Book:  You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me by Sherman Alexie.  

Sherman Alexie is a Native American that grew up on a reservation in the Pacific Northwest.  This book was his memoir about his complicated relationship with his mother.  This book contains deeply moving poetry and insightful stories into how this man healed from the death of his mother.  This book inspired me to write poetry to heal from the death of my father and helped me to better understand the lived experience of families growing up on reservations in America.  The best part of the book was that he would retell stories he had written in previous books but he would tell the true accounts of what happened not the fictionalized versions he had made up.  

Saturday Plans: Urban Bike Adventure with my husband and kids.

I love it when we put the bikes on our van and park in Minneapolis so that we can ride on the Midtown Greenway, around Bde Maka Ska, Lake of the Isles, and stop at our favorite bakery, Isles Bun and Coffee.   The views around the lakes are spectacular and the puppy dog tails at Isles Bun are only eclipsed by my new favorite the fruit-topped coffee cake.  Our children enjoy this ride because it’s not too hilly but has some challenge to it, and the enormous cinnamon rolls at Isle Bun can even satisfy my teenage sons’ ferocious appetites.