...here I come!

Summer is finally here. How do I know this? Is it because the sun is shining with a high in the 80’s today? Is it because the kids will be out of school in a couple more days or because we have more customers parading around in shorts? No. The Stanley Cup has been awarded! Hooray Red Wings ! They had me worried for a game or two but they pulled through. For me a sure sign of summer is the end of the hockey season. At least for a couple of weeks until the youth summer hockey league begins.

Another sign that summer is here is our annual Copperfest celebration which began today. This is an event I have looked forward to every year since I was a little girl. I anticipated the freedom of wandering aimlessly, absorbing the sights and sounds – the music of local bands blaring through the night, the first fireworks of the year, the warm butter dripping off the cob and down my arm. It was truly a weekend to be cherished. But what did it mean?

It recently dawned on me that I had no real idea why Oconto celebrated Copperfest each year. How is that possible? It is not only possible, but in my experience quite common that we tend to overlook the great destinations all around us. I have not been to Copper Culture State Park since elementary school and my only memory of this visit was rolling down “Susie’s Hill”. As far as I know my children have never explored this Park or Museum. How many other great local destinations have we overlooked in our hurry to escape this city, county, or state for our summer vacations?

With gas prices out of control, this will be the perfect summer to find all of those local hidden treasures. Next stop, my backyard!

And the award for the best parent goes to....

Can you imagine spending two months in a canoe? How about two months with a sixteen year old? Add those two factors together and that doesn’t sound anything like my dream vacation! Steven Faulkner is a much better parent than I will ever be.

Steve felt like he was losing touch with his sixteen year old son – something I can relate to, although he handled it much differently than I. Instead of showing up at whatever location his son and his friends were hanging out at to become “one of the guys”, Steve took his son on a two month canoe trip. Instead of screaming until he was blue in the face, he taught his son about French explorers Joliet and Marquette as they followed the same route taken in 1673. Steve even brought his son home after the expedition! How tempting would it be to encourage him to spread his wings by leaving him at any one of the many stops along the way?

It’s not all my fault that I am not and never will be the parent Steve Faulkner is. My children are not and never will be the son Justin Faulkner was. For this thousand-mile voyage in a sixteen-foot canoe, the Faulkners brought along only a few supplies and a couple of books to read together. My kids would rather swim home after an hour of canoeing than to go any longer without their cell phones, I-pods , computers, and their posse of friends. And to be seen with mom? No way!!

Tomorrow Steve will be at BayShore Books to sign his book about this adventure, Waterwalk: A Passage of Ghosts . How will I react to meeting this icon? Do I bow at his feet or simply hand over my children?

The List

I need to make a list. There are numerous books and movies about people making lists of things they need to accomplish before they die from the Bucket List to 1,000 Places to See Before You Die. The book I am currently reading, Where the River Ends includes a husband trying to help his wife complete her list before it’s too late.

I am a list person. I make lists for everything – things I need to do, bills I need to pay, books I want to read and books I’ve read . I do not, however, have a Bucket List or a list of places to see or things to do. I suppose at one time I did, although it has never been put down on paper.

Get married – check
Have kids – check, check, check
Live on the water – check
Jet Ski from Oconto to Door County – check
Open a bookstore – check
Have a cup of coffee with Stephen King , Dean Koontz, James Patterson and Nicholas Sparks – the emails are sent so I expect this to occur any day now.

I have been racking my brain to come up with four more things to add to my list, but it is a struggle. I’m one of those fortunate people who can’t think of anything I want (other than maybe a second pair of pants which I can actually get buttoned) or anything I want to do. I’m running out of time, though. I have to come up with four great ideas and they need to be impossible to achieve. After all, if this is a list of things to accomplish before I die, do I really want to finish them anytime soon?
What about you?

Do you have a list?

How many things on it have you accomplished?

Are you willing to share?

Hug Him and Squeeze Him and Call Him George

Summer is here! So maybe it is only 60 degrees out and the kids are still in school. Today my college student will be home bearing gifts of laundry and stale chips. I am as yet undecided how I feel about his return. Each Friday night before his visits home the past nine months I could hardly contain my excitement. “I will hug him and squeeze him and call him George”*!! By Sunday I still have not received a hug or even seen him for that matter. I know he arrived safely because twenty minutes before we are ready to drive him back to college he dumps out a garbage bag of laundry that he needs washed before we can leave.

He is ready for a break from his studies, though. He called me just the other day to place a book order. During the school year he is so busy he can’t find the time to read. When he does, he feels he should be reading something for school, not his own enjoyment. When he arrives home, I will have his copy of Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes waiting for him. Nothing like a little light reading over the summer.

His brother just finished the latest by his favorite author, Neal Shusterman . He is searching for something short to read since he only has a couple of weeks left of school. This son just can’t find the time in his busy summer schedule to read. It is amazing how different two children in the same family can be.

So, my question for you is – do you read more or less during the lazy summer months? And, what do you read - something light and enjoyable like a romance or something deep and life changing?

* Just a little fyi - Did you know this popular phrase is actually a reference to John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men?

To E-Read or Not To-E-Read

This morning while reaching to beat the alarm into silence, I knocked over the stack of books waiting patiently on my nightstand for my attention. Stumbling out of bed, I tripped over the mound waiting to take the next open spot on the nightstand. Using both hands I was able to lift my novel laden purse onto to my poor aching shoulder and bring it to my car where I had to shove the emergency pile off the seat to make room. This morning was nothing unusual. Books have always been a large part of my life and I’m most content surrounded by them.

However, I am beginning to second guess my earlier thoughts on portable electronic readers . I don’t own one and in fact have never even seen one up close – or for that matter, from a distance. In my spare time (ha-ha) I dabble in a little proofreading and editing. The majority of the manuscripts are sent electronically; corrections are made, and then sent back. Computers are an amazing invention! Occasionally after a long day of staring at the screen I am visited by white ghosts dancing before my eyes. This is what I expect the experience of an e-reader to be.

Would the convenience of carrying this small device rather than a heap of paperbacks make up for this? I will never give up books. It is so much more than the written word which draws me to them. I love the sound of the pages turning and nothing beats the musty book smell or the surprise chocolate morsel waiting for my enjoyment since the last time the pages were opened. But, maybe it’s time to add to my experience. To join this century. I’m sure it’s not really as hard as I expect. Why, just last year I gave up my trusty VCR after it ate tape two of Titanic. (Does anyone know how it ends?)


If you happen to work for Sony or any other company which creates or sells electronic readers; or if you happen to have extra cash you don’t know what to do with, feel free to send me one and I will be happy to give a more knowledgeable opinion.

Saving Our Communities

If you have turned on the news, picked up a newspaper, or checked your mail box lately, I’m sure you have heard about the Economic Stimulus Payments that many of us have received or will be receiving. Many radio stations and newspapers are asking you to let them know what you plan on doing with yours. The purpose of the payment is to encourage consumer spending which will boost the economy. In reality, many people will use this rebate to catch up on bills and make ends meet.

I saw a commercial the other day that is so ridiculous it’s actually humorous. It is for a large discount chain – you know the one – the chain that is running small businesses out of town and is on a mission to take over the world. The purpose of the commercial is supposedly to encourage customers to do their part in helping the environment by purchasing a certain product at their stores. If all of their customers-all 200 million of them-purchase this particular product, they will save the world. Sounds good, doesn’t it?

This got me to thinking. If every resident of our city – all 4,700 of us – spent one dollar of our Economic Stimulus Payment at each local independent business, we could save our city. This could encourage job growth; increase sales tax collected for our county and state; and help many of our local business stay afloat.

Recently I had the privilege of discussing the economy with an accountant friend. Her view was that many people are shopping at the large discount chains because they, often mistakenly, feel they can get a better deal by shopping there. These people are forgetting to add in the cost of gas to drive the 30+ miles to these chains to save $1.00 on an item they need. In a year or two when the economy picks up, these same people will be frustrated because all of their options are gone. Suddenly, these few large chains are the only option since all of the small businesses were forced to shut their doors. Without competition, what do you think the customer service and prices will be like at these chains? Scary, isn’t it?

Now I ask you, how do you plan on spending your Economic Stimulus Payment?

Brag!

What a month! Last week we helped our local library, Farnsworth Public Library , celebrate National Library Week . Librarian Wendy read three stories, including one of my personal favorites, Llama Llama Red Pajama by Anna Dewdney and one of hers, Wake Up, It’s Spring by Lisa Campbell Ernst. A percentage of all sales during this special preschool story time was then donated back to the library. It definitely made for a lively Friday morning in the bookstore!

Last week was also the first National Poem in Your Pocket Day since April is National Poetry Month . Of course this is incorporated into our teen writing club. This month each member will be writing their own poem to read aloud at the next meeting. The teen book club also chose Crank by Ellen Hopkins, which is written in verse, as their next pick.
This week wraps up TurnOff Week . Were you able to catch up on some of your reading instead of sitting in front of the TV or computer? Maybe you were out enjoying the beautiful weather that finally showed up for a short visit. Or were you busy riding your bike or picking up litter to celebrate Earth Day ?

This is a week to brag.

What great things did you accomplish this month to support your library or help the environment?