Ode to August

Well, I have to say, we have had a great summer. We didn’t end up going on a vacation, but we were so busy doing other fun things that we didn’t really notice. Now it’s nearly time to go back to school, and for the first time, that actually applies to both of us! Ian will be starting his masters just about the same time that I start teaching classes again. I’m really going to miss my summer schedule of regularly meeting up with other teacher-friends for lunch, a walk around the lake, and tennis. For the first summer in a long time, I was able to do what I wanted, and now I’m so relaxed, refreshed, and TAN! Now the days are already getting shorter and cooler, and I even saw some leaves in the front yard already starting to (no) change colors. I had my first back-to-school nightmare about a week ago, which my veteran teaching friends tell me they still get every year around this time. Waiting for school to start feels a little like impending doom, so I devised a strategy for coping where every time a thought strays towards school, I start to think about of all the things I really love about fall instead. I realize now that this is actually a really long list that mostly includes things you can eat. When you think about it that way, it’s not so bad! :)

So, back to summer while I still can… Here are a few juicy pieces:

The Chibanas (Mom, Dad, Ryan) came for a visit at the end of July. We met in Philly to spend some time with the family down there. We did a bit of hiking together, hung out by the pool, and had a big family party to celebrate the baptism of my cousin's two little boys, Miles and Mason.

We took them back to our place in New York where they got to see a very different apartment than they remembered last year - this time, we actually had furniture! It was fun taking them around the area since they weren't been able to see much before. Last September they used their Labor Day weekend to drive the 14+ hours to New York to help move all of our junk from Indiana, then turned around and drove all the way back the next day! (Aren't they committed? They're pretty amazing.) This time we had a much slower, more relaxing visit. At least I hope it was relaxing for them... come to think of it, we did do a lot. We managed to hit the beach, tour West Point, walk around Piermont Pier at sunset, eat plenty of ice cream, go on a picnic, hike Bear Mountain, drop in on the zoo, feast on BBQ yakiniku and s'mores in our front yard, visit the Empire State Building and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, stroll through Central Park, sample some delicious Pomme Frites, takoyaki, and izakaya food… Ok, ok, I guess slow and relaxing weren’t the most accurate words to describe the trip, but we did have a good time together.

Every Tuesday night we've been heading down to Central Park to practice sanshin (Okinawan guitar-like instrument) with some friends. Every once in awhile, some tourists try to come up and take photos or ask us what we are playing. It's the weird-exotic instrument attraction, right next to the Hawaiian hula dancer practice (It's true! You never know what you will find in Central Park.) We thought about putting out a hat for people who might be inclined to throw money, but then again, we're really not very good!

I love being outside during summer. We've been blessed to have beautiful weather and have hardly closed our windows or used air conditioning all summer. We've gotten to spend some quality time outside dining al fresco, camping, whitewater rafting, working in the garden... ah, can you feel the serenity? A few weeks ago we went to an outdoor music and arts festival and got to see loads of great bands play all day and an amazing finale by Radiohead, all against the breathtaking backdrop of the city skyline and Lady Liberty on a beautiful summer's evening.

I guess we did kind of have a mini-vacation, after all. Last weekend we took a long weekend and went down to Tuckerton, NJ to my aunt and uncle's house on the bay. We learned how to catch mussles, went fishing, crabbing, kayaking, and went to the ice cream shop every night (do you see a recurring theme here?) One night we must have had a half dozen kinds of seafood on the table: mussels marinara, steamed crabs, grilled clams, fresh shrimp cocktail, kingfish (the one that I caught!)... Ok, I guess that's five, but to say the least, we feasted, and it was all delicious and freshly caught. Since this was our latest adventure and now we're into boring things like shopping for a washer and dryer, I'll finish with a little story:

Ian was having an uneventful day fishing.









Then, there was a tug at his line! It was a shark!

The shark said, "Ian, put me back in the ocean, and I'll send you a wee friend to keep you company."







So, Ian did. A little while later, Ian met a crab. "Hello, little crab."








The crab was very pinchy, so Ian called him "Pinchy the Crab."

See?







Even though Pinchy the Crab was a lot of fun, Ian had to put him back in the ocean because he was too small to eat.








The end