WELCOME to our monthly collection where we offer links and ideas for you to explore with us.

This summer has been a progression of changes, more than usual and some happy and some sad. Time moves on and always brings change, but some events seems to mark our lives in a before and after way. The changing seasons bring a steadiness and schedule that is predictable and comforting amidst the uncertainty of life. I am looking forward to the transition to fall. How about you?

On to the August collection of random ideas!

I’m reading a book about anti-gravity. It’s impossible to put down! Check out this page for more school jokes. You could include one in your child’s lunch for some midday laughs.

Did you know some whales experience menopause? They can teach us something about the blessings and opportunities menopause brings. Read about it here.

This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it. –Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Simple Little Secret That Will Help You Live A Healthy Life

If you are still vacationing, maybe you could stop at one of these places. Four are in my home state of South Dakota! 30 of the Oldest Roadside Attractions in the U.S. You Can Still Visit. These places remind of of a book I recently read: In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson. He visited several places like this in Australia and he can make a story out of anything!

Wabi-sabi: taken from the Japanese words wabi, which translates to less is more and sabi, which means attentive melancholy, wabi-sabi refers to an awareness of the transient nature of earthly things and a corresponding pleasure in the things that bear the mark of this impermanence. Example: a vase of faded, drying flowers is wabi-sabi, a table worn and scratched from many family meals, a soft, threadbare, faded dress, maybe the wrinkles accumulating on a face. Look for wabi-sabi and appreciate it.

Read our local book club choice! The Happy Life of Isadora Bentley by Courtney Walsh. Fiction, 358 pages and written in 2013. Isadora Bentley, an organized, introverted researcher, doesn’t believe in choosing happiness. Her life is, after all, just how she wants it. But on her 30th birthday, she impulsively buys a magazine with an unscientific article titled “31 Ways to be Happier”. She determines to try each one and prove the author wrong. The results make a good story and, of course, transform Isabel’s life.

“Those who make the worst use of their time are the first to complain of its brevity.” –Jean de La Bruyere. Do you think this is true? It made me stop and think, anyway.

And lastly, a recipe that has stood the test of time: Fresh Apple Cake

• 4 cups cubed raw apples
• 2 eggs stirred into apples, then add
• 2 tsp. vanilla,
• 1 cup sugar,
• pinch of salt,
• 1/2 cup oil.
• Sift 2 cups flour,
• 2 tsp. baking soda,
• 2 tsp. cinnamon, and add to the apples.
• Bake in ungreased 9 x 13 at 350* for 45 minutes.
• Meanwhile…
• Cook 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 tbsp. flour,
• 1 tsp. vanilla,
• 3/4 cup canned milk until thick.
• Add 1/2 cup sliced almonds and
• 1/2 cup shredded coconut.
• Pour over cake while both are still warm.
• It’s even better the next day.

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. Ecclesiastes 3:11

–Liz

More time to read?

We Have Time

How to get a Boost on Goals and Resolutions