Getting Back To Normal

After our fun Cedar Point trip, this past week was all about getting back into my normal routine. That meant baking away for farm market. One of the things I love most about farm market is my vendors who have become like an extended family to me. We laugh, we joke, we help each other, and we visit. And every Saturday, I take joy in each item that my vendors show up with whether it's a beautiful sunflower from Rosemary's garden or Dale's hot pepper butter.

Taking time to smell the roses, appreciating everything, working hard at all we do, or thinking of how we can enrich the lives of others is not always a concept that children grasp, but as a parent, they are lessons I want my daughter to one day practice wholeheartedly. And once in a while, I find some great books that subtly bring home these messages.

This week, one of those books was In a Village by the Sea by Muon Van. It is an extremely simple story told with very few words, but it conveys the importance of family. It starts with a small house in a fishing village. It describes the house. It tells who is in the house. It tells who occupants are wishing was with them. Finally, it comes beautifully full circle when it shows the fisherman wishing he was home with the family who was missing him. 

The second book I read was Moustronaut by Astronaut Mark Kelly. It is the story of a small mouse who worked hard in preparation for a space voyage despite the opinion of his fellow mice that he was too small to be chosen. Delighted beyond words when he is chosen, Mouse searches diligently to find a way to be useful to the crew. Eventually he finds his purpose and it brings him great joy. I imagine he felt the same joy I feel from managing the market and finding ways to be useful to my vendors.

Well, that about wraps it up for this week. Join me next week for another exciting episode, same crazy time, same crazy channel. And feel free to drop by my personal website, Fun With Aileen, any day of the week for even more on reading, writing, my very own early grade chapter book, Fern Valley, the sequel, Return To Fern Valley, the soon to be released Cooking In Fern Valley (fall 2015) and my very first picture book, Quack and Daisy! I'm also on twitter @AileenWStewart if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days.