Summer vacation

Though you can keep pretty late hours here I like morning best.

"Nightlife" is pretty much contained to the restaurant by the water for summer people, the tavern in town for the locals and old salts, the bar at the yacht club or most often a late night boat cruise or discussions into the early morning hours in someone's living room. My first night here we went to an island and had a late night fire on the beach and I don't think I got to bed until after 3 a.m. Compared to others, even after a week here, I am still (disappointingly to my brother in law), an 'early bird.'

In the morning, from my perch on the second floor, you can look over the harbor and get a sense for the day. Earlier in the week, warm, sunny skies and a nice breeze. Yesterday, chilly and rainy and we wore jeans and fleeces and made a fire yesterday afternoon. Last night we had a pink mackerel sky so the morning is still and quiet. The water is like glass, and the sky is cloudy though clear, with the sense of sun behind clouds that will burn off in the afternoon. You can hear birds calling to one another and the occasional noise of a car or people walking on the sidewalk discussing where they might have breakfast in town (one of two places, and at one you can sign for your coffee and meal on your account).

Unlike being in a city, where you can operate under the delusion of 'controling your environment', here you feel very close to weather, and work with it vs. against it.

You realize it is so much bigger than you are.

Once a couple years ago my friend Paul in New York asked me if 'You dress for dinner there', perhaps thinking this place is a bit more like Jobs Lane than the two street, no stoplight village it is.

I remember laughing and shaking my head no, thinking of the first time I came to visit everyone here, several years ago, and the hour ride from the airport with my sister and her father in law. "We don't shower here," was one of the first things he said to me, welcoming committee style, and went on about the well for three houses while I was taking it all in. My sister turned around in the front seat and gave me a look and said, "You can shower," but then Danny added, "But we don't use much water!"

Jason has commented that this is like "adult camp" and in many ways it is. It's also beloved by the generations of kids, cousins and grandparents, many of whom also came here as kids including my brother in law and Stacy.

The other day when my sister and I were watching an evening race she said, "Do you remember telling everyone last night you were a professional photographer?" "Hmm," I mused. "I usually tell people I am a professional smoothie maker" though feel very far away from exotic fruits and antioxidants right now. I admit the setting here is so simple and stunning that perhaps my photos are a result of that and not the photographer...

I did look at a few of the people photos we snapped that evening, and while we had a great night, looking at the photos the morning after, no one exactly looks like they will win a beauty contest. A little greasy, a little rumpled, some hat hair, wearing slightly damp clothes from the ride to the boat house. Definitely a lack of 'hair and makeup.'

Yet, big smiles and clear eyes, on every one.