picture source Hello September! When did that happen?!!!! I know many of you have started school, but here in NJ the festivities don't begin until later this week. I start on the 4th and my friends report for their first day of school on the 6th. Posting has been light as I've been juicing every bit of fun I can out of these last two weeks. In fact, today I did the .NJ Color Run. Did anyone else from Jersey do this today? It was soooooo much fun! I was a mess at the end. If you ever do it, be prepared to be messy! I don't ever post pics of myself as I do this blog somewhat anonymously, but here is a picture of the back of my head after the run. Thank goodness it all washed out. You can't begin to imagine what the rest of me looked like. I can't wait to do it again next year! In the spirit of fun, this Labor Day weekend before school starts is going to be filled with fun things. That includes The Color Run, the beach, friends, family, barbecues, and lots of frozen watermelon margaritas! But, not a lot of posting on the blog. I plan to get back in full swing once I'm back to school. There's always plenty to post about then. In the meantime, I will leave you with this little nugget. Remember the post I did a while back about one of my favorite books by Patty Lovell, Stand Tall Molly Lou Melon? It is a great book for the beginning of the school year. It's great to read as an example of how everyone is special in their own way. If you click on the link, it will take you to the post I wrote and explain more about the book and how I use it. The good news is that there is finally a new Molly Lou Melon book coming out! It's called Have Fun Molly Lou Melon! The book is due out on October 25, 2012, so I haven't read it yet. Here is the blurb from the Amazon site: The long-awaited return of an irresistible bookseller favorite! Molly Lou Melon's new neighbor, Gertie, has all the latest toys, a cell phone and the biggest TV ever. But even after playing with all of them, she's still "bored, bored, BORED!" Luckily for Gertie, Molly Lou Melon has something even better: her grandma taught her how to make her own fun! With her elaborate homemade toys and imaginative backyard games, Molly Lou shows Gertie a whole new way to play. This award-winning author-illustrator pair celebrates a trend that readers of all ages can get behind--good ol' fashioned imagination! Just from the blurb, I'm thinking this book would be good for kicking off a creative writing piece. "What homemade toy or backyard game can you invent?" It could be used to kick off an expository piece for a how-to or description. Your friends could explain their invented game or toy. I especially like the theme of this book. The idea that you don't need to have all the latest and greatest things out there to have fun is something all kids need to learn! Even if you don't do a blessed thing other than use it as a fun read aloud, you will love it. The illustrations are fantastic and you get to revisit Molly and her teeny, tiny grandmother. As I wrote, I will be back to regular posting once the school year starts. Until then. . . Enjoy Labor Day Weekend! picture source If you want to know a bit about the history of Labor Day, CLICK HERE. It's not just about beach and barbecue!

Right now, when the warm sunshine during the day feels good on my shoulders is one of my favorite times to be outside. Perhaps it's because the sun is setting earlier and earlier each day and I feel like I have to savor every moment outdoors. One family favorite game to play outside while hiking is called the NAME FIVE THINGS game. I've included the rules of the game at the end of this post.

Catch up on Khoollect with our Editor-in-Chief's September letter from the editor.

The Piano (1993) Directed by Jane Campion. Starring: Holly Hunter, Harvey Keitel, Sam Neill, Anna Paquin Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival It is the mid-nineteenth century. Ada is a mute who has a young daughter, Flora. In an arranged marriage she leaves her native Scotland accompanied by her daughter and her beloved piano. Life in the rugged forests of New Zealand's South Island is not all she may have imagined and nor is her relationship with her new husband Stewart. She suffers torment and loss when Stewart sells her piano to a neighbour, George. Ada learns from George that she may earn back her piano by giving him piano lessons, but only with certain other conditions attached. At first Ada despises George but slowly their relationship is transformed and this propels them into a dire situation. aka: France:La leçon de piano Italy: Lezioni di piano Australia: The piano lesson

Schon ist er wieder rum der Sommer…ähm August! Leider lies der Sommer sich ja diesen Monat kaum sehen! (Komisches Wetter dieses Jahr, finde...

Arthur Koestler, who lived one of the great adventuring lives of the 20th century, has in death left us one last surprise. When, on March 1, 1983, the 77-year-old Hungarian-born writer entered into a suicide pact with his much younger wife, Cynthia, months after discovering he had leukemia, it was thought—including by Koestler himself—that the full original German manuscript of his finest novel, Darkness at Noon, was lost. Recalling the extraordinary circumstances under which the book was completed, in Paris in 1940—arrests, searches, seizures, and internment in French concentration camps—Koestler, in the second volume of his autobiography, Invisible Writing, recalls, “In the end, I was again arrested and the ...

In this week’s issue, a 30-page special tribute to The Queen one year on. Plus an exclusive as TV star Nina Wadia renews her wedding vows and George and Amal Clooney enjoy a romantic night in Venice