We are definitely headed toward summer. Looking out my home office window, I saw a bright bolt of lightning heralding what was definitely a summer thunderstorm at around 10 a.m. yesterday. The weather app predicts many upcoming days in the 80s. The roses have bloomed!
School year things are winding down. I went to my last choir rehearsal for the season on Thursday night. My 9-year-old and 7-year-old are gearing up to do a joint performance of Seven Nation Army (on keyboard and drums) for their end-of-year-recital. The 12-year-old sings in his choir concert next week. We may make it to the beach and the zoo this weekend. We shall see!
I gave two speeches this week, one in New Jersey, and one in New York City. While in NYC I also had lunch with my new speaking agent over at Penguin Random House Speakers Bureau. We’ve managed to pack June quite full with engagements. This turns out to be a very seasonal business. People tend to host conferences and gatherings in mid-April – June, and then in mid-September to mid-November. These are times with limited holidays, and less of a chance that half your employees will be stranded in O’Hare due to blizzards. I like this rhythm; it works well to take some time off in the summer, and then not to stress too much about winter travel.
On Monday night I took my middle children to STEM night at the local high school. The kids all got Ziploc bags full of materials and had to solve various challenges (e.g. move a plastic turtle over a piece of paper with a watery scene without touching the turtle). My kids were deeply involved in their own projects but it was fun for me, as a supervising adult, to look out and see everyone’s stuff. Let’s just say that there are an amazing variety of swings, slides, and catapults that can be built with the same array of popsicle sticks and rubber bands.
(Also: I did not know how to spell catapult until I wrote this post. What words do you always misspell? Sadly, I often get “misspell” wrong.)
I’ve been doing a fair amount of reading. Earlier this week I finished Doris Kearns Goodwin’s Maybe Next Year, which is a memoir of her childhood love of the 1950s Brooklyn Dodgers. She manages to create such an idyllic picture of this era, and the forces that ended it (just as the Dodgers moved to California). I quite enjoyed it. It was a good book to read on the sidelines of a long Little League game.
I’m also now reading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. I read it many decades ago, but don’t remember too much about it. Parts drag, but I think I’ll finish it in time to include it on my Books Read in May list. In the meantime, our local pick-your-own farm says the strawberries are excellent so maybe that will get pulled off the Summer Fun List this weekend!
In other news: Looking for a summer read? Off the Clock: Feel Less Busy While Getting More Done came out almost exactly a year ago. Writing that book gave me all kinds of ideas for viewing time differently, and in a more expansive way. It’s not just about doing more with your time; it’s about feeling like time is more abundant. Please give it a read!
Just a minor point – Doris Kearns Goodwin’s book is Wait Till Next Year…!
The strawberries at Linvilla were PERFECT this week, definitely go soon!
Personally, I love that activities are winding down as the sun is up for longer! It definitely helps me to feel like I have more time.
(P.S. I found your blog after subscribing to your Before Breakfast podcast. Thanks for your tips and perspectives!)
You read a lot which made me wonder: do you buy and keep all those books?
@Maggie – a lot of them are ebooks. That way there’s no clutter! Plus I can access them at all times (on my phone). I borrowed the Doris Kearns Goodwin book from my church library, and I owned Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.