Getting a-head in life

What is it with this summer?

What is it with this summer?  I'm feeling distinctly discontented this summer.  Last year, we went down to the Cape a bunch of times, and it seemed so fun.  Every Friday, we'd pile into the car, grab some pizza and eat on the way down there.  We'd spend some time on the beach, have a couple of meals out on the deck, and head back home on Sunday.  There didn't seem to be any crowds or traffic, and the sun was almost always shining.  This year, every drive has been tortuously long and hot (as the air conditioner in our car became feeble and then died).  It's usually cloudy, and when the sun comes out, it stays just long enough to lure you to the beach before being suffocated by clouds again.  When it's hot, the beaches are crowded, and when it's raining, everyone gets in their cars and sits on Route 28.  

On the other hand, the boys are learning to swim in the little pool in the back yard.  It's still nice to sit out on the deck, and there's nothing like an outdoor shower after a crowded, hot afternoon at the beach.  As Troy said last Saturday, "It sure is relaxing here." I think we'll go back next weekend . . .  

Psst!

Don't tell Teddy:  They aren't really "Power Sticks"; they're cut up zucchini from the garden.

It's a perfect day, and we went to Crane's Beach to enjoy the arrival of real summer weather.  Unfortunately, half of Massachusetts was there, too.  We got there at 10, which is usually before the crowds get there, but to find a place near the boardwalk (and hence not too far from the "potties"), we had to maneuver into a space in the middle of a bunch of other people who wanted to be near the potties and/or food (people with toddlers and one old lady).  Then, shortly after we got there a big group of people who had apparently come from the city, because they had a much different definition of personal space moved in behind us.  I breathed a cloud of sunscreen as one woman stepped away from her group to spray herself -- right upwind from us.  

I could go on, but I'll just say, the water was clear and refreshingly cold, the sun was hot and the breeze kept the green-head flies away.  We left after about an hour and a half, but that's the benefit of living 15 minutes away from the beach.

I'm sitting in the back yard now, after a picnic lunch, thinking about walking down to Patton park to hear the band.  The one sad spot in today will be the memorial ceremony we're going to have for Nemo.  I feel terrible, but we left Nemo yesterday in a spot where the sun shone in a window onto his cage and he got heat stroke.  We were gone most of the day, and by the time we noticed, it was too late to save him.  He died a few hours later, after being wetted and cooled, and then later warmed, wrapped in a washcloth in a basket on the kitchen counter.  He was, as Troy said, the best hamster we ever had.