The era of enjoyment reaches culmination and begins to wane in August; yet the era of the little treat is everlasting, and will endure until beyond the end of the world:
Watermelon. You need to buy a whole one, as large as you can find (that it be seeded should go without saying). Then, you need to slice the top off, and scoop out chunks with a spoon directly from the hull. If you must be civilized, put the watermelon chunks in a bowl with feta, either mint or basil, and maybe also a pinch of salt. Leave the hull in your fridge and scoop from it first thing; this sensation is what is meant by the word zing.
Clé de Peau Beauté Concealer SPF 27. This costs an arm and a leg and I regret to inform it is excellent. As are their cream blushes (which I have recommended before). Higher coverage than I was expecting, and also less prone to creasing.
Flower essences. Just this side of homeopathy, yet powerful enough to invoke the placebo effect, with interesting tangs thereof.
Garden of Life Dr. Formulated Probiotics, Mood+. At present I am engaging all possible forms of intervention to ensure morale remains steady and affect stable. This brand contains most of the strains that show correlation to mood improvement. Another entry in the “can’t hurt, might help” log.
Mozart, String Quartet No. 23 in F Major, K. 590, “Prussian No. 3” (Eder Quartet). Lately (weakness? Turpitude?) I’ve been listening to things I first listened to in college. Unaccountable. Yet this recording is very good.
The Strand. It’s just the best. Go on a weekday, earlier in the day.
Midori MD Notebook A5 Lined. Beautiful paper quality. Sometimes one needs to switch notebooks; the act of a fresh notebook is restorative, recalibrating in its simplicity yet effectiveness.
As ever, some books, this time from the torpor of my to-read pile:
The Sense of an Ending (Frank Kermode)
A History of Art History (Christopher Wood)
The Trees (Percival Everett)
Collected Stories (Shirley Hazzard)
Big Fiction (Dan Sinykin)
Born Under Saturn (Margot & Rudolf Wittkower)
the culmination of the fruit fly, too
(true, re: notebooks)