The long unique summer

Lots of rain in the early summer. Got to the town beach by mid-July, then we were off to Gilmanton, it seemed. Jumped into Drew Farm life with Jenny, Phil, Frano, Clare and Lucy. Craziness all day it seemed! The kids loved the "bored sheepherder" video on youtube--we had to play it at least once a day. When the kids went back to Buffalo it was verrrrry quiet. We picked up toys here and there, arranged furniture, brought out all the wine and sherbet glasses, relished the warmer weather. By our last week it was almost summer again!

The Rock Party was a beautiful afternoon again, and this year we got down to the bottom before the moskeets got us. Bill and I drove Frano home--a deer leapt in front of our car but made it across 140. Jay and Alaiyo, newlyweds, were adorable. I tried to help teach Alaiyo to swim. She who could probably hike 4 miles before I even got started was having a hard time catching on. Must be difficult to learn to swim as an adult. The Listening party at the Hottels was memorable as usual, this year it was Carmen. I found myself voting for Maria Callas but dissing Placido Domingo. And I was in the minority--che strano! Down in Guilford for a few days, catching up with mail, two poetry meetings within three days, firming up our anthology plans. Then back up by train to Boston, by bus to Concord. More silken water to float around in. One day we hiked through a cornfield and drove over to Pittsfield (see photo of dam in downtown Pittsfield).

I'm writing this in Northampton, Mass. where we've returned after 14 years, staying again at the Autumn Inn, and eating at the same good restaurant, India House. Last night the weather was perfect, the town lively, we found a good bookstore and a place that served great espresso and gelato to us 4 minutes before they closed. Earlier in the day we strolled along the old avenues of Historic Deerfield. This morning it will be Emily Dickinson, her house, her life, then on to the poetry of horses getting serious in the paddock--before they strike out on the track at Saratoga.