Gone Fishin'

"Gone Fishin" a popular title for print articles, signs and email, is code for "I'm on vacation"...which I am.

Fishing on the Lake  Summer 2010

We are, for a very short time, not empty nesters.  Our chicks are home to roost as we pursue a favorite summer activity, a home on the water, this time a lake.  We are in Maine in a waterfront cottage with a dock for our ski boat, a basement room for our dogs, a fire pit, a comfy house with lots of windows overlooking the lake.  We brought very little for the week as everything has been provided except the food and liquor.  Bathing suits, shorts, tees, sunscreen, lots of food, beer, soda and dog food.  My husband brought his hammock and cameras.  I, obviously, brought my computer although this is the first time I've opened it since Friday.  It is Monday.  I'm through one of three books I bought:  "That Old Cape Magic", Richard Russo's latest, then "The Girl Who Played With Fire" Steig Larsen's # 2 in his series; and John Irving's latest, "Last Night in Twisted River" which the bookseller assures me is akin to his older style of writing, i.e. "Garp", "Cider House Rules", "Owen Meany".  We'll see.

Oh, and by the way, the glasses are dirty, there are crumbs everywhere, the food is eaten as soon as I buy it and there's no running around naked except for the boys who think they are God's gift in the physique dept.  Oi.  What was I musing about in my last post???????

Ta ta for now.  Off to the boat to get in some quality time with the menfolk while they wakeboard and waterski. 

 

Small Boats

Small Boats, Kittery Pt. ME

My husband, my beautiful husband, took this photo last week. We were on a day trip to the coast of Maine. I had an appointment with a doctor and afterwards we just drove. We ended up in Kittery, ME., one bridge length across the open sea from Portsmouth, NH. It's an unexpected and incredible drive. The homes along the shoreline are breathtaking: perfect cottage or New England shake homes with perfectly manicured lawns and gardens and whatnot. On the one hand, there is the New England irreverence for anything perfect, for anything that smacks of being an impostor, a Hollywood version of the truth. On the other hand, the New England version of truth is just as beautiful. It's an awful beauty; a terrible beauty based on hardship, inclement weather, harsh climate and hard rock unsentimentality. I say "unsentimentality" which is not a word, but based on the New England way of looking at things, ought to be. These folk are tough, immovable, granite-like in their approach. They do not sentimentalize things, the past, present or future. They are in the here and now and it is what it is.

Playing Hookey

Played hookey from work Friday. Took out our water ski boat with our two sons. This was the first decent (sunny) day after five days of a non-stop deluge and we were pumped! The boys grew up water skiing & wake boarding. We picked our favorite lake, slid the boat in and jumped aboard. After we got out there, however, everyone felt lazy and relaxed and just wanted to lie in the sun, swim and not do much. Our eldest son is home on vacation for two weeks which made it a special day, a family day. We enjoyed every minute.

You know what they say, "A bad day on the water is better than a good day at work."