The beginning of June always has me dreaming of my summer camp days.  How I long to return to those carefree and blissful days.  If you need a little time with your head in the clouds, check out my favorite links from around the web this week…

• "Word Problems for Designing Your Children's Perfect Camp Schedule."
  

• This desk lamp is one sexy beast.
  

• From astute reader Cindy who wrote: "Your link to the old photo of Paris reminded me of this video. I love watching it, remembering that it was filmed just a couple of years after the war, and shows the Paris of Hemingway and Fitzgerald."
  

• My writing friend Melissa on how to help your young adult children through tough times.
  

• "The 22 Best National Parks for Escaping Crowds"
  

• Dinosaur Designs jewelry would be so pretty with summer whites.
  

• New work from British artist Juno Calypso who used the luxury underground bunker of Avon cosmetics founder Gerry Anderson as the muse in "What To Do with a Million Years."
  

• The numbers are compelling in this essay on us humans and our impact on Mother Earth. A fascinating read.
  

• Ahhh! Before Emma Stone and Molly Ringwald, there was Shirley Maclaine.
  

• "Hello, Dos Equis? We just found her: the most interesting woman in the world!"
  

• A quickie chuckle for you here and here.
  

• Antiques of the Week: This collection is awesome, especially the super fun straws!

Plus, some great reader comments on The Child Bride of Buckley Hills and childhood summer fun...

Says Kristen F.: "God, you make me wet my pants!!  So hilarious and so true...we would put our swimsuits on in the morning, climb on our bikes (without helmets and still alive!) and come home for dinner, sun burned (no sun screen!), dirty, tired and hungry with a day full of fun...which our parents had no idea where we were!  The good old days..."

Says Kerri T.: "So fun! This was definitely back in the day when we took off on foot or bikes, not sure who we'd run in to or where we would go.  But we'd be gone for hours: playing tag, touch football, eating daffodil stems (yeah, we did that one day for some reason), walking through creek beds pretending we were Indians, and any other dumb stuff.  We were explorers and inventors; and our parents had no idea where we were, nor did they seem to care."

Says Dorothy K.: "That scalding hot coffee, I just snorted while reading this is, so far, the best part of my morning.  What a time to be a kid!  We had "the vacant lot."  So many treasures, including half empty cans of lead based paint, to be used for artistic endeavors in the back yard. The rules were you had to tell our parents when we were going and where-ish, listen for the whistle to know when to come home for dinner and at night, come in when they streetlights came on.  Very sweet!"

Says Ann H.: "I am immediately forwarding to my son, whom I kept way too safe in his early childhood. In his teen years he has made up for lost time, having recently attached a gas motor to his bicycle, walking on slacklines strung 10 or more feet in the air, and the like."

Says Chris M.: "And now I am remembering Mrs. Boyes, who had kept all her prom dresses. She was a babe and had about seven of them, all pastel and netting and strapless but with built-in breasts: perfect for us before we grew our own. I guess she didn't have very big ones herself but of course we would not have noticed. We only noticed the women who had bosoms, those daunting prows with crumb-catching cleavage..."

Says Angie C.: "For us, the character who entered every play was not the bride, but the gypsy. The origin of the gypsy outfit in my bin of dress ups remains a mystery, but oh, how I loved to twirl the skirt, all the bracelets jangling from my arms. When I was a bit older, my patient grandmother tried multiple times to make me a believable version of Sandy's outfit in the last scene of Grease. She didn't have any spandex, I guess. She never could get the pants tight enough. Also, I love the idea of the symbol of the tragedy of a failed marriage turning into a symbol of childhood imagination. Isn't that what childhood is--remaining oblivious to or even rebellious against adult reality, and consequences be damned, just wanting to play." 

Says Kris P.: "So funny Mithra! Growing up in the 70's was so much fun, and our parents never knew where we were half the time. We rode our bikes or walked everywhere in those days and made up games to play that didn't cost a dime. My brother and I once found a stash of sporting equipment hidden under the leaves we were jumping into at Sunset Park in Highland Park. Of course we brought it all home, but my parents made us return it all to the Highland Park Park District from where the equipment apparently had been stolen. Those were the days!"

Says Alana M.: "I grew up in the 50's and 60's with little daytime supervision during the day - in fact we were expected to disappear and no one cared what we were up to. In those days, divorce was shameful and to be hidden, so I actually understand some of the adult attitudes you were exposed to (I think they were still around a bit whenyou were growing up). I loved the story of the recycled gown. I wonder if anyone ever took the wedding album or if it is in a landfill somewhere."

Says Ellen H.: "Ah the 70's, I was robbing the house on the corner, that had been hit by a tornado, of it's lumber and built a fort in the woods behind our house. I was five and never bored. After eleven children and many forts built, my mother put a bucket with a bar of soap at the back door for children who were foolish enough to step on a nail. It's a miracle we didn't all come down with tetanus. I also had a minibike my neighbor made using two bicycle frames and a lawnmower engine. I was hell on wheels!"

Photo by CMDR Shane via Unsplash