For the Love of Strawberries & Summer

Hello everyone and welcome to the first of the summer newsletters! It's officially summer. I hope everyone is enjoying a little of the summer season however best you can, and with just the right amount of sunshine and not too much heat. I love the light of summer in southern California– it's penetrating and clear. The reds are much deeper and strawberries look delectable in ways that they don't in other seasons. Does anyone else enjoy the sunlight of summer?

Solstice is here, and so are the frozen strawberries I bought

I know the saying goes: When life gives you lemons, you are supposed to make lemonade. Well, between the last newsletter and this one, I took the strawberry route instead of lemon. I opted for a different journey. I made a lot of strawberry recipes because I thought I was buying freeze-dried strawberries for cereal and yogurt, but instead, I bought four pounds of frozen strawberries. Whoops! However, the strawberries became the little moments of joy necessary during the final (crazy) days of the school year. I experimented with jam, crisps, and 3-ingredient no-churn ice cream! They were all excellent, and my family fully supported my experimental adventuring. 😋

I signed up to teach summer school but didn't realize I would only have one day off before the program began. Whoops again! 🤦‍♀️ After the first week of the program, I need to downshift somehow and find more moments of respite before my real break begins in mid-July. I am unsure what that will entail, but the weekends are filled with mini stay-cation adventures like visiting restaurants we like but don't often visit, going out to a movie instead of streaming, and bookstore jaunts.

Thoughts on Father's Day this Year

I am going to perseverate on Father's Day for the moment. Having just spent a Sunday assisting in the Father’s Day celebration for my sons to honor their father and acknowledge the recent passing of my father, it seems fitting. Also, May went by so fast that I felt rolled by not one but multiple tsunamis. It seems I have always lived in the Great Wave painting by Hokusai. The (school) year ended so fast that I slipped off the cliff and had to claw my way back up – rejecting help. Yep. That’s me. I reject help a lot. I am unsure why because deep down, I know that DIT (doing it together) beats DIY (doing it yourself), thank you, Jeffrey Davis). My refusal of help is an autonomous program that runs whenever I am in a tight situation or one of high stress. I can change it, but it takes a level of awareness that isn’t readily available when I am in the thick of a hundred days of May.

The waves also represent grief that washes over and sometimes attempts to drown you/me.

We are saying goodbye to our family home of 43 years this June, having spent last month also cleaning it out and spreading my father's ashes in various places at this home– near the view he loved so much, in the garden, and dog run by his office window. Shh...don't tell the new owners, whomever they may be. It was bittersweet and I have not been able to grieve properly, and it was quite fitting that on the evening following my father's service, the hot water heater began leaking all over the carpet in the house. A metaphor of all our unspent grief.

Time to Read, Time to Write, Time to Mend

Even though I am teaching (and planning for) a summer school course I have never taught before (Using Artificial Intelligence for Good), I am finding time to read the novels from my book list from the last newsletter. Babel is a powerful, toothy read. Don't expect light summer reading from this one. It is worthy and is only lightly fantasy. The magic system is very subtle and not the story's main point. Highly recommend! I also accidentally discovered a webapp called Threadable, a social site for book talks. I haven't fully submerged myself, but it could be interesting.

I am somewhat ashamed to say that I have not written daily since my father's death. I write, of course, but nowhere near the velocity and amount I did before January. I suspect that might be normal since other difficult events accumulated to follow his passing, but I aim this summer to get back on track or at least be comfortable with a new normal. It is ok to adjust, and it is time to work on my quarter three goals for the year, including designing the zine for educators and continuing working on the companion deck for my recent book publication.

I am designing a wellness workshop in mid-August for educators preparing for the new school year. I will guide participants in setting up wellness routines to help them navigate unseen obstacles and preserve peace. If this interests you, please reply to the newsletter or message me at bridget@bridgetkelley-lossada.com for more information. Please share this newsletter with anyone you think might be interested. The workshop will be limited to 12 participants.

As always, I appreciate you, dear reader, for taking a moment to peruse this newsletter. Writing this brings me joy, and I hope there are little joys you can discover in your own lives.

Between now and the following newsletter, imagine yourself gliding in the calm waters like these Koi~

Be well,

~Bridget