The Date:  September 5, 2017

The Lake:  Lake Wingra, Madison, WI

The Companion:  Lola

The Distance:  1.15 miles

The Best Part: As we walked through the tree-lined Edgewood Drive, we can catch glimpses of the lake through the sunrise dappled woods.  Of course, there were lots of smells that kept Lola busy as well.










The Shirt:  From the 2012 Safe Harbor run/walk that happens each Labor Day.  Lola and I actually saw them setting up yesterday when we were on our walk.  Safe Harbor Child Advocacy Center advocates for children who are victims of abuse or neglect or witnesses of crimes by coordinating multi-disciplinary investigations, conducting forensic interviews in a child-friendly environment, and more.  Children who have experienced complex trauma often have difficulty identifying, expressing, and managing emotions, and may have limited language for feeling states. Through its work, Safe Harbor helps uncover what happened and lessen long-term impact.

The Date:  September 4, 2017

The Lake:  Lake Wingra, Madison, WI

The Distance: 1.4 miles

The Companion: Lola

















The Best Parts:  We got to see the lake on what is sure to be a busy Labor Day during the still quiet morning.  In the park, quite a few trees had green plastic ribbon tied around them.  Upon closer inspection, we found that they were treated for Emerald Ash Borer.  In addition to that green ribbon, however, were cute notes from kids - most of them saying thank you.  This one took a bilingual approach.

The Shirt:  This is from the 2009 Literacy Network Run/Walk.  The Literacy Network is a non-profit in Madison that focuses on adult literacy, whether that is basic English, financial, or computer literacy.  Parental literacy has a huge impact children's literacy.  It has been said that illiteracy is hereditary.

• Parental involvement in their child's reading has been found to be the most important determinant of language and emergent literacy (Bus, van Ijzendoorn & Pellegrini, 1995),.
• Parental involvement in their child's literary practices is a more powerful force than other family background variables, such as social class, family size and level of parental education (Flouri and Buchanan, 2004).