Ear to the Ground

Taking a different route for September

Out my kitchen window, on the eve of September 1

So here’s a little something different…

First, thank you for being here. Nobody said you had to subscribe and yet you did. I appreciate it. Really. I’m a lonely soul and it’s something to know that somebody, somewhere, even for a second, read my words and was like: Yeah, sure. I’ll take that in my inbox.

And so of course I’m curious about why are you here. If you’re subscribed, I’d love to know why. What made you hit that persnickety little button that is in our faces all the time here on Substack? Why’d you click on mine, regardless of what variety of subscribership you selected? What were you expecting to read? Experience? Gather?

Whatever you have to say, I’d truly love to hear it.

While we’re at all this…there are many of you that subscribe and I keep hoping I might hear from you in one way or another. I haven’t yet, and that’s ok. I know it’s a lot right now, living as a human being right now when doing is so much more what we’re pushed to value. I constantly have mixed feelings about adding to the content that resides on the internet and bombards us in various ways. For now though, I continue.

If you’d like say hello, please know I’d love to hear it. You can also find my email address on my About page if personal letters are more your style. I like them too.

And with that I must also say that this month will be a little different. I need less time at my desk, for one. I find myself putting more into these essays than is perhaps actually what I have to give, particularly since writing requires so much sitting in once place. I’ll be honest with you—on days I finish essays it is not unusual for my bum to hurt a bit. I’ve got a great kneeling chair that makes a world of difference, but still—I find myself opting to stay put and hammer out an essay even when what my body really wants is to get up, move, go outside. Which seems counterintuitive to what I’m writing about.

It’s also just quite a time right now, isn’t it? Online, in the world, maybe in your life, definitely in mine. A little less noise seems like a good idea, in whatever way we can facilitate it.

More quiet, more listening. Ear to the ground. Ears to hear what the body has to say.

So for September (and maybe October), I will be a little quieter on here. Fall is my season, as an October child, and I want to savor it. I find that means my screen time will need to be limited and my outside time unlimited. It seems likely that the form and content of these essays may shift a bit, in response.

A new season is coming. How can we welcome it seems too presumptuous a question. Maybe instead: what would it like us to hear as it rolls nearer? What does it sound like, smell like, taste, look and feel like?

The intention for this month then is perhaps best summed up as a simple, visceral: shhhhhhh!

I’ll be back later in the month with a summer reflection and a peak into my autumnal plans. At least, I think that’s what I’ll be back with. We shall see!

‘Til then, in the spirit of listening, I’d love to hear from you. 🌀