summer strands
let July be July... . ..
hi friends,
Perhaps I’m late to the game (I often am), but last summer, this poem, by Morgan Harper Nichols, began popping up everywhere:
Let July be July. Let August be August. And let yourself just be even in the uncertainty. You don’t have to fix everything. You don’t have to solve everything. And you can still find peace and grow in the wild of changing things.
No matter the month, it feels like a sentiment worth holding close, reminding ourselves we can still find peace and grow in the wild of changing things.
At the time, I didn’t know its origins or that it was merely a fragment from a larger lyric that itself began as a song. I didn’t know Nichols had written many versions of this poem, then continued to thread different lines into other poems, each becoming another refrain. You can read (one version) here in its entirety.
I love the intentionality of returning to one’s work because, despite those who see me otherwise, I know I will forever be a work in progress, revising and reweaving what I have learned along the way, embracing who I was meant to be.
I’m keeping this short and sweet, leaving you with a few summer strands—a recipe, a reading list, and a reminder that there is still one more space for September’s retreat on Monhegan, Braiding Sweetgrass: Breathing Stories—
Tell me, what are you breathing into, what are you finding peace with this July?
Thanks for reading!
xosew
making… . ..
In the old administration, my ex-husband was the baker. After years of trial and error, his popovers were (and I’m sure still are) the perfect balance of golden, crispy outsides with custardy, airy interiors. Hot out of the oven, slathered with butter, there really was nothing better.
I’d forgotten all about popovers until Mark Bittman’s recipe appeared in my NYT cooking feed. These popovers may or may not be “perfect,” but this recipe is pretty foolproof—I’ve made them with and without the proper pan and I’m looking forward to making them again when Noah and his friends are on Monhegan for the Fourth of July! Besides, I’ve come to know perfection is in the eye of the beholder. Here is the recipe, minimally adapted:
5T melted butter
2 eggs
1c milk
1t sugar
1t salt
1c all-purpose flour
handful fresh thyme (optional)
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Put popover pan/muffin tin in while you make batter. Melt butter on the stove.
Beat together eggs, milk, 1T butter, sugar and salt. Beat in the flour a little bit at a time and add thyme if using; mixture should be smooth.
Carefully remove the muffin tin from the oven, then brush each cup with remaining melted butter. Fill each cup about halfway. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 degrees and continue baking for an additional 15 minutes, or until the popovers are puffed and browned. Do not open the oven door to check popovers until they have baked for a total of 30 minutes. Remove from the pan and immediately serve hot.
note: the yield of this recipe is contingent upon what pan you are using ~ for myself, this recipe yielded 6 popovers in a popover pan or 8 popovers in a muffin tin.
reading… . ..
The Dry Season: A Memoir of Pleasure in a Year Without Sex, Melissa Febos
The Leaving Season, Kelly McMasters
hmmmm, do I sense a seasonal theme happening??
Next up is Jacqueline Harpman’s I Who Have Never Known Men, because it has been recommended to me not once, not twice, but three times!
Heather MacKay Young is a brilliant poet and co-led the retreat I attended on the Isle of Lewis. She’s also an ultra-marathoner, most recently completing a 104-mile run in 26 hours, 25 minutes, and 50 seconds. To be clear, that’s 104 miles in 26 hours, 25 minutes, and 50 seconds without stopping. In other words, she’s a badass. Although I remain firmly committed to never running, I followed every step of her journey on the page, because we all run towards something.
Oh, and finally, ‘By chance, Did You Win a Cottage in Ireland?’
organizing… . ..
For those of us with 2,121 entries in your NotesApp and who are convinced your memoir is already written, if you could only find it, then you may appreciate Lena Dunham's organization system as much as I do.
You’re welcome.
And, relieved to know I’m not the only person obsessed with packing lists and trying to travel like a minimalist. Sometimes, I’m more successful than others; then again, aren’t we all?
gathering (in grace) notes • writing circle
Begin your week gathering in good company!
Every Monday, 7:30 - 8:30 am ET, I host an online writing circle to encourage a creative start to the week. Each week, you are invited to come as you are. We greet one another before sitting in a moment of silence. I’ll offer a poem and a prompt for those days you don’t know how to begin, and then we write for 60 minutes with our screens on or off—that’s it!
This is a free offering for all. If you find you are attending regularly and wish to make a donation in support of maintaining the space, you can always buy me a book. register once, and the link is yours forever ✍🏻
one more space…. . join me on retreat … .. …. .
Braiding Sweetgrass: Breathing Stories
September 17-21, 2025 | Monhegan, ME
For the fifth year, I invite you to join me for an intimate retreat on Monhegan. Our program is an embodied book group, journeying and journaling through the wisdom and words of Robin Wall Kimmerer’s memoir Braiding Sweetgrass with the magic of Monhegan. I’m thrilled to consider the possible ways Kimmerer’s storytelling will become the guide to writing our own. Together, we will write through the island's topography, the geography of our senses, and our storied experiences. There will be ample time to search for sea glass and hike the trails through Cathedral Woods to the rocky shores of Pebble Beach.
Through writing, ritual, and restorative yoga, we will meditate, celebrate, and honor the variations of our authentic voices, as can only happen when you find yourself on this artist's island 10 miles out to sea.
Just reading her NOTES strategy makes my head hurt!
Love the poem and your entire post - thank you!
But now my curiosity is piqued - what IS Lena Dunham’s strategy?