what the weather is like is to look at me.

Today, it's overcast and windy.

I've spent all afternoon plopped on my bed, listening to podcasts, and playing solitaire. 

Sigh

Tweaking

I've already decided to tweak my goals for 2020. I decided to switch out With Dale, update our will, medical power of attorney, etc. After all, personal goals are best when they really are personal. I still want to get that legal information updated by the end of the year, but I don't want to have to depend on someone else for me to accomplish my goal.

So I've switched that out with Listen to 20 podcast series. 

I do love listening to podcasts. I binge listen the way folks are known to binge watch streaming TV series. Some series are wonderful. Yesterday I finished listening to Dolly Parton's America which was fascinating. I also listened to Podcast Universe put out by The Daily Show with Trevor Noah. I'm glad it was a short series because it was awful. The first episode was OK. Unfortunately, the rest were more cringe-worthy than funny.

This morning I started listening to Meaningful Conversations hosted by Maria Shriver. In each of the 22 episodes she'll sit one-on-one with people she admires and respects to explore issues like love, pain, forgiveness, gratitude, family, faith, connection, loneliness, the art of self-reinvention, and more. 

In other words, my cup of tea. 

Yet one cannot have meaningful conversations without a bit of fun and humor thrown in. So yes, the googly eyes are back.

That ring though! Wow! Looks like a googly eye all by itself.