Blood Harmony Vol. 47: A Myriad of Thoughts
Hello to you all!
It’s been an exciting week culture-wise. I saw Sinners last weekend and it was fan-fucking-tastic1. Seriously, run don’t walk. I saw Warfare last night and thought it was incredible but also headache-inducing.
Andor started up again which allows me to appreciate both incredible craft AND the beautiful faces of Diego Luna2 and Adria Arjona3. And I started Dying for Sex which already made me both laugh and cry and I’m only two episodes in. Michelle Williams and Jenny Slate are wonderful together.
Costco Update
I’ve gotten some excellent updates from friends about Costco best practices after my post last week. Generally, the idea seems to be “come for the paper products and pantry items, leave without perishables unless you are hosting 15+ people”. I’m almost more intrigued by what they don’t have there. So far, I’ve noticed that they do not carry confectionary sugar, bread flour, hazelnuts, tonic water or tinned anchovies. These are all pantry items! Are they too bougie for Costco?
Plants
I recently discovered that Duke Hospital has a secret medicinal garden tucked behind the medical school library.4 It’s small but mighty and they have a beautiful free guide with plant descriptions and uses.
It made think of this wonderful article about A Curious Herbal by Elizabeth Blackwell.
Last week I attended a free program called Field Notes in Duke Forest. One of our instructors was Hyewon Grigoni, an artist whose paintings I’ve long admired at various spots around town. We wandered around looking at plants and making plein air drawings. It inspired me to actually learn the names of the trees in my yard and the ones I see on my walk to work. To that end, I’ve started making botanical drawings.
Fun story: Many years ago I did a year-long program in plant medicine. My class met for a weekend/month for twelve months. The program was fantastic and occasionally really out there. We once spent an entire day “journeying” with dandelion. We had to draw the plant in all its forms and then meditate on it for at least an hour while our instructor played the djembe. You know what? I still remember a lot about dandelion.
Cookies
I made these chocolate pretzel shortbread cookies (gift recipe!) and they are delectable! I accidentally ground up some of the chips in the food processor instead of folding them in gently per the instructions. Oh well, they were still delicious.
Books
In general book news, I’m a big fan of The Storygraph instead of GoodReads and Thriftbooks instead of Amazon.
I read The Summer of Dead Birds by Ali Liebegott and found it to be a beautiful meditation on grief. It’s a short book of prose/poetry so don’t be intimidated. I’m in the middle of The Long Run: A Creative Inquiry by Stacey D’Erasmo. It’s a fascinating exploration of how a number of different artists in multiple fields sustain their creatives selves over time.
To keep myself accountable, I have 53.5 hours left of the audio book of The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York by Robert A. Caro.
Reading Recs
I really loved this post.
I also really loved this article on our local chapter of Raging Grannies. We see them out-and-about at protests and they give me hope.
Music
Bad Bunny did a Tiny Desk! It was marvelous.
Popcast did an episode where they forced themselves to listen to every song on the current Billboard Hot 100 chart and it made me laugh.
My summer mix is in process but you can check out my B sides playlist which is ever-expanding and now clocks in at 24 hours in length.
And I leave you with this incredible blast from the past (check out the info text!).
Thank you for reading! I’m so happy you’re here!5
Two Michael B. Jordans! My loins!
Whom I have loved since Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights.
Whom I have loved since…ahem…Triple Frontier.
I love working at older academic medical centers for this reason. There’s always something weird and hidden away. When I worked at MGH, my badge gave me access to The Ether Dome, the original hospital operating theater. Per the official description: “Under a dome at the top of the building, Charles Bulfinch placed the operationg theater. Operating rooms built before electricity were typically located on the top floor of a building to take advantage of available light. Before surgical anesthesia the location was supposedly helpful to make surgical patients’ cries less audible.” GAH.
On this newsletter AND on this planet.