The Summer Summary

Quick, before Autumn arrives in a couple days!  It was an incredibly busy summer, as my lack of blogs should attest.  Since starting these blogs in 2007 (I think it was) I have rarely missed a few weeks.  A few months - never!  But it was that type of summer.

I was busy - everyone was busy.  We went places this summer, at least in the beginning.  We saw the Stones in Buffalo - and then I slept all the way home and got up and did an open house the next day.  We went to New York a couple times and had the kids up here.  We celebrated Liam's fourth birthday and Ollie's second.  We took in ball games - once to the Chiefs with our baseball buddies, the Andersens, and once at the Doubledays, again with them!  Socializing we rarely did.  I tried to have lunch with my old friend Gloria as we do each year at the Sherwood when she's in town and it took several tries to find a date I could go. Well worth the wait - always good to see friends who have been there forever...and will be.

I spent time at the lake.  After Jazz Fest, Charlie (our aging King Charles Cavalier with only two teeth) passed away.  We missed him terribly, and decided the house was too much of a reminder.  We went to the lake...no desk for him to situate himself under while I typed, no place to take a really long walk down the road, no memories of him there, really.  Boo came with us and returned to being a camp dog, although now with a lead.  He loved lying on the deck or in the open doorway, occasionally barking at "The Peskies" as we called them, our neighbors' little dogs.

Last week it was his turn.  He "just wasn't right" and I took him to Weedsport Animal Hospital after he ignored a huge cat fight.  A mass on his spleen....just like Sheba.  But this time Dr. Hopp was able to save him.  The operation went on for a couple hours and I paced outside while Bob sat.  He's not out of the woods yet...but still with us.

I took one trip - to Bethany Beach for a day with the boys and Alex and Rachel.  Bob had committed to a couple jobs and we had little notice.  One day at the ocean, a couple long walks with Liam, and I roared home again.  Sixteen hours of driving alone to sort things out.  I enjoy that actually.

And in-between all this was real estate, the actual focus of the summer.  I put miles on the Fiat, had the top down most of the time.  I watched tennis and more tennis.  And now fall is almost here.  I'm not ready to give up the lake quite yet, but I feel the pull to stack wood, get in shape, go to the Adirondacks.

We live in the most beautiful and one of the safest parts of the country.  We have vistas that take your breath away, gorgeous lakes that are accessible...go paddling in the Village!  We can stroll through lovely towns, admire homes that are (for the most part) not homes only a millionaire could afford.  And about 6 months out of the year the weather is perfect, the lawns are green, the streams run with pure water.  This summer I made a point of starting early and appreciating all of it.  It was grand, a summer to remember always.