The Last Full Week of Summer Break | 2025

I made the executive decision to publish this week’s post on Sunday instead of Friday. Our days have been stuffed to the gills with board games, big walks, and a ton of time playing in the shade in the backyard — time for my own pursuits has been fleeting but I’ve gotten good at capitalizing on small moments, so I have a few good things to share with you. Keep reading for an update on our home life, what my knitting needles have been up to, and how my reading is going (along with maybe my favorite book of the year?):

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Home Stuff:

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Last Sunday we went back up to the mountains to visit our quiet spot. The Saco River was low due to this summer’s drought but there was enough water for the kids and Dawsey to have a ton of fun. I’m still certain there’s an arrowhead hiding somewhere in the mud but I haven’t found it. Yet.

This will probably be our last splash in the water this year but I’m delighted that we made it twice this summer. It’s been a perfect little hiding spot where we can be comfortable being our wacky and strange selves.

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Yesterday after I got home from the library we went to the coast to see Hurricane Erin’s waves. They weren’t as big as we were hoping and there were a ton of people squeezing in one last beach weekend before the start of school, so it wasn’t the best trip ever. But it was a nice change of pace and pretty cool to enjoy both the mountains and the beach in less than week. I am not complaining about the lackluster waves!

On an even more personal note, I have established a thinking hour for myself each day. I have some personal learning goals I want to accomplish this semester and simply need enough time to string two thoughts together without hearing I’m hungry or I’m bored or where’s my…? I’ve been claiming an hour in my cozy little burrow in the basement most days and it’s done more for my body battery than I can describe. I’m taking it in the late afternoon, just before the final dinner/playtime/bath/bedtime push, and wow – it makes a difference. The trick will be making sure I stay consistent. Claiming a whole hour to think feels beyond selfish, but there you go.

Knitting:

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Left picture: I finished my March sock club socks! They are knit up in Cherry Tree Hill DK Sock and are delightfully cozy. I already know that these will be the first pair I choose when it’s time to slip on my snow boots this winter.

Right picture: I opened my April Sock Club and was surprised to find these two skeins of Claudia’s Hand Painted Yarns in Argyle. I completely forgot about them and they’re probably about 20 years old at this point. I’ve caked them up and might be able to start the first sock today. What was I thinking to buy black yarn? I’m already dreading picking up the gusset stitches, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get there. Good lighting will be my friend.

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Reading:

The Book of Records by Madeleine Thien
(Amazon | Bookshop.org)

“…this book will unfold this vine, which is connected to the eternal, and the eternal contains what we are, by necessity, in our mortality.” p 330

The Book of Records might be my favorite book of the year? It’s one of those books that reminds me how much I have to learn about everything – which is my very favorite kind. From the moment I began reading it, my imagination and my desire to learn have been on fire (just check my recent orders from ThriftBooks to prove it – yikes!). I spent nearly a whole week with it because I kept flipping back and marking passages that referenced each other (and a special thank you to Mary and Sarah who both helped me find a reference that kept slipping past me!). I didn’t want the book to end and think it warrants a reread because I’m sure there’s a ton I missed.

(I am trying to describe this book as concisely as possible, but am really struggling with how to do that.)

This novel explores philosophy, history, mathematics, and music in the most fascinating ways. It slips back over itself, like folding a piece of thread. Lina and her father are refugees from an underwater China in an unnamed year (but feels somewhat futuristic?). When they flee their home, her father takes three books from a series that Lina and her brother loved, The Great Lives of Voyagers. Those volumes tell the life stories of three philosophers: Du Fu, a poet who lived during the Tang Dynasty in Medieval China; Baruch Spinoza, who’s family emigrated from Portugal to Amsterdam in the 1600s to escape religious persecution; and Hannah Arendt, a German Jew who survived WWII.

I learned so much about those three philosophers, even if their work was way over my head. I underlined so many book titles, philosophers, pieces of music… there’s just so much to explore within this one book! I could go on and on about this one, but have to stop somewhere. I hope you love it as much as I did.

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The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna
(Amazon | Bookshop.org)

(Currently $5.99 on Kindle!)

“It’s a leap of faith to love and let yourself be loved. It’s closing your eyes, stepping off a ledge into something, and trusting that you’ll fly rather than fall.” pp 273-274

I knew that I couldn’t jump into another literary fiction novel after finishing The Book of Records – what could compare? So I was very happy when this Libby hold came through with perfect timing. I enjoyed this cozy romance about a witch named Mika Moon who is compelled to take a job caring for three young witches with no magical guidance. There’s a lovely cast of characters, the coziest settings, and a fantastic romance that will curl your toes. And I was surprised yesterday when my hold for A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping became available. Both of these books had an estimated wait that was much longer and the arrival of their alerts felt magical!

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Book and Dagger: How Scholars and Librarians Became the Unlikely Spies of World War II by Elyse Graham
(Amazon | Bookshop.org)

“But there is a certain type of person, if you’re reading this book you might be that type, whose heart beats faster at the thought of so much paper, evidence, information. Nobody knows what causes the syndrome. Usually libraries and universities help contain it, to provide a green pasture for the gently mad.”

This book was surprisingly funny and very enjoyable. I loved the images of these librarians and scholars, dropped into enemy territory and told to blend in with the locals. And the first thing they do? Begin collecting library cards and befriending local librarians so they could copy books, newspapers, maps, etc that the American military couldn’t get otherwise. I can’t help but picture Indiana Jones trying to blend in and gather intelligence to send back home. This was a fun audiobook to listen to while cleaning this week and I recommend it anyone who enjoys WWII history and identifies as a little bookish.

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Our school district starts this week! Colton has school on Wednesday and Thursday before a 4 day weekend. B+B and I will also have school on Wednesday and Thursday before our own 4 day weekend, and then do a tiny bit of school on Tuesday morning before I have to head into the library. But we will hit the ground running next Wednesday and I’m so ready to really get our school year started and for us all to begin our own scholarly pursuits. These early weeks of school are the most exciting ones!

Friends, I hope you have a wonderful week and are able to find pockets of time to do the things you love. I’ll be back at the end of next week. Until then – take good care.