Love: Home Is Where The Heart Is

   Good morning my dear readers! I have come back from a spontaneous visit back home and I feel like it was the best decision I could have made at the time. There were great things (and not so great things) but you learn to live with what you got. Fortunately for me, what I've got is pretty darn good.
   I started the day off with the knowledge that I'd be going to the trailer with my mother and father for the weekend. The first great realization was that I would be disconnected from everything and just be able to let my mind wander in Nature's quietude. Throughout the day, I relaxed, colored, ate and read. Who could ask for anything better than that. There is one thing that I will say in regards to my love of camping that people might not initially expect from such an experience, and that is that the food, no matter how fancy or simple it may be, tastes soooooo good! My mother made spaghetti on the first night; it was like I was eating it for the first time.
   We were able to go to bed early with the sound of the rain pitter-pattering on the roof; again, camping makes rain a good thing because it is ideal for sleep and afternoon naps. The next day, my parents went into town, so I had the trailer to myself. I finished a book that day, colored about 7 different Disney princesses and played games on my iPad while not being bothered by advertisements since there was no internet. My parents came home in time so that we could all help out in preparing dinner which was a steak salad and accidental homemade lobster ravioli (and I say accidental because it was supposed to be beef instead of lobster) but either way it was all delicious. We snuggled up and got ready for a fire and smores. We went back inside to get ready for bed, and to color a little bit more. There is truly no better therapy than coloring one's troubles away. My roommate in first year can testify to that for me because I had covered our room with pictures in one afternoon one fine day.
   On our last day, we had breakfast and started to pack up the trailer to make our way back home. It didn't take too long and my mother and I even stopped to pick up some fresh field strawberries on our way home to add it to our vanilla ice cream we'd been saving. Once home, we cleaned out the trailer, swam in our backyard pool, and watched the FIFA Women's Wold cup finals while eating my mother's homemade pizza (which I will forever be dreaming about until I get to have it again). We went to bed relatively early since the next day was Monday, and my mother and I were heading to Ottawa, and my father was off to work. I was able to have another mother-daughter road trip with my mom and it was absolutely fun.
   I've come to know and love the time I spend with my family. Though sometimes we don't always get along, we make sure to work things out and get back to the point. My parents always tell me that I can always come back home, and though I always knew in the back of my mind, there is no way now that I will ever doubt it.

K.P.H.

Literature: A Temptation too Strong to Resit

   Good morning my dearest readers and I truly do hope that you are all well. Yesterday being Canada Day, I had the day off. Since I had no previous plans, and Riles was working a double shift, I found myself home alone with quiet times and endless possibilities. 

   I was determined to have the most relaxing day that I've had in a while, and I had just that. However, I have been working hard on my 2015 Reading Challenge, and where in the month of May I knocked out 4 books, I haven't had the same kind of determination in the month of June. On the first day of July, I was lying in my bed and as I looked back at the books behind me, the temptation grew to read something that wasn't on my list, but that I've been waiting to read for a long time. I struggled back and forth between what I want and what I should be reading, and came to an impulsive decision. I picked up the book from the shelf behind me, skimmed the pages and the smell of the book called to me. I ran my hand over the cover and the embossed lettering was just so smooth. "I shouldn't read this one" I kept telling myself, knowing the row of books downstairs that was waiting for me. I turned the first page, read the intriguing chapter title, and took the plunge. I re-emerged three hours later to realize that I had tackled an impressive number of pages, and with a guilty sense of pleasure, I dove back in. 

   Though I can't wait to finish all of the books I have set out to read, I needed something that wasn't on there to make it feel like I wasn't reading a course selected reading list. Even times of leisure need breaks between other times of leisure. What book will tempt you?

K.P.H.