I think you can probably guess that Summer is my favorite time of year.  I love the potential of what the day can hold.  I can plant flowers to surround my home, enjoy a garden, bike, rollerblade, or sit on the deck with a wonderful read.  I am a sun girl.

I like my summer books to usually be centered around summer topics – sun, beaches, travel, friendships – and my books average between 180 – 270 pages because my attention span is not long as I am usually running from one thing to the next, trying to breathe it all in.

SO…. Check out this monster that arrived in my mailbox yesterday. Seriously – it is almost bigger than Coffee Cup and my coffee cup is no little teacup.

I don’t recall requesting this read and am not even sure if it is a fit for me.  I am reading the paperwork that came with it and I am scratching my head as to why I received this….

BUT – here is a sign of fall for me…. it is a chunkster – almost 600 pages and instead of being freaked out by its size, I am intrigued.  Summer means short fun lighter reads…. but fall is like book nesting to me.  I want a book that I can sink into for a week or more.  Larger books start to look appealing.  I want characters that I will enjoy so much that I don’t want to be done with them in 300 pages…. no I want them to carry me to 500+….

I don’t want summer to pass.  I feel like I am just getting into it and have not had enough afternoons on my deck with iced tea, a book and my sunglasses…. I have not had enough evenings where I can still be wearing shorts and listen to the crickets, nor enough bike rides, hiking, roller blading, and I have not been to the beach even once this year…

Yet if it fall, I am happy to share cooler nights with a larger book, hot cocoa replacing iced tea and a blanket to keep out the chill as I read and read and read….

And for some reason….. fall makes me think if I were to require a pig, this would be the time.

Hah!  Couldn’t resist that! 😛

Does your reading tend to change with the seasons?  Do certain books speak to you at certain times?

*Oh one more thing… I am guest posting over at Trisha’s Eclectic/Eccentric blog today.  Doing a little blog housekeeping while she is enjoying some family time. If you have a moment stop by and check out the post – but oh – do not judge me for the insane idea Trisha and I came up with to make this post fun.  😉

Good morning.  I still have a bit of sleep in my eyes and Coffee Cup is sadly lacking content, but before I go for that second cup I wanted to meander….

LONG day yesterday but on the bright side, my craziness is over for the week.  Well, standard craziness for me is still in place, which means there is always room for some last-minute thing to pop up.  In my life this week:

• I may go for a 30 mile bike ride with Wendy to prep her for the 75 mile we are doing on the 21st….
• I may take Chance to a movie because we are due for some hang out time…
• I may wind up at the cabin this weekend if Al is able to go because that would be awesome

I can tell you quite honestly I have not read a thing for the past 4 days now which sucks, really, but things will turn around.  I still have blogs to visit on the Monday meme too, and review to write but they will get done – no worries there.

My book club met without me last night as I was just leaving the cities as it started so I missed it.  They reviewed Her Fearful Symmetry and I am just dying to know what they thought of it and what we will be reading next!

Today is a dreary looking Minnesota day and that’s ok with me.  I am in the office until mid afternoon, have my group power class at 4:15, and after that either the movie with Chance or back here to chill for the evening.  I think I will sit on this for a bit before I decide.

I do however – have a post going up today so tiny “yay” for that.  AND I want to end this with thanking everyone for your kind words on yesterdays morning meandering.  I really appreciate that as  the cause is an important one, and Connie is so incredible.

Enjoy your day – hopefully it brings sunshine and a good book!  😀

Good morning.  This will be my only post today as yesterday I discovered…. I am not super woman.

I thought I could be gone for my third weekend in a row and still manage all aspects of my life, the house, the job, the books, the workouts, the blog…

well.  I am clearly behind on stopping in and chatting with all of you my readers and bloggy buddies.  I didn’t even make it through all the Monday memes yesterday as I did not even get started until after 5 pm.  Anyway – I will catch up.

And anyway – this post is not about that.  This morning before I leave for my training in the cities, I wanted to share with you about the bike ride I did this weekend and why I am supportive of this particular camp.

This is Connie.  I met Connie last year through my cousin and his wife.  Connie has had AIDS for 29 years.  She became positive for aids after she had an emergency hysterectomy in 1981.  When she went to the doctor she was floored with this diagnosis.  When they figured out the cause they had to go back through the blood donor batch.  While they could not narrow it down to a specific donor, they could narrow it down to the batch and the batch was destroyed, however 5 other people had received transfusions with this batch.  All became AIDS positive.  All 5 of the others have died through the years.

She was asked to leave her job.  She lost friends.  And the community that embraced her was the AIDS community.  They were the ones who understood.  Connie nearly died three times.  Yet she is still fighting the fight and for 16 years now has run a camp in central Minnesota for families living with HIV/AIDS.  Her camp is one week a year and during that time she offers a week of AIDS education to those who come, and she offers this for free so the cost is not a burden on anyone.

Connie fights her battle every day.  Taking 54 pills a day she tells me this past weekend that she thanks God for every morning she wakes up and is able to see the sun shine and walk across a room.  When Connie talks, she makes my heart light up, her passion for others is always present in everything she does.

The bike ride raises money so Connie can continue to offer the camp for free.  This year she said the camp will have 87 participants, anywhere from children with AIDS, adults with AIDS, to a grandmother whose grandson has AIDS and she wants to be more aware and knowledgeable on this subject.

Connie calls her biking team The Rhino’s “Born tough” is her motto and she really is an incredibly strong woman who has helped so many by her hope and her never give up spirit.  Connie has been through it all having AIDS for so long.  She has experienced what it was like to be a married woman, with children with AIDS in the early 80’s.  She has had a tough walk, but she keeps on going.

Meeting Connie has been such a blessing to me.  Spending time talking with the other riders fills my heart to overflowing.   What an amazing group of people!

Good early morning!  Are you awake yet or is my post up and running before you?  😀

I had to do this one early as I need to be at the starting line for the 150 mile bike ride for Camp Benedict by 6:30 am this morning.  I am tired, but excited – and the excitement will soon surpass the tired.  I am hopeful that the weather is kind to us, it looks like there is a chance of rain and possibly a thunderstorm today and a slight chance on Sunday as well.

The route is to go 75 miles today on the road designated for us, and then we will arrive at Camp Benedict.  Camp Benedict is a camp that is for children with aids and their families.  That is why I do this ride.  We stay over night at the camp and on Sunday we bike the 75 miles back to Brainerd.

So – that’s what I am doing for the next 36 hours or so….   I have a post coming up later today that I have set and then I will be back later on Sunday to go up with the Monday What Are You Reading post.  Pictures of the ride and details will be on the Tuesday post.

So I guess that is my weekend.  I have had my coffee, I am packed and ready to RIDE!  😀

(Oh and my week results for the game on diet week 1 are up here.)

Have an awesome weekend!!!!

A brief good morning as I run out the door!  I have a breakfast meeting with my friend Heidi in ooh, lets say 20 minutes.  Today I will spend much of the day prepping for the 150 mile bike ride that starts tomorrow.  My bike is currently in getting a little tune up (who knew you had to tune up bikes?), I need to pack an overnight bag since Saturday evening we will be at the camp, stay over night there and then bike back…..

Which means…. yes – unless there is internet available at the camp on Saturday evening, you will not hear any live conversation with me until Sunday evening.  I will have posts up throughout the weekend, including a book review in a couple of hours here and a meandering tomorrow before I leave as well as an author chat for Saturday.

Have a great day everyone – any fun weekend plans?