As I write this, I’m heading out on vacation to scenic New Orleans tomorrow. It’s my family’s spring break and the time away is much-needed. Not, I hasten to add, a needed break from Free Parking, just from, you know, life.

I know I’ve talked about rest here before, but it bears repeating. Humans are good at work, we even like work—some of it anyway—but our bodies need rest, our brains and hearts and souls need rest. They say you can’t pour from an empty cup—it’s a cliche for a reason, because it’s true. I used to ask my students on campus how they were pouring themselves out and what was refilling them. I pour myself out at both of my jobs and I love it—I do feel filled by the pouring, if that’s possible, and yet it does leave me wanting time for nothing. Hence, the vacation.

I can imagine that for many of you, coming to Free Parking is rest—we here hope it is not work! But how else do you do that? Do you allow yourself time to zone out? And I don’t mean doomscrolling—that’s, honestly, a kind of spiritual work that leaves us frustrated and empty. I mean, do you hike? Do you organize your cabinets? Do you meditate or do intentional movement of some kind? What else? And do you allow yourself—do you intentionally choose—that time regularly?

I’ve also heard people say, “Don’t rest from your work, work from your rest.”

Friends, keep warm, keep heart, and keep playing.

Alice C., board game librarian

Play vacation games!

In honor of my vacation, I invite y’all to play games I would take on a get-away, and probably am, if we’re honest! To me, a vacation game could be one of two things: (1) something big and heavy and crunchy that we’ll finally have time to dive into, and (2) something small to pass the time and tickle your brain while you relax.

Scopa—the classic Italian card game, reminiscent of trick-taking, but it’s own thing
Piles—something like playing Spoon but with six hand simultaneously
Coup—like the old card game BS (or “I doubt it”, when I was a kid), players lie about what characters they have in order to knock out their rivals
Happy Bee—play the majority of a color to the table to claim point cards, but pass the cards you didn’t play to the next person, changing your possible had every round
Rainbow—a game of memory and pressing your luck with double-sided color cards
Kinoko—try to get the three cards of your color into one location, whether your hand, another player’s hand, or the table—the trick is, everyone holds their cards backwards!
Sushi Go!—players build sets of charming sushi cards in front of them by choosing a card from their hand to play simultaneously, then pass their hands to the next person
Anomia—“anomia” means the inability to remember a word; players quickly flip cards and if the symbol matches someone else’s card, those two players must name something in the category of the other player’s card first
Skull—a classic bluffing game; each player has three discs with flowers on them, and one with a skull; on your turn, play another disc face-down in front of you or start the bidding of how many you can flip without hitting a skull

Try new Ciderboys hard ciders!

From our neighbors in Wisconsin come the delicious Ciderboys hard ciders! You’ll see the flavors shift over time as we get in different seasonal varieties, but right now we’ve got peach, pineapple, and strawberry flavored ciders, made from Washington apples. They’re crisp, refreshing, and perfect for vacation (or staycation) and a game of Anomia!