THOSE LAZY, HAZY, CRAZY DAYS OF SUMMER ARE GONE…

but so is the heat and humidity. I must admit that it was difficult to drag myself out of the White Mountains and Lake Winnipesaukee this year. I wanted to stay all September and just float in the water, but the Plainfield Symphony was calling as well as the bills and all the minutiae that make up our post-vacation reality. But I’m grateful for a summer of almost no computer, no television, no newspapers, and no loud political discourse. Naturally, I was made aware of the catastrophic floods in my beloved Ladakh in August as well as the plight of millions of flood victims in Pakistan. Who can be immune to that? And I am prepared to come face to face with some of the suffering during my upcoming four months in India. But, then, there are numerous people who are trying to help and actually making a difference, so that’s encouraging. My friend, Tamara Blesh, who just returned from Ladakh, has related her first-hand experience of this crisis. I will write more about her work in a subsequent blog, but do check out her excellent website at: http://www.travelinglibrarian.org/

This summer was a time for family and friends at the cottage….

Leah, John, & Sarah Kelly

Leah and Judy Wyman Kelly

Tom...Shall I? It's pretty cold

Carmen, Tom's girlfriend, experiencing the Peterson family for the first time

….and it was also a time for work, as we repaired the road (thank you, Peterson muscle), stained the dock, and tried to ameliorate the damage caused by Old Man Winter.

Tom starting on 14 tons of fill

Nobody one-ups Martha!

Or me....

A partial view of the results, and there's more to go....for the remaining relatives

There were also some great mountain trips, the most outstanding being a hike up to Greenleaf Hut on Mt. Lafayette in Franconia Notch. It was son Tom’s treat, but he forgot to check with God about the weather. It was the only three rainy days of the month, which provided a very challenging slog up the Old Bridle Path, perilous even in dry weather. But you can see by the smiles that we had a great time. Unfortunately, we had to scratch the hike over the Franconia Ridge and down Falling Water Trail because of the fierce weather. But wait another year…we’ll be there.

Yours truly heading up the Old Bridle Path to Greenleaf Hut in the rain

Son-in-law Gary, Martha, Carmen, and Tom just after coming down the Greenleaf Trail, and preparing for a 4-mile hike to the car

My addiction to sunsets is almost as serious as my addiction to theater, so bear with me as I post a variety of scenes of the water and islands of Lake Winnie that we see every evening from our cottage. There’s no way I will ever be able to capture the soul-soothing images that bombard me each summer, but I keep trying.