I saw a picture I took years ago of a page from Ross Gay’s The Book of Delights and decided to partake in his practice today… small delights from the past week:

• i’m finding myself in a musically creative lull. it is not that I cannot write music, but rather that i’m very stuck on finding a particular music idea that I want for a song. in this stuckness, I’m finding myself wanting do everything else just a little bit more. i still show up and make time for this challenging musical puzzle, but the frustration with it makes the desire to do other things shine a little brighter. (which is a puzzling, kind of joyful feeling) one of the things i have turned to is baking bread, or more specifically, scoring sourdough. in short, you take a razor blade over the dough and create a design. this? delightful. part of the delight, is that i’m such a rookie at it that i do not know enough or care enough if it is not perfect. which makes it more beautiful and better tasting.
• my therapist referred to herself as the “gossip doctor.” (she laughed as she referenced this meme, and now I no longer have a therapist, just a gossip doctor.)
• i’ve lately come to the conclusion– if i must eat, why am i not trying to make everything I eat delicious? why would I waste one meal cooking something that I didn’t think at least had the potential to be good? this week, i made a farro arugula salad. the recipe called for a 1/2 cup of fresh basil but i had in my fridge 2-3x the amount that would be wasted if i didn’t use it. i chopped it all up and put in my salad. i’ve discovered the perfect arugula: basil ratio for a proper salad and that is it.
• my brother gifted me a hanging plant holder that he made. i finally hung it above my desk and placed on it a sprawling mint plant that started as a propagation this past summer. there is a very specific kind of satisfaction that comes from watching something grow from almost nothing, and i feel that every time i look at it.