Welcome to Midweek Dinner. If this is your first time here, feel free to poke around and ask questions (want a snack? apples are in the fridge where reasonable people put them). Perhaps you’d be interested in seeing the very first edition? If you like the look of the place, stick around! You can sign up here to receive a new issue every Wednesday, delivered piping hot, right to your doorstep.
I’m tired.
This is neither an original nor a helpful statement. But it is true. And likely it is true of some of you, too. So, this evening: three small gifts.
small gift one
a recipe for double-chocolate banana bread - eat it for breakfast, know that it’s cake
small gift two
“The Gardener” by Son of Laughter
small gift three
an untitled Sabbath poem from Wendell Berry (collected in This Day)
Now, friends, I ask of you: three small things.
small thing one
A recipe! I have heaps and scads of cookbooks (and, of course, the internet), but I want to know what you make when you are overwhelmed or when you are delighted or when you are sure there’s nothing for dinner, but you have to eat anyway. Send me a recipe - no fancy card required. Back story appreciated but not necessary.
small thing two
A song! Every fall I spend unreasonable amounts of time discovering new music and rediscovering old favorites as I work to compile the perfect playlist for the year. In years past, it has been connected with Halloween, but this year it will go out with my annual New Year’s Letter, and I welcome your suggestions. Relevant to the craziness of the year? Sure. Unique and unexpectedly connected? Even better.
small thing three
This one actually isn’t a small thing; it is a big ask, and therefore the very most optional of all these optional tasks. If this little newsletter brings you a measure of joy or reflection or even righteous indignation and desire to debate, would you consider sharing it with a friend? You could, of course, share this issue with them, or you could browse back through and share a past issue. They’re all here.
Published this week:
On Sundays, #WeReadPoetry, and this week I introduced myself to the OnBeing podcast Poetry Unbound, and I can’t stop thinking about the poem “Prayer” by Faisal Mohyuddin
Thanks as always for reading and thinking with me. Have comments, suggestions, or questions? Reply to this email, and I promise a response.