August 2022
Back to school and surviving the hustle
On the Journey 🥾
We finally went camping again! I know, we got back from our vacation almost two months ago, but the summer was so busy that we just didn’t get back out again. We decided to make a weekend journey to Shakamak State Park, an Indiana State Park which we had never tried before, even though it is less than two miles from Indianapolis. It was a quick weekend of swimming in the park pool and kayaking on the lake, but it was a good and much-needed weekend again before another busy week of school, soccer games, and parent/teacher conferences. I’m sure there will be an upcoming blog post about the weekend, but that will have to wait until the end of October, at the earliest.
Changes for Our Family
When we moved to Indiana last summer, we bought a house with a large aquarium. Jeff has wanted an aquarium for years but we never had the right space for it. However, it was hard to argue against having an aquarium when it was already built into our staircase. We’ve spent the last year trying to figure out how to best fill it, but our kids have been campaigning for axolotls since the day they learned we would have a large aquarium to fill. Initially, we didn’t think we could get two; they don’t get along and can sometimes kill each other if they have to share a small space. But apparently, they handle company just fine if the space is big enough. With 130 gallons to work with, we could agree to two of the same sex and last weekend, after months of research and preparation by my dear husband, we brought Angel and Azul home.
Soundtracks For the Journey 🎧📚
I consider the soundtrack for my journey to be everything that I’m reading and listening to that is giving me a boost. You can also follow me on Goodreads to see what I’m reading every month. So here are my recommendations for the end of August:
Only Murders In the Building (Season 2): I really enjoyed the first season of this show. In fact, my Lit Think partner and I enjoyed it so much we did an episode about it during our second season. The season started a little slow and I wasn’t sure that it needed a second season, but the cast is delightful and the story was too fun to stop watching.
The Nineties: Chuck Klosterman’s book about the decade that encompassed my entire teenage experience brought back so many memories while helping me see the historical implications twenty years later. I highly recommend the book for anyone who wants to take a reflective walk down memory lane.
The Holy Post Podcast: I’ve possibly recommended this podcast before, but they are an essential part of my weekly listening and learning. If you have struggled with the way that the Christian faith has become increasingly entwined with conservative American politics, the hosts use humor, research, and experts to give those of us on a reconstruction journey a language for what we are experiencing and tools for how to continue that journey.
Writing Outside of the Journey 💻
I continue to freelance for The Educator's Room. In August I published the following pieces:
I also started writing for our podcast, Lit Think, as we moved over to Substack for both the podcast and our new venture into writing content. In addition to our podcast episodes (which you should also check out) I wrote:
What Is Coming Up Next?
After going back in time for 15 podcast episodes, I have decided to return to my travel writing roots and set aside the podcast for a few months while I write bi-weekly blog posts about our travels . It is entirely possible that I will return to podcasts to breathe new life into old blog posts about past travels, but I will be writing new posts about our summer vacation and fall camping adventures, so I hope that you enjoy the story of our summer travels and share them with people who might be interested. My soul searching after three months of experimenting with personal podcasting taught me that my real gift is in writing that that is what I need to focus on. If you’ve been enjoying those podcast episodes, let me know! I will be happy to bring that back occasionally.
I will also be making paid posts available to everyone after three months. While the current “bonus” for paid subscribers is that you will get special blog posts made available to you first, you are also supporting my work. I’m not quitting a day job that I enjoy and I’m still doing this as a hobby, so support helps me justify my regular habit. And please consider following us at litthinkpodcast.substack.com. We’re putting together a lot of really great content in our current season.
That’s all for August! Keep following me on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for additional updates.
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