The stretch between Swampscott and Lynn always offers some great surf in a storm and  North Shore Ocean lovers gather, hoping for some hurricane sized waves.  At 7 p.m it was pretty tame, except every hundred waves or so was a soaker.

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I love the sunflowers in August that tower over the houses and dwarf the gardens.  Here’s a couple of close-ups taken with my iPhone.

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Okay, I admit that I’ve been a New England chauvinist since I moved here, but spending a day in the Shenandoah Valley opened my eyes to well, other parts of the country.  It’s GORGEOUS with rolling green hills and mountains, with crisp white farmhouses tucked away in the distance. It was only topped by

a trip to Luray Caverns, lit by 1500 candles for it’s 150th anniversary of its discovery made it ethereal.

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Faster Memoir

A slap. I cry. A nurse with a blanket (blue).

Meet mom, dad (smiling).

Drool.

Home. Rocking chair. Mom’s milk.

Sleep, cry, feed, shit. (Repeat).

Learn to walk, talk, to tie my sneakers (canvas).

Ride Big Wheels (yellow handle bars, black wheels, red body).

Childhood used to be simple.

Collect baseball cards. Play sports. Talk about girls (not to them).

Sneak cigarettes (Camel’s), sneak beers (any brand we can get our hands on).

Work at Sears hawking credit cards. Perfect a fake smile. Meet Candy. Struggle in her Buick behind a hardware store until I am deflowered.

Life can be tawdry.

Off to Anonymous Midwestern College (state school). Find someone to buy beer, to sell weed. Drink a lot. Get stoned. Crash lame parties. Drink too much. Ruin strangers’ couches.

Write poems. Write papers. Write stories.

Somehow graduate.

Move to Massachusetts. Write more poems. Send them away.

Get rejected.

Fall in love. Pay way too much for a tiny apartment.

Get married.

Get a cat (black).

Get into grad school.

Live too long together in tiny apartment. Fall out of love.

Get divorced (amicably).

Get depressed but keep the cat.

Pet ownership is not all it’s cracked up to be.

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I haven’t been to Revere Beach in 20 years, but when I read in the paper that they were having a sand sculpture competition, I knew where I’d be spending today’s lunch break. Anticipating the old dirty beach I remembered, I was amazed to find not only free parking, but a beautiful, clean family beach with these amazing sculptures in process. Once I did one of the competitions at Crane Beach and I can tell you that it’s not easy.

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It started out as a muggy day, the dark clouds eventually taking over from the West and bursting into a shower that soaked the crowds on the waterfront today. Trying to stay dry was the golden man who informed me that his make-up is waterproof and that gold does not rust. Evidently he made it though since he returned to fascinate the crowds when the sun came out again.

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Today is one of the reasons that I love where I live. For a lunch break, I rode my bike to the beach, which is like a little vacation. Today the water and the reflections were an amazing shade of blue. The breeze was soft, the sun was shining, but drat, here I am back at my computer, but I’m sharing it with you to make it last a little longer.

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When visiting a friend’s cottage on Lake Winnipesaukee, I was amazed to find it just as it was when it was brought across the lake on the ice in the early 19th century. The family has left it intact, complete with a wood stove for cooking…. like a trip to a museum. Here’s some shots of the lake through the windows.

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I Hate Mimes, by Rob Dinsmoor.

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Okay, it’s not like kind of action you’d get a Red Sox game or a pub crawl… this is more like a turtle crawl.  These photos capture a frog and turtles swimming at the Audubon Sanctuary in Topsfield, a polo match at the Myopia Hunt Club and some friendly chickens at Russell Farm.

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