The weather this month changed from a pleasant 70° every day (21°C) to a blistering mid-to-high 80s and 90s (28°C-32°C). One of the warmer days was Corpus Christi and we were going to spend it walking along the river and perhaps stopping for a beer, but I remembered Walkative! tours. We signed up last minute for the Old Town tour. I love being a tourist the city I live in because there’s still so much I don’t know. We covered our usual walking route through the city but it was nice to have some context to the buildings and sites.

...seeing + doing

What I've been...

Summer is officially here and I'm already over it. Give me autumn or, I don't know, death? Air conditioning? Anyway, this is what I've been up to this month.

...cooking + eating

Summer is officially here and with it the fresh produce and lighter fare. And I have to be honest — I’m not a summer food person. I love a hot dog, a rack of ribs, grilled marinated chicken thighs, and I’ll eat a whole meal of summer salads and a few ears of corn. But I want someone else to cook it. I don’t know why. But the local farm stand is full of green beans, yellow beans, radishes, peaches, and berries and all I want is a bowl of macaroni + cheese and a huge, vinegary side salad.

I'm counting down to braising, is all I'm saying.

...reading

I’ve always been fascinated with English and its evolution, which is why I picked up The Adventure of English: The Biography of a Language by Melvin Bragg. I was surprised to learn that English originated as a fusional and synthetic language and gradually evolved away from that. I enjoy how Bragg describes the language as a living, breathing thing and to some it’s a ridiculous thing to anthropomorphize a language, but to me it makes perfect sense, especially with English. I’m about a quarter of the way through, but I’ll write more on the topic when I finish the book.

...listening + watching

Who needs therapy when you’ve watched the last season of Ted Lasso? It had some good lines that affected me in new ways. I read reviews of the season and some complained about the isolation of the team within its universe and I agree — but I’m not mad about it. I think the (probable) final season needed to focus on individuals and elevating them to the best version of themselves. Admittedly the last 15 minutes of the final episode felt a bit contrived and rushed but the season was a good way to wrap everything up.

For those familiar with Countdown and 8 out of 10 Cats Does Countdown, you’ll be familiar with lexicographer Susie Dent. Rather in the same vein as The Adventure of English, Purple is a podcast about words, language, and how we use the English language. I learn something new every episode. My favorite episodes are about tribal languages (languages used by groups of people with similar jobs or interests) and episodes about etymology. They have a vast back catalog of episodes (we’re still two years behind) so if you have a long commute or need to listen to something during your work out, this might be it.