In this edition: the outdoors, social media, and the return of the geese.
Published about 1 year ago • 3 min read
February 29, 2024
Welcome to Hello Toad
Welcome to the first totally independent edition of the Hello Toad newsletter! Thank you so much for subscribing and joining me in this next chapter ❤️ And a very happy Leap Day!
As I write this, I'm sitting in my office with the windows open listening to the finches currently swarming my bird feeders. It is bananas warm out, and I'll be going for a hike later when the temperature climbs into the double digits (in February! I'm sure this is fine).
The warm weather has meant that I've been out on a bunch of hikes this month, which has got me thinking a lot about being An Outdoorsy Person. My ability to access the woods is massively important to my mental health, and is also a massive privilege: I live in a place where wilderness is very close by, I have a car, I have a body that can support me for hikes. That level of accessibility is not available to everyone.
I'm currently reading Fat Girls Hiking: An Inclusive Guide to Getting Outdoors at Any Size or Ability by Summer Michaud-Skog, and it's making me reckon with a lot of factors surrounding the Outdoors as a symbol—not just body weight stuff as the title suggests, but also issues around disability, racism, homophobia, and other forms of bigotry in outdoors spaces. I'm sure I'll write about this further, but for now it's top of mind as I get ready for today's hike.
On a recent Sunday morning hike.
Weekly favourites
As I am writing this with the aforementioned open windows, the first goose of the season flew overhead calling its trumpet call. I've been hesitant to label the current weather "spring" since this is Canada after all, and despite climate change and El Niño I know False Spring is a very real thing (not to mention that by the time this newsletter goes out, winter is supposed to have returned). But it's hard to not feel springlike when you start hearing the geese.
I'm a little hesitant to call it a "favourite" since it's actually pretty annoying, but speaking of spring, Willow is in the midst of her annual bout of spring fever. This usually entails running around the house from window to window meowing at random times of the day and night. She does it every spring to protest the cruelty of being an indoor, spayed, spoiled cat with a comfortable home and food available at all times.
My two children cuddling: Willow, and my Canon EOS R.
I've been on a months-long hunt for the Perfect Black Pen and have finally discovered the Uni-ball Signo Broad which may be the new holy grail for me. Pen nerds, sound off.
Finally, it looks like one of my favourite times of year is kicking off: Squill Season. My backyard is is overrun by Siberian squill every year, and I noticed just this morning that it's starting to grow wherever the snow has melted in the yard—which means I'll be taking a lot of photos of it soon.
Digital minimalism and social media
Something I've been noodling on a lot lately is how I can grow this newsletter in an ethical way, while still protecting my newly-built boundaries around social media. Social media and slow living can be at odds, so I'm trying to think through how I can balance the two in a way that feels in line with my values. I get more into the weeds on this topic in this week's journal entry—read it below.
Also on the blog, I published a bit of a monster post on the subject of slow living. I talk a little in the article about actually being a bit uncomfy with using slow living as a label, since I think that having a "slow living lifestyle" is a super subjective, personal thing—and also because the #slowliving movement online can veer pretty quickly into some problematic spaces. At the same time, I think there's value in sharing our own perspectives and tactics for slowing down. Take a look below!
