Hello, summer

some lists, an imagined walk, and a thank you

Dec 22, 2024

Hello friend,

First up, thank you for being here in this space. This year I have published 30 editions of Suburban Dreaming, and you have been here every fortnight reading, commenting, sharing. Thank you. This is a small and intimate space as far as the internet goes, but when I imagine you all in one room together and speaking to you from a stage, the thought is terrifying. So that’s saying something.

I assume that for you to be here, you care about nature, reading, moving quietly through the world and paying attention to the small things, like I do. I’m grateful to have you here, caring about those things alongside me.

I have no plans to write or not write over January and want to be free to go with the flow, so I’ll say now that I may or may not be here over the break, and only time will tell!

If you celebrate, I hope you have a lovely festive season. May you all find time for rest over summer.

Let’s start with some books

This year I set out to continue to prioritise reading. I wanted to read instead of scroll and - sometimes - I achieved that. 2024 was also my first year studying for a mid-life career change to become a Librarian, which has taken up a great deal of time (Captain Obvious) so I’m surprised I managed to fit in extra reading time on top of that1. At the crux of it, though, I need to read. I read to escape, I read to learn, I read to understand (different from learning), I read to sleep, I read to be entertained, I read to be mindful, I read to dream… I love to read. I’m currently reading what I imagine might be my final book for the year: The Book of Love by Kelly Link and to be honest I’m completely bamboozled by this one, but intrigued enough to keep going. She’s a big one too. Will see if I make it through.

One strange thing I was oddly compelled to do this year in my #readinglyf: I listened to every audiobook in Ann Cleeves’ Shetland series. I don’t mind the odd crime book every now and again but wouldn’t say it is a favourite genre, so I’m really not sure how this happened or what my purpose was. I’ll let it mull for a while; more on Ann Cleeves another time, perhaps.

A few books I’ve got on hold at the library, or on my bedside table:

All Fours by Miranda July (thanks CR xx)
Dusk by Robbie Arnott
The garden against time by Olivia Laing
Australian Gospel by Lech Blaine
and about 27 million others.

Over to you. What were your favourite reads of 2024? What’s next on the list?

What I’ve enjoyed around Substack lately:

I absolutely loved reading Hope is a muscle by Maggie Mackellar. Not only was this a stunning piece about nature and hope and puppies, but it introduced me to the Scott sisters. Having a sister with Down syndrome very close in age to myself, I was an absolute mess after reading the articles Maggie linked at the end of her newsletter. What an incredible story - and sadly, one of many that will never have such a sense of redemption2.
Silent write by Megan Rogers, tips for continuing your writing practice over the festive season.
A little peace by Kate Mildenhall. Things I loved about reading this: the concept of stopping and staring into the distance, being fully present, I have found myself doing this in moments of overwhelm this month, and realise how occupied I am. The concept of enough.

A few other, largely unrelated, things…

I saw this on the gram and think it’s important - you can sign the petition here.
This podcast episode has some great recs for summer reading: Best Books of 2024 by The Bookshelf.
If you’re someone who feels the energy of this month pressing up against you, I really enjoyed this short meditation, Stepping back from everything3.
A word for 2025. Usually around this time of year, a word or concept starts to float around. I hadn’t had any particular thoughts around it until the last few days, then, in 48 hours: a conversation with initiated by my husband about curiosity, an insightful reel in my feed about curiosity, a podcast about purpose at work that discussed curiosity at length. So, there it is. Curiosity4.
I’ve been listening to Green-House and Hiroshi Yoshimura interchangeably and flat out for a couple of months now, I cannot get enough. This music fulfils being both music and soundscape for me, and I love it. May it offer some peace to your surroundings.

Let’s switch the tone, and finish with a walk

When you walk, do you take the time to feel the placement of each foot? Left right, left right. From the heel to the toe, the gentle pressure of meeting the earth. Sometimes, in the cross-hatched way of trail walking, you may need to place your foot from toe to heel - or - you may land flat or on the side of your foot. Can you feel the soft pressure of the earth as it lays itself across the soles of your feet? Can you feel into your stability, your grounded presence? Sometimes, when I lay in bed at night unable to sleep, I walk familiar trails in my mind. It’s always nighttime in these half-dreams, so I walk the path in the dark, seeing it anew. It can be eerie, given I only know the sun-shadowed face of this place, never usually meeting it in the navy shades of night. The sounds are different in this imagined dark, the dim veiling the usual grey green glimmers of the bush, sucking it of colour and form. Regardless, I step forward, working to remember the track by heart as it curves and twists and slopes, feeling my palm against the cool skin of familiar trees.

Somewhere along the trail, I find sleep.

And that’s quite enough for now.

Merry Christmas folks.

Until next time, until next year, until we speak again: travel light…

Lucinda x

Thanks for reading Suburban Dreaming! This post is public and I’d love it if you would consider sharing it with a friend.

Someone asked me recently if I ever sleep and the answer is: probably not as much as I should.

The wolf video was the final straw, I let the tears flow.

I really felt the spaciousness this meditation aimed to evoke.

Let’s discuss this more in the new year.

Suburban Dreaming