Beautiful Weather, Anti-‘s last issue, The Rumpus Review, Summertime

My ankle was better enough to be able to hobble around well enough yesterday to get out and enjoy the perfectly beautiful summer weather – it does seem summer has arrived early here (it doesn’t usually happen til after July 4) – 72 degrees, a bright breeze, lots of wildlife scampering around. A perfect day to be on the water. Too bad we do not live on the water, but there’s lots of it in driving distance. 

That’s Lake Washington in the background, and there’s that sneaky eagle again. Too bad we did not get pictures of our local osprey. a long-tailed chipmunk climbing a tree with a flicker and a flicker’s nest in it, and various small rabbits and ducks. Anyway, it’s hard to feel too anxious or upset with such a summertime wildlife/weather thing going on right outside your door.

In other news, Anti- magazine’s last issue went up today, along with my poem “Dorothy: If I Stayed in Kansas, I Knew my Future:”

http://anti-poetry.com/anti/gaileyje/

It’s a wonderful issue, so a big thank you to Steve Schroeder for putting it together, and all his hard work at his quirky, enjoyable online journal.

And the link has gone up to my review of Rachel Zucker’s The Pedestrians over at The Rumpus, too. So that’s live.

A big thank you to all of you who have been sending good thoughts and prayers to my mother-in-law – her latest blood work shows a lot of improvement, more than we could have hoped for, which is very cheering, and it seems my little brother in Thailand may be moving back to the States, somewhere close to here, hopefully, in the near future, so that’s two things worth celebrating! And less things giving me ulcers and nightmares! (Another end-of-the-world Buffy nightmare last night! Oh, you guys don’t get those?)

I’m pretty sure I should be outside again today as much as possible, with the birds chirping and sun shining and all. All deep thoughts will be put on hold til after I’ve spent at least sometime out in nature. (Besides playing in the dirt being good for us  – a bacteria in dirt increases seratonin levels in humans – I read yesterday that, true to Nausicaa and her forest-love, that trees and plants put out a chemical that literally makes us happy, which makes the Japanese idea of Shinrin Yoku (forest bathing) seem like a lot of sense. Being in nature truly does literally trigger chemical responses that makes us happier. So wishing you all a happier, nature-filled weekend…