So a few days in northern Michigan... We went to the Clawson family cottage that Mike grew up going to every summer (read his posts here and here). It's beautiful up there and its nice to spend so much time outside. Vacations these days are all about Emma - every experience is new and exciting. She went out on the lake in a rowboat, climbed (and ran down) the sand mountain (dunes), swam in the lake, built sand castles, went hiking in the woods, made smores at a beach campfire, took baths in a metal tub outside, and got to eat ice cream everyday. I don't think she gets why she can't do these things everyday (honestly why do we only get to be outside in beautiful nature when we are on vacation??).

I like it up there (in the summer at least). Even the towns are comfortable. They are full of local restaurants, shops, and wineries. Local artists have cute little places to sell their work. And I could walk into a shop to buy a fairly traded sundress and spend a long time discussing organic farm coops with the salesperson. Not a common occurrence in the suburbs. There is something about beautiful places that seems to attract the progressive, activist, and the artistic to settle there. Something about resonating with place and finding a like minded community to call home. I post more about that idea later.

I indulged myself as well by returning to reading fantasy books for the week. I managed to get through Belladonna by Anne Bishop and Kushiel's Justice by Jacqueline Carey. They are two of my absolute favorite fantasy writers and it was sheer pleasure to get lost in worlds of their creation once again. I'm debating whether to give myself over to reading just fantasy/sci-fi from now until the release of Harry Potter 7. We shall see.

So it was a good week. I'm insanely behind in all my other responsibilities at the moment and am procrastinating going to rescue my vegetable garden from a jungle of weeds by writing this right now, but that's life.

Labels: Personal