Niece Cuteness

With all of us spread around the country it's rare for the three of us siblings to be in the same place at the same time. The stars aligned this past weekend and though it was a short visit for me and Simon, it was great to get some time with my bros, nieces, parents and extended family. I didn't get snaps of everyone but Claire and I took a selfie, which takes the favorite moment cake for me. Hard to believe she turns 4 tomorrow and even more difficult to believe my older brother turns 50 today. HAHAHAHA!!! Happy birthday you two!

Scenes From The Weekend

Best weekend ever! My good friend Sharon (we met in second grade) and her husband Garrett flew up from Florida to sample all NH has to offer. We relaxed at the lake for the majority of the weekend but snuck out early Sunday afternoon for a drive up the Maine coast, savoring some delicious seafood in Ogunquit, meandering along a cliffside walk, taking squinty photos at the Nubble Lighthouse, then critiquing multi-million dollar homes on a scenic ride back to Portsmouth.

While it's always hard to drag ourselves away from the lake during a sunny afternoon, jaunting off to the oceanside was a breath of fresh air. It's a unique situation to be able to enjoy lake life but also have quick access to the sea. It was nice to take advantage of both enivrons and even nicer to spend the time with these two.

A Poem For The Weekend

A Dog By The Sea
David Salner

Just after dawn, we get up,
without coffee, and let the dog lead us
through a grove of wind-stunted trees,
spiked succulents, red-berried holly,
and over the dune ridge out of the gray
of still sleeping minds. A line of pink
from the not yet risen sun
reminds me of the lilac shadows
caught in the radial grooves of shells.
I take up your hand and feel the blood
warming your fingers, as the dog bounds off
dragging her leash through wet sand.
She's after gulls and a line of waves
that repeat themselves, she seems to think,
because they want to play.
                                          A morning breeze
stirs the now turning tide, breathing over it,
sighing toward bayside. As the waves come in
whorls of light unfold on the sand. How I want
for us to repeat ourselves, on and on,
you holding the leash of a silly dog, me
feeling the beat, the blood in your hand.

The Sunsets Of Vacation

We spent last week lazing in the sun, gaming on the deck, swimming and floating, eating deliciousness and enjoying the company of great friends. I realized that I didn't leave the lake once...arrived on Friday evening and departed for Portsmouth the following Sunday, not once getting into a car. Nearly every evening included a lovely sunset display, all pretty stunning and somehow different each night. That appears to be the only time I bothered to photograph the week so here's that.

Book Report - Her Royal Spyness Series

As you may recall, I recently deviated from my modus operandi of the past 6.5 years and abandoned post-apocalyptic literature. I'm not sure why I can't be a normal person and pick up various types of books here and there, but no, I am already deeply ensconced in two new but related genres: historical mystery and historical romance. Don't judge my fascination with tales of British aristocracy...lords and ladies of the mid 1800's through the Downton Abbey era of the early 1900s. Romances, murders, mysteries, you name it, if there are dukes and earls, I'm into it.

I especially like when I find a series. This both limits the amount of time spent searching for more tales of royalty and also creates a nice arc of relationships among the characters, particularly enjoyable if there is a clever little romance threading from book to book.

I'm loving the Royal Spyness series by Rhys Bowen. It's a slightly implausible set of cozy mysteries where the main character Georgiana is 34th in line for the throne and the Queen enlists her to help with various tasks, usually inadvertently resulting in her investigating one murder or another. Her love interest Darcy appears in each book and though it seems to take ages for their relationship to gain traction, it's nice to see that develop from book to book. There are currently 9 books in the series with the next installment due out August 1. All in all, this has proven to be one of my favorite series of late, and I highly recommend it.

Bad Dreams

I've had my fair share. I'll remember two particular nightmares from my youth forever. Both involved being chased, one in my parents' backyard as a man turned those he could catch into stone while my mom played bridge up the hill inside the house. I could see her playing cards in the window but of course, couldn't call out for help. Classic dream scenario where you can't run and can't speak. Similar themes prevailed in dream #2.

The other night I had one of the worst dreams I can recall. I don't remember why but Simon and I were trying to kill Merwin. I still get cold chills when I think about it. Simon was tossing heavy books at him and I was repeatedly picking him up then dropping him on his head. He didn't show any effects of our attempts and I remember telling Simon "You're going to have to shoot him in the head."

WHAT THE HECK!? I'm not sure anyone understands any type of dream but what was going on there? Any dream analysts care to tackle that one? Yikes.

As I continue to mull this over, I'm putting new pieces together. When we woke up the next day, we discovered some, um, "gifts" that Merwin had deposited on the dining room carpet overnight. Perhaps part of me was aware of his naughty actions while I was slumbering. Or maybe this was his revenge poop for my macabre sub-conscious thoughts. Either way, I'm glad both of those incidents are behind us.

So cute and innocent!

Adventures In Politics

This year's presidential election and primary have garnered my interest more than any from the past. Perhaps it is the ridiculousness of it, my raised awareness of certain issues, or maybe just living in NH, where the eyes of the country first focus during primary season. Whatever the reason, I've been into it. I waffled from Bernie to Hillary to disgruntlement with all the choices but one thing is certain. I despise Trump. He disgusts me on a level I never knew was possible. That's another post. Today's is about attending Hillary's event over at the Portsmouth High School. Bernie recently jumped on board and it was very clear that he would endorse her officially at the rally. Simon and I hadn't attended anything related to the race yet and knew this could be our best opportunity to see Hillary and - bonus - hear Bernie.

We headed over around 8:30 and stood in an enormously long, sun-soaked line for a few hot hours. We were pretty certain we wouldn't be allowed in given the quantity of people ahead of us but alas, we made it through. We scanned for seats on the gym bleachers before realizing that we could stand dead center, just a few rows back from the podium!

It was awesome! Hearing these two in person was really inspiring. I never imagined that I would stand that close to a future president (cross your fingers) and it was a pretty surreal experience. Whatever your opinion, I think it's important to be active and take advantage of things like this when they are right in your backyard. 

A Poem For A Monday

The Daylight Is Huge
Amy MacLennan

The daylight is huge.
Five a.m. and the sky already
blushing gray. Mornings so full
of blue the clouds almost sheepish
as they wisp over hills.
High noon only happens in June,
mid-day a tipping point, the scale
weighed down on both sides
with blazed hours. And the evenings--
so drawn out the land lies stunned
by that shambling last light.

New Blog, New Painting, New Inspirations

I've been inspired by the debut post over at The Siberian Gamer. The author talks about how specific sound and voice can bring you the same feelings when you hear them again and again, even if years have passed and your life has changed. For him, it was the Barenaked Ladies and a recent concert where the lead singer had been replaced, shifting the sound and with that change, removing the feeling he had associated with their music. That instant ability to experience the joy and comfort he felt many years ago disappeared along with the singer. 

It makes sense with music, but I wonder if something visual can also evoke feelings from long ago as opposed to memories. It sounds lame, but the way a certain late-afternoon light hits the leaves of certain trees instantly transports me to that lazy, comfortable, relaxed, and youthful feeling of summers growing up. 

I also wonder if photographs can do this. On vacations, I obsessively take photos, desperate to preserve our time away. My memory stinks, so I use photographs to remember what happened, where we went, what it looked like. But those photos don't necessarily capture the feeling of being there.

When we went to Costa Rica I snapped shot after shot of the cloud forest, the beach, the creatures. It's helpful to look back and remember "oh yes, this day we took this hike and the next day we met that tarantula, etc." I came home with documentation of what happened. We also came home with this painting, which actually manages to capture the feeling of the place. It's not a representation of an activity we did and it's not a snapshot of a view we experienced. But it feels like Monteverde. It illustrates its essence in a way that I don't feel when I scroll through the photos of the adventure. The blue, green, copper, and their combination evoke the feeling of the forest...the coolness under the rich canopy, the mist in the air, the smell of the damp earth, the energy of the place. I can't describe it with words.

I think that's the point.

USA! USA!

My "little" brother (I initially typed "bother" HAHA) and his wife, Sille, lived in Copenhagen up until Thursday when they boarded a plane for their big move to America. With green card and visa arrangements, it has obviously been in the making for awhile, but to have them on this side of the pond is super exciting. They're not sure where they will end up but this weekend they belonged to New Hampshire!

I grabbed them from Logan Thursday night and we crashed in Portsmouth before driving up to the lake Friday morning. Simon and my mom joined us later in the day along with bright sunshine and delightful temps in the 80s for the entire weekend. It was the perfect combination of projects around the house and jet lag recovery. We refurbished the floating raft and secured it to its anchor (then gave it a thorough workout with "Raft Ball"), painted part of the house's exterior, weeded a bunch of the little gardens around the property, cleaned out old insulation from the dirty, dank and gross pump room, and played many games of Qwixx. Enormous thanks to all three of our guests who were forced to work hard for their stay! And extra thanks to Sille for doing away with the biggest, hairiest, most disgusting lake spider we have ever seen. I did not photograph that.