I like to lay on the beach with a good book. It’s usually a hassle to get to the beach in New England (driving, parking, etc), but once I’m there, I find it relaxing.
We had a discussion about “summer reads” in my book group. I was reluctant to read anything too traumatic or depressing in August. Other people made no distinction between summer reading and regular reading.
Here’s the book I read at the beach in August. It certainly looked the part. Very beachy!
REVIEW: It liked it. It was a little darker than the cover would have you think. It was a good complement to the “Summer of Barbie.” The main character is a woman (a scientist) severely hampered by the boxes American society forced women into in the 1950s and 60s. There is one central tragedy, but it has a key “summer read” element: a happy ending.
These prompts are starting to feel repetitive. Here’s an old post I wrote called Why Blog?
We’ve had so many rainy weekends in New England this summer. It’s great that we’re ending on a high note!
Summers are short, but glorious in New England. I know some people really love autumn, but it does not hold a candle to summer. Winter is horrible (unless you like skiing) and “spring” is not a thing. There’s like one warm day in May (if we’re lucky, it’s Mothers Day).
So here’s to New England in the summer.
The “Farm Coast” – Rhode Island/Massachusetts border Quicksand Pond, RI
I have a screened-in porch, which I grew to appreciate during the pandemic. During those first three summers, I lugged an inflatable mattress out there because I wanted to have a comfortable place to read and smoke weed. I called it my flop bed. This year, I bought an actual chaise. It’s not quite as comfortable as the mattress, but it looks better.
Screens are key in New England due to the mosquitoes.
I like the nature sounds and tree view on my porch.
New England winters get old, REAL old, after 50 years. Sure, they start out great: sledding, skating, lots of snow days and hot chocolate when you’re a kid. Later, when you’re young and single and living in the city, they might mess up your commute, delay a flight or two, or worst of all, force you to contemplate slashing your upstairs neighbor’s tires when he parks in the spot you spent an hour shoveling and had clearly “saved” with an antique trash can. But, it’s not until you have kids, a house, and a driveway all your own, that you really start to HATE them. (Don’t even get me started on snowblowers, ice dams, frozen pipes, black ice, and roof rakes.)
This is why so many New Englanders, the minute we have even the smallest amount of disposable income, cannot resist hopping on planes and flying three short hours to Florida in January, February, and March. Now the winters aren’t always hot and sunny in Florida, but they are reliably better (much better) than from where we came.
Sometimes, the most satisfying thing about being in Florida is hearing about the New England weather you’re missing while you’re down there. Whether you’re in Disneyworld, or at the beach, or simply strolling around outside between grocery shopping trips to Publix, it’s very satisfying to read something like this in The Boston Globe:
Monday and Tuesday will have highs in the mid- to low 20s, but the windchill effect could be down to single digits for Monday and as low as zero to -10 degrees for Tuesday. Up to 4 inches of snow is expected.
Ha! And I’m not there.
the terribly guilty look of a woman who spontaneously abandons her family in New England for a weekend visit with friends in Delray Beach
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