Embracing the Summer

I have spent so much time frustrated and sad about being here you would
think that we spend our days in misery. This is untrue. Today is the most
beautiful of summer days. The air is cool. There is no humidity. The sun is
bright and there is a breeze. My family has escaped the compound off to do
various things like working and hanging out with the ladies. My son and I
decided to have mother and son day. So far we have walked up to Joe’s with a
wagon full of stuffed animals to borrow some almond extract to make a peach
cobbler. We came back and there was some TV, floor scrubbing, clothes washing,
lunch making and salad eating. A moment on salad. My salad had locally grown
red onion and a tomato from heaven. We bought the tomatoes at a roadside stand
with an honor box. The quarts of tomatoes are $5 each and the peaches $4. The
stand is unmanned and a box is on the table for you to jam your money into.
They also have a random assortment of tomatoes on the side in case you want to
switch out a tomato from your quart if there is one in there that you don’t
like. I love that. These tomatoes are the best we have had all season so far.
It is still a little early for tomatoes so we are lucky to get some that are so
yummy.

After all of these indoor activities we got our beach on. We grabbed
the life jackets (a neighbor gifted us a kids’ one for my son the other day)
and the paddle for the kayak. This summer an enterprising fisherman set up nets
in the bay just off my Mom’s house. We loaded into the kayak and paddled out to
the nets. I don’t like to get too near because I am unsure of how they are
rigged below the surface. It was briskly breezy out on the bay. It was a fun little
paddle. On the beach, Mom came down with Brooke, her Springer Spaniel, who
loves swimming in the water. She and my son have their every day war on the
beach which today entails a water fight using this $2.50 toy made of foam that
sucks up water and shoots it out. Pure genius. She threatens to drown him as
she does every day. Mom takes Brooke up and my sister comes down to the beach,
home from work. My son decides he is beached out so he goes up. My sister walks
out to our neighbor’s boat which is her daily beach routine. When the tide is
low like today, the water maybe comes up to her armpits. The black flies are in
(no not the group) and are awful enough to drive us from the beach.

We decide to indulge in some pizza for dinner. We get it at the best
place (it is in Greenport by the ferry). We get two pies (Joe comes over) one
with onions and one without and garlic knots (or “nuts” as my mom says). We
have beer and sit around the table. Afterwards we all feel a carbohydrate coma
coming on which could be good since we are all running tomorrow morning. The
adults in a 5K and my son in a 1K. We will shortly indulge in a some peach cobbler
and ice cream. It has been a good day.

So each day is not all sadness and loneliness. It is a summer to be
remembered. A summer for the ages. And we love it but we hate it.