My gift from the sea

One of my favorite books to read during the summer is Anne Morrow Lindbergh's "Gift from the Sea," and one of my favorite quotes from that book is the following:

“The sea does not reward those who are too anxious, too greedy, or too impatient. To dig for treasures shows not only impatience and greed, but lack of faith. Patience, patience, patience, is what the sea teaches. Patience and faith. One should lie empty, open, choiceless as a beach—waiting for a gift from the sea.”

That is my wish for myself, and especially for all of you who have chosen to take the time to follow me. I wish you patience and faith to see what life brings you. Take the time to enjoy these last few weeks of summer.

(Today is Day 5 of August Break. Assignment: close up.)

Let's go ride a bike

When was the last time you rode a bike?

We are at the shore, so we use a bike for everything from exercise to daily transportation to pleasure.

Our morning exercise routine is to ride a few miles on the boardwalk first thing in the morning, enjoying the sun as it rises above the ocean.

We ride our bikes to the beach because parking is next to impossible in a 5-block radius of the ocean, and it's a lot quicker than walking!

And our evenings are often spent pedaling up and down the neighboring streets, looking at homes and imagining the lives of those who live in them.

Interestingly enough, when summer ends, so do our bike rides. We pack them away with our beach chairs and sand toys, never to be used again until next summer.

Been on a bike ride lately? Enjoy!

(Today's August Break assignment was circles, which immediately brought to my mind these bike wheels!)

August

So, rumor has it that August has arrived. I’m not sure I believe it, and I know I don’t want to believe it. Why is it that March, which by the way has the same number of days as July (I recited the rhyme just to confirm) seems to drag by, and July passes in the blink of an eye?

I have to say, I’m not a big fan of August. As one of my friends put it, August is kind of like one long Sunday night.

Oh, the first two weeks are great: we squeeze in our vacation after swim team is over and before preseason. The weather is still sunny and warm, and the beach, though crowded, is still our oasis.

But come mid-August, my summer is over. My son goes back to college, which requires hours of packing, laundry and shopping, my daughter starts two-a-days for volleyball, school schedules are posted which leads to the dreaded back-to-school shopping, and my calendar suddenly fills up faster than you can say “Where did summer go?”

Having said all that, I’ve decided to change (or at least try) and change my attitude towards August this year.

I recently came upon a site by Susannah Conway called The August Break. The goal is to slow down and appreciate these last few weeks of summer before the hectic days of fall overtake us all.

Each day (okay, in all likelihood a few days a week), I will post a picture on my Blog along with a few words describing either the photo or my thoughts surrounding the subject. My personal goal is to take the time to stop and appreciate everything around me before it disappears (to school, to the weather, to the busyness of my everyday life.)

My wish for you all is to not only enjoy the pictures, but to also take a moment out of your busy life to appreciate the "everyday" surrounding you.

Enjoy! And let's make August last!

August 1, 2013

My daughter woke up a little earlier than usual (which means before noon) and we decided to sneak out to breakfast - just the two of us. We went to our favorite place on the beach - Northend Beach Grill, in Ocean City, NJ. While the weather was a bit off - drizzly and gray, the sun was still peaking out between the clouds above the ocean. It was the perfect way to start the day - catching up and enjoying Mother Nature in all her glory. Happy August!

I love books!

Thinking back to my childhood, I remember reading Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden, Encyclopedia Brown and Anne of Green Gables, just to name a few.

Growing up, our attic was my resource for new books, since I was the youngest of six and had shelves of titles from which to choose.

When I got older, I moved on to Borders, Barnes and Noble and Atlantic Book Stores.

And don’t even start me on the library. I could (and do) spend hours browsing the shelves of our local library, picking up books on everything from vegetarian cooking to thrift shop finds.

(Truth be told, I’d love to open a bookstore some day, just as soon as I win the lottery and get three children through college! I even have a name for it, but that’s a secret for now!)

Last year, I looked around our home and realized we had way too much stuff; stuff such as three shelves of games (that no one in my house likes to play), two tubs of crayons (why do I buy new boxes each school year?), and three bookcases of books (oops, my bad).

I knew we needed to clean out. Luckily, I found a local children’s charity that accepted our games, puzzles, craft supplies and children’s books, but I had a harder time giving away my books. In the past, when I’ve absolutely, positively had to get rid of some of my books, I’ve donated them to our local library for their annual book sale. (I’ve also dropped them off to a used bookstore in return for credit and gotten more books. I know. I have a problem!)

But this time, I came up with another idea. A brilliant idea, if I do say so myself! I decided to start my own book exchange!

And thus, the Book Koop was born. (You don’t even want to know how excited I was when I came up with that name!)

I purchased a plastic container, filled it with the books I wanted to share, put it on my covered front porch, and sent out the following email to family and friends:

“I have a collection of books just sitting on my shelves collecting dust. I hate to see books sit and would rather share them with others. With that thought in mind, I decided to start a book exchange - The Book Koop…
I have filled it with books that I would like to share with all of you. Please feel free to take a book if you are in need or if any look interesting…
If you'd like to leave a book (or two), please do. However there is no need to leave a book if you take one. I will try and check the bin and update the list of books available, so you don't waste a trip if nothing looks interesting…
I don't need the book back (and would suggest you only "share" books that you don't want back as well) so feel free to keep the book unless you want to pass it on to others when you are finished with it."

I didn’t get much feedback at first, and thought briefly of closing down, but when I went out to check The Koop after a month, I noticed quite a few of my books gone, and some new additions to the container. Success!

I recently got an influx of books from one neighbor and am thinking of expanding!

And, interestingly enough, I have had quite a few workmen come and ask about it, since it’s sitting next to my front door.

Having it outside makes it easy for everyone. Friends can come up anytime and pick up or drop off a book, and I can share my love of books with others without cluttering up my house. (Although I have a hard time saying books are clutter!)

I still hit the bookstores, although there are fewer and fewer to pick from these days, and I can’t resist the library, but I’ve also picked up quite a few new books from The Book Koop that I may have never looked twice at when shopping in a book store by myself.

So, while it’s not quite the bookstore I’ve dreamed of opening, The Book Koop is a pretty good start.

I love books!

Summer Reading

One of my favorite things to do in the summer is catch up on my reading. (Ok, true confessions: I really don't have to "catch up" on my reading, as I do plenty of reading throughout the year. However, for whatever reason, I don't feel as guilty spending an afternoon reading during the summer as I do in the winter months.)

Anyway, I've spent the past few weeks at the beach, surrounded by sand, family, friends and some great books.

Here is what I've added to my "Read" list on Goodreads and, since I dislike long reviews, my very brief opinion of each book.

*The Orphan Train - Christine Baker Kline - A fascinating lesson on this sad era in US History; quick and interesting read.
*Tattoos on the Heart -Gregory Boyle - A must read about a priest, LA gangs, and Homeboy Industries; need I say more?!
The Rescue ~ Nicholas Sparks - A good beach read; typical Nicholas Sparks.
All the Summer Girls - Meg Donahue - Another good beach read, especially since it takes place in Avalon, NJ.
The Silver Star - Jeannette Walls - Walls tugs at your heart strings again with fiction this time when recounting two sisters searching for family.
*Beautiful Day - Elin Hilderbrand - Family drama surrounding a wedding on Nantucket; Hilderbrand at her best.
Sisterland - Curtis Sittenfeld - I just couldn't connect with the characters in this book; good but not great.
The Execution of Noa P. Singleton - Elizabeth L. Silver - A bit long and drawn out, but worth your time.

Warning: Many times I may like/dislike a book depending on my mood and not necessarily on the book. And, let's be honest, everyone has different opinions of what they feel makes a good story.

For that reason, I'll simply tell you that, while I enjoyed all of the above books, the ones with the asterisks were my favorite and ones I gave either four or five stars.

Next on my to-read list:

The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls - Anton Disclafani
The Shadow Tracer - Meg Gardiner

I'm always in search of new authors/books, so suggestions are welcome! What are you reading this summer?

Put a fork in me. I'm done!

Put a fork in me, I’m done!

I’ve reached my limit. I’ve had it. I have left the building.

(Can I think of any more clichés?)

I’m at the end of my rope. I don’t feel like doing this anymore! (I guess I can!)

It’s June and I have officially checked out! (Okay, really… that’s the end of them!)

Which would be fine if THERE WASN’T ONE MORE WEEK OF SCHOOL LEFT!

And, to make matters worse, it is possibly the most stressful week of the entire academic year. Yes, that’s right – FINALS!



I know this is nothing new. I remember taking finals when I was in high school, listening to the those lucky youngsters who were all but finished school (as if watching movies and cleaning desks was on the academic calendar) running outside my bedroom window, playing and getting ice cream from the ice cream man, while I sat sweating in my room, trying desperately to memorize a semester’s worth of work in one night!

Oh, there was a brief respite in my academic career. I graduated high school and college, worked a “real job,” got married and had my babies. June was looking good again. The days were longer and warmer, and the promise of summer made the month one of my favorites.

And then those babies grew up. And started school. And started taking tests and exams. And I suddenly feel like that high school student again, sweating through my days and nights re-learning how to conjugate Spanish verbs and trying to remember the dates of the Mexican-American War. (It was 1846-1848, in case you can’t remember either.)

Yes, I know. I am not the one in school, taking those finals. But, if you’ve ever lived in the home of two children (girls, no less) studying for final exams, you know the whole family suffers.

Tears, tantrums and tirades fill the house, and that’s just from me.

It’s exhausting, and I’m not even taking the tests.

Do we really need to test these kids on things they learned in January, when they can’t even remember to make their beds in the morning?

One more week – that has become my mantra every morning when I wake up the girls.

One more week – and then homework and test and schedules will be a thing of the past (at least for a few months!)

One more week – I can make it, can’t I?

Mom Said

My mother had a saying.

Well, she had many sayings: “pick up your feet” when someone was trying to brown-nose her; “break every bone in your body”, usually directed at my brother or the dog when they were acting up (ironically she never laid a hand on any of us but that threat was good enough to stop any goings on), and “this room is a pigsty” – self-explanatory and usually directed at the bedroom of my sisters and I. But one of her favorite sayings (and I’m sure the one she would most like to be remembered by) was “Kindness is your name.”

Sometimes, she even sang it- “Kindness is your name.”

This was always said when one of us (she had six children – not including the dog or my Dad) was gossiping about someone. Of course, at the time, we never appreciated hearing that little ditty. We would be ranting about a teacher who did us wrong, or a friend who mistreated us, and my mother would listen patiently and usually end our tirade with those four little words, “Kindness is your name.”

Sometimes, she wouldn’t even be involved in the conversation. I would be deep in a discussion with a friend about a girl in school who had the nerve to commit some atrocity against me, and she would float by, carrying a load of laundry, and simply sing her little admonishment, “Kindness is you name, Kathleen.”

It got to the point, since I was the youngest, that she didn’t even have to say – or sing- the words, she simply hummed the tune, and I would know what she was saying.

I could never understand why she couldn’t see my point. Why couldn’t Mom agree how awful this person was to me? (Keep in mind that, at 13, “awful” is a relative term. Grievances could range from looking at me wrong, to buying the same shirt as I had on, to not calling me when they said they would. You know – terrible, earth-shattering crimes in the teenage world.)

My mother rarely talked negatively about anyone, and certainly not in front of her children. In fact, the big joke in our family, to this day, is to shush anyone who is speaking poorly about someone else because “they could be listening in the windows.” (Never mind that the person may not even live in the same state. According to my mother, you never know! Wise words!)

Sadly, my mom passed away much too young and too soon for us. And, while we miss her every day, her spirit lives on. When I wrote to my family and asked them about their favorite “Mom sayings” I opened a floodgate of memories.

We remembered the good (“Things always look worse at night” – a saying I tell my children, and remind myself of often); the bad (“I could wring your neck)” and the funny ("Are you smoking Dutch cleanser?" – which I still don’t understand but was used when we asked to do something that was totally unreasonable.)

My son was just a toddler when my mother died, and my girls never met their grandmother, and yet, in many ways, they do know her. They know she loved her family (Her last words to us, “Stick together and take care of your father”), she loved the beach (“Salt air cures everything”) and she believed in, and expected, goodness from her family. (“Kindness is your name.”)

My mom’s words continue to resonate with me, conjuring up memories and life-lessons that she taught me through my early years. And while she is no longer with us, her words will be passed on and will continue to teach her grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, for years to come.

And that is a pretty good legacy for anyone to leave!

Happy Mother's Day Mom! We miss you always!