Summer

Well, another summer has come and gone. It was a fairly good summer. There were a couple of heat waves with many sunny days. I'm not ready to let it go yet though. I still wear shorts almost every day along with short sleeved shirts. And I refuse to wear a jacket unless it's below 40 degrees. I know that it's just a matter of time before I have to bring out the warmer clothes but I'm holding on as long as I can.

Summer has always been special to me. Growing up I'd walk through the woods to the cove on the Ware River where I'd fish for hours at a time. Usually it was just me and my dog Oakey. It was a great place to just get away and reflect on things.

Summer was also a time for baseball. We'd have pickup games at St. Joe's Park almost every day. We didn't belong to a league, there weren't any fans but it was always a fun time. We'd play until we were tired or it was time for dinner.

The ocean has always been a favorite place of mine in the summer. Growing up, going to the beach is the only vacation I can remember. We'd pile in the car early in the morning and head off to Misquamicutbeach in RI. Usually it was my dad and brother. At least that's what I remember. I loved it there! The waves seemed a lot bigger then and I can remember getting tossed around like a wet rag coming up with a mouthful of salt water. Then about 4pm, we'd pack up and head home. It wasn't a fancy vacation at some exotic place but it was always the best.

As I got older, I went to Hampton Beach in NH with my friends. Those were good times! Two of us would get a motel room and the rest would sneak in later. I can remember many days and nights there just laying on the beach or walking around at night.

Later in my 20's I started going to Ocean Park Maine. The first time I went there just about the whole family stayed in one cottage. I don't know how we all fit. There were may mom and dad, sisters and brothers, wives and husbands and Heather, who was 2 at the time. That started a tradition that still goes on. I have to make a trip to Ocean Park at least one time each summer.

So, I say goodby to summer and know that it's just 9 months away to another.

trains

I recently took the train to New York. I admit it was much slower than flying but that was the only thing I missed. To start, we ware able to buy our tickets right at the train station, no searching online for the best deal, no buying tickets months in advance. We just drove to the train station and purchased our tickets right from a vending machine. We didn't have to buy a ticket for a specific date. We just picked our destination and chose a round trip ticket. We didn't have to say when we were returning either. After that, we just waked down to the track where our train would come in. There was no security to go through and we didn't have to take off our shoes! Also, there was no charge for our bags. Once we got on the train we could pick any empty seat we wanted and we could even change seats if desired too. There was much more legroom than a plane and we were able to sit on a "three seat" side and stretch out with no one in the middle seat. As I stated earlier, it was much slower than flying but the experience was so much better. Next time I go to New York, I'll take the train again.

Getting older

When did my father get old? It seems like just yesterday that he was playing ping-pong at family gatherings. Why, he'd even join in a game of volleyball once in a while. Now, all of a sudden he seems so much older. He falls fairly often and with each fall he has less mobility. He used to drive everywhere. It made him so proud when he renewed his license when he turned ninety. Ninety! It's hard to believe that he's ninety. He hasn't driven his car in over 4 months now and he's at the point where it doesn't look like he'll drive again. He used to go for walks every day too but now it's difficult for him to walk around the house. He's using a walker to help with his balance. It's hard for me to watch him moving so slowly and in so much pain. I'm at the age where I'm starting to look ahead. Is that my future too? I only hope I can stay healthy as long as my dad has. Love you Dad!

Weather Alert!

I woke up yesterday and as I usually do, I turned on the tv to check on the news etc. On the bottom of the screen was the scroll of late openings, early dismissals and closings. Many schools were letting out early and bingo at Saint John's church of the Holy Ghost was canceled. I thought it must be a big storm heading our way if bingo is canceled! I turned on the weather and the storm even had a name, Luna. They said that storm Luna was going to hit around noon and we could expect 1 or 2 inches of snow! Now, since when did every storm, no matter how big or small, get a name? Storms like the blizzard of '78 or last year's storm at the end of October deserve a name, not a one inch snowfall. I continued to watch the tv about "storm Luna". They were recommending to stay off the roads later because it was going to get slippery. Yep, that usually happens when it snows. And you'd better go get some bread and milk in case the stores are closed for days on end. Now I didn't need any but you can never have enough of bread and milk. As the storm came in, the weather guys really start getting excited. Turning on the news in the afternoon, the lead story is of course the weather. But the weather is always the lead story now. There could be a major event that will affect our lives but let's check on the weather first. They bring up their "triple doppler" radar to show us exactly where it's snowing. And then they bring up the temperatures for everywhere in the state, which are usually the same. And finally they bring up "futurecast" which is a computer's best guess of what's going to happen in the next few hours. Yep, it's going to snow and then it's going to stop. And there's always the "hour" by hour" forecast in case you missed something in the past 5 minutes. Then we finally get to the news, which is "team coverage" of the storm. You have reporter 1 with a ruler, showing that yes, there's an inch of snow on the ground. Then there's reporter 2 standing by some road, showing how traffic is going really slow. And you might even have reporter 3 showing the plows ready to go out to tackle "storm Luna". Give me a break! When did we get so soft! I'll leave it at that for now. But first, let's go back to our "minute by minute" forecast.

How cold is it?

Yes, it has been cold the past few days around here. It even "gasp!" was below zero at night. But guess what? This is New England and this is the middle of winter. It's supposed to be cold. But if you watch the news on tv, you'd think it's a national disaster. It's been the lead or second story of every newscast. Picture of frozen fountains, frozen lakes, people working in the cold and more. But what about the ice fishermen (and women)? They don't seem to mind the cold. And I don't see the ski slopes empty because of the cold. We need a few cold days. So toughen up, and throw another log on the fire. And I don't want to hear "how hot is it?" come July.