It’s August–the month of balmy summer days, outdoor exploration, firefly chasing and lemonade stands. It’s the time of college planning, hints of back to school shopping, and high school sports practice. It’s the time of road trips and international excursions, hiking trips and beach outings, camping weekends and peaceful getaways by the lake.

We first met our friend Lara Smith at Grand Rapids Comic Con, at Artists Alley. After falling into discussion about her playful, creative art, we KNEW we had to share her work with our snsvs. 

Cochise County, Arizona sits like a corner puzzle piece in the southeast part of the state. Year-round, visitors come to this region to enjoy a welcoming climate filled with an abundance of attractions that meet the needs of adventure seekers, birders, foodies, wine connoisseurs, as well as history lovers. While in the region, Ira and I took a smorgasbord approach and sampled different aspects of the county…and experienced how history comes alive in Cochise County, Arizona.

Italians serve up silky gelato. In India, expect kulfi for an icy dessert. Mexico’s popsicle-like paletas come in endless fruit flavors. For Japanese, ice cream mochi encase spoonfuls of ice cream in flavors like sweet mango, green tea, strawberry and more in a thick, rice shell. Americans make towering sundaes with multiple scoops of ice cream drenched in hot fudge before being sprinkled with chopped nuts and topped with a sticky-sweet maraschino cherry.

A conversation with a friend, a passing exchange with a stranger, a favorite show, an article in a magazine or a headline in a newspaper, a window display, a note in a journal, a sketch on a napkin, a photograph, a book, a song: these are all stories, all ways in which we organize, create, and remember our days, and our lives.

How we tell these stories, to ourselves and to each other, shapes and shares perspectives on the world. In shifting times, especially, it is important to think about such perspectives and ways we share and shape them.

Reimagined from the bones of an old fish cannery, the Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey, California, stands apart as one of the top aquariums in the world. The expansive 3.3-acre, 320,000-square-foot facility melds into the Monterey Bay taking advantage of its unique position as part of a National Marine Sanctuary.

Like many international travelers, I have landed in Frankfurt on my way to another destination and then departed a short time later. Until recently, I never considered exploring the city or any nearby destinations. After seeing history come alive in Frankfurt, we drove into the countryside to Rüdesheim am Rhein in the Upper Middle Rhine Valley.

Early summer: it's often a season of weddings, graduations, changes, endings, new beginnings. The shifting world situations which were at the beginnings of this series of articles continue to evolve and present their own challenges, too. With those things in mind, here are five pieces of music to spark and accompany reflection, contemplation, celebration, and hope.

As a kid (and as a teacher), I’d count the days till summer, the days between spring break and Memorial Day weekend and then the onslaught of everything that made that last month of school seem like it simultaneously went as quick as lightning and as slow as molasses. Today, my best friend’s daughter is in the final stretch of her sophomore year, and the middle child is quite literally counting the days till that grand bus ride that will take her to sleep away camp.