August

The sun sets noticeably earlier. Last night after sharing plates of tapas with friends after work, I drove westward on the turnpike toward rosy skies. A glimpse of brilliant orange disk slipped quickly behind hills and was gone. Daylight no longer wakes me at 4am, so I leave the shades half open to the cooling night air and wake with the alarm at 6:00, the sky still a scrim of pale light.

At dusk this evening I walked up the hill into town, keeping to the sidewalks to avoid being unseen by passing cars. In other years, on August nights like this I'd walk the flat damp sand at my parents' place in New Hampshire or, if the tide was up, the sidewalk that curls along the seawall. I can still smell the sea air, feel it stiffen my hair, salt my skin. But now I work full time and weekends are short and I've had enough of commuting so I have little desire to drive all the way to the beach and back in a day. And of course my parents no longer live there.

Half of August is over, half yet to be savored.

Comments

[MB]

Thank you for the lovely reminder.

[Keith]

The Ides of August. Maybe read something that wasn't in your post but it got me thinking of warmer August memories from years past. Hope you are enjoying your job but don't let it keep you from those beach weekends.

[Tim]

Ah, yes! though you may not be coming over this way as often, it still awaits you...that's the nice thing. Always there, should you return--smile. And after Labor Day those who summer go, leaving it quieter on the road... If I remember from your earlier posts, your Mom & Dad were in Rye? It *is* nice there, and just a bike ride away for me...I never take it for granted, just as you probably didn't when they were here. Too bad they had to move away, huh?

ps--though I really don't remember all that much from when we were kids, I do remember your Mom (esp.) and your Dad as nice, your home as a nice, welcoming place.

All the best as you acclimate to your new job, etc--somehow I think that 6 mos from now it will all feel quite different, and by late spring it may seem easier to drift up this way from time to time!

[joanna]

Leslee, this is a beautiful gem of a post.

[Peter]

As I'll tell the kids next week on "back to school day" (I would resent such an interruption if I were a kid), forget about September for a week!

[leslee]

Thanks, all! Glad you enjoyed it.

Tim: They were at North Beach in Hampton. And thanks for your kind words on my family. I also knew your brother Matt slightly - he and Nancy Madden and I drove out to Lenox to see The Band on their last tour! Hope your family is well.