That we have a neatly scheduled day every four years consisting solely of chronologic remainders — each a crumb from the annual difference between the actual rate of Earth’s orbit around the sun and the convention we use to measure that orbit — seems intensely cool to me and may be worth reflecting on. Also worth considering: The Sun is slowing Earth’s orbit exacerbating this difference. If every year since 2016 seemed longer to you, that’s because they were. On the up-side: more frequent leap days are in the works! 

Music: Finding new music I like seemed/seems an increasingly difficult process to me; I’ve been working on identifying reliable resources to pick up on new music as of late. Luke Muehlhauser’s quarterly playlists on Spotify have been worth paying attention to since I found them, and props are always in order for KALX and KCSM playlists (in particular, Matokie and Agapanthus at the former and Michael Burman at the latter, usually have tracks I find worth repeated listening).

And that is why I am making playlists now. (The internet needs more.)

Ahead of hiking season, my backcountry and alpine wilderness goals this year will likely include some notable first attempts.

Julia Margaret Cameron (1815 – 1879) was introduced to me outside a university darkroom by an adjunct professor (and later, a good friend of mine), Joshua Dommermuth, who basically held a monograph of hers in front of me and yelled LOOK AT IT for about an hour.* The soft focus of her lens, the ‘window’ light illuminating nearly every subject, the composition and just the feel of her portraiture was simply sublime according to Josh. I vaguely agreed with him at the time; I agree more with his assesment now. It is a thing that gets truer as time proceeds. She seems to capture the person, not just the face. If you don’t know the work of Julia Margaret Cameron, you should.

*others may remember this differently; who is to say who is right?