Ice cream

Halfway through August, and there are hints of fall in the air.  It's a little chillier in the evenings and a few trees are looking orange. Too soon? Yes.

In fact, the first part of this month has been a bit of a blur. We were supposed to have a visit from John and Marilyn and then a Boyle family barbecue to say goodbye to the house next door, but Covid interrupted our plans. Mary was very sick, a little scary even. I had mild, cold-type symptoms, and Annie gave us the care we needed for a couple of days, until she got sick too, despite our sincere attempts at quarantining and masking. She was pretty sick with fatigue and cold symptoms.

None of this Covid household deterred Andrew and Margaret from making their way north. But the time they arrived, I was in the clear, but we continued our segregating efforts. So far, so good. Simon has a wee hint of a cough, but we hope that's just from all the exertion he puts forth every day, every hour, every minute.

Where are Joe and Leonor, you might ask? As far away from the Covid household as possible. Portugal, to be precise. They spent some time in Lisbon before heading out to a beach in the south. Everything looks fantastic. They're supposed to be coming home next week.

Annie had recovered enough to join Margaret in NYC for a play and an overnight. The play was about Lincoln, Mrs. Lincoln to be exact. "Oh Mary." Pop might have been happy if it actually had anything to do with Lincoln. Annie and Margaret said it was very funny and worth seeing. Apparently, the playwright did no research at all on the Lincolns, and made everything up.

There was also a birthday, an August birthday, for Everett. Surely, it was a great day.

And, there was another birthday.  Herman Melville's.  August 1. It too was a great day, and I gave two talks, one at the library and one at the top of Mt. Greylock, and I only saw one person sleeping. Mary and I also participated in the annual Moby Dick marathon reading.

What do you do in the summer? Eat ice cream, so we have some ice cream pictures to share. I snuck one in of Kiernan eating fluff, but it looks enough like ice cream, and I'm pretty sure there was ice cream Everett on his birthday.

We've been swimming in the pool and in the lake, going to splash parks and playgrounds and the library, playing baseball and tennis, and doing projects around the house.

Speaking of the house, the permitting process for the demolition next door is moving along, as it has cleared three different city commissions. There's an asbestos removal component and then a pest control abatement, and then we're good to go. They sure don't make it easy.

The garden is producing a lot of cucumbers, and tomatoes are right around the corner. We can't eat the beans fast enough, and I'm not even sure I like beans that much. We gave away a lot of peaches, and I figured we split the harvest 50-50 with the squirrels. Andrew sent along a picture of his garden.   

And that's a wrap.  Enjoy the remaining days of summer.  Love from up here.