Isn't that a Judy Collins song? Isn't that appropriate for August 2013?
Johanna knows where it went, but the good news is she is out of the hospital and on the mend. Phew. It was a rough week before the doctors decided surgery was required. Peter and Janet had come back from the west coast early and help nudge the doctors in that direction. I think doctors need a nudge. Anyway, we're hopeful and glad for Johanna.
Claire may know as well since she is off to college this coming weekend. I bet there's been a fair amount of time getting ready, and I wondered if she got her new pencil case for college. Daniel already started school, and he's a sophomore. Can you believe it? One day, before we know it, we'll be saying Miles is a sophomore.
And the trees up here are beginning to wonder the same things about the lost summer. They are giving off a faint touch of yellow, while a handful are positively turned. Must be football season.
Busy doesn't even begin to describe our last few weeks. Crazy is more like it. But fun. We gave Mary two beach chairs for her birthday, so we had to go to the beach. And our old haunts in Rhode Island became our destination. We stayed with Lew and Marj and spent the day at East Beach with Mary Fort and with Maura and Elsie. This was our favorite beach because of the nice surf. Unfortunately, the surf also had a few monster jelly fish, and we discovered that sometimes their tentacles get separated from their bodies, but still sting. Anyway, it was fun catching up with Mary and Maura.
From there we went up to New Bedford to continue my obsession with all things Melville this summer. The whaling museum there is really spectacular, especially with a guide. What a brutal, dangerous business it was to collect oil this way. I'll take fracking any day. (My timecapsulepilot blogpost has more, under the Summer with Herman tab.)
When we got home, our Charlie and his family were here, as well as Marj and her mother. Then, after they left, friends from Peru came by for a couple of days. In between I gave a talk on my Civil War exhibit at Arrowhead, attended by 4 people, all rounded up by Mary. What a great fan. In between, Mary hosted her swim team for a Sunday morning swim around the lake and a pancake breakfast. I slept.
While away, we got photos of Margaret and Andrew's camping trip with the wild and fairly aggressive/cheeky ponies in Chincoteague. We also saw some photos from Jeffrey and Melodie on their camping trip, in Virginia, I think.
Joe wrote from Manila saying the torrential rainstorms are flooding and shutting down the city. He even had the tropical version of a "snow day." We also heard from Annie who likes her new job in the city.
John and Marilyn have headed south and west on an extended vacation, with their family in Myrtle Beach and then head west. Eventually, they will land back in their new house in Florida, for much of the fall, coming back up here for the holidays. We went out with them before they left, and Johnny took us to the western mouth of the Hoosac Tunnel in North Adams, once the longest tunnel in the U.S.
It's harvest season, and the fence we put up in the garden has kept the critters safely away, and allowed us to have a good crop of lettuce, continuous since mid-July and beans and zucchini and a few cucumbers and peas. The cool weather in August has meant only now are we seeing orange on the tomatoes. Our fence was modeled after the Pomfret Meadow Rock Farm, split rail fence.
Speaking of Pomfret we stopped at the old homestead on our way to Rhode Island. They had put up a new fence for their horses, and made some nice changes to the kitchen, I was fixated, though on one of the shutters, with slats falling and paint peeling. Sorry Pop.
On that wistful note, we hope all is well with you and will sign off. Love from up here.
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