Summer Break

I’m taking the summer off. 

I’m going old school, like back when I was a kid, when the summer was about fun. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with chocolate milk. Ice cream. Cartoons. Reading. Playing. Jumping rope. Bike riding around the block. Roller skating in the schoolyard. Running under the hose strung over the clothesline and “swimming” in the plastic pool set up in the driveway. (Remember, I was a city kid!) 

Okay, I can’t really go back that far. Me on roller skates now would be an accident waiting to happen, and the only thing that would fit in that plastic pool now is my feet. But I think you get the idea.

 

I’ve been struggling lately, for a number of reasons, to keep my optimistic realist/realistic optimist self going. I find I am in need of . . . something. A rest. A reset. A re-evaluation.

 

So, in keeping with a more nostalgic, more relaxed summer, the plan is a loose one, but hopefully includes moments of fun, laughter, peace, play. 

 

But no roller skates. 

 

Wishing you all a super summer!

 

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Any suggestions for rest, resetting, re-evaluating? What are your favorite summer memories as a kid? Any favorite summer activities, books, TV shows, movies? Then or now?

Spring . . . Back

Even though we were supposed to spring ahead last month, I pretty much fell waaaaaay back. In time, that is.

 

WRITING

I'm pretty sure the last time I wrote poetry was when I was in college  - over 20 years ago, people - so imagine my surprise when I managed to create some horror poetry for a contest. 

 

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READING

I am so looking forward to upcoming releases by some of my long-time favorite, auto-buy authors: Mother May I by Joshilyn Jackson, The Drowning Kind by Jennifer McMahon and Hour of the Witch by Chris Bohjalian. 

 

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WATCHING

Movies - The nostalgia volume was turned to high around here as Pretty in Pink and Footloose had me tapping my feet. I somehow managed to feel both young AND old at the same time. 

 

TV - When my husband and I heard about the death of Larry McMurtry, we looked at each other and said, "We're watching Lonesome Dove this weekend." I read the novel before the mini-series came out, and it's safe to say it's easily one of my all-time favorite books. I fell in love with the mini-series when I first watched it back in 1989. Did it hold up for me in 2021? You better believe it! How could it not with Larry McMurtry's writing and starring actors like Robert Duvall, Tommy Lee Jones, and Danny Glover, to name just a few. 

 

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WALKING

Hooray for progress! When I first started, I averaged about 1-1.5 miles each outing. Now, I average about 2-2.5 miles, and I’m inching up to 3. 

 

Miles walked as of 3/31/21 = 83.6/500. (Click here for what this craziness is all about.)

 

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Traveled down memory lane lately? Seen either of those movies or the mini-series? Made progress – no matter how little! - on any projects?