If you’ve never had the pleasure of spending time in the American Southeast during the summer, you’ve never seen the world slow down right before your eyes. Drink water with ice that melts in what seems like seconds, put on flip-flops, slather on sunscreen, close the door don’t let the air conditioned air out, squint your eyes to meet the hothot sun.

1. My first glimpse at my baby tomatoes!
2. New curry and coriander plants, old pots
3. Olive’s 2nd birthday (no, she didn’t actually eat the cupcake)
4. My “bedshelf” continues to grow out of control, newly added to the stack:

*The Culture of Make Believe, Derrick Jensen
*Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
*The Knife Man: The Extraordinary Life and Times of John Hunter, Father of Modern Surgery, Wendy Moore




Other things of note (fairly) recently:

*The work of Gretchen Elsner
*Nina Katchadourian’s Mended Spiderwebs
*WSJ Opinion column, Gay Marriage is Good for America
*Flying Mayan burrito recipe (Sweet potatoes and black beans, who knew?)
*In the Middle of the Worldwind (Thanks to the Journal of Aesthetics & Protest!)
*Rob Walker’s Buying In: The Secret Dialogue Between What We Buy and Who We Are (Listen to him talk with Diane Rehm here.)

On repeat on the stereo, Santogold’s self-titled album. Holy hell, she is awesome.