Another Maine Interlude 2012…

I have been taking a blogging break all summer so I will not say that I am taking a blogging break during my summer vacation .   Once again my family will be taking advantage of my in-laws kindness in letting us take over their house in Maine.  This time both of my daughters and their husbands will be there at least for part of the week and all three grandchildren will be there…including baby C.  Another new baby will be with us too because this year we will be towing our newly acquired but older Airstream up to Maine to use as an extra bedroom. 

Although she isn’t new this will be our maiden voyage with her and we are a bit excited and nervous.  I am hoping to have lots of photos of the trip to share when we return.   I am also hoping she will have a name by the time we return too.  Right now I am thinking she is Sylvie…This name meaning woods or forest and sounding so close to silver may be a perfect fit.

 

I won’t have internet connection during our vacation but I will certainly continue to feed my Instagram addiction and will hopefully be better at posting here when I return.  My fingers are crossed for safe travels and good weather!

What I did this Summer…Maine

This year it has been more difficult than usual for me to have a mind of autumn.   I seem to be stuck in the hot mugginess of summer…just like our recent weather.  I still haven’t put away my summer clothes or edited my summer photos.  Perhaps one last look at our Maine vacation photos will help ease me into fall…maybe it will keep me in the summery doldrums.   It was a wonderful vacation, like all our Maine vacations are…lots of family and friends and food and fun…tiring but relaxing at the same time.  Maybe my mind is still there on vacation…

What I Did This Summer…Summer Birthdays…

Oh summer! I do love it but I always feel as though I am rushing, rushing, rushing to squeeze everything in.  Looking back on this summer it seems that I have fit in quite a bit.
There were six  birthdays…
First came both Mr and Mrs R’ s 29th…and they gave us all a special surprise gift as well as their own party on a very hot and happy July day…




















Then came Ms O’s 34th birthday party on the beach…after supper at Champlins..



















A week later is her husband Mr H’s birthday….We  celebrated at Senor Flaco’s followed by a walk in the park…















We returned from our Maine vacation just in time to get ready for both of my grandchildren’s birthdays…Mr J turned six years old…


and one day later Miss E  turned four years old…


Sprinkled in with these family birthdays were birthdays of friends and cousins…and I honored my sister’s Fourth of July birthday with a glass of wine at her bench.

Summer’s Sounds…

I recently realized that many of the videos I have taken have been taken with the intent to record the sound rather than the action.  Outside the kitchen door, the night time sounds at the end of summer are nearly deafening…but in a heart warming way.  This is one of the sounds that is so deeply connected with a season and with childhood that it can conjure up deep emotions and contentment for me when I listen. I wonder  just how many crickets, cicadas, grasshoppers, and katydids are out there conversing.  Now that it is September, and getting cooler, this song is fading and the windows are closed at night…a sure sign that autumn is near.  With the volume all the way up I will be able to pretend I am still standing outside in the late summer…

Emily Dickinson - The Crickets Sang

The Crickets sang
And set the Sun
And Workmen finished one by one
Their Seam the Day upon.

The low Grass loaded with the Dew
The Twilight stood, as Strangers do
With Hat in Hand, polite and new
To stay as if, or go.

A Vastness, as a Neighbor, came,
A Wisdom, without Face, or Name,
A Peace, as Hemispheres at Home
And so the Night became.

A Summer Philosophy…

 

 

"I look back upon a day spent in what the world would call idleness, and for which I myself can suggest no more appropriate epithet, but which nevertheless I cannot feel to have been spent amiss. True, it might be a sin and a shame in a world such as ours to spend a lifetime in this manner; but for a few summer weeks it is good to live as if this world were heaven."

-- Nathaniel Hawthorne

I will have to agree with Mr Hawthorne….

The Simple Things of Summer…

There is a birthday party going on over at Christina’s blog, Soul Aperture…and what better way to celebrate than to join Se’lah and list a few of those simple things that make me happy. Here is just a small summer edition…

• Summer birthdays top the list…
• Hair that curls in the humidity…
• Ice cream cake…
• Road trips…

• A backyard pool…
• The smell in the air after the start of a rainstorm…
• Outdoor flea markets…
• Mowing the lawn…

• Dining al fresco at a city restaurant…
• Riding in the car with the windows down…
• Listening to the cicadas drone…
• Queen Anne’s Lace and Bachelor's Button on the roadsides…Just the names of those wildflowers…

• Water lilies in the pond
• Having a really good belly laugh first thing in the morning
• The smell of a ripe cantaloupe melon…the taste of cantaloupe with prosciutto…
• Tide pools…

• County fairs…
• Swimming in the ocean…
• Listening to thunderstorms…
• The color gray of rain clouds…

• Breakfast on the porch…
• Reading a good mystery book…
• The smell of honeysuckle in the air…
• Listening to baseball on the radio…

This list is never ending…Summer is full of wonderful, simple things…