BACK TO BASICS | by KAVITA VARMA-WHITE

WORRIED ABOUT SUMMER BRAIN DRAIN (the age-old idea that if your kids don’t keep their minds active, they’ll forget what they learned in the previous school year)?

There’s an easy (and fun) way to avoid it: Play games with your kids! Here’s how to make it happen:

Make sure your game closet is updated with both classic games and newer ones. This is a great job for the kids: Assign each a couple of game boxes and task them with making sure it has all the pieces and is neatly organized. (There is nothing more annoying than opening Monopoly and seeing the money all mixed up!)

Establish one night of the week as family game night. Games are more fun to play with more people. Invite your neighbors or the grandparents to join in the fun.

Choose games that are fun and challenging for all ages. Depending on the ages of your kids, games will have different challenges, but you can make adjustments so it works for everyone.

Here are some of the games our family likes to play and the educational benefit they provide:

• Scrabble: Obviously this is great for spelling and vocabulary skills. If you are playing with younger kids, make a rule that everyone can use only three-letter words. (Have an iPhone? Download Scrabble for word fun wherever you are.) A great variation of Scrabble is the hugely-popular Bananagrams.
• Yahtzee: Everyone loves to roll the dice, and what better way to keep those math skills alive?
• Monopoly: Make sure everyone gets a turn at being banker, and everyone reads his or her own cards. Math and reading, check!
• Apples to Apples: This is our new family fave, and it’s a great way to work on vocabulary.

CONNECTIONS | by CELESTE TELL

SERIOUS HEALTH EVENTS: THE TRUTH IS, NONE OF US wants to think about what we would do if faced with a serious health event for ourselves or a loved one. And while great medical care is first and foremost on everyone’s minds, community and connections to friends and family can have a greater impact on health than our society likes to admit.

Enter CaringBridge, a 24/7 online experience — calling it a website doesn’t quite get it — that allows friends and family to come together to support patients and caregivers during a challenging time. I learned about CaringBridge several years ago when my son’s friend was very sick, with repeated hospitalizations.

The child’s mom started a CaringBridge site. Within days, everyone on her email list received an invitation to join the site. Within a week, family and friends from across the country — and the world — were posting messages, wishes, memories, photos and artwork. Almost instantly a loving community was created that enveloped the family. I had never seen or witnessed anything like it. It was social media at its best, supporting those who need it most.

Since then, whenever I hear of someone having a serious illness or surgery, I always send a link. CaringBridge now also has an iPhone app and you can check out their FaceBook page.

PASSIONS | by JEAN GALTON

I DON’T REMEMBER WHEN I STARTED MAKING CANTALOUPE GELATO. I must have gone on a melon-buying spree one summer and then realized we couldn’t eat them all fast enough. So I made melon gelato. Similar to sorbet but more intensely flavored, this is one of my favorite ends to a summer meal.

Gelato di Melone
Serves 4

1 cup superfine granulated sugar
1/2 cup water
1 cantaloupe (about 3 pounds)
2 tablespoons lime juice
Large pinch salt

In a small heavy saucepan, heat sugar and water to make a syrup, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Cool. Cut rind from melon and discard seeds. Cut melon into chunks and in a food processor purée enough to measure 2 cups. Transfer purée to a bowl and stir in syrup, lime juice and salt. Chill melon mixture until cold and up to 1 day.

Freeze in an ice-cream maker. Serve gelato immediately or transfer to an airtight container and put in freezer to harden no more than 3 hours.

DESIGN | by JANNA LUFKIN

DO YOU WISH YOU HAD A LITTLE MORE SPACE in your home? Not much really, just a quiet place to sit and read, perhaps a corner to pay bills and organize your household papers. That’s not asking much, is it?

Recently I found myself asking these same questions. In my case, I dream about a spot to sew: a place to be creative, have my bits and pieces of fabrics around me, my sewing notions organized, a table my sewing machine could sit on instead of always having to be put away, a sunny window with beautiful natural light. Dream on … right?

No. Don’t dream, re-imagine.

Do you have rooms that sit unused for months? Dining rooms that see little action except during the holidays, a guest room that sits quietly awaiting occasional visitors? A living room that sees little living or a porch that catches nothing more than kicked off shoes and coats?

With a little creativity and planning, some savvy organizing and a bit of vision, you CAN carve out your little bit of heaven.

Here’s my secret:  Make a room inside of a room.

For example, an unorganized or underutilized closet makes a great office. I’ve run my business out of a closet for the past 18 years (OK, I did have a window installed) — an easy fix for such a valuable space.

A dining room makes a great library, and vice-versa! Imagine candlelit dinners where bookcases live next to china cabinets and lamps quietly illuminate the space instead of an overhead chandelier. A couple of upholstered chairs pulled up to the ends of a table make it cozy for dining and reading.

As for my sewing spot? I have a certain college freshman who just may spend the summer away from home — bingo!

PASSIONS | by MOLLY MARTIN

PESTO AND PASTA go together like two Ps in a pod, as we all know. But if your garden yields a banner crop of basil this summer, consider these alternate uses for pesto that spread the goodness around:

SOURCE: iSTOCKPHOTO.COM

• Fish topping: Simply brush a light coating of pesto on fish fillets or steaks, and broil. Especially good on halibut.
• Sandwich spread: Mix some pesto into mayo or yogurt to add zest to sandwiches, for example with leftover chicken.
• Pizza topping: Replace the tomato sauce with pesto, or get the best of both worlds by first lightly coating the rolled-out dough with pesto, then ladling on the tomato sauce and the rest of the toppings.
• Vegetable topper: Brush pesto on sliced veggies before grilling. Or enliven corn on the cob by brushing on pesto instead of butter.
• Salad dressing: Add olive oil, vinegar and pepper to turn pesto into a lively vinaigrette for many greens.

And when you’re ready to hit the pasta again, indulge in the Ligurian pesto extravaganza made with the trofiette, whose twists and pinched ends carry the perfect amount of pesto into each bite.

This has become one of our most popular postings and Father’s Day seems like a good time to post once again. A documentary on Sherry’s father will be released this fall.

STORYTELLING | by SHERRY STRIPLING

WHEN MY FIDDLE-PLAYING FATHER DIED LAST SPRING, the universal response from friends was regret over what they hadn’t said or done.

These friends, mostly younger musicians, treated him like gold ― taking him to concerts, making over his tunes, dancing with him. Regrets were the last emotion my father would have wanted.

© SHERRY STRIPLING

“Why didn’t I visit him that last day at the hospital?” “Why didn’t I bake that pecan pie that I promised?” “I should have learned more of his tunes.”

So I created a “No Regrets box” for his memorial celebration. We invited people to write down anything left unsaid, anything left undone on a piece of paper, put it in the box ― and then consider it done when my sister and I burned the notes in a beach fire near the old family home.

The response was astounding. People lined up in front of the regrets box. We got urgent calls the next day:  “I remembered another one. Is it too late to add it?”

Two months later, my sister and I read the notes and burned them one by one, watching the ashes fall into burning coals.

“I regret I didn’t dance with Lee more.” “I regret not staining your fiddle again as you had asked.” “I wish I had been as open and friendly and grateful as you, Lee.” “I regret not spending more time studying what a kind man you were, Lee, and learning to be one more myself.”

We cried with almost every note. Afterwards, we felt refreshed, but also determined.

It was clear people understood our father as he was: “A sweet, gentle soul.” But the notes also reminded us to waste no time in telling people we love them. Burning regrets helps, but it’s better to cut them off at the pass.

CONNECTIONS | by KAVITA VARMA-WHITE

TRAVELING ON AN AIRPLANE WITH YOUNG KIDS (especially from infant to age 6) can be a tough predicament. You are at the mercy of airport crowds, long security lines and plane delays. You are at the mercy of the mood of your child and the patience of your fellow passengers. And don’t feel too bad when they shoot you mean glares if your child is crying. That is a parenting rite of passage.

SOURCE: iSTOCKPHOTO.COM

That said, here are five things to bring in your carry-on bag (aka Bag of Tricks) to make every plane journey more comfortable for your kids (which, in turn, means more comfort for you). We know some airlines are now charging for carry-ons, but it’s worth every penny when you consider all the distractions you can load in it.

A bottle of water. This sounds like a no-brainer, but with the security restrictions on liquids, it’s hard to do (especially when you want to avoid buying expensive bottled water in the terminal). Bring an empty water bottle from home and fill it up at a water fountain. It’s not fun to wait for the flight attendants to bring their out their cart.

Snacks. Bring more than you think you’ll need. Prepare in individual snack bags so they are easy to access and you can take home and reuse.

A pillow case. Bring your own case (spritzed with lavender water) and fill with your jacket or sweater to make a cozy pillow for napping.

A new toy. Pack a reasonable stash of small toys and books, and make there’s something new. Unveil it when your child has lost interest in everything else.

An iPod or portable DVD player. Doesn’t matter if you don’t normally allow much screen time — now is the time break some rules.

WELLNESS | by POSY GERING

ONE OF THE REASONS PEOPLE LOVE TO TRAVEL is how they experience themselves when  in  new places. They talk to random people. They explore their surroundings, appreciating colors, shapes and textures of things. They’re not outraged by inconvenience. The time and process of getting from Point A to Point B is as important as the destination. And they turn up the volume on their curiosity.

Why not give yourself a foreign vacation without leaving home? Instead of following your usual routines, do them they way you would if on a vacation. Perhaps you’ll build in the time to drink your coffee on the patio. Or wander in your neighborhood and allow yourself to talk to some strangers. Perhaps you’ll just slow down enough to get a sense of the rhythm of a day in your village. You could even send someone a postcard.

Buon viaggio!

DESIGN | by DEBRA PRINZING

SHARON STONE WASN’T THE FIRST Hollywood star to wear a man’s white dress shirt and look glamorous, but perhaps she’s the most recent. Katharine Hepburn and Lauren Bacall appropriated the iconic style decades ago, knotting the shirttails at the waist, rolling up the sleeves and wearing “his” shirt with tailored slacks or a waist-enhancing skirt.

SOURCE: iSTOCKPHOTO.COM

I love wearing my husband’s shirts. Crisp and clean, the 100-percent-cotton shirting feels cool and pleasant against my arms and shoulders. Basic white looks classic; Oxford stripes are preppy and playful; chambray exudes weekend casual. Add pearls and you’re ready for a night on the town.

The men’s dress shirt — for her — will never go out of style.

Fashion designers often reinterpret the dress shirt to fit a woman’s silhouette. Recently, I discovered the work of Seattle designer Farinaz Taghavi. Her fascination with the dress shirt, cut for the female body, is expressed in luxurious fabrics and colors, interpreted with self-tie belts, sexy waistlines and wider collars and cuffs. Yet that tailored, classic element is still present in Farinaz’s designs.

On her website she explains: Women “can keep the sleeves open, pull them up, put their collar down or style (the shirt) differently throughout the day. I want women to make their own statements — my shirt is meant to support them, not dominate them.”

It’s brilliant to see how Farinaz has tapped into women’s love for tailored shirts, either the original guy’s button-down or the feminized gal’s shirt. We wear them to make a personal statement rather than follow a prescribed fashion trend-of-the-moment.

And if we manage to add a touch of old Hollywood glamour while doing so, it’s even better.

TRENDSPOTTING | by MOLLY MARTIN

FUNCTIONAL TRAINING still seems to be driving a lot of new equipment in the fitness world, and for good reasons:

• 

  SOURCE: VALSLIDE.COM

  Many folks find that integrating exercises that strengthen core abdominal and back muscles can help recovery from old injuries and prevention of new ones.

• Movements that mimic the constant fluctuation between stability and instability of everyday activities feel more natural than isolating muscle groups on complicated machines.
• Plus, they’re often simply more fun.

A few recent ones that caught my eye from FIBO 2010, the world’s largest health and fitness event, held this spring in Germany:

• TRX Suspension Training uses a portable system of straps and grips for “leveraged bodyweight exercise” — often with one or both arms or legs off the ground.
• The Val Slide uses simple foot-sized pads for sliding exercises to strengthen the core as well as the lower and upper body.
• The TOGU Jumper in effect downsizes the BOSU to expand the possibilities on the unstable surface.
• Ropes Gone Wild proves that double-dutch rope-turners were getting a pretty good workout along with the jumpers.

Often, though, I’d like to forego the equipment altogether. A few years ago, I longed to do capoeira. Now (if it weren’t for the fear of likely sprains, breaks and months inactivity), I dream of join up with the kids doing parkour.