Capacious

I am fully Caped out. Took me about 3 days this time. I heartily recommend going up ahead of the fam if you are having one of those all-the-kids-and-their-friends-and-cousins vacations. I adore those vacations. They are the legend of our family. But 'tis nice to start off slowly, especially when you are transitioning from work to play in 12-hour timespan. The grocery trips alone are exhausting and I end up kicking the 12-pack of paper towels down the aisle when it falls out of the wagon, in a full snit of Mother Self Pity. 

 

You also need to have a pupper with you. One that wakes you up and looks at you and says, "I'm hot and bored".  Bella Sera is the lowest maintenance dog this side of a stuffed one, but she LOVES going anywhere in a car. I knew she needed a ride and a hike when she tried to jump into the back of the Mini on top of the groceries I was unloading. We ran to The Point and soaked our tootsies for awhile, and she had a few 10 yard dashes with a couple of doggies, then it was time to go home and get some water and lay in front of the fan.

The girls intend to maybe rent a paddleboard, maybe take the kayak out, or maybe just sit at the landing to avoid the freaking August zoo that is the town beach. As Micalangela said yesterday,  you don't feel like running to the beach  when you have a backyard and go in and out of the kitchen for iced coffee, listen to the birds, and watch Bella Sera eat the grass (the dog thinks she's a cow and we encourage it as we forgot the string trimmer). But we know that visitors would like to see more than the backside of The Cottage, so sometimes you can avoid the August insanity by going to a town landing and wading in the water.

Up here with our first world problems and our quasi-status as Cape residents, we HATE the beach in August. The line of cars out to Main Street, the dreaded "parking lot full" signs when you finally get within a half mile, the MUNG, and the crazy hour wait for an ice cream cone.  Having to ask other people to duck their heads on their blankets when you raise the umbrella by yours. (Why do we come in August? Habit.)

All of this and more was yesterday, but we  managed to sit in a little knot of older women who were cracking me up by  kidding each other, yelling at each other when one wanted someone to take their picture, and in general making me see me and the sistahs ahead a decade or so.  I knew it was my kind of people when one of them whipped out a sketch pad and I unashamedly peeked over her shoulder as she penciled a pretty sketch of the beach.

I had my Peerless Watercolors and journal with me, and I want to thank Joanna Sharpe for reminding me about these neat little portable sheets of impregnated paper. I've had them for years but forgot all about them and had them stuck in a drawer.  Instead of sketching, however I started reading Black Chokeberry by Martha Nelson. Lisa at Privilege mentioned it awhile back and I was intrigued to read it because it is a first novel by a 64-year old author.  Although that was my initial motivation, I soon became engrossed in the storyline and I am anxious to see how the three main characters are faring while in the midst of a storm. The writing is excellent and you'll all enjoy it.  I am resisting picking it up right now and getting in the hammock for a read because this is my writing time. So what am I doing talking to y'all? Because I miss my blogging buddies, but I am going to sign off in a bit cause when I write a long post (and you know I am the Queen of Long Posts), it uses up the writing mojo.

 

 

 

In short:

• Micalenangela and her 2 best friends arrived Monday evening. They are very low maintenance: beach, books, a couple of meals, and they're good. They are also hysterically funny as they all gripe about their young lives and show me hilarious videos andwebsites, like this.
• The Bride is furiously finishing up grad school summer papers and expects to throw her stuff in the car any minute to head up here.
• Mr. Pom took a few hours off from work this morning so he can figure out how to get an old, handmade boat trailer registered with the State so he can trailer up a tiny day sailer that he and Mystery Man bought. (Never go away when the father and the son are woman-less for the weekend. Oh, the trouble I've seen!) The boat is about the size of what you see below.

 

Sweet little sailing camp we spied on the trail today.

I have written the first 3 chapters of the book. By written, I mean an actual first draft, rough, but a keeper, one that will need editing but not complete revisions.  After a year of endless scribbling in notebooks, numerous very rough pieces on the laptop,  lots of background research, and art journaling, I I know I'm ready to pound this out. The endless scribbling is the way I work, so there is no rushing this. 

Go outside! Yes, it's hot and humid. But dang! It's August already! Grab some fireflies  before the cicadas start their whine, if they haven't already.