Don't despair. The summer is not over yet. Even though it's August.
It hardly seems fair to relegate our weekend in the Poconos to just a photo album page. Lazy is what that is, I can even hear you saying.
One of the fun things about the Poconos is the ride home. It seems I hardly get to see Mary during these weekends so we share the gossip and stories all the way home. Memories I have are of interactions between Donald, Thomas and Everett, and some fond hopes that these get-togethers will give them a chance to get to know each other – the next generation. We took walks around the lake and played by the lake and the pirate ship. There were some fishing frustrations, although I saw other fishermen in the family enjoying success. When Mary took out her camera to get a picture of my fishing experience, she noticed a heron and got a great shot of it.
Can't forget the wonderful dinners and wonderful naps. And a spectacular birthday party with a never-ending balloon bounce where everyone in the room became two years old all over again. Fun. Of course, most important were the extended time to catch up where we learned of David and Paula's upcoming road trip to Ohio and Kentucky, Matthew's medical progress (looking good), Peter and Janet painting their house and planning a Colorado getaway, Sean and Erin drive out to Texas, Joe and Leonor's announced move to Brazil, Andrew and Lur's Ripon reunion. We missed those who couldn't make it, but we know there's a next year and more times to join the fun.
It was especially nice to have Janie, Susan and Fernando along, as we got the news on the George Dean family, and we added another Portuguese speaker to the mix. Janie talked about Pop and Grandma, so we felt closer to them this year. We even got over a certain email message that hardly seemed funny by the end of the weekend.
Things didn't slow down for us once we got home. Peace Corps friends, Madi and Dale, showed up a day later and after Tanglewood and Shaker village exploring, we headed up to Maine to Cliff's cabin for the weekend. Have our lives boiled down to good food and long chats? Because that's what we did.
Did I mention Mary's birthday? The highlight of her day was a new vacuum cleaner, a cordless Dyson. After years of lugging around the family heirloom canister (that works very well), we have moved into the streamlined light and easy jet-age. I'll have to go to the gym more to get the exercise that the Electrolux used to give me. By the way, who gets a vacuum cleaner for their birthday? How romantic!
Back home and we're here to stay for the month of August. The produce is piling in from the garden, and it's hard to keep up with the harvests. While there are groundhogs, they're staying outside the fence. This week is the 200th birthday celebration of Herman Melville, so we've been attending assorted events in recognition of that. Even a gala last night. A historical society gala. Imagine that.
We saw a wonderful movie – Yesterday. Jumps past Love Actually and Family Man on my list of sentimental favorites. We got a sneak preview of a Melville movie as well – The Act of Reading, which should come out in the fall, or at least included in film festivals.
I close with a couple of quotes from Pop's 1992 weekly letters, as we had a couple of conversations about when Uncle Gil passed away, and we couldn't consult Google for that. And, from the second excerpt you'll recognize the origin of the Poconos weekend.
January 27, 1992 - On Saturday, Mom, Aunt Georgia, Uncle Jim and I went to Peace Presbyterian Church in Stuart at 2PM - the exact time as the burial for Uncle Gil in Wilton. We got the news of his Monday death just as we had checked into a campground in Florida (via a phone call to Stuart).
February 17, 1992 - We are considering an Uncle Gil memorial/celebration some time next summer. If anybody has any ideas on location, pass them along.
With that, love from up here.
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