reading – Thoughts From The Passenger Seat

2025, life

As Summer Comes To An End…

Posted on September 10, 2025 by nancyb422

I walk out my back door almost every morning at about 6:15 to work out. I have taken so many pictures of these mornings. Why? I don’t know! I feel like I have to capture what I see to make it real. To remind me of what I’ve seen.

As I stood and looked around this morning, I wondered “did I enjoy this summer? Did I dig in? Or did I just go through the motions?”

I felt very confident that yes, I did embrace this summer. It was hotter than Heck, but I sat outside under the cover you see in the picture or on the covered side porch where there is always a nice breeze.

I would head out there after dinner and my husband would soon follow. We’d sit outside there for 2 hours, me reading and him watching you-tube videos.

I rode my bike a few times, less than I hoped, with my husband and friends but that is something there is still time for before the winter sets in.

We didn’t spend much time on our boat and that will be a conversation during the winter. Give it one more year? Give it up? The few times I was on it, I enjoyed it! Sometimes it’s the getting there…

And of course, there was our cruise to Alaska! That took up 10 days of the summer. The travel to and from felt like it took 10 days itself, but it was worth it.

For me, it’s not about being busy, or going to a lot of events. In the summer, it’s about being outside!

I’d been feeling down for the last couple of weeks, but the other day something shifted (full moon?), and now I just feel GRATEFUL and THANKFUL.

2024, hobbies, leisure time, life, thoughts, Writing

What I Can’t Get Rid Of

Posted on May 22, 2024 by nancyb422

Daily writing prompt

Do you have any collections?

I don’t have collections in the true sense of the word like Beanie Babies, salt and pepper shakers, or baseball cards.

My collections are:

My vast amount of family photos dating back to the late 1800s, and early 1900s on both parents’ sides of the family. Many formal portraits including families, first communions, and wedding parties. Informal photos are in photo albums and labeled with dates and locations!

My mother’s postcard collection. She had a big album with all the cards categorized by location. I hung onto it and finally took them out of the album. Someday I will write some stories about some of them.

My yarn, knitting needles, and knitting books. I have baskets of yarn and a slew of knitting books! I kept the yarns by weight in file cabinet drawers until I repurposed the file cabinet for my ancestry work. I was going to get rid of a lot of the yarn but never got around to it. I guess it’s time to put the yarn away again before any moths get to it!

Do books count? I have a lot of those and I keep buying more!

But if you’re thinking my house must be filled to the rafters, you’d be wrong! All of my “collections” are in a very large room over our garage that serves as our workout room in two-thirds of the room and my “she-space” in the remaining part. We’re lucky to have such a wonderful space!

2024, Books, family, life, Memories, Writing

Hearing Myself Talk

Posted on February 26, 2024February 26, 2024 by nancyb422

There’s an article today in the New York Times Wellness Section entitled “You’re Never Too Old for Story Time” that talks about why adults to read aloud to one another and how to get started. That brought back memories!

It must have been when Cody was still in elementary school, maybe middle school, that on a few occasions during long car rides I would read to him and my husband.

My two favorites were both by the same author, Richard Peck. A Long Way From Chicago and A Year Down Yonder. They were books I was introduced to while I was a library assistant in a K-5 school.

The first involves a brother and sister who go to their grandmother’s home one summer. It is described as short stories but they all blend right into one another.

The second, is about the sister who is living there on her own with her grandmother, her brother having joined the army.

I read them both on my own at first and, even now I’m tearing up thinking about the stories! I knew my husband and son would both enjoy them so on a trip I would bring along one of the books and read.

I clearly remember getting to a part and saying “ok, give me a minute to get weepy so I don’t do it while I’m reading!”. We usually managed to finish a book on the trip.

I still have those two books on my bookshelf. I think it’s time to read them again.