Welcome back to the Sanctuary . . . where once a week – on Fridays – I aim to preserve my sanity. And maybe yours, too. If you missed my inaugural Sanctuary post (the one where I explained all this), you can find it here.

So. What have I got for you this week? Three things + a bonus: Something book-ish. Something creative. Something fun. And a really lovely poem.

Ready?

Something Book-ish

For several years, Mary graciously hosted Summer Book Bingo over on her blog. It was a really fun way for readers here in Blogland to plan out their summer reading schedules, explore new genres, and generally re-live their nostalgic Library Summer Reading Programs from days (long) gone by.

I was reminded of Summer Book Bingo earlier this week, when the New York Times Book Review published their Summer Reading Bucket List.

I decided to do a little . . . Sanctuary Summer Reading “Thing.” NOT a bingo. NOT a competition. Just a fun way to keep track of  your reading over the summer — and maybe to help you think about books in a different way.

So save (or print) (or whatever) this bucket list . . . and then let me know – at the end of the summer – how your reading compares to this list. (I’ll remind you.)

There won’t be any prizes, but I’ll put together a blog post to celebrate our summer reading prowess.

Reading . . . as sanctuary.

Something Creative

Between my 5th and 6th grade years, I went to summer camp in Wisconsin with my neighborhood bestie, Wendy. It was my first time at sleep-away camp . . . and it was for two weeks, which was a week too long for me. But I survived. And I generally had a lot of fun. (It was an evangelical church camp, though, which my mom wasn’t really aware of when she allowed me to go. I do have a few stories I could share about my evangelical camp experiences. But I’ll save them for another time. If ever.)

Every day after lunch, we campers had an hour of “free time” while our food settled and before our afternoon activities of swimming and archery and horseback riding . (The intention was that we use that time for independent Bible study, but it wasn’t enforced.). I always used that time to go back behind our cabin – by myself – to build a miniature “nature house” down in and among the trees in the bordering woods. These days, it would have been called a “fairy garden,” but back then, I just found an interesting spot at the base of a tree, and filled it with my creations of moss and sticks and rocks and acorns. I loved it! And to this day, that independent, creative activity is my favorite memory of a generally good camp experience.

I follow an artist on Instagram (@kaleandconjure) . . . who encourages creativity for all by posting fun and easy find-your-creativity prompts. And this week? You guessed it . . . fairy gardens (or, as I prefer to call them, “nature gardens”).

Take a look. And maybe build one in your own backyard!

Something Fun

When I was a kid, I loved watching the Harlem Globetrotters. I’m really not sure if they’re still . . . A Thing . . . but I did have fun watching this little video when it appeared in my Instagram feed recently.

I thought you might appreciate the JOY . . . in the rhythm and the skill.

+ a Bonus

A lovely poem . . . that just seems perfect for these very (VERY) weird days . . .

SPELL AGAINST INDIFFERENCE
by Maria Popova

The rain falls and falls
cool, bottomless, and prehistoric
falls like night —
not an ablution
not a baptism
just a small reason
to remember
all we know of Heaven
to remember
we are still here
with our love songs and our wars,
our space telescopes and our table tennis.

Here too
in the wet grass
half a shell
of a robin’s egg
shimmers
blue as a newborn star
fragile as a world.

And that’s it for this week.
I hope you found some sanctuary here today.
At least for a few minutes.

Enjoy the weekend!
Find some joy.
Protect your peace.

Resist, my friends.
Resist.

(And just a reminder: June 14 approaches. Get thee to a protest. You’ll like it. I promise.)