Today I attended a creative workshop led by New York Times bestselling author Jon Katz at this really groovy yurt in Cambridge, NY. (By the way, yurt is the word of the day.) I attended sessions on writing, photography, and blogging. One thing Jon underscored in his writing and blogging sessions was the importance of producing work and producing it often, even if it is not perfect. I know this to be the truth. I’ve had a hard time practicing this of late because I write all day every day for a living, and when I come home, I just want to be stupid. I think I am still adjusting to what is a new lifestyle for me.

Anyway, here is a blog post about something pretty interesting that happened in my life today. And also, during the photography session, our wonderful teacher Deb Glessner implored us to photograph the things we love. I love food. Lunch at the yurt (prepared by Chef Scott Carino, et al.) included beautiful chili with crème fraiche, brie and freshly baked bread, and a beautiful salad. I also love interesting vintage china. Today I found them both in one place. (Oh, and I am not a photographer yet. I own a Nikon, though. But I made that photo on my cell phone and used Instagram to edit.)

So in the course of a single day I hung out in a yurt, listened to interesting people, and ate beautiful food. It rained all day (I actually love foliage in the rain); several times a very energetic border collie puppy climbed into my lap and slobbered on my face. She also did this while I was eating and actually put her mouth on my bread and brie before I could stop her. I still ate it with exactly no shame. I will always welcome a slobbery dog into my lap, even if she is soaking wet because she’s been outside.

I had so much I wanted say during the various sessions, but mainly did not. I am pretty smart and articulate; I’ve been seizing up like that a lot lately for reasons I don’t understand.

It was a beautiful day.