the grid

the grid

Sunday, 17 May 2026

2026 Summer session: Week 1

Welcome to the new Summer TLQ session! This is the first week so we're setting goals for the period between now and August 16. We will have a mid-session check in and recalibration for July 5th in case that helps with planning! The theme is going to be picture-related – with a summer-long record of anything I take a photo of in the week preceding, and quite likely those will be flowers…

Last week we thought about what we want out of this summer. This week the prompt is a two-parter… We will set our goals for the session as usual, but I would also love to set an intention for the session. What word or sentence can embody your intention for the summer, as a guiding principle, as a reminder, as a reset when things go off the rails? I have a feeling I might need one.

Here's the boilerplate from previous sessions about goals: Goals can be in any aspect of life, although the key focus is often writing tasks that are personally and professionally important but that never quite tip over into important AND urgent. Urgent things sometimes find their way in here too; that is completely okay, and process goals are also most welcome. If you've been thinking for awhile about joining in, we'd love to have you try us out this time around!

So, a few things to do this week - introduce yourself if you want to, set an intention for your session, set some session goals, do goals for the coming week (if you feel like it!), and in the spirit of the theme of the week, tell us a little about your favourite flowering plant and what it means to you. The photo is a set of cherry blossoms on my sour cherry tree that produced so much last year that I learned to make sour cherry jam which is delightful. Even better, we have a resident fox that visits the tree to eat fallen cherries...


Thank you all for being here and being wonderful company!

 

Monday, 11 May 2026

Interim: May flowers

 Hello everyone!

Hope the May flowers are continuing to provide little spots of beauty and joy! 

Our session will officially start next week. I thought we might like to take this week to think about what our ideal summers would contain, and do a little bit of ruminating on how we can make the reality and the ideal come a bit closer together before we start off with goals next week... 

Are there non-negotiable fun things you want to do this summer? Are there restorative practices that you want to put in place?

For this week... Let's think about what we want... Not what we "should" or "could" or "have to"... 


Just what we want :)



 

Sunday, 3 May 2026

Interim: May is here!

Where I live, we're still getting April showers, but the calendar puts us in flower season. I missed my moment to put out the peony supports, so they're going to go all floppy; the lavender is still working on greening up; the rather expensive rose I bought for my birthday last year seems to have died over the winter (boo!); the "lawn" is a mass of dandelions and violets, plus creeping Charlie. A couple-three weeks ago I bought lettuce and spinach seedlings but haven't put them in the ground yet, as we had a frost warning on 1 May! Around here, you have to buy plants when they appear in stores, not when you're ready to plant, or they'll all be gone.

What are you ready to do? What needs to wait for the right moment? Does frost, real or metaphorical, threaten any of your projects?