scratching the surface

It’s been exactly one week since I left my latest day job and started a DIY sabbatical. This is also my younger kid’s final week of summer break before beginning 8th grade, however, so I’ve been spending a lot of time with her, beginning with a weekend escape to Vichy Springs (my first time - highly recommended).

My primary goal this week has been to facilitate the checking off of as many items on her summer bucket list as possible (without spending too much money, of course).

When not doing that, I took care of some lingering day job items, like returning my work laptop, and have spent some nice chunks of time in the studio (while catching up on Art 21 episodes…Lenka Clayton and Miranda July, so far).

Starting Monday, I’ll give my draft time blocked schedule a go, revisiting at the end of each week to check in with myself about what worked when, what needs adjusting, etc. There are also phases to this DIY sabbatical, and this is the first/reset phase, so while I’m keeping an eye on paid opportunities, I don’t plan to job hunt in earnest until after my older kid heads off to college in mid-September.

I can’t remember now how I came across it but I absolutely loved a book I finished recently: Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey. I’d planned to write more this week, but I’d rather spend the rest of this afternoon tinkering in the studio, so I’ll just leave you with this quote from fairly early on in the book, which describes my current mindset pretty well:

For my own part I am pleased enough with surfaces—in fact they alone seem to me to be of much importance. Such things for example as the grasp of a child’s hand in your own, the flavor of an apple, the embrace of friend or lover, the silk of a girl’s thigh, the sunlight on rock and leaves, the feel of music, the bark of a tree, the abrasion of granite and sand, the plunge of clear water into a pool, the face of the wind—what else is there? What else do we need?

Check back here in a week for an update (hoping to update here on Thursdays, as usual but more consistently, and the podcast Substack on Tuesdays, plus studio updates throughout the week on Instagram and, if I can remember to do it, TikTok).