a little bit of recklessness
This is now, apparently, a biweekly newsletter…feels like the right cadence, no?
But this is NOT a project wazo update! My task for today, day 5/100, was to continue to set up a separate newsletter so I’m not spamming folks who subscribe to this newsletter who might not be as interested in near-daily updates (I don’t know why you’d be into this newsletter and not that one but I certainly understand the daily woes of the average email inbox). If you want to keep up with the daily-ish project wazo posts over the next few months, subscribe there, too. When I don’t have anything to write about, I’ll try to fill in with visual stuff/handmade artifacts on Instagram so follow me there, too, if you don’t already.
Over the long weekend I finished a couple of craft projects just in time to pivot to project wazo. They include this scarf for my mother-in-law (doubly belated as I started this for Christmas and only finally finished it a couple of weeks after her birthday)…
…and a 4th felt pet portrait, below! This is Murray. You can see the source/inspo images here. Isn’t he a handsome ginger fellow?
Did you see the recent New York Times OpEd about becoming a cyclist. This bit in particular is similar to what I wrote a couple of weeks ago (here, #3), about the reasons why riding a bike is fun: writer Caroline Paul writes “my mother’s cycling habit meant that she was checking many of the boxes — health, novelty, community and purpose — needed to age well…when my mother went biking, there was something more: She was embracing attributes like exhilaration, exploration, awe, a little bit of recklessness. This provided the final pillar for healthy and fulfilling aging…[a] positive mind-set.” I’m really looking forward to reading Paul’s forthcoming book Tough Broad (pub date: March 5th!).
Speaking of bikes and stuff, here’s another GoPro video, this one of our team ride last Friday (5 minute video of a 78 minute ride that’s heavily edited and sped up about 4x). We’ve had so much rain again so far this winter so this was my first time on dirt in what felt like ages (with a new front fork, to boot!). Anyway, still getting the hang of the GoPro…changed some settings and adjusted the chest mount but it could still use some work. I’ll give it another go at our first race this weekend (I won’t be racing, of course, but I will get to pre-ride the course with the team on Friday afternoon).
Moana 2 is coming out later this year! I identify with Moana’s character perhaps more than a middle-aged woman should. I’ve previously written about the film here and here.
Finally, did you see Eminem’s notes making the rounds a week or so ago? As a creative generalist, I’m fascinated by people who are so singularly focused. I’ve tried in the past, I really have, but I always seem to return to a reverse approach, dabbling in lots of things over the years, maybe even getting pretty good at a few of them, but never truly excelling at any one thing. If you had to choose just one pursuit in life, what would it be?
No mushrooms yet again this week (which is weird given all this rain we’ve been getting here in California). How about a rainbow instead?