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| That yellow flower in the back is my harbinger of the warm summer days! |
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| The boxes in late June getting ready to burst! |
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| The flowers are certainly growing fast! |
One signal that things are changing was the recent hurricane in Houston. Hurricane Beryl is the earliest hurricane Houston has ever experienced. Hurricane season is usually in August and September. This is not good! I am pretty sure the Gulf of Mexico is not going to cool down by August or September enough to make hurricane season disappear. But lest this post become a rant on climate change let me move on...to more signs the summer is moving at warp speed.
The garden. Usually, the garden looks like this at this time of year. Neatly defined rows with the promise of peas, beans, tomatoes, spinach and many salads.
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| July 2016 |
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| July 2024 Aside from the carrots that just didn't get going and had to be replanted twice... much of the garden is almost overgrown and navigating between the rows is near impossible! |
The differences are subtle, but we have never eaten beets out of the garden or potatoes this early in the summer. Not complaining really, the earlier we get to begin harvesting, the longer we have to actually eat the massive amounts of produce TJ grows every year! Even if I eat salad for lunch and dinner every day, we will never consume all of this lettuce before it goes to seed! Lettuce anyone?
Another sign of summer whizzing by is that tonight marks our second book club meeting of the season. We are already 2 or more books into our shore time. Even I am 3 books in, and I am a very slow reader! Our first book, Tom Lake, got mostly good reviews with a couple of mixed reviews. The book did make for a good club discussion. Mothers and daughters are always good fodder for discussion. July's book was The Berry Pickers. We usually read a Canadian authored book during the summer and this one was written by a Nova Scotian. It was generally enjoyed, and we had a good discussion. I also finished Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver. She is such a gifted writer, in my opinion. This book was tough! The writing is brilliant, the subject matter, drug addiction...particularly opioids, is hard to read about and heartbreaking. I had to take breaks from the book just to let some of it go. Not your light summer read! Next up The Women, which I already read and highly recommend!
This summer has been warm. Some would say hot. I would say very warm and very humid. Great if you are a plant...not so good if you want to play air-conditioned golf. The golf has been anything but cool. I have been "swimming" ...well, I got wet, earlier in the season than usual just to cool off. All those cute outfits I packed have remained in the closet in lieu of exercise shorts and dry-fit tops. We have run our air-conditioner considerably more than in previous year. Mostly just to suck out the humidity. So spoiled!
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| It may be warm but really, what do I have to complain about?! |
The first month to 5 or 6 weeks has been like those times in the past. Those easy days of just enough people to keep life interesting but not so many that it is hard to decide who to see and when to see them. Not to mention the constant state of FOMO I find myself experiencing when the shore is at its busiest. These days have been just right and a great way to slip into shore life. I also noticed the fact that this is the first time in many years I am not worried about my parents whether they were here or at home. Their last few years at the shore we had trips to the hospital, constant concerns about their health or how they were managing cottage life. If they were home, I worried about them and about the siblings who were back there caring for them. While I will always miss them, I don't miss worrying about them. They are here with me in the best possible way, in many fleeting moments that sneak up on me when I least expect them.
The tide is going to turn for a while. The population is growing daily as people start showing up for their vacations. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Christie Brown Games... now the Amherst Shore Games. There will be more people than have been here since well before the pandemic! I will be longing for just one of these early summer days in a couple of weeks! I will also totally enjoy seeing so many relatives and friends I haven't seen for years. This will be a special time indeed! I just hope I can channel the energy I had 50...or even 25 years ago!
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| Beware if you are coming to visit... |
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| There is a hole in the road! Sadly...zero work has begun to repair this either....ugh! |
P.S. This post was written in mid July! The swell has happened and sitting at the computer writing time has been at a premium! Stay tuned for the Vortex chapter of the summer! Looking forward to it!
