Each week (give or take one or two here and there) I share three things I like – It could be a book, a movie, a podcast, an album, a photo, an article, a restaurant, a food item, a beverage, or anything else I simply enjoy and think you might too. You can find a whole pile of things, especially books, I like and recommend HERE.
1. Rocking Camp Chair
There comes a point in middle aged life where a corner of one’s garage is overtaken by folding camp chairs in dry rotting carrier bags. They are all functional and they are all uncomfortable. They have all the negative properties of a hammock, while lacking its benefits, hung on a rickety aluminum frame designed for people slightly taller or shorter or wider or skinnier than you, but not designed for you. After dragging these chairs to innumerable bonfires and kids’ soccer games and outdoor music concerts I’d had enough. My wife and I decided to invest in these rocking camp chairs. It was like going from the nose bleeds to the sideline–same game but a wildly different experience. They fit, they rock, they don’t tip, they are just as portable. Make no mistake, we still have a pile of old, uncomfortable chairs. But those are now reserved for teenagers.
2. Hot Toddy
Tis the season for stuffy noses, raw throats, raspy voices, and general nasal crud. Which is a bummer. But it also means it is the season for the most delicious cold medicine: the hot toddy. Lemon, honey, and bourbon (or rye, if you prefer) combine with hot water to make a remedy that is practically perfect in every way. It soothes the throat, clears the sinuses, and massages the mind. It even offers a delightful aroma to the room. The recipe is just your baseline for this magnificent concoction; feel free to modify and doctor to your taste buds’ delight. I’m not going to say I enjoy getting a cold, but I can’t deny that I enjoy the side-benefits of one either.
3. The Lost Tools of Learning by Dorothy Sayers
This little book (30ish pages) was originally given as a speech to a symposium of educators. (If that doesn’t grip your imagination, I don’t know what will.) Parts of it are somewhat technical as Sayers expounds a model for education to teach children how to learn. But that premise–teaching kids how to learn–is brilliant and Sayers expounds upon it brilliantly. She is one of the wittiest and most incisive writers I have ever read. She puts her finger directly on cultural shortcomings that stem from unthinking people. As is often the case for such prescient authors, she writes about matters in her day that are equally as relevant and necessary today. This is a wonderful, sharp little book that anyone would benefit from reading.
