Something about the summer winds that give my nose the itch to be buried in a good book (or pressed up against the screen of my trusty Kindle who I adore but have yet to name.  Ideas?).

I’ve had a phenomenal run of books so far this summer that are taking me all around the world.

First stop was England and Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simonson Though it’s been hot outside, this book was like a warm cozy sweater that allowed me to curl up in its pages.

Next I spent some time in Sweden with Stieg Larsson and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (and the rest of the trilogy).  I read these books so fast.  I couldn’t wait to find out what happened next.  So sad the author is no longer here to share more of his stories with us.  These books are the epitome of good summer reads.

Back home to the States next to spend time with the Richards family showcased in The Lonely Polygamist by Brady Udall.  I was suspicious at first that this novel was playing off the popularity of the show Big Love, but THIS is a phenomenal book.  Believe the hype.  Funny and poignant are often over-used to describe books, but in this case they both apply.

And that lands me now in Ethiopia where I am getting to know the Praise Twins in Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese.  This title is on my book club list for the upcoming year and so I thought I’d dive in.  No way did I think I’d be lucky enough to read six good books in a row, but holy cow this is good.  I’m just about half way through and I already know these will be characters I’ll miss for a long time.

I have no idea what I’m going to read next.  I don’t even want to hope for seven in a row.

Here’s the list my book club voted on for the next year.  Have you read any of these titles?  Which one do you think I should tackle next?

Do you have a book club list or reading list you want to share?  Send me a link, and I’ll be happy to do a wrap up of all the posts.

I present to you my dad’s most recent letter to the editors of the New York Times.

Dear Sir:

I have been reading the NY Times since age 16 (1952) and since Mr. Obama has been president have felt a sense of disquiet in your often negative response in reporting things he does, and decisions he makes–negative responses you seem to make without compelling or even convincing reasons. I note two editorials in today’s paper, the first on the Home Page under News Analysis by Peter Baker, the second as the lead Editorial, and both convey moderately flip judgements about Mr. Obama and his efforts to address; (1) the catastrophic Gulf oil spill; (2) our country’s compelling need for an long term plan for change from an energy dependence on fossil fuels.

This negativity (which has appeared over the last year and a half in other “news” or editorials) is consistent enough to imply it may spring from two major factors. First, you generally support the conservative stance that whatever President Obama proposes or does must be met with stiff resistance–i.e., unadmitted but clearly manifest racism; second, you are making many of your major judgements about matters that concern the President with the gay abandon of a non-combatant.

Finally, before you write again in judgement of Mr. Obama, I would suggest you re-review years 2000-2008, which you seem to have too easily forgotten, and imagine if you will how Mr Cheney would have handled the Gulf Oil spill when he was in charge of our country…..

Signed,

my dad

PS–Haliburton anyone?

Mom where are all the cardinal birds?

You mean the red birds?

Yeah, the ones with the sharp heads.

And as if the mere suggestion was all it took, I’ve seen three of them in my yard today for the first time this year.

What do you do after school when the mercury rises like it’s August and not June?

Wish I was doing that too.  How about you??

I walked into that place today.  The one that contains various implements of torture.

It wasn’t like yesterday when I brought the extra bag of clothes with me and then dragged it home without donning its contents.

Nope!  Today I put the outfit and worked up the courage to face the Chamber of Doom.

New to all this ess & emm stuff, I kept it pretty vanilla today.  I had the right costume, but I knew all the regulars knew this was my first time.  I’m sure they could tell by the way I looked around not wanting to make eye-contact–looking at the equipment like I wasn’t sure just what to do with it.  It felt like I had a giant text balloon over my head that said “first-timer.”

I didn’t let the uncomfortable feelings deter me.  I chose the closest contraption–the music was thumping.  I started working up a sweat and soon forgot about everyone else around me.  Oh. my. god!  It started to feel so good!  I didn’t want to stop, but I couldn’t stay there forever.  I had to get back to my family. *sigh*

Not a bad outing for the first day at the gym.

Oh and I’m so grateful the friction of my thighs didn’t start a fire, cause that would have been really embarrassing.

I’ve made a commitment to work out three times a week for the next twelve weeks as part of the Choose You campaign.  I’ll be blogging about my journey with a group of fabulous women over on the Choose You blog.  Make your own health commitment when you visit the site and then you too can pretend you’re all freaky like me.

I’m saying it out loud, so now I have to do it.

I’m starting my photography business!

There is so much to do to set up a business let alone working on a craft to support it.  It would be easy to keep putting it off–to wait until I had everything perfectly in place–but I know me and there’s no such thing (or time) as perfect.

And if ever I feel my confidence fail, I’ll look back at these faces.

A logo is being designed, a website will come too but the doors are officially open.  And the prices are good if you get in early during my portfolio-building days.

I write to process.

I write to share.

I write to expel,  investigate,  connect, publicize, stand out, convey, separate, unite, understand, distinguish, identify, comprehend, relate, inspire, exorcise, reveal, persuade, learn, heal, clarify, notice, express–and probably a few other things too.

What about you?  Why do you do what you do?

Look what I ordered for my camera today!

Is that a sweet camera strap or what?  Even better…it’s going to have orange minky material on the side that goes against my neck.

I found it on this cool site called PhatStraps.  Ordered a wrist strap too.  They might not make my photos look any better, but woohoo will I be looking good!

I was lucky I caught them sitting still.  It didn’t last long.  They spent the next four hours running and laughing and playing and goofing off with their friends.*

By the end of the night, they were dirty and sweaty and wore the biggest smiles on their faces.

Playing outside is what they were made to do as kids, and I’m glad I’m not the only one who thinks so.

The National Wildlife Federation has launched the Be Out There campaign as an effort to get kids to spend more time outside (which is ironic since I live with three boys who could be classified as members of the wildlife community).

I was approached to become a member of the NWF’s Founding Mother’s Board to help get the word out about the campaign and it took me less than a nanosecond to say yes.  You see I come from a long line of mothers who constantly tell their kids to “go outside and play!”–and my mom and grandmother only had two girls each.

I’ll admit I typically send my kids outside to play because I can’t take another minute of watching them bounce off the walls, but now I have FACTS (facts I say!) to back up my desire for them to get fresh air.

Did you know that:

• Children who play outside are more physically active, more creative in their play, less aggressive and show better concentration. (Burdette and Whitaker, 2005; Ginsburg et al., 2007)

• Sixty minutes of daily unstructured free play is essential to children’s physical and mental health. (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2008)

• Today’s kids spend 6.5 hours plugged into electronic media. (Juster et al 2004); (Burdette & Whitaker 2005); (Kuo & Sullivan 2001)

• Children are spending half as much time outdoors as they did 20 years ago. (Juster et al 2004); (Burdette & Whitaker 2005); (Kuo & Sullivan 2001)

• The most direct route to caring for the environment as an adult is participating in “wild nature activities” before the age of 11. (Wells and Lekies, 2006)

Seriously!

I know my kids have more fun outside.  I know they sleep better when they’ve been playing outside.  And I know we have more fun together when we have the fresh air and space of the outdoors to spend time with each other.

So when asked if our family wanted to take part in the Be Out There Challenge it was a no brainer–plus baseball season started this week, and well I feel like I’m cheating because we have a game or practice (or three) almost every night this week.  (Don’t tell NWF they might make me take the challenge in the middle of the winter or something instead.)

I’m trying to capture our outdoor activities to share with you in hopes that you might be inspired to take the challenge yourself.

Here are some of the other cool kids who are doing it:

Leighann Calentine

Ashley Waldvogel Gaddy

Jennifer James

Tracey Henry

@MomonMars

Rachel Matthews

Kim Moldofsky

Asha Dornfest

Kristin Sundin Brandt

Anna Fader

Veronique Christensen

Holly Ambrose

Christine Koh

Cooper Munroe

Emily McKhann

Tonight after baseball, I’m dragging out the telescope while we have this completely unseasonable weather.  In honor of my strong and brave friend Susan who is taking yet another step in her journey today, my family will enjoy both the outdoors and the stars tonight.

How often do you get outside?  What activities do you undertake with the kids in the yard?  Out in nature?  I’m doing this all week friends.  I need some ideas!!

*Only 2 of these 3 are my boys, but my other is a teenager and is currently too surly to have his picture taken.  Plus this loaner kid?  Cute or what?!

I’m only 24 hours into it, but I must admit 40 is pretty darn great.

I spent the last few months anticipating this “big” birthday and used so much energy worrying about what I hadn’t accomplished or what I should have done differently.  What I hadn’t been considering were all of the amazing experiences I’ve had in these last 40 years.

I have been to distant lands.  I have met incredible people.  I have been loved.  For crying out loud, I grew two humans and brought them into this world–and they’re actually growing and thriving along with one more (maybe not always clean, but growing and thriving)!

The secret blessing in facing this milestone has been the perspective that grew out of my reflection.  It’s like it never occurred to me before now that for each negative I was focusing on, there was an opposite positive waiting patiently for my attention.

I have a sneaking suspicion there is an  angel who gave me this understanding for my birthday.  She has been on my mind quite a bit lately because of a story I recently shared.  And is if by coincidence, I received an emotionally overwhelming present from my mother today that included a token she believes that angel would want me to have.

If these are the lessons that come with age, I don’t believe I’ll ever feel old.