It’s a bit of a popular joke that we humans have our best ideas in the shower, where it’s impossible to write them down. There are multiple blogs that are based on sharing thoughts from the shower (varying from mildly amusing to quite insightful). And it has a basis in reality—when we’re in the shower, we’re not distracted, and perhaps even relaxed, and our minds then wander in strange and wonderful directions.

This happens to me every day. Not necessarily profound thoughts or brilliant ideas, but more “remember to email Frank about increasing our earthquake coverage” or “do we have apple sauce?”. And, try as I might, I was never able to remember most of what I thought about in the shower, whether inspired genius or inherently mundane.

Enter—my new friend, the scuba slate!

[Image: A small white plastic slate, suspended from a black fabric tab held by a silver carabiner. A yellow pencil is attached to the slate by means of a yellow cord. The slate has three notes written on it as example text.]

It’s intended for use by scuba divers to write messages to each other under water, so, yes, it works in the shower! The carabiner is perfect for hanging it on an S-hook from the shower bar, so it’s always within reach, whether a few lines of a poem, or a few items for the shopping list, pop up while I’m getting clean.

Today’s example has notes to post a photo showing it as it’s used (rather than the uninspiring blank slate originally posted); check for crimp beads to finish my upcoming bead project; and do an inventory of paints so I can place an order with Blue Rooster Art Supply.

Since it is waterproof, you can use a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser (or similar item, that’s what I found in my local hardware store) to erase it.

This particular board came from Divers Supply (my local dive shop is still closed due to the pandemic, or I would have checked there first), and is available in a variety of sizes. You can even buy a 12-page book of slate pages, if you have a lot of ideas while you’re in the water.

Happy water writing!

So many people love this day! It’s bright! It’s warm! It’s time to do ALL THE SUMMER THINGS!

It’s an absolute trainwreck for those of us with Summer S.A.D. My consolation is that, starting tomorrow, the days are getting shorter, even if only by a minute or two; soon, it will be September, and the sun will move south and leave me in peace. Today, I am with my friends in the Southern Hemisphere, celebrating the Winter Solstice, reveling in the cold and dark.

However, I acknowledge the importance of sunlight—plants need sunlight to grow, plants are food, I like eating, etc.

In honor of the good parts of summer, I present:

With thanks to the Church of Satan, who included it in their Summer Solstice post.

For those of you who enjoy the summer, make the most of it! For the rest of us—only three months to the Autumnal Equinox!

How Dark the Beginning
—Maggie Smith

All we ever talk of is light—
let there be light, there was light then,

good light—but what I consider
dawn is darker than all that.

So many hours between the day
receding and what we recognize

as morning, the sun cresting
like a wave that won’t break

over us—as if  light were protective,
as if  no hearts were flayed,

no bodies broken on a day
like today. In any film,

the sunrise tells us everything
will be all right. Danger wouldn’t

dare show up now, dragging
its shadow across the screen.

We talk so much of  light, please
let me speak on behalf

of  the good dark. Let us
talk more of how dark

the beginning of a day is.

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