The Start of Summer with an Offering from Catherine Ricketts
Daily Nourishment Read Time: 30 seconds
Pause/Prompt/Practice Time: 10-15 minutes
"Long light and there's something in the air."-- Nina MacLauglin, "Summer Solstice"
Pause.
Set a timer for two minutes. Close your eyes and daydream.
Prompt.
MacLaughlin writes, "What's the start of summer for you, the signal that it's here? Is it the last day of school? The lilacs or day lilies? First sleep with the windows open? Smell of cut grass behind the gasoline of the lawn mower? The fat red tomato sliced thin and salted? A sunburn? Shins sweating? The first swim?"
Freewrite for five minutes about what signals the start of summer for you.
Practice.
Name one thing that brings you joy in summer and make a plan for how to practice it often this season.
Want More?
Listen to one of your summer anthems. If you can't think of one, try one my mine: "Everywhere" by Fleetwood Mac.
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Today’s Daily Nourishment was provided by Catherine Ricketts.
Catherine Ricketts is an essayist, songwriter, and writing instructor. Her nonfiction on the arts, grief, joy, and spirituality appears in the Kenyon Review Online, the Ploughshares blog, Electric Literature, The Christian Century, Image, The Millions, Paste, and the music blog for the NPR-affiliate WXPN. She studied writing at the University of Pennsylvania and holds an MFA in nonfiction from Seattle Pacific University. Her first book is The Mother Artist, a work of literary nonfiction on motherhood and artistic practice. Find her on Instagram at @bycatherinericketts, or stay in touch via her newsletter.
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