Well, it's here. School is out, kids are headed to beaches, amusement parks, and summer camps.
For me, well, it's time to commune with nature. But only after an ample supply of mosquito repellant and zinc oxide (forget that 30 SPF stuff) have been liberally applied. [Yes I recognize the redundancy of the previous statement~ and I embrace it.]
For me, embracing nature, also means embracing my own true nature. It means sleeping in to get the full eight hours of sleep my body yearns for nine months of the year. It means being able to eat when I want, and what I want (good, healthy stuff), versus the slew of fast-food-on-the-go things that I invariably snarf on my way to a meeting I'm already five minutes late for because if I don't grab something now, I won't get another chance until Thursday.
And summer means being able to find a forest, or a lake, or a pond, feed the ducks, listen to the birds and frogs, and take a bit of time to just relax. Read. Write. Read some more. Traveling, visiting, touring are all wonderful, and they are part of my-own-true-nature self nurturing regimen for the summer. However, when my legs are weary, my wallet is light, and I am faced with the mild inconveniences of day-to-day life, I can always escape in a book. As I have told students for more than ten years now, "With a book, you can go anywhere, be anyone, experience anything."
Therein lies the magic.
I am planning to go back in time and study the history of Wales, and maybe do some frolicking with Christopher Moore's Jester (medieval, satirical...what's not to like?) And then there's always that stack in the upstairs study that grows by a book or two every conference or bookstore I hit. TMB TLT (too many books, too little time).
Enough of my rambling. It's summer and somewhere, daylight is waning! Grab a tale, take a load off, and find your own moment of respite. Any favorite reads, or hope-to-read tales on your summer reading lists? Do tell.
