I felt so many feelings reading this New York Times article on hanging out with friends as an adult. That used to be the activity — the request. “Do you want to come over and hang out?” But now it’s going to dinner or seeing a show or going on a walk.

When you’re a kid with limited funds and modes of transport, hanging out with friends feels natural. But adults are often used to doing scheduled activities with one another … “Often, we don’t think something is beneficial unless it’s productive.”

I also like the idea suggested in the article of meeting on a park bench, creating a neutral third space where people can arrive and leave whenever they need.

I miss long afternoons on someone’s sofa, doing our homework, talking, and just… well… hanging out.

Not sure what #MicroblogMondays is? Read the inaugural post which explains the idea and how you can participate too.

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I love finding old emails when I’m searching for something, and this substack reminded me of the pure pleasure that comes from re-reading old thoughts. If you haven’t excavated your Gmail account recently, follow their instructions, search for a term or phrase, and see what pops up. It’s as good as the memories feature on Facebook for bringing you back to the moment.

P.S. Go down to section V in the substack for their recommendations/instructions for search.

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Are you also doing #MicroblogMondays? Add your link below. The list will be open until Tuesday morning. Link to the post itself, not your blog URL. (Don’t know what that means? Please read the three rules on this post to understand the difference between a permalink to a post and a blog’s main URL.) Only personal blogs can be added to the list. I will remove any posts connected to businesses or sponsored posts.

After celebrating my birthday for the past three weekends, it felt selfish not to set aside a single weekend for Josh. I am not a man, and I am not in his head, but it seems like there are many fewer complicated feelings about Father’s Day than there are about Mother’s Day, which is lovely if it’s true. I’d like him to have an uncomplicated, relaxing day of appreciation because I really appreciate Josh and told him so in a card.

We are a card family. Cards are the highest form of gift you can give, and they must be homemade. The front is a picture — either a visual depiction of an inside joke or a heartfelt reminder of something important to the receiver — and the inside is a long message stating in no uncertain terms how much you mean to the other person.

I keep all of mine.

And sometimes re-read them when I need them.

That’s what we’re doing today.

At some point, my Facebook header disappeared, though I don’t know when because you don’t often go onto your own page (vs. read your feed). That picture was from the Harry Potter set; it had been up there since the kids were eight. It’s still on my phone, but as I scrolled to get it, I passed a picture of myself talking to a raven named Branwen, and I decided to use it instead.

I was surprised by people’s reactions to the picture, and the only explanation I have is that we secretly all love birds.

The picture is part of a set of seven or so photos in which I am animatedly conversing with Branwen, inviting her to return to the US with us, where I promised her many Corvidae friends. She did not take us up on our offer. When we returned to the Tower of London a year later, she would not leave her sunny patch of grass on the other side of a barrier and say hello despite my best efforts to coax her into a second conversation.

A sad tale of unrequited bird love.

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Stop procrastinating. Go make your backups. Don’t have regrets.

Seriously. Stop what you’re doing for a moment. It will take you fifteen minutes, tops. But you will have peace of mind for days and days. It’s the gift to yourself that keeps on giving.

As always, add any new thoughts to the Friday Backup post and peruse new comments to find out about methods, plug-ins, and devices that help you quickly back up your data and accounts.

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And now the blogs…

But first, second, helpings of the posts that appeared in the open comment thread last week. To read the description before clicking over, please return to the open thread:

• “Plans Change, So Let Us Thrive” (No Kidding in NZ)

Okay, now my choices this week.

I loved this story from Finding a Different Path about what she found while clearing out her yard. “Where did these lovelies come from? And how did they end up in a very bizarre, hidden, out-of-the-way area? It was a moment where I was dumping detritus, and BOOM! Gorgeous hidden treasure.” Click over to see the gorgeous pictures.

Lastly, No Kidding in NZ looks back on the early years, and muses on how remembering it is different from living it. She writes: “I can and do remember that without pain – which is, if you might recall, how I define ‘getting over it’.” Those moments never leave you, even if the pain itself changes from sensory to a memory.

The roundup to the Roundup: We are all secret bird lovers. Your weekly backup nudge. And lots of great posts to read. So what did you find this week? Please use a permalink to the blog post (written between June 7 – 14) and not the blog’s main URL. Not understanding why I’m asking you what you found this week. Read the original open thread post here.

As I say every month, I’m shamelessly stealing this idea from Jessica Lahey. She has a recurring monthly date where she reviews all the books she reads that month. Book reviews are important for authors, and I want to get better at doing this.

So. I’m going to review them here and also online, but I’m going to do it a little differently. I’m only going to review the stuff I really liked. I don’t see a reason to spend my time writing about something I didn’t love; it’s just using up more of my energy. So only positive reviews.

These are the books I liked (or mostly liked) from May.

The Antique Hunter’s Guide to Murder (C.L. Miller): It was a very sweet cozy mystery, which felt a little like a literary love letter between child and parent because the author is the daughter of Judith Miller, the antiques expert. I spent equal time reading the story and Googling all of the antiques to see them.

The Fellowship of Puzzlemakers (Samuel Burr): This is a very sweet book with major TJ Klune vibes (a la Cerulean Sea). Great characters, and I liked the interlocking stories, jumping back and forth in time. There are some difficult topics that may get resolved in a tv-like rather than realistic-like way, but I sense the author’s heart is in the right place.

Impossible Creatures (Katherine Rundell): For the first few pages, I thought I had found the next Harry Potter (which is what websites were calling this book when it won Waterstones Book of the Year), but then it firmly veered into sweet-children’s-book-with-a-lovely-message territory. I think if you’re nine years old, you’ll like this book. And I think adults may find it a little simplistic.

Wives Like Us (Plum Sykes): I love all of her books, but this is one of the best. Before there was Crazy Rich Asians, there was Bergdorf Blondes. If you like Kevin Kwan, you will probably like this skewering of the ultra-rich in the English countryside. This book was pure frothy joy from start to finish — wildly entertaining with a great deal of heart.

What did you read last month?