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Nature

The lovely area below is part of an oxbow lake at my local nature center. When I first came here, 5 years ago, where I am currently sitting was part of a large meander in a curvy river. Thanks to floods and nature (and geology), the river finally cut through. The oxbow, with still and quiet water, was left behind.

I am merely 30 feet from the river. I can hear the gushing water as I enjoy this shady spot. Along with the water, wind and bird calls keep this spot from being silent.

Once I sat quietly, the seemingly empty water in front of me moved with life. A snail meandered past. A piece of cottonwood fluff even caught on the top of its shell as the snail traversed the shallows. A small school of fish darted into my vision then was gone. Small, quick bugs are skittering along the bottom.

Tomorrow, I'll be teaching a class here. Nine kids will be flipping rocks, trying to catch fish or crawdads, and will occasionally humor me by glancing at a macro invertebrate (read: bug big enough to see with the naked eye). I'm hoping to quiet them long enough to experience a slice of the still yet ever moving beauty I'm experiencing now. However, I'm not getting my hopes up.

For today, I will enjoy my silence and be glad for this moment to connect with nature.

Some Reading

Even thought the end of my school year was insanely busy, I had a little time for some reading. I wanted to share three great books I have read recently.

Love in the Driest Season is the most recent one I read. Written by Neely Tucker, a journalist, the book chronicles his time in Zimbabwe and the difficulty he and his wife experienced in adopting a young girl. Zimbabwe has been torn apart by the AIDs epidemic, but there were still many hurdles to adoption. I enjoyed the book primarily because Neely discussed the hardships candidly but also covered his life as a journalist. While I am not a traveling writer, I have always thought that sounded like an intriguing career. I love reading memoirs that cover life paths I was unable to take. This one is great for a little summer reading. Be advised that there are some sad spots, but overall the tone is fairly upbeat.

In the youth reading category is When you Reach Me by Rebecca Stead. A Newberry Award winner, this book is inspired by the writings of Madeline L'Engle (one of my favorite authors). This is a simple enough read for an adult, and the story is captivating. Miranda, the protagonist, struggles with losing a friendship and growing older while also unraveling the mystery of who is leaving strange notes in her apartment.

My absolute favorite of my most recent reading is Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein. This is a fictional account of a female spy during World War II. She doesn't start out a spy, but she works her way up to the job. The book is a journal she wrote while being captured in France by the Nazis. The journal itself is interesting enough, but the second half of the book is where it gets good. I found myself flipping back to details in the journal as we hear the other side of the story from another character's perspective. While not my favorite book of all time, this is good enough that I'm tempted to buy a copy and keep it on my shelf (high praise for a fiction book). If you only read one of the three on this list, this is the one I'd pick.

I have more books on the docket. I'm currently reading Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay and enjoying another World War II story; this one is about the roundup of Jewish citizens in France. I discovered a used book store in the town to our north, so I'll definitely be picking up some more books there. I went in to buy a few for our 6 year old nephew; hopefully, I will help cultivate a love of reading in him too.

I hope summer is finding everyone happy and enjoying good weather. Any one else reading anything good? Let me know if you have ideas!

Our Home

Now that the school year is finally over, I was able to clean up our home and take a video for you. I have some pictures too, and hopefully I'll get those up before another month (or three . . . ) elapses. I love our apartment, and I wanted to share this with everyone.

In sad news, this is only our apartment until the end of the month (I got the timing wrong in the video). We will be moving to a new apartment at the beginning of August. In the meantime, we will be traveling -- a little bit of the west coast plus time spent backpacking in Wyoming. Our apartment stayed this pretty for a few days, but now we're in the throes of packing, with boxes scattered everywhere.

I forgot to mention it, but we do have original wood floors. Our house is from the 1890s, and it is chock-full of historical details. The wood floors have handmade nails!

Let me know if you have questions about anything you see in the video. Enjoy!