Squeezing the juices out of summer.

montirockMy pulse quickens at the thought.  And not in a good way.  Summer is almost over and I’m not ready.  It’s 8:30 in the morning and I’m on my sunporch in a sweatshirt.  Normally, I love busting out my jeans and sweaters, saying goodbye to the searing sun, the cloying humidity.  I used to love back to school: new shoes, new lunchbox, new Trapper Keeper, sharp pencils, unbroken crayons . . .  

This year, though, I feel like some masked bandit ran off with my summer.  With selling the house and all the bullshit that went with it, my summer was not nearly long enough, not nearly lazy enough.  We didn’t do enough reading.  We didn’t do enough mucking around or hiking or swimming in lakes.  We didn’t watch enough sunsets or bats flicking around the night sky.  Too much fretting and cleaning.  Not enough lounging and boredom. 

Three more days and Saint James starts third grade.  Five more days and Supergirl starts kindergarten – Devil Baby starts preschool.  The simple flick of the calendar page will release an avalanche of busy-ness: lunches, homework, piano, soccer, playdates, and all the appointments I’ve blown off this summer: haircuts, teeth cleanings, pediatricians, oil changes.  

I need two more weeks.  That’s it.  Take me back to the beginning of August.  No?  

These photos were taken at our friend’s cabin on the Wisconsin River.  I’ll call him Pipes because he’s got a great voice and a way with plumbing.  On our way back from Michigan we stopped for a night to visit Pipes and his two wonderful daughters.  We drank beers by the water, ate steaks and corn on the cob and made s’mores.  The kids scampered around barefoot and collected wild turkey feathers, threw rocks in the river and grasped at quick and slippery crayfish.  We swam and stopped for soft serve ice cream on the way home.  It was like a crash course in summer.  Thank you, dear friends, for sharing your heavenly spot with us.  

The light in these photos makes my heart ache.  Warm afternoon sun.  Catch it.  Catch it.  Before it’s gone.
kids
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