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using incense to keep the time

Instead of using an app timer when completing a reflective task like writing or meditating, try incense. There's a great history of incense as a time marker — incense clocks were used across East Asia to measure time as far back as the sixth century. They were present in not only temples, but palaces, agricultural regions and even government offices. People even tried to make incense-based alarm clocks, and in some spaces, the scent of the incense would change every hour.

stamping and embossing your favorite books

especially if you can get a local bookstore to do it for you! it's a sweet reminder of where you originally bought the book. I got this book of short stories by Clarice Lispector embossed and stamped at the Henry Miller Memorial Library in Big Sur.

epitaphs commemorating favorite scents

for ex: "night blooming jasmine" on David Lynch's gravestone (RIP). originally rec'd by my friend, writer, photographer and bookstore owner Jessica Ferri.

the cyanometer

In the late 1700s, Swiss scientist Horace-Bénédict de Saussure made a tool to measure the blueness of the sky. Saussure climbed mountains regularly and noted that the color of the sky changed with elevation and became “more blue.” His theory was that the color indicated the moisture content of the sky, and to test the idea, he set his sights on climbing Mont Blanc, the highest peak in Western Europe. He brought swatches of blue and held them up to the sky to compare the gradations of color until he found a match. When he summited, the sky was the deepest blue he’d seen, at measure 39. I love it when science feels like poetry...

using incense to keep the time

Instead of using an app timer when completing a reflective task like writing or meditating, try incense. There's a great history of incense as a time marker — incense clocks were used across East Asia to measure time as far back as the sixth century. They were present in not only temples, but palaces, agricultural regions and even government offices. People even tried to make incense-based alarm clocks, and in some spaces, the scent of the incense would change every hour.

stamping and embossing your favorite books

especially if you can get a local bookstore to do it for you! it's a sweet reminder of where you originally bought the book. I got this book of short stories by Clarice Lispector embossed and stamped at the Henry Miller Memorial Library in Big Sur.

epitaphs commemorating favorite scents

for ex: "night blooming jasmine" on David Lynch's gravestone (RIP). originally rec'd by my friend, writer, photographer and bookstore owner Jessica Ferri.

the cyanometer

In the late 1700s, Swiss scientist Horace-Bénédict de Saussure made a tool to measure the blueness of the sky. Saussure climbed mountains regularly and noted that the color of the sky changed with elevation and became “more blue.” His theory was that the color indicated the moisture content of the sky, and to test the idea, he set his sights on climbing Mont Blanc, the highest peak in Western Europe. He brought swatches of blue and held them up to the sky to compare the gradations of color until he found a match. When he summited, the sky was the deepest blue he’d seen, at measure 39. I love it when science feels like poetry...