We had a very cool summer in the Bay Area! 
While much of the country is baking, Berkeley is bundling up by Daniel Ekonde and Sara Martin. When the rest of the country is hotter than normal, it pulls in cool air from the Pacific and it's cold along the coast.
Seattle's Dunava, my favorite Balkan choir in the Pacific Northwest, went to Bulgaria and Serbia this year and they're writing about it on their blog. 
Dunava Balkan Choir blog 2025.
Via network, ran across a recommendation for 
FlossGrip dental floss holder from Brussels. International shipping looks affordable, not sure how, and I might try it out.
Halbuki Linguist Cooperative offers online language classes for less available languages such as Ukrainian, Quechua, Albanian, Turkish, etc. Recommended by the same friend who is writing a 
language learning app.
Babatunde Olatunji, Jin-Go-Lo-Ba (video, music only). Fantastic Nigerian drummer. We went to see him perform in DC when I was a kid, and I've never forgotten his gorgeously rhythmic name which sounds like a drumbeat itself, and the way the drumming filled the amphitheater and resonated in my body.
NPR Founding Mother Susan Stamberg has died by David Folkenflik. Growing up in the DC area, we heard Susan Stamberg, Cokie Roberts, Nina Totenberg, and Linda Wertheimer on the radio all the time. I didn't realize it was unusual to hear women announcers. My belated thanks to these pioneers who filled my childhood with their resonant kind voices.