It’s a hot summer day here, one of those lazy, hazy, crazy days. We’ve got stuff for you—books, poems, funny letters from the internet, encouragement, and more. Everything you need for a lazy hazy day, here in one email.

Around the Web
A Garden Maker’s Creed: How to Make a Garden and Tend Your Soul
Christie Purifoy points us to the garden.
- Flower gardens don’t begin with flowers. They don’t even begin with seeds. They begin with desire and vision, and they begin with ordinary dirt.
Of course, most gardeners never use the word dirt. They speak of soil, and they speak of it with a connoisseur’s finely nuanced vocabulary. The poet-gardeners talk of loam, clay, sand, gravel, humus, and marl. The scientist-gardeners mention lime, phosphorus, nitrogen, and acidity, and they fiddle around with test tubes and color strips. I love the litany of earthy garden words, and I have never scooped soil into a test tube.
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Edible Editions
Sally Lloyd-Jones points us to her edible editions.
- We authors don’t mind when babies eat our books. In fact, I have several edible editions (also known as board books).
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Letter From a Benevolent Spammer
This piece from John Michael Heard at the Rabbit Room made me chuckle, and gave me something to chew on.
- I discovered the following note in my email inbox yesterday at 3:08 a.m. (Don’t ask me why I was up that late — the internet is a vortex.) The email subject line was: READ THIS TO AVOID BEING EATEN BY SHARKS. It was from one, Father Samuel Persla. It said:
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Tips for Parenting Introverted Children
Blythe Daniel gives some insight on parenting introverts.
- “Come on, guys, let’s all come down here and be together to play a game or watch a movie together. It’s family time!” There are no sounds of feet moving from upstairs to downstairs. My desire to connect with my family at that moment is mostly my desire. One child calls out, “I need to be my introverted self right now.” The other children pause and say, “Can we do it later?”
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Around the Warren
Baseball
Millie Sweeny considers America’s pastime and the courage of the underdog.
- As a child, I actively avoided sports. A bookish child in an active family, sports and games were an uncomfortable opportunity for embarrassment in the Southern humidity. My parents, though active (think water skiing and dirt bikes), were not particularly sporty, and didn’t sign us up for little league practices or soccer camp. They watched college football on TV sometimes, and when my brother played offensive line in high school, spent every Thursday and Friday for the next four years sitting in the bleachers. I tolerated this (with a side of resentment).
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Poetry for the Lazy Hazy Days of Summer (pt. 2)
Leslie Bustard shares poetry for, well, for the lazy hazy days of summer.
- As I shared last time, summer is a wonderful time to enjoy poetry. My favorite way to enjoy poetry is just to enjoy it… enjoy the words, the images, and what it brings to mind. Don’t worry about what a poem is about. Allow yourself and others with you to enter into the experience, pressure free.
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Something to Do with Your Kids
Creating these bubble prints is a great way to spend a hot afternoon!
Something to Watch
All this talking of heat has me thinking about deserts. So here’s a video of one of the most majestic rivers in a desert out there.

Thanks for reading. We’re on your side.
–The Story Warren Team
- The Warren & The World Vol 13, Issue 4 - February 1, 2025
- The Warren & The World Vol 13, Issue 3 - January 25, 2025
- The Warren & The World Vol 13, Issue 2 - January 18, 2025
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