The Rope Swing

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.

If Today is Any Indication

by Rob

If today is any indication, this will be another great Maine vacation, with great weather. In fact, we have heard from several folks already that the past few days are easily the best weather that these folks have seen this summer. Apparently, it has been rainy and foggy here. We lead such charmed lives, because we always seem to hit it just right. If the forecast holds, the rest of this week will also be great.

We've had a full day as well. As is so often the case, we have met up with some folks that we got to know during prior visits. Yesterday, we spoke to a family who is visiting from Virginia. Peter's parents live just a few cottages down from ours, and he and his wife Margaret are here for a few days to visit and pick up their kids, Ian and Claire, who have been staying with their grandparents for almost three weeks. Although we only spoke briefly yesterday, Peter mentioned that his family would be going out to Sheep Island today, and they wondered if we would like to come along. Two years ago, Peter, Ian, Abbie and took the same outing. (click here to see the Original "Sheep Island" post from 2007) This time, Kim, Margaret, Claire, and their dog Sandy would join us.

Our time on the island was fascinating and relaxing. Kim and I enjoyed talking with Margaret and Peter, while the kids had a great time exploring and swimming. Kim also spent a great deal of time beach combing, and we both took several pictures.

As our time on the island was ending, Peter invited us to join them for dinner -- hot dogs cooked over a fire on the rocks in front of his parent's cottage. We all had a great time and stayed out until the sun had set and the mosquitoes started biting. Before we gathered all of the food and firewood to head inside, we spent some time gazing at the stars and trying to identify some of the constellations.

As I'm writing this summary of our day, the kids are off playing board games, and Kim is sitting nearby, reading a book. All in all, it's been a pretty great day for the second full day of our vacation. It's not realistic to think that everyday will be this full, but that's okay too. I'll be happy to sit on the porch and read for at least a couple of our days here.

From Hendrickson Point, 8-9-09, 5:30 AM

"We'll take two..."

by Rob

So today was the big day. Actually, it was a slightly bigger day than we had thought it would be. On our way to Owls Head for our Maine vacation, we stopped at Cheryl's house to choose our dog, but instead of choosing one, we chose two.

It's not the first time in history that puppies have swayed people's reasoning.

In truth, our decision to get two dogs was not exactly an impulsive one. Kim and I have been reading about these dogs for months. On more than one occasion we had discussed the thought of getting two. Our main reason for considering two was companionship. Of course, we understand that having a dog is a time commitment, but we also know that we need to leave for 7 to 8 hours each day. This is the factor that has never felt quite right to us. Today, this perspective seemed to really take hold of both of us. At that point, we started to calculate the time and cost of two verses one. Ultimately, we reasoned that having twice the vet bills would be about the only thing that would actually double by having two.

So on August 22, we're bringing home Zeke and Chloe. What happened to "Millie"? Well, we haven't ruled out the name Millie altogether, but after meeting the dogs and calling them by the names that Cheryl and her family have been using, Abbie started to warm up to the name Chloe.

For now, we're in Maine. This evening, we moved into our cottage. It's a beautiful clear night with a nearly full moon rising over the water. It's great to be back here. Nonetheless, we're each still buzzing about the dogs, and every now and then, one of us will say something about them. As we headed down the last stretch of road, just before we pulled in this evening, Kim and I overheard Abbie in the back seat; "I'm still in puppy shock. I can't believe we're getting two."

Chloe or Millie?

Chloe

Zeke

Abbie holding Chloe and Nate holding Zeke

Puppies as of July 26

In There Somewhere

This picture was sent to us recently by Cheryl, the owner of Bella and Charlie. Bella had this litter of puppies on June 26. We have been promised one of the two females. She's in there somewhere. She's likely to be named Millie, although we hestitate to make this final until we've met her which we expect we'll do in a couple of weeks.