I love summer: warm days, happy splashing at the pool, bees buzzing around lush gardens, gatherings of friends and family, and watching the fireflies intermittently light up the night.
Admittedly, that’s not my garden, sigh. It is a long exposure photograph of fireflies taken by Yume Cyan in the forests of Nagoya. I was introduced to these incredible, magical shots through a tweet by the Museum of Modern Art. MOMA is currently highlighting a photography exhibit centered on nineteen of their new acquisitions (Yume Cyan is not one of them). Alternately you might check out “A Trip from Here to There” by artist Mateo Lopez based on his travels via Vespa across his native Colombia. If you’re thinking of going into the city you should call or check online to see if any of our 12 museum passes are available. With our membership cards you get swept through on the members only lines, bring guests for free, and enjoy discounts from their fabulous museum stores, so indulge.
One of my greatest indulgences is to sit in the sun and read. Like a cat, I stretch out to maximize both comfort and warmth. Of course, that doesn’t happen very often children, animals, housekeeping and work all keep me regularly occupied, so I adapt. When we go to the pool I can’t ‘read’ (even with an easy to download e-book to my device) because I need to keep my children safe through the power of my mind (I wanted to see if you were still reading). So I adapt, and the library adapts with me. Generally I pick one of the thousands of audiobooks, though sometimes I borrow music from a masterfully curated audio collection or download free mp3’s from Freegal. These services not only keep my children safe when we are at the pool but often accompany me on my ‘commute’ or more adventurous cycles around the greater New Jersey area.
If your travels take you further afield, take a look at our Mango Languages program which currently offers 62 languages, including Ancient Greek! Whether you start learning at home or access the databases while travelling, you will more than likely be able to learn at least a few ways to say, hello and thank you.
Of course, there are a lot of reasons to stay home too, and in my mind there are few things sweeter than watching the sun set on the beach after a day swimming, sandsculptures and a book.
Photos taken by author unless otherwise noted.