Summer, Sun, and Soccer

Yes—Summer, Sun and Soccer— I’m in❣️

Watching World Cup soccer has provided many treats and insights into world cultures.  So much emotion, so much color, so many Norwegian Viking Row celebrations!  For me, seeing the world through the World Cup lens is a counter=balancing upper to whatever downers exist.  And yes, there’s sadness in the soccer matches, too, for the losing teams and countries.   But overall, joy, excitement and love seem to triumph.⚽️

And when I’m not watching soccer, I’m having fun in a variety of ways…one is coloring.  A friend shared a site that offers free downloads of simple images.  It’s called “Homemade Gifts Made Easy.”  All you have to do is print the image, find your crayons, and have at it!  The summer image above comes from the site.  Coloring is such a calming activity, almost meditative.  The child-in-me can be happy😊

Another activity has been a journal-like  notebook called Book of One Hundred Joys, (by 1canoe2). Each page offers space to write about (or draw) a joy you experienced and then a check-list of words you can use to describe it, words like “energized,” “sentimental,” “grateful,” “delight,” “strong,” etc. Short, sweet, fun.  

As for my culinary escapades, they have been simple. They have included ravioli with a very quick few-ingredients marinara sauce, a slow-cooker vegetarian chili with grilled cheese toasts, Salmon Nicoise-ish salad, take out (!) Mexican🌮, and fresh tart plums from our very own tree.

And now…since August is both my and my blog’s birthday month, I’l be taking a little August blog-vacay to see what new inspiration may emerge.  Have a glorious summer and see you in September.😍

                                                      💓 “Joy is the best make-up.” —Anne Lamott