Goodbye Summer 2017 ...

Sitting at Scadding Cabin at the CNE, August 2017

Once again, summer leaves us. 

This summer, I've been to cottages, sung in abandoned mining caves, kayaked in a storm, tried paddle-boarding (and fell off), finished two books (which was a bit of a death struggle and is possibly one book too many), sailed as much as I could despite the weather, wrote some lovely, achingly-sad music, and mourned my sister-in-law, who left us much, much too soon.

Must ... finish ... manuscript!

I sent my eldest child off to Paris for the fall, and packed my youngest off to BC to plant trees, then just this morning, sent him off to second year university. I rode on the back of a jet ski (which I hate), but laughed like a 20-year-old when the driver opened the throttle (230 horsepower really makes your hair fly!). I sat at the CNE for two Mondays in August, and read to kids about Fort Rouille.

I also turned another year older, and am now convincingly into middle-age, which also means that I recently realized that some of my most meaningful friendships are now 35 years old. My children are also the exact ages of their father and I when we met in university so long ago (23 and 19, so, so young). Yet here we still are, and on and on we go.

So, a few photos to remind us that summer is sweet, and sweeter every year, my friends:

1. Cave singing,
photo courtesy Rob Schauer

1. Playing guitar and cave-singing in Bancroft, Ontario.

Had an audience, and sang in this abandoned mine on a friend's cottage property, in the dark. Feldspar and quartz were mined by hand in the last century (@1880-1910), and drawn from the cave in the winter, by horses pulling sleighs. You can still see the miner's pick-ax marks.

The acoustics were something else.

2. Sailing. It was a rainy summer, but we managed to sail every week. Here we are, 10 km off Toronto.

3. Playing guitar in Bala. Standing on the dock, playing my friend's backpack guitar, a tiny instrument with a surprisingly big voice.

3. Playing in Bala

4. Said goodbye to my daughter, for 4 months, while she lives in Paris with her boyfriend until December (ahhh, to be 23 again).

5. Also said goodbye to my son for another year of university.

5.

AND ... I leave you with this picture of me, my favourite of the summer, with a very good friend, waiting to go for a sail together on a perfect day in early August, when nothing like school, or Paris, or work, or getting older, really mattered one little bit at all:

Here's a little music, composed by yours truly and my editor, Allister Thompson, that fits: Summer

Enjoy!

As Stuart Little so wisely said, "Rememer your summertimes sweethearts." Until summer 2018, then ...

Another Blog Post from Last Summer 2016