Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Idyll

This is one of those moments one attempts to hang onto. In my “Field Notes” journal this pm: This soft clement air, slanting golden light of late summer afternoon; reading Natasha's first ball in War and Peace; wine and family…


I’m savoring this go-around with Tolstoy, but the feeling is more like The Ambassadors.

Monday, July 23, 2012

Sunrise over Penobscot Bay




Landfall: After wending our largely separate ways here, and after stopping in Billerica and in Nashua to visit our New England aunties, the siblings (these days comprising four households) have assembled at "Penobscot View," a spacious vacation cottage in Lincolnville, Maine. We overlook Penobscot Bay—the property adjoins the water, although the interface cannot properly be styled a beach—and the nearby town of Camden looks as though it will reward investigation. As I post shortly before 6:00 a.m. (3:00 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time!) Lina and I have just come in from watching the sun rise our second morning here. The last time I attempted to catch the majestic sight of dawn over the sea was sometime in 1969 when after an all-nighter I and a group of wastrel companions, all of us somewhat the worse for youthful experimentation, headed out to Zuma Beach for this spectacle. Since Zuma Beach is just north of Malibu CA, the expedition, unlike this one, could not in the event be counted an entire success.


Further vital news and personalia as they break (although if you think I am going to devote a significant fraction of this vacation week to slaving over a hot blog, you are quite mad).

Monday, July 16, 2012

It's alive! Igor, it's alive!


Two years later, and the sibs are once again gathering in the northeast quadrant of These United States. I had thought to record our hijinks in a brand-new blog, but as I hauled this one out of the shed to make room, it occurred to me to affix the jumper cables, and...here we are. Entries will commence once the family recoalesces on the Right Coast at the end of the week.