Sweet Tea: Beach party

If you feel adrift or without purpose, ask yourself these two questions: When is the last time I created something? When is the last time I gloried in nature?

It doesn’t have to mean whipping up an oil painting or going on an hourlong hike. A doodle on a napkin, a quick thought or two in your Notes app; a new appreciation of the tree outside your window will do.

That leads to so much more. What kind of tree is it, after all? How do its leaves move in the wind? What shapes do your hands make when they are simply set free to wander?

Call it silly if you would like. But try it and see if you don’t feel at least a little better.

GEORGIA’S SEA TURTLE BOOM

Environmental conservation works. Just ask Georgia’s sea turtle population (not that they’ll respond, but maybe you’ll get a puzzled fin flap or two).

• Loggerhead sea turtles laid a record 4,292 nests on Georgia’s beaches this year.
• It’s a record more than 20 years in the making. In 2004, the sea turtle population was in crisis, with a low of 358 nests.
• The massive amount of work and education that led to this victory can be boiled down to one truth: People simply cared enough to make things better.
• This year, professionals and volunteers kept constant vigil around sea turtle nests, responsibly recording activity and putting up barriers to alert beachgoers to fragile territory.

🐢 READ MORE: How public education helped spread the sea turtle word

A LEGEND TURNS 100

Opal Lee was a driving force in making Juneteenth a federal holiday. Juneteenth, celebrated on June 19, marks the final enforcements of the federally mandated end of slavery in the United States. That’s why it’s often considered a second Independence Day.

• Lee is an academic, activist and lifelong Texan who supported Juneteenth celebrations in her native state.
• In 2024, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Joe Biden.
• She just turned 100, which is an achievement in and of itself.
• Not one to rest on her laurels, Lee spent her birthday attending the groundbreaking for a museum in Fort Worth, Texas, dedicated to telling the history of the holiday she helped enshrine in national honor.

🎂 READ MORE: Lee was also paid a visit by former first lady Michelle Obama

SIPS FROM AROUND THE SOUTH

⛪ Williamsburg, Va.: Virginians celebrated the reconstruction of the First Baptist Church of Williamsburg, one of the oldest Black churches in the country. Its history dates back to 1776, when it was established in secret by enslaved and free African Americans in defiance of laws preventing Black people from congregating. More from The Associated Press