Time Flies When....

They were here for a week and now they are gone. I will miss them but I am also ready to get back to my routine. It was a lot of fun and I have much to think fondly on.

One of the things I most love about Lisa’s boys is that they are insatiably curious about the natural world. Last night we sat on the seawall overlooking the marsh and watched the birds for a long time. Cal was thrilled by a great egret that was feeding in the marsh. He pointed out to me that the egret flaps his wings in order to drive the creatures in the water forward so he can then feed on them. I didn’t know that and was fascinated to watch him at work. At one point, while both Cal and I watched through our binoculars, the egret snatched a good sized frog and gulped him down. It was quite hilarious watching the big bulge in that long, graceful neck as it made its way to the birds stomach.

One of the most adorable things was when Lisa and I discovered that 9 year old Patrick had already started filling in his field guide to coastal North Atlantic sea life. The book is just lovely with beautiful color photos of all sorts of seaweed, algae, shells, birds, fish, critters, etc. Beside each entry is a lined area where you can record the date and location of your observation. Patrick purchased the book with his entire vacation stash of $30 at the Maritime Heritage Center. I was looking at the book and there, in his precise, tiny little-boy handwriting, were notations on the seaweed and seashells he had observed on Good Harbor Beach that morning. I can’t tell you how cute it was.

So last night, their last night here, I stopped at Captain Joe’s on East Main Street and got some lovely lobsters — both hard shell and soft shell. We sent for a pizza from Sebastian’s for the boys and boiled up the lobsters and had quite a feast! Mark came by and gave Cal an autographed copy of his book. That was quite a thrill for Cal because his mother had given him permission to read it and he had started reading her copy of it. I told Mark about this and so he wrote “To Cal Bretz” in a book and signed it and gave it to him. It is Cal’s first big-boy book and, while Lisa had to advise him that there are a few words in it that fishermen are allowed to use but teenage boys are NOT, he is going to read it.

I have always loved sitting around a kitchen table with the doors and windows open to the smell of saltwater-scented air, drinking wine and feasting on freshly boiled lobsters. When I lived in Marblehead a friend used to dive for lobsters and he’d often leave me a bucket of them. I’d boil them up, invite a couple friends, and we would sit on the porch overlooking Salem Harbor and pick those bugs apart while laughing, talking and drinking wine.

So the Bretz family is headed back to Pennsylvania and I am being lazy today. I deserve it. I am going to work on a manuscript, cook up the massive amount of rhubarb that Leslie sent me, and go out to dinner with “the girls”!

It is a wonderful thing to have people you love in your life. It is a wonderful thing to share summer and Good Harbor Beach and lobsters and thoughts and wine and one group of loved ones with another group of loved ones. I am grateful they were here and I am looking forward to getting back to my usual routine. What more can you ask for?

Thanks for reading.