A Good Day

by Rob

It's Saturday morning, August 15, and I'm sitting on the porch of the cottage. It's already warm by morning standards, and the sky is, for now, cloudless. I was awake at 5:30, and although it was light, the sun hadn't yet appeared over Monroe Island, across the channel from Hendrickson Point. I love to watch the sunrise here. I suppose it would be enjoyable to watch, just about anywhere, but on a clear morning here, you can see it rise, and as it comes up

the whole scene transforms, slowly but perceptively.

We're still hearing how great the weather is. We'd be pretty dense, not to notice it. Yesterday was sunny and hot, but not humid. We spent the morning on the porch reading and drinking coffee. By 11:00 AM, Kim had moved to the beach to do some more beach combing. The kids and I followed her a short time later, choosing to walk the 1/2 mile, so we could ride back in the car at lunch time. Lunch was homemade bruchetta. A short time later, our friend, Paul, came to pick us up and we went blueberry picking. Paul and Donna have a connection to a family that lives about 20 minutes north of here. They have over 3 acres of wild blueberries. We picked for almost 2 hours and brought home between 2 and 3 gallons of berries. Now we have the task of sorting and freezing them, so we can take some home. Of course, we'll also do some baking with them while we're here. When we returned home yesterday, I set to work, making a pie, which was ready to be eaten by early evening. It is quite a good pie, if I may say so.

This summer's exceptionally wet weather has had a substantial impact on the blueberry crop. In many places the berries seem to be in endless supply, and larger than normal. In other areas, the dampness has caused a "blight" to form on the plants and there's very little to harvest. As for our picking site, even though we took so many berries, it would be hard to tell that we were there. Most of the berries in that field will never be harvested. It's a shame, really.

It was remarkably hotter inland at the blueberry field. We all had to take breaks to sit in the shade and drink. We were all quite hot and sweaty by the time we finished picking. Paul suggested that we stop for a swim on the way home. Our kids were disappointed, assuming that they would need suits, which they hadn't brought along. Paul, casual as ever, told them they could just swim in their clothes.

When we arrived at the swimming spot, Paul parked the van at the road side, near an opening in the woods that resembled a trail head. It was easy to see that the pond was only 30 or 40 yards away. By the time I reached the waters edge, Nathan had already stripped to his shorts and was ready to take a plunge. The water was clear and warm and they both seemed delighted by the unusual circumstances. Then Nate noticed the swing in the tree. It took us awhile to reach it, and work out a system for lifting him up so that he could launch himself, but once we'd mastered it, he didn't want to stop. Abbie wanted to try it, but was clearly fearful. As I held her up the first time, she was trembling. But she did it... screaming. We all laughed. It couldn't have been too bad

though, since she took a second turn.

Once back at the cottage, we had grilled pork tenderloin, baked sweet potatoes, and fresh green beans. It was amazing how good everything tasted. After dinner, I sat on the porch until almost 8:00. No bugs. No breeze. Just clear sky and warmth.

It was a good day.

I figured out that this is our ninth trip to this spot. I'm not tiring of it at all. It has been my fear that our kids might begin to lose interest in coming here, and to a certain extent, there are times when it's harder for them to stay occupied than it used to be. But then there are days like yesterday. I know that they had a great day, one that they'll probably remember years from now. That seems to be the magic of this place for us. We continually have these good days. I expect that in the future, we won't be able to remember which year we did this or that. I suspect we might even start to blend activities that didn't happen on the same day, or even the same year. But those kinds of details don't matter at all. It's that we're here together, and having some of the best times that any of us will ever have. What an amazing thing it is to be able to say that.