Things to Do - This Untamed Life - Our First Evening on the Lake in Vermont

As I mentioned on Friday, two weeks ago we vacationed with friends in Vermont. For the first few days, we stayed in a hotel and then, on Sunday night, we checked into this beautiful cottage on Lake Champlain. The weather was iffy, but the kids couldn't wait to kayak on the lake and Dan started fishing before we unloaded the car.

Now click on over to This Untamed Life to see how everyone else photographed their evenings.

Things to Do - Swim In a Watering Hole & Cherish This Day

We spent last week in Vermont (outside Burlington), more pictures are coming (of course), but until now, here are some river pics from the first day of our vacation. It felt nice to wet our feet.

Now click on over to Cherish This Day for your weekly dose of gorgeous.

HAPPY FRIDAY EVERYONE!! Have a wonderful weekend!

I don't have any random links this week, but this cracked me up last night.

Things to Read - My Ideal Bookshelf

Have you seen My Ideal Bookshelf? The book's writers/ illustrators interviewed several famous creative people (writers, artists, musicians, designers, etc.) about their absolute favorite books. It's a fun read, full of popular titles as well as several relatively unknown publications. Some of the interviewees filled their shelf to capacity, others just chose a few (a few? can you imagine only choosing a few? such clarity is beyond me).

I'm a little in awe of the fact that George Saunders included Stuart Dybek's The Coast of Chicago: Stories on his shelf, which I have loved for years.

The book has me thinking about what I'd include on my favorite shelf. Definitely all the great short story writers - Munro, Chekov, Carver, Lahiri, Murakami; possibly multiple books by Munro (Lives of Girls and Women;Selected Stories, 1968-1994(esp. for Miles City, Montana).

For non-fiction - Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea and The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals - both of which changed the way I see the world.

A collection of Alex Katz paintings for some artistic inspiration. Maybe Andrew Wyeth too.

Probably some Margaret Atwood, but which book?

Definitely Kate Chopin's The Awakening, just because I love the characters/writing. Same with Tolstoy's The Cossacks.

Possibly Virginia Woolf, despite the fact that I haven't read Woolf since my 20s, though I keep meaning to spend some time with Mrs. Dalloway in the upcoming months.

Vikram Seth's A Suitable Boy because when I read it fifteen years ago, I spent the whole summer unable to put it down.

2666 with hope that I'll understand it one day.

And what about books like Somerset Maugham's Of Human Bondage ? After college, this novel had such an impact on my life - the idea that some people for whatever reason cannot handle a world where religion is "real", the idea that a place can change you (for better or worse), and that sometimes we fall for awful people - everything really resonated with me. But when I tried to read it again, as an adult, I couldn't even finish it - the characters simply bored me.

Or what about Mo Yan's The Garlic Ballads? Probably the best novel I've read in the last five or so years, but so depressing. Would I want it on my bookshelf? My one tiny bookshelf?

Limiting oneself is tricky, sort of like those college essays I always dreaded (describe why you're awesome in two pages or less).

What would you include??

Places to Go - Searching for Shark Teeth & Swimming in the Chesapeake Bay at Flag Ponds Nature Park (Lusby, MD)

Even though we've lived in DC for almost 10 years, this was our first day trip to the beach. Originally, I didn't really know where to go and then once I learned, I never managed to find the right time. But now that we've made the trek, we will most definitely return.

Originally we planned on visiting Calvert Cliffs State Park, but my friend read that Flag Ponds has more shark teeth and a shorter hike to the beach (only half a mile), so we changed the plan.

After a quick walk through the forest, we arrived to several shallow tide pools containing lots of mini fish and even a few egrets. Absolutely beautiful. After the kids wet their feet, we walked just a little bit further to the uncrowded beach [note - we went on a Monday, so I'm not sure how busy Flag Ponds becomes on weekends]. The water was bathtub warm, shallow, and, sort of perfect if you can forget about pollution problems in the Chesapeake Bay. (I personally chose to forget).

The boys attempted to catch fish in a bucket (it didn't work) and build a pirate ship out of driftwood (also a failure), while the girls searched for shark teeth and fossils (we found one tooth, then lost it in the water). All in all, we spent about 3 or 4 hours relaxing in the sun. And though the drive is long(ish) at 1.5 hours, the roadside scenery makes for a very mellow trip - lots of farm stands and forest, almost no traffic.

If you're interested in a visit, click here for more info on Flag Ponds. Admission costs $6 per car. The park also contains several trails, which we couldn't manage while carrying bags of beach boys, blankets, towels, and picnic lunches. But maybe next time?

Things to Do - Grateful List (June 2014)

ARTS
* Reading Richard Schmitt's essay "Sometimes a Romantic Notion"
* Watching True Detective, Season 1
* Reading Seating Arrangements
* Watching Divergent
* Reading The Museum of Innocence

FOOD
* Carla Brown's Harissa Spiced Nuts
* Mazagan with Allegra
* Trader Joe's cold pressed juice

PLACES
* T's Bowie Baysox birthday party
* A night away at Blue Rock Inn & hiking Shenandoah's Broad Hollow-Pine Hill Gap loop with Dan for our anniversary (except for the ticks, so so many ticks)
* Menchie's opening 30 minutes early when they saw a sad T at the door
* Floating and fishing on the Shenandoah River for Father's Day
* Day 1 of the double decker bus tour, which included tickets to Madame Tussauds
* Cabin camping at Cunningham Falls - esp. the kids playing flashlight tag with all the other children in the campground & the girls building a fairy home

ETC.
* P'S awesome math skills
* Happy hour at Katie's house
* My new personal trainer - Myra
* Friends who drive you to bootcamp at 6 am
* The girls TRYING swim team
* F's sleepover with friends in the grade school gymnasium
* The girls playing "drunk mom" while watching the US beat Ghana in World Cup Soccer at the Drafthouse (long, funny, disturbing story)
* Our summer solstice party (gumbo, bounce houses, face painting, snow cones, balloon animals, and kegs)
* T FINALLY swimming this summer (or, at least, doggie paddling)
* T's first sleepover with friends
* The children's "signature" phrases: P - "that's not fair", T - "that's insulting", F - "I don't know"

THE KIDS' LISTS:

F - boogie boarding, going on vacation with all of my friends, petting a stingray at the aquarium, parents that let me stay up late, reading in bed, Camp Troutman

P - everyone I like, everyone I love, SOME of the Bowie Baysox party, Tessa's birthday party, the beach, art, school, the bus tour, playdates with Laney, Menchies

T - watching Cosmos with dad, my birthday, Silver Diner, my ninja castle from grandma, Menchies, watching TV, my cousins sleeping over, playdates with Mateo, the bus tour, our solstice party