After a sleep deprived week of Brendan working nights we're enjoying a four day weekend together. The sun finally came out this afternoon, breaking a week's worth of wet weather, and in a flash of spontaneity we headed to the beach for an hour. We're lucky to have a good, sandy beach just 1.5 miles from our house, on a lovely little lake within a state park. Well, it's lovely this time of year, but in the summer it is inundated with tourists and campers and busloads of summer camp kids, which make it no less lovely yet somewhat less enjoyable. But right now, in these last weeks of summer, it is a tranquil retreat from the confines of our house.
The afternoon was perfect...the leaves are just starting to show their autumn color, and when backlit by the late afternoon sunshine they seemed glow. The water was smooth, rippled only by the canoes, ducks, and kayaks that gracefully cut its surface, and then again by Harrison's feet as he ran at the water's edge, surprised that after a month away from his beloved water we had stripped him down and let him loose. He was delighted with the feel of the sand and mud on his baby skin, and shrieked with joy when we ran with him at the edge of the water ( a stern voice having announced over the loudspeaker to another group that swimming is no longer allowed because the lifegaurds are done for the season) holding tight to his hand lest he decide to turn into the deep and splash away from us altogether.
We didn't stay long. It was getting to be dinner time, and Harry looked sleepy despite the fun. Sometimes I think our shortest jaunts are the most fun, as we don't have time to get frustrated with chasing him around, or with the lack of beach blanket and towels, or with the dreaded black flies that seem to constantly swirl in the air around our heads when we're outside. But for an hour this afternoon we escaped the normal and stole back a little crumb of summer, and it was divine.
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