I’m an avid reader and walker, a poet and wannabe adult (when I have to be). I retired early from the medical industry to care full-time for my parents (Dad 92, Mom 89), who I’m fortunate to still have with me. Namaste. — Ken Batchelor

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PHYSICAL

• You Matter Cards. You Matter cards are business cards that say “You Matter” on them, plain and simple. They come in various designs and are a “powerful way to spread kindness, compassion, and gratitude with others.” I carry several in my wallet and pass them out at every opportunity…to the waitress at the restaurant, to the nurse at the Red Cross, to the checkout person at the grocery store, to the patient sitting next to me in the waiting room.
• Barefoot Shoes. A category of shoe that features zero lift, zero arch support, and a wide toebox to allow your feet to do what they’re supposed to without being constrained or artificially supported. I discovered these in 2022. I’m an avid walker and routinely go barefoot indoors (a habit I picked up from my sister), so barefoot shoes intrigued me. Three years on, my feet, ankles, and calves are stronger than ever, and my former non-barefoot shoe collection has been donated.
• Candle Accessory Kit. I love to burn candles and incense around the house. This kit includes a candle wick trimmer to keep your wicks short for better-controlled burning, a candle snuffer for extinguishing tapered candles, and a candle wick dipper. A wick dipper is a little hunk of metal with a crook on the end that allows you to submerge a lit wick into the pool of melted wax at the top of a pillar candle and extinguish it absolutely smokelessly. You can then use it to straighten the wick back up, now with a coat of wax on it, which will make it burn without sputtering the next time you light it. It may be old hat for some folks, but it took 61 trips around the Sun before I discovered this ingenious tool.

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DIGITAL

• LibraryThing. A terrific online service for cataloging books. You can tag and classify them as you wish, keep track of which books you’ve read, and pore over reams of charts, statistics, and information about your library. LibraryThing is a massive resource on books, editions, authors, cover art, you name it. They offer discussion boards and contests. They even provide an app to help you scan the barcodes on your books as you get started, which makes it easier and quicker to work your way down your shelves. They’re currently celebrating their 20th birthday.
• AlphaGuess. A minimalist word game where you guess the word of the day by determining “where it sits” in the alphabet. Simple but addictive. One game per day. My sister and I play it every morning and share our scores.

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INVISIBLE

Listening for the sound of the anklets on the feet of an insect as it walks.

From Philip K. Dick’s autobiographical essay in his short story collection “The Golden Man”:

“Kabir [the Sufi poet and mystic]…wrote about the sound of ‘the anklets on the feet of an insect as it walks.’ I would like to hear that sound; perhaps if I could my anger and fear, and my high blood pressure, would go away.”

My doctor prescribes atenolol for hypertension. It does the job I guess, but somehow I think hearing that sound would be a magical de-stresser, so I keep a spiritual ear out when I’m not running “madly off in all directions.”

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11/5/25