Newsletter June 2026 Volume 199
Hello there,
Hope you are doing well.
I can’t believe June is here!
May was a really busy month for me.
I tried to squeeze all the joy out of the beautiful blooms and birds returning but I have been working extra because the hospital has been busy and also because everything is so expensive.
Groceries, eating out, gas!! sewer, water, electric, cars, car repair, phones, wifi, paying for upcoming vacation. It all really adds up fast.
Also both kids are going to be home for the summer so we need four cars because everyone has to get to their job at various times and places. We only had two cars, because although we had hoped the CRV would drive forever, it got rear ended and totaled. (Everyone was fine, but such a bummer!)
And then this week the dryer broke! Laundry had already more than doubled since the children got home because they both do farming work which means lots of laundry.
Letting clothes dry outside seems like a marvelous idea until it starts to rain.
The level of vigilance needed to dry clothes outside in the spring in New England is intense!
So, it has been busy, messy, disorganized, and expensive, but we are hanging in there. I realized my process for writing newsletters is I come up with an idea, which flows when I have time to muse and ponder.
But I have been bereft of musing and pondering time.
Maybe we’re going to get a new used car this week and maybe the new used dryer we brought in will eventually work!?
And maybe we will get into a rhythm that eventually comes after doubling the inhabitants of the house again.
A small house.
I did buy a zero gravity chair that I am planning on sitting outside in and looking at the birds as they fly overhead. And I did it once. It was magnificent. And weirdly, it has been so cold that I sat out there with a blanket and no mosquitoes bothered me.
I have been gardening like a fiend because I know if I do it now it will make the rest of the summer so much easier and potentially more beautiful.
And just today I went out to greet the roses that have started to bloom.
They are so lush and lovely.
The smell! The way it wafts all around in the warm air and draws in the bees. I really did stop and stoop down or stand on my tip toes to smell every variety of rose blooming in the yard. Each one is so different and each helps to calm your nervous system. It is scientifically proven that you should go smell some nice roses warmed by the sun emitting their healing fragrance.
“In this study, it was observed that rose oil had physiological and psychological relaxation, analgesic and anti-anxiety effects.”
The scent of rose is also really beneficial to our grieving hurting hearts so I recommend getting out there and really giving whatever bloom you see a few minutes of smell time. The fragrant old roses are in flower for only a brief few days so let’s try and get our fill.
It is a big time of transition and flux. Which is probably true of most times when we are trying to keep up with life, health maintenance, friends and family, staying on top of things at work, staying aware of news but not so aware you become inert, paying bills, deleting our emails (so much spam!) and making home cooked meals. It’s so much that it feels absurd and overwhelming.
Hopefully this rant has been helpful and resonated with some of what you are feeling in your life or maybe you are feeling so on top of things and organized that you can really take a moment to enjoy that!
Some things I did do this month to keep me steady are: continuing to walk in the evenings and vent about my day with Rob when we can, doing my physical therapy stretches and yoga at least a couple times a week. Putting some lime essential oil on my aromatherapy bracelet, which has been lovely. It smells like a lime popsicle and is very uplifting. I’ve been trying to make sure I get good sleep. And I started taking the stairs up to the third floor at work sometimes as my physical therapist suggested.
Also, lighting a candle and meditating and journaling whenever I get a chance, tapping for stress relief, petting the cat, laughing/crying at the absurdity of everything – gestures wildly around – staying hydrated and donating to good causes. Last month it was https://www.cambridgereproductivehealthconsultants.org/donate that helps women from around the country obtain safe abortions because no one should be forced to grow and birth a child against their will. They are located in Massuchudetts and a great organization – if you have the ability to donate; they are a great cause.
So, I have survived the month of May. I wish you and I a blessed June.
I hope it starts to slow down and feel like summer. And I hope we get a rhythm in our household that allows for lots of sitting and looking at the sky, but if not, I’ll keep using my coping mechanisms and trying to get through day by day, as we all do, in whatever way we can, as intact as we can, and as hopeful as we can.
None of that is easy; so give yourself credit and be well.
And make sure to smell any roses you come upon!
Here’s a parting poem from Mary Oliver:
To begin with, the sweet grass
3.
The witchery of living
is my whole conversation
with you, my darlings.
All I can tell you is what I know.
Look, and look again.
This world is not just a little thrill for the eyes.
It’s more than bones.
It’s more than the delicate wrist with its personal pulse.
It’s more than the beating of the single heart.
It’s praising.
It’s giving until the giving feels like receiving.
You have a life—just imagine that!
You have this day, and maybe another, and maybe
still another.
Much love to you.
xoxo
Katherine
