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Dear Readers,
They call August the dog days, which has somewhat of a negative connotation, but being a dog person I choose to take a different view. August has always been one of my favorite months. Even if I’m hard at work, those lazy days of summer evoke a feeling of perpetual vacation—perhaps the lingering effects of attending school for so many years when those last few weeks of summer represented a time to pack in all the fun and relaxation before classes began again in September. There’s nothing better than living on Long Island in the summer to sustain that leisurly mode, with the shore, the outdoor dining, the concerts, the fairs and festivals all beckoning us to get out there and have a good time. Even when there’s no time to take a real vacation someplace else, there’s plenty to do right here in our own community during the evenings, on the weekends,
or even at lunchtime to escape for just a little while. (Turn to our calendar of events on page 21 for a few great ideas.)
It’s so important to take a break and allow our minds and bodies to refresh and recharge—even if it’s just for a few minutes each day. In “Take a Break” (page 14), Dale Weinert shares some terrific ideas for taking mini-breaks that will help restore your health and maintain your wellbeing, wherever you happen to be—no reservations required! She calls them “inner vacations,” and from personal experience I can tell you they really do work like a charm, so I encourage you to give them a try. (I don’t know about you, but I can use all the stress relief I can get, and it doesn’t get any simpler than this.)
Another way to reduce stress and create harmony in your life is to consider incorporating Feng Shui principles into your living and working spaces. Expert Maureen Calamia explores how Feng Shui goes even further than green design to create a healthy environment in “Feng Shui: Beyond Sustainable” (page 16). It’s about more than simply removing toxins and chemicals, taking it one step further by creating good energy flow for optimal balance that results in a better living experience.
There are so many interesting things we can do to help improve our lives, our communities, and our earth, and we explore quite a few in this issue, including choosing to eat “live” versus “dead” foods (see Body & Soul, page 11), switching from a gasoline-powered vehicle to a human-powered one (Green Machines, page 22), and helping train indigent people for greencollar
jobs (Good Company, page 8). That’s what makes editing canvas so much fun—learning about all these ways we can make a difference, and sharing this information with friends and neighbors here on Long Island through the pages of this magazine, on our Website, canvasli.com, and at the many events we sponsor. Truth be told, while it’s work for me, it’s also like taking little mini-vacations when I edit these stories or attend one of the events, since there’s so much to glean from each and every one of them. We hope you find them inspiring and thought-provoking as well.
Diana
Read Diana Murphy’s blog at canvasli.com/blog. Have any comments, suggestions, ideas, favorite artists, musicians, galleries, restaurants, events, or other areas of interest on Long Island you’d like to share? Send us an email at editor@canvasli.com
SUMMER DAZE
What are your favorite ways to spend the lazy days of summer on Long Island? We’d love to hear about them. Email us at editor@canvasli.com
