Summer holidays edition
OFF THE GRID (sort of) being outdoorsy | Central Oregon
Hello from hell?
It seems like most of the northern hemisphere is experiencing a heatwave. If that includes your locale, my deepest commiserations. If not, I am envious. August is not my favorite time of year and generally makes me cranky. Two words – humidity and spiderwebs. And so it is in that cantankerous spirit that I’ve been shut in a room, pounding my steps away in front of the window A/C unit and wondering when it will be less insane to go for a walk outside again. I hope that visual is as ridiculous as it feels. I’m telling myself to approach this communication with caution – can’t be too negative but cannot fake nor sustain positive vibes.
I can honestly report the Waits family reunion was a success. Evidence as promised provided above, although the lip sync battle footage will remain on my private Instagram account. If you ever find yourself in central Oregon, I highly recommend the Paulina Plunge, a downhill waterfall mountain bike tour. It was truly a great family day of activity and I absolutely loved not being connected to anything… for 8 hours. I happily ate all of the junk food and can also report that dark chocolate Oreos are where it is *at* right now.
We are in a bit of a lull as we wait for the submission deadline (21st August), and I’m trying to get some boring admin and other less pressing things done this next week. I had a quick chat with Skye about our Pinterest account and developing Fieldfare on a different platform. There’s so much I need to learn/figure out about using it as a small business beyond perusing dream home design, which is really all I thought anyone was doing over there. LOLZ. It led us to the idea that we should do an informal survey on Instagram this next week about which platforms you’re all using. So, keep an eye out for that because we would really like your feedback.
You would think that I would be using the aforementioned “lull” to catch up on all those books from the list I compiled and shared in my last note. Well, how shall I put this? Sometimes I’m okay being a quitter. Various page lengths were read, books were shuffled around my desk and reading chair, and then returned because I do NOT incur library fines. I am radically accepting that I am not always a thoughtful person that reads tasteful selections. BUT I did greedily devour the entirety of Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel and absolutely loved my time being lost in those pages.
The truth is that I’m into my guilty pleasure shows right now. That’s what I left out of my opening paragraph. I’m getting my steps in – in front of the A/C and the TV screen. I’m finishing up Physical (which really makes me want to write an unsolicited essay on how Hollywood keeps getting their Mormon characters wrong), finally started Severance, and if my youngest will allow my annoying marching we both like to watch The Extraordinary Attorney Woo.
Ending on my most positive note, I look forward to the weeks of incoming submissions – I get excited when they show up in our inbox and have zero impulse control. I’ll stop whatever I’m doing and open the email to have a look. I love that people often explain how they’ve heard about our publication and what prompted them to submit. It’s lovely that so many of you are willing to share places that have shaped your life’s experience.
Stay cool,
Mendy x