Well hello there, happy Saturday!

I have been home all week now, and what a delight! A graduation party, daily naps, cool breezy temps, indulging my new REFORMER PILATES obsession, brunch with a friend, walking and donuts with another friend, multiple PEMF sessions (lower back!), working on my scrappy quilt, and reading SO MUCH.

The joy I find in being home in the summer between adventures is such a relief after the annual complete and utter bonkersville of being homebound all winter, but I’m beginning to appreciate these cycles more as I age and time has sped up. The swings are more predictable and time has demonstrated they really will keep cycling ~ impermanence has proven itself now, as it simply cannot in youth.

As Oma always said about aging, it’s certainly better than the alternative, and I’ll add that my favorite part about it is the perspective it brings.

My Cool Weather Camping Wardrobe

I have written about most of these things before, and it makes me so happy that I’m YET AGAIN sharing about the same clothes ~ that means they’ve held up and I’ve stuck with them!

If you noticed in my pictures on Tuesday that I seemed to be always wearing the same thing, well, that’s because I kind of was! This type of trip ~ multiple phases, camping and camping(ish), outdoor adventures, fluctuating weather ~ requires versatile, layerable, quick-drying, stink-resistant clothes. I’m not saying we weren’t gross by day 7, but at least our clothes worked for us!

Here are a few of the favorites:

Remember, Poshmark is your best friend! Want amazing gear without paying full price? Save searches for the gear you want in your size and snag them when they pop up! I very rarely buy new name-brand gear anymore, with the exception of shoes.

• two pair of my trusty L.L. Bean Vista Camp pants - I think I got my current pairs in 2022 ~ they LAST.

• my “does she ever change her clothes?” ancient fleece hoody (link to new version)

• my thrifted-from-Poshmark-years-ago-and-can’t-live-without puffer (link to new version)

• my trusty rain jacket (on crazy sale at this moment!?)

• various merino tees - Smartwool & REI brands, both long and short sleeve - for EVERYTHING including sleeping, and of course my favorite Branwyn merino underwear and bras! I only brought with my two merino sports bras for the WHOLE TRIP, and just alternated them, hanging to air out when not wearing. They never got stinky! No for real, I’m not just saying that. FOR REAL.

• my newish and now absolute favorite “being outside anytime it’s cool / wet / muddy” boots ~ I wore these almost the entire trip. Lems is my ride-or-die shoe brand, and these might be my favorite style I have ever purchased from them! SO COZY, easy to pull on with just the back tab, waterproof, warm, can feel the ground when hiking / clambering. Worth every cent and they’ll be on my feet constantly outside this fall and winter at home.

One Amazing Audiobook

I was planning to share the rest of my Minnesota / Ontario related fiction reading with you today, but then remembered that I never shared with you the audiobook I finished at the beginning of June and absolutely LOVED. I’ll share that other list on Tuesday!

Whistler by Ann Patchett is everywhere right now, and all I can really add to the buzz is that it’s phenomenal on audio, and having Patchett’s narration in my ears made the experience so intimate and memorable. Middle aged protagonist, childhood broken family and trauma(ish), reunited with a stepparent, beautiful marriage, amazing sister relationship ~ all of this came together for me in a perfect way.

Also, here’s what I texted a friend about the book immediately after finishing:

A main premise is that even though it's about middle-aged and elderly people, it all comes back to the fact that we're always thinking about when we were nine. And isn't that so true?

My friend and I are both children of divorce, and this fact features heavily in our conversations both about our childhoods, but also our marriages and parenting. What can we possibly do to create childhoods (largely through our marriages) for our own kids that give them less to heal from? Is it even possible to do that??

I’m also fascinated by the portrayal in the book of differing memories of past events by the characters who were adults vs children at the time. It’s so similar to the shock I feel when discussing something from the past with family members and finding out either I’m totally wrong, OR someone else recollects it with a completely different lens. Ann Patchett writes about this so beautifully.

Note: the book is NOT about horses.

More about the book:

• Ann Patchett’s Latest Will Engage Your Mind and Warm Your Heart (NYT gift link)

• Ann Patchett Has Already Determined the ‘Best’ Book of the Year (Elle) hint: it’s not Whistler

• Ann Patchett’s novels ‘Whistler’ and ‘Tom Lake’ are novels written with love in mind (NPR Book of the Day podcast) Personally I loved Whistler a ton more than Tom Lake??? Maybe I need to revisit Tom Lake?

• (related but not about the actual book) Ann Patchett Wrote Her Latest Novel on a Treadmill Desk (Wirecutter)

That’s all for today, my friends! I’m hoping to get some hiking in this weekend and bake a Fathers’ Day cake for my husband and call my own dad … ‘tis the season!