#64: The Five Senses of February
Inspired by Jeremiah Brent
Dear Friends,
I’m embarrassingly late to the Jeremiah Brent fan club, but quickly became a card carrying member after watching the new season of Queer Eye during the winter holidays. He’s incredible and naturally I had to stalk him online. He posts a monthly video explaining how he’s been inspired by the five senses and often relates it to his creative process. I appreciate the reminder to find beauty in the seemingly mundane quotidian things around us, so here is my version.
Taste
Agua de jamaica. I’ve wanted to make hibiscus water/tea for a while and finally got some dried flowers from a latin market. I think I over soaked the flowers on my first batch because it was a little bitter, but I’m experimenting to figure out the right method. I should probably just look up a recipe, but I haven’t failed too badly yet. I’ll get there eventually.
Hearing
The WMATA bus stop announcements. I keep my windows open 24/7 which means I hear the traffic outside. It’s really not very loud unless a firetruck from the station up the street has an emergency. Something I’ve come to find quite comforting is the sound of the announcement the bus makes when it stops at the corner outside my apartment building. “This is L2 bus to Chevy Chase. The fare for this bus is $2. The next stop is _____".
Sight
The sun. I get to work at 7:00a and for months my commute has been lit by streetlights and the occasional full moon. Over the last month I’ve slowly noticed that the sun is rising earlier and earlier. A couple weeks ago the sunrise was so pretty over the Jefferson Memorial that I had to pull over and take a photo. I didn’t realize how much of a mood boost it was to start my morning with some sunshine. Especially since my office doesn’t have any windows.
Smell
The Joshua Tree candle from Good + Well Supply Co. I impulsively purchased this candle from a plant shop in Philly over a year ago and finally got around to burning it this month. It’s lavender, cedar, and white sage and basically perfect. I love lavender scents but they’re often paired with vanilla, which isn’t my favorite. This candle is really nice and I can still smell it when I walk by even when it’s not lit. It turns out they have an entire National Park Collection and I want to try Redwood or Olympic next. A portion of the sale goes to national parks and public land.
Touch
Paper. I realized that I retain the information in my school readings a lot more seamlessly when I read them in physical form. I’ve started printing out the articles each week. It’s helped a lot with my class preparation and understanding the topics. And I can more easily highlight and annotate things as I go.
As always, have a slice for me 🍕, and enjoy this song (or the whole masterpiece of an album) from Ms. Lauryn Hill.