After a crazy June, July is shaping up to be oh-so pleasant. The kids are tucked away at camp. I’m humming along merrily on some work during my morning free time. My tomato plants and basil are sky high.

And everywhere I turn, I’m finding warm and fuzzy things to read.

Loved this post by Sam who is softy like myself about relationships and love. He mentions a fascinating study by Duke researchers who found that Americans are increasingly isolated from their community, but may be more attached to their spouses.

Tim Burke writes a lovely post about suburbia, which I will have to expand on next week. Tim writes, “My bookshelf and my birdhouses feel just as satisfying to me at this point as working on scholarship, the sense of ownership over our home and yard is a warming comfort, the relative sense of safety and room for raising a child is a load off my mind, and in that, I think I’ve become a Suburban Dad just like any other.”

And David Brooks writes about my second favorite city, Chicago. “Twenty-five years ago when I was in Chicago beginning my career, I used to go to the Billy Goat Tavern to drink like a reporter. The Billy Goat — half relic, half tourist trap — was under Michigan Avenue between The Tribune and The Sun-Times. It had laminated articles, half-forgotten bylines, and pictures of dead reporters tacked all over the walls. I could sit and imagine I was breathing the same air that had been inhaled by George Ade, Nelson Algren, Ben Hecht, Theodore Dreiser, Eugene Field and Mike Royko.”

Three good links about home and family and place.