5 Quick Things #196 🏕

camping love, 1985, Mr. Collins, & alive people

Jun 18, 2021

Hey there,

How are you? We’re going camping for the weekend, heading out in a few hours — and if you’re like me, you enjoy camping once you’re there. The prep work on the front end (and sometimes on the back-end return) sometimes feels so heavy it outweighs the ROI, but we’re always glad we’ve made the effort once we’ve settled into our campsite. After I hit send on this letter, I’m off to start packing.

We’re officially going only an hour away to test out our new-to-us camper, which we bought after almost two decades of cross-country camping (and it has been on my wish list for ages!). It’s nothing fancy and it’s a pop-up, which isn’t my preference, but I do prefer not having to buy a gas-guzzling big truck to have to pull a non-popup trailer. This gem can be pulled from our regular family vehicle, and we bought it from a fellow nomadic-loving family who took excellent care of the thing. I’m excited. This weekend is only a short jaunt from our driveway, but in a month we’ll be taking it up to our beloved Pacific Northwest. 🙌

A lupine field in full bloom near Søllested, on Lolland island, Denmark. #

5 Quick Things ☕️

1. 👉 New episode of A Drink With a Friend! 👈 Recently Seth & I talked about artists who aren’t alive literally but still are, in a way, through the great art they left us. As a compendium, today we share the artists currently very much alive and are making all our lives better. The criteria? Artists who aren’t as commonly well-known, as well as people who aren’t out to make a name for themselves as an Influencer™ or ThoughtLeader™.
2. I didn’t even know most of these podcasts existed, but I’m still fascinated by the genre — here’s a ranked list of podcasts hosted by stars who recap their old shows. (Do you listen to any of these? Do tell! I’m curious.)
3. Continuing this seeming trend of Things I Didn’t Know, I also didn’t know so much pop culture debuted in 1985.
4. What thoughtful fathers could learn from Mr. Collins’ lack of self-awareness: “A good father should remind himself from time to time that no one tells the Mr. Collinses of the world they are conceited and pompous. The Mr. Collinses of the world must discern this truth all on their own.”
5. And finally… If you’re working on a project or heck, just thinking a new thing, the ever-wise Seth Godin has five useful questions for us. Definitely journaling through these today.

Currently Reading, Watching, Listening 📚

Orthodoxy, by G.K. Chesterton (a reread that I appreciate much more now that I’m older — reread classics, y’all!)

Quotable 💬

“To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.”

—Audrey Hepburn #

From inside The Commonplace 🏡

If you’re a paying subscriber of this place (and thank you, as always!), this week you’ve got a new episode of The WRLD at Home — lower your stress levels with a walk and an audio escape to hidden gems in America + the wilds of Iceland.