Any questions about why we love summer in Wisconsin?

For More Wordless Wednesday, please go here or here.

I discovered this peculiar stuff on our family’s whiteboard a few weeks ago. I figured we’d either been visited by aliens, or Darla was being creative.

It turns out she’d developed a code with funky symbols replacing letters. It was pretty cool. So we went with that and read the decoder wheel section of Kris Bordessa’s awesome book, Great Colonial America Projects You Can Build Yourself. (Watch for my giveaway for this book in the next week!)

She made this out of a Pringles can.

It’s a model of the decoder wheel American spies used to help win the American Revolution.

Summer homeschool is cool.

Other torch-passers:
Fingerprints on my Window – Why me, why not?
Believer in Balance – Laundry Help

What does passing the torch mean to you? Is it teaching? Passing traditions? Or good news about youth? Join us each week for Pass the Torch Tuesday.Former PTT posts.

My dog loves it at the cabin. It’s like she reclaims her youth during these summer months, chasing squirrels and exploring our wooded shoreline. But her greatest joy lives behind the boulders in our landscaping.

A family of chipmunks resides there every year, and bounces playfully from rock to rock, scurrying into the crevices whenever danger approaches. Their beckoning “chip, chip, chip” is like a homing device for my 13-year-old rat terrier, who perks up from her slumber on the couch as soon as she hears it.

She races to the windows – Gargantuan five-foot tall things that sit just a foot off the ground. She has a perfect vantage point from there, to witness all the chipping and hopping and scurrying. When she sees this, the growling stops and the barking ensues – surely waking up everyone on the lake. Sound carries over water.

She actually got one once – poor thing. She shook it mercilessly and then stood there barking like, “OhmygoshcanyoubelievewhatIjustdid?”

She doesn’t catch them anymore, but she does give them a heart-racing run for their money. They mostly just tease her now, and have probably fashioned earplugs to protect themselves from her shrill and rhythmic bark.

And after 30 minutes of chasing, scratching at the rocks, and stretching her nose into the crevices as far as she can, she’ll give up and return to the comfort of her couch, resting up for the next time the chipmunks chip.

Though I shrivel in embarrassment as I think of the numerous neighbors that are rudely awakened by this morning exercise, I have to smile as I think of the pure joy my geriatric pet feels when she hunts for chipmunks.

Which means her joy becomes mine.

Each weekend I share moments that help me journey toward occasional “presence” — explained in A New Earth — to enjoy life and appreciate small gifts. This post is also a part of Fussy’s Happiness Project every Thursday.

We all got a lesson in respect when we visited Arlington cemetery on Memorial Day weekend. Although I believe it’s always a very serious place, it’s perhaps even more somber on days specifically designed to honor soldiers who’ve given their lives to keep us free. We walked among dozens of other people as we made our way to the Tomb of the Unknown Solder. But you could hear even the soft shuffle of our steps because it was so silent.

The normal changing of the guards was altered on this day, to bring forward wreaths that had been given to honor the fallen veterans. We witnessed a constant procession of these wreaths, in awe of the precision practiced by the soldiers. What an honor to be one of those selected to guard this memorial.

Washington DC series:
View from Washington Monument
Mount Vernon
National Archives – Declaration of Independence
Sculpture Gardens
Arlington Cemetery – Unknown Soldier
Washington DC Subway – Metro

A few weeks ago, we visited Fort Folle Avoine in northern Wisconsin. It’s the site of an old fur trading camp from the 1800’s.

The weekend we went, interpreters of all ages showed a living history of the time, including this historical sport of lacrosse.

It was a very cool experience – I promise more photos to come!

For More Wordless Wednesday, please go here or here.