Summer's End, August Learning

August, its a milestone month. 

The final warmth of summer in some regions; 

the final weeks of vacation too. 

The last vestiges of free schedules, sandals, lingering morning coffee by the pool. 

Even we bloggers feel the shift in season and time as the writing glances back at summer's inspiration before stepping into themes for the season ahead. 

In that over-my-shoulder glance, I've noted some things I've learned  like...

Bold summer nail color is way fun... 
(specifically Unfor-greta-bly Blue from OPI)

... then I can link up with Chatting at the Sky 
'cause the community over there likes to share these things.

Things I Learned This Month ~

Gutsy female characters catch my attention every time...
Reading Geraldine Brooks' Caleb's Crossing, a  gorgeous and captivating historical story of a brilliant heroine, Bethia in 17th century Pilgrim New England. I totally curled up for the entire weekend to read this exquisitely written book straight through, that kind of good! Learned a lot, such as: Harvard, the new world's first university in 1650 had an original charter that describes its missions as "the education of the English and Indian youth of this country". Much food for thought in this riveting portrayal [in part] of 17th century education; who gets it, who doesn't, and to what ends.


Repurposed architecture fascinates me...
Fabulous new library rises from the bones of an abandoned Walmart. What do you think of that?


Still have a fascination with words...
Just let this one spill from your tongue, quotidian.  
A mere four syllables, but don't they sound like you must have some intellectual moxie?
Here's the irony. The word means "occurring every day; belonging to the every day; commonplace, ordinary. To my mind, so not ordinary.
Then I read Kathleen Norris' discussion of the "everyday" and this makes it all better:

It is a paradox of human life that in worship...it is in the routine and the everyday that we find the possibilities for the greatest transformation...what we dread as mindless activity can free us, mind and heart, for the workings of the Holy Spirit...  The Quotidian Mysteries, p.82

It appears that I'm officially an introvert...
Susan Cain's bestseller Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can't Stop Talking...well it just rings true. And I'm humbled to join the good company of fellow introverts like Eleanor Roosevelt, Madeleine L'Engle, and Rosa Parks. And then the Huffington Post ran an article with this list. So really, I feel better about the strengths that folks like me bring to humanity, such as, in the hunter -gather era, being "geared to inspect" we were more likely to do surveillance, scan the field under cover while the extroverts brashly stepped out in the open, serving themselves up to predators. Thus the introvert's skills of keen observation and data gathering have survived evolution. Something empowering about that.

I love lively, dynamic conversations...
We met for coffee and more than an hour went by as we wildly gestured and parlayed back and forth probably running off more than one adjacent java soul. I'm still an introvert.

How to create Art from Words ...
This nifty site helps you create art work gifts from any collection of words that you like. There are dozens of applications. The one I have seen is a beautiful pastel handprint created from all the names of the staff at our church preschool and given to them as a Back to School gift. Delightful.

A new recipe... 
CLEAN {healthy} Prosciutto Chicken. Easy, fast, low fat, yummy...I'm in. 

September looms with all its seasonal tradition and glory! 

Really hope Emily continues this link up next month. 

Fall has such possibilities! 

Blessings,

Lisa

Curious about other posts in this Link UP? 

Here's the JUNE and JULY lists.