Happy Monday, folks! And happy day-after-National-Ice-Cream-Day. Did you get some ice cream yesterday? I didn’t, which does seem like a waste, but I got a big kick out of President Biden’s national message on social media.

Anyway, in addition to not eating ice cream, it was an okay weekend but not the best. We were supposed to go camping with friends – a trip I’d been looking forward to for months – but got rained out, which was a HUGE bummer. I spent most of Saturday moping and wallowing in disappointment. (Keeping it real.) Sunday dawned sunny, beautiful, and cooler than the last few weeks and I really wished we were waking up at our campsite. To make myself feel better, I went out to my favorite local reservoir with my paddleboard; got in a good 40 minutes even though it was crazy windy. (I was glad I didn’t bring Nugget this time; it was almost too windy for me alone and there is no way I could have taken him out. I almost turned back myself, but I’d spent thirty minutes getting my board inflated.) When I got home, the kids were ready and waiting for a hike at one of our local spots – it was a good one; although a short loop, there were wild black raspberry bushes every few feet along the trail. The kids gorged themselves and it took us nearly an hour to hike a mile. Worth it, though, because they had so much fun picking and eating the black raspberries along the way. On the way home, we stopped by one of my favorite local wineries and shared a flight – a consolation prize for not camping.

• 

• 

• 

Reading. Another kinda-slow reading week; what can I say? Over the first half of the week, I wrapped up my remaining library book, Tokyo Ever After. The description (“The Princess Diaries in Japan”) is pretty much spot on. It was cute, and I enjoyed it! Moved on to a much-anticipated new release, Subpar Parks. More in the loving section, below – this was just as great as I expected, and worth every second of the wait for release day! Finally turned to Noel Streatfeild’s Holiday Stories (holiday as in vacation, my fellow Americans) for some cozy summer stories. I’m about halfway through and most of the stories don’t actually seem to involve the summer vacation, but they’re still good – no regrets.

Watching. We finished the Tour de France last night! Between Tadej Pogacar’s commanding victory, Wout van Aert’s ride over Mont Ventoux, Sepp Kuss’s hair-raising descent into Andorra, Mark Cavendish’s success story (side note; it’s a pet peeve of mine when a 36-year-old athlete is constantly portrayed as ancient and doddering, even if that’s kind of true in the world of their particular sport! – the commentators couldn’t help themselves, although at least he escaped another cyclist’s fate of being referred to as “poor old Ben O’Connor”) – and so many other exciting moments – it was a great tour.

Listening. Same old usual – podcasts (a few episodes of The Mom Hour and Shedunnit while walking) and the occasional musical interlude, still via my summer playlist.

Making. Erhm, nothing much. Last week was a busy week at work; I know I cooked but other than a quick curry, I can’t remember what I made. I made a lot of work emails, and a week’s worth of soccer camp snacks. ‘Tis the season.

Moving. A bit of a lighter week – three (or four?) runs, a short hike that was mostly black raspberry picking, and a morning with my paddleboard. That was actually quite a workout, thanks to the wind! I found a sheltered place to tool around, but even so, the wind put up a lot of resistance.

Blogging. A fun Themed Reads for Wednesday, and then a post about cycling on Friday. Check in with me then!

Loving. I’ve been a fan of Amber Share’s work – which she creates and posts regularly on social media – for over a year now. Share created “Subpar Parks,” a series of hand-lettered illustrations in a travel poster style, featuring iconic images of our national parks and other beautiful wild places, embedded under choice quotes from their one-star Yelp reviews. (Some of my favorites: “No cell service & terrible wi-fi” for Isle Royale National Park; “Too orange, too spiky” for Pinnacles National Park; “Too many mountains, trees, snow, etc.” for North Cascades National Park.) I have the Shenandoah print (“Not a lot to offer unless you want to hike”) in my upstairs hallway, the calendar in my kitchen – currently displaying Mount Rainier for July (“I’ve seen bigger mountains”) – and the Joshua Tree sticker on my Pelican case (“The only thing to do here is walk around the desert”). Needless to say, I’ve been anxiously awaiting the book, and it was every bit as pithy and engaging as I’d hoped. Share combines the illustrations from her original project with new parks (so there is new material in the book; it’s not just a re-hashing of her Instagram) and for each park, she includes a summary of the historical, cultural, and natural wonders that make each place so special. And on a philosophical note, she explains that the project has helped her deal with criticism, because if someone can hate on the Grand Canyon (“A hole. A very, very large hole.”) then there are just some people who will never be happy no matter what you do, and you shouldn’t beat yourself up. I love that. Warning, though: your travel bucket list will explode.

Asking. Don’t you hate it when people hashtag their own social media posts “couplegoals”? It’s one of my pet peeves. Please don’t do this. Also, what are you reading?