Chirped by Tina and Cass
Another month, a new season… and our latest list of places, projects, pups and pleasures that pumped us up!
Favorite Book
Our book selection this month is The Rent Collector, by Cameron Wright. The story takes place in a community that lives in (and scrapes a living from) the refuse of a Cambodian waste dump. It describes the unexpected relationship that unfolds between an uneducated young mother and the dreaded woman known as the “rent collector”. The novel itself is heartwarming and inspiring, but the larger historical backdrop was also riveting. Many of the characters are loosely based on real people that the author’s son met while filming a documentary about life in this municipal waste dump. We also learned horrifying details about the Khmer Rouge’s reign of terror in Cambodia. It’s something of a perfect trifecta when a book combines vivid world-building, great character development, and enough historical fact to make it educational as well as enjoyable! Two thumbs up!
Favorite Local Restaurant
With the chicks back at college, we’ve been rediscovering all the empty nesting habits we’d set aside for the summer. When it comes to meals, that means extremely light fare most weeknights, with the occasional date night or dinner out with friends thrown in on Continue reading
Like it or not, an empty nest tends to leave us with extra time on our hands. No more school sports, plays, or club competitions to coach, costume, or cheer on, no PTA committees to join or school board meetings to attend. All the chauffeuring and homework help are things of the past. Mealtime has a tendency to get abbreviated without a full complement of nestlings to cook for and interrogate about their day… You may still be wondering how to use that new-found downtime? 
Ah, free time… It can be a blessing – or a curse. That dreaded weekly meeting that got cancelled on an already over-scheduled day? Woohoo! Jackpot! But that hour frittered away perusing clickbait about Spite Houses and 50 Things to Throw Away Right Now? Mostly guilt and self-loathing because you should have been working on your blog post – er, wait, maybe that’s just me… The point is, if you find yourself with more free time than you actually feel good about, no matter what life or schedule change it might have hatched from, find something useful and satisfying to do with it. That can make all the difference in how you feel about