Posts Tagged ‘Summer’

I finally went into Amazon and reserved a paperback copy of the DaVinci Code. On my nieces’ advice I ordered the illustrated edition. As it has been on the New York Times Bestseller list for 155 weeks, Dan Brown didn’t need me to pay the price for the illustrated hardcover. Even though his recent legal woes must be getting costly.

As many readers know what book to read and when has very little to do with bestseller lists and everything to do with time of year and mood. Right now it is the end of winter in Alberta, there is still a lot of snow on the ground and everything seems grey and dirty.
I clearly need escapism! My choice?
Educating Alice: Adventures of a Curious Woman by Alice Steinbach, while it doesn’t have the same flow of story interwoven with travel of her first book “Without Reservations”, it is taking me into the Hotel Ritz cooking classes, behind the scenes of Havanna’s streets and allowing a glimpse at the lifestyle of Kyoto’s geisha.

The DaVinci Code will start the pile of books that I will choose from when I go away this summer. After all, picking just the right book for a vacation is as important as what clothes we decided to take.

It seems like a few weeks ago when I was writing my spring blog posting about putting in my garden for ‘Maximum impact, minimum effort’ and now I have just finished emptying my clay pots and putting the garden to bed for another winter.
Inspite of my protests that I don’t particularly enjoy gardening, I realize that I am going to miss the time away from my tightly scheduled day.
Early summer mornings would find Jenna (Australian Shepherd) and me watering and tidying our pots and beds and just generally enjoying the peace and each others company. While husband and chocolate lab could be found in the house drinking that first cup of coffee and reading the morning paper.

I recently hired a landscape designer for a consultation. My back yard isn’t big and somehow has to embrace; bird feeding area , dog area, garden tool storage area and oh! yes somewhere for Chris and I to relax and barbecue. We not only discussed space requirements but also my budget and schedule.

The outcome is that next year I will have an even more attractive garden for minimum effort but more importantly I will continue to allow myself time to recharge & renew and fully accept how important time outside is to my mental and physical well being.