My daughter, Rachel and friend, Ben decided to design, build and paint their own bird house, complete with a swmming pool, before leaving for college. I think you’ll be impressed with this house. I’ll be securing it in the tree eagerly awaiting to see who moves in!

I have tortured myself with coming up with a design to use some of the many colorful French cotton fabrics I have collected over the years. I did an awful lot of designing, measuring and cutting, only to redesign, remeasure and recut. My husband does the math for me. (FYI-what is with rotary cutters with new blades not cutting all the way through the fabric? Don’t get me started.) It is not like me to change my mind so much, but if I’m going to do all this work, it better look darn good. Here are the fabrics I am using:

I only wish my 3 talented, quilt-making sisters-in law (Mary Lu, Jeanne and Donna) lived near me to help out.

Stay tuned for the finished king size quilt. But don’t hold your breath!

This has been a week of oddities. The following events have all taken place in the last seven days:

1. My daughter was shopping at Target and overheard a man on his cell phone saying, “It’s only your belly. Don’t be afraid of your belly. Just look down and see it. It’s just your belly. Now don’t make me come out there and tend to this. I said don’t be afraid of your belly!” HUH? OMG!
2. I have been preoccupied lately as usual. A couple of mornings ago, I went to make my fruit shake after my workout. I took the pits out of some cherries (this is a lot of work), cut up an apple, and put it in the blender with some almond milk and a splash of honey. Then I went to the freezer in the laundry room to get some ice to make this concoction more like a shake. Rather than reaching in the freezer to get ice, without thinking, I managed to reach into the dog food bin and put 2 heaping scoops of Buffalo Blue dog food into my shake. OMG. (Needless to say, I had to start all over and throw it all out.)
3. My daughter drove to the park to go rollerblading one afternoon. She came home and said she had put her cell phone on the roof of her car, sat on the seat to take off her skates and then forgot to take the phone off the roof of the car and drove away. So she and I raced back to the park to look for the phone. It was nowhere in sight. No one turned it into the office. So we drove back home looking on the ground, with no phone to be found. When we got home, my daughter stayed in her car while I used the house phone to call her phone. She could hear it ringing somewhere outside. Lo and behold – that damn phone had slid down the rear window of the car and got wedged in between the window and the trunk. The funny thing is that she has a thick Jesus sticker on the phone, and we believe it helped the phone stay in place. It made it through all that driving and over speed bumps and around corners, baking in the hot Florida sun. OMG! Literally.                               
4. I won’t name names, but someone I know went to a wedding in San Francisco. That someone did not pack enough fresh underwear, so he had to travel home commando. That someone had to go through the new x-ray security screening! He got some interesting looks from the security guards. HAHAHAHA. OMG.
5. I was out walking the dog today. Two teen girls pulled over, almost hitting me with their car. They were overwhelmed by Darwin, had to pet him, invade his personal bubble and take his picture. They asked me about 100 questions, struggled with their cameras, put their faces in my dog’s face, let him lick their mouths over and over again. It was a bit weird, but things got weirder when a man stuck his head out of his truck and said, “Is that some kind of a bear you are walking?” Inside and out, this truck was full to the top with junk. The only view out was a pumpkin-sized hole out of the driver’s side of the front window. The side and back windows were oozing with junk. There was no visibility out. I assumed he just lived in there, and the truck did not run; I was wrong. The guy started to drive away with that one small clearing in the front window! If I had a cell phone, I’d have called the police. OMG!
6. I was contacted about a month ago by a journalist through another writer friend to be interviewed for a long article in a national weekly news magazine. My name was not used. One of my daughter’s friend’s Mom sent me an email to tell me she read a most interesting article I should read. It was the one I was interviewed for. What is the likelihood of that? Of all the thousands of articles out per week, this was the one I was interviewed for, but there was nothing in that article that revealed I was one of many people interviewed!!! OMG.

Weird week.

I’ve written a lot about summer in the past. Here are links to the most read entries:

Everything You Need to Know About Summer Camp – French Woods Interview

You Know it Feels Like Summer When

Ask the Right Questions Before Booking a Hotel

Where are We Going on Our Summer Vacation?

Dog Friendly Summer Travel Tips

25 Ideas to Enjoy the Last Days of Summer

Great Planning = A Great Vacation

Summer Driving Vacation – Have a Great Time WIth Your Kids

Summer Travel – Flying Solo WIth Children

My brother, Eric Rosen is surfing in the Maldive Islands, located in the Indian Ocean off the Southwest coast of Sri Lanka. These coral islands are surrounded by pure white sand beaches, and the waters are home to vibrant coral reefs.

Not every fun event has to be planned around eating! Summer is a great time to get outside and be active. Here are some ways your entire family can enjoy the weather while burning some calories and building muscle.  The best part of getting fit is that you’ll be spending time together:

http://www.bicycle-stuff.com

1. Take a Hike – Whether you take the dog on a brisk walk through your own neighborhood or head out to a trail to hike, walking will always be one of the best ways to get in shape. Make it extra fun by collecting leaves and flowers to press.
2. Take a Class – Sign up for a family exercise class together, like aerobics, swimming, kick boxing -  you name it. Check out what your local YMCA has to offer.
3. Plan an Adventure Trip – Pick a theme like horseback riding, whitewater rafting, mountain climbing, fishing and more, and plan a trip around it. There are plenty of companies out there who organize all inclusive adventure trips for families.
4. Get on Your Bike - There’s nothing like a long bike ride. You can even pack a healthy picnic to make a special day out of it.
5. Clean it Up -  Pick a project to do at home, and find a way to make it fun. Clean the garage, paint a room, go through old boxes in the attic and reorganize.
6. Make a Splash – Have a water balloon or water gun fight, take a swim, get a Slip and Slide, run through the sprinkler!
7. Do Some Sightseeing – Plan a long day in your hometown or nearest large city and see the sights. Walk everywhere you can, and take stairs rather than elevators wherever you go.
8. Blast Your Favorite Music – And then dance to it!
9. Put on Your Gardening Gloves – Gardening can give you a great workout! All that digging, moving dirt, plants and large pots will get you fit in no time. Then you can enjoy the fruits of your labor down the road – eating your healthy, homegrown veggies.
10. Sign up for a Charity Event – Run or Walk for a Charity event. Before you go, you’ll need to get some practice in to get in shape for the big day. You can even set some goals as far as your time to finish and work toward that goal together every day.

My family spent Father’s Day weekend at Beachview Cottages on Sanibel Island. We rented and small 1 bedroom, Cottage #1, the unit closest to the beach, and it is in the best location! We had a nice porch facing the water. It was a perfect spot for eating chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast on Father’s Day.

Beachview Cottages are pet friendly, so if you have a pooch, bring him along. If you don’t like dogs, this is not the place for you, because everyone else has them. Every guest we met was friendly, and talkative, and the staff was ultra friendly and helpful too. The place is small and quiet, which is ideal. There’s a pool, coin laundry and ice machine. The staff will gladly help you with dinner and sightseeing plans. The cottage we rented was immaculate upon our arrival and the cleaning crew accommodated us quickly with a few special requests. You could never tell that any other pets had been there before us.

The best way to spend your time here is undoubtedly on the beach – reading, walking, shelling or fishing. If you are persnickety about sand, just know now that it is impossible to keep it out of your cottage. It gets into everything – your feet, clothes, dog’s paws, car tires, inside of your car – and that is just the simple reality of being right on the beach. It’s a small price to pay for the pleasures of the beach. We definitely plan to come back for a longer stay.

Beachview Cottages

3325 West Gulf Drive, Sanibel Island, FL 33957 – 800-860-0532

bvsan@beachviewsanibel.com

For great seafood while you are on Sanibel, eat at the Lazy Flamingo. Click here to read my review and see photos on Wandering Educators.

If you like antiques, or are a collector, be sure to stop in The Islander Trading Post. There are collections of toys, memorabilia, posters, jewelry, tin boxes, garden items, sheet music and so much more. The cabinets that house the collections are antiques too. I didn’t see too many bargains in here, but I sure enjoyed looking at all that stuff. This is the kind of place where you could spend a couple of hours.

Islander Trading Post

1446 Periwinkle Way Sanibel Island, FL 239-395-0888

This weekend I discovered the secret to true relaxation. It’s really quite simple – walk along a beach teeming with seashells. I experienced that firsthand on Sanibel Island this weekend . . .

It is virtually impossible to be stressed out while walking along a warm, sunny beach, feet dragging in the water. There’s nothing better than the sounds of the waves lapping ashore, skimming the seashells on the sand, causing them to gently clank together, shift and resettle as the water flows back into the ocean. This gently repetitive sound moves in sync with your inner rhythms, leaving you feeling completely content. It is as if the tranquil sound takes over any worrisome thoughts you may otherwise have. Sure there are a few children laughing in the background, but that only adds to the calming experience. You can breathe easier, deeper here while soaking it all in.

Walking along the shore, you meet the friendliest people, who share your love of shelling – grannies, young couples and kids, all in the best of moods. You just can’t be mad, sad or disturbed while walking along a beach.

My daughter poked fun at me for using a bright orange net to scoop shells up from the water. But my method proved to be successful. I was able to find some larger seashells while others nearby seemed frustrated while trying to sift through piles in the water. But in the end it’s not really about collecting the shells, rather just the excitement of the find. A perfect specimen with no chips or cracks, with a most beautifully interesting pattern ust waiting to be scooped up by you.

Contemplating the many mysteries of the sea is overwhelming in the most pleasant way. As I pull a gem of a shell from the water, I ponder its journey to the shore. (Stay with me here.) What happened to the animal inside? How many miles did it travel to get here? How many others are there like it in the world? Hundreds? Thousands? Millions? Billions? Or more than there are numbers to count? Do these creatures socialize with each other? What if I throw it back in, as far as I can? Will it ever wash ashore again? Maybe it will get caught in an undercurrent and get stuck in the sand forever, never to be seen again. Just how many seashells are on this beach anyway?  How long did it take for the waves to finely crush this many shells to make this much sand? How many species are out there we have yet to discover? What is it really like under the surface of the water during the worst of storms?

In the evening as the dusk approaches, the sky turns into an ever-changing collage of colors and clouds, making an ideal backdrop for the silhouettes of people walking along the shore. You can’t see their faces any longer, but you just know they’re happy.

P.S. You just better get inside before the sand fleas feast on you for dinner.

My daughter and I decided to make 2 collages, with a travel theme, for her dorm room walls, as she is off to UPenn in the fall. She made one, and I made the other. We used travel stickers (that look old) that came in a tin from a museum gift shop. In order to give the pictures texture, we glued some interesting things on the collages – old buttons, pins, foreign coins, old stamps, old keys, a tiny padlock, feathers, miniature items from a doll house, pressed leaves, hot sealing wax, piece of an old passport, old airmail letter envelope, ripped section of a subway map, cut out from a safetly brochure from an airplane.

We used thick watercolor paper and heavy duty glue. It was a lot of fun! Now we need to find some shadow box frames to put them in.

• 4 colored popsicle sticks
• white glue
• yarn
• 1 piece white paper – card stock
• markers
• single hole punch

Overlap 2 Popsicle sticks and glue them together. (see photo) Do this with 2 sets of sticks and then glue them together in a cross. Let this dry well. Draw outlines of 4 butterfly shapes on a piece of 8.5 X 11″ white card stock. You can get inspiration from books or photos and illustrations online or copy those in the photo above. Cut out the shapes and color them with markers on both sides. I used different designs on each side of the butterflies, so there are 8 different designs total. They look best if you outline them in black. Punch a hole in the head of each butterfly. Cur 4 strands of yarn to the lengths you want. 2 should be longer than the other 2, but there should be matching pairs. Tie the butterflies to the ends of the popsicle sticks. Take another stand of yarn and tie around center of sticks where they meet to make a hanging strand for the mobile.