Today was our first day back to school, coming after a busy month of visits with relatives. I’m so grateful that the summer ended up including lots of long-awaited quality time with siblings and cousins (though we haven’t seen all of them yet…). Happily tired as I am (I also have a teething baby), this post may end up shorter than usual. Without further ado, here are some recommendations.
Read
In contrast to July, I didn’t read a lot in August. Before the Coffee Gets Cold is a short, quirky Japanese novel involving time travel — not exactly my cup of tea (ha!), but I do enjoy dipping my toes into different styles of literature.
Life Together by Dietrich Bonhoeffer provided quite a few quotations on Scripture, prayer, and community for my commonplace book.
I would like to get back to recommending children’s books in my monthly roundup. We’ll see how the fall goes.
Do
Seeing my sister after 19 months apart was my favourite thing in August! We got to talk, drink tea, work out, and walk in person for a change! It was also lovely to have our kids spend time together, even though life is hectic with eight kids eight and under in the house for a week! (Is it possible for me to use too many exclamation points in this paragraph?!)
Some specific fun things we did in August were:
- visited three different beaches
- played at the splash pad
- got family photos taken
- picnicked by the river (I had to rescue a sunhat that “fell” in)
- visited Grey Roots Museum
In between all the summer activities, I spent quite a lot of time preparing for the school year. I hope all my lists, and schedules, and printouts will reduce decision fatigue and make the weeks go by more smoothly.
Eat
As usual we ate lots of good homemade summer food, but a standout was takeout from Osmow’s (Middle Eastern/Mediterranean restaurant) — treated by my sister and brother-in-law. We feasted on shawarma, hummus, taboule, baklava, and more.
And I almost forgot that we had amazing pizza from Roberto’s Pizzaria in Southampton earlier in August. My in-laws ordered it for all of us when we had a beach day during their visit. I recommend all the flavours we tried: Greek, pulled pork, and chicken a la bianco.
Listen
Lately I’ve been listening to the Simply Charlotte Mason podcast, which my sister recommended. The episodes on core values of Charlotte Mason are an easy way to learn her philosophy or remind yourself of the foundations of a CM education; Sonya Shafer explains the topics clearly and succinctly.
Look
Check out these book sculptures!
Consider
“Anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its sorrows, but only empties today of its strength.” -Charles Spurgeon
Meditate
“We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.”
– 2 Chronicles 20:12b
For relief from the news I read “The Mysterious Benedict Society,” greatly enjoyed it! My grandson has read the series. This August and latter July I learned to play pickle ball, still learning! And August has brought an abundance of zucchini and yellow squash to give away, to process, to eat. So glad you had wonderful visit with the in-laws.
Thanks for sharing! And I’d love some ideas for the zucchini we’ve been given, if anyone has suggestions. 🙂