Good Advice

While it's on my mind, I wanted to share a line from my friend's sister's wedding service.

"May you grow in grace as you advance in years."

It's a lovely sentiment & if we all are able, something to shoot for.

Vacation Photos

Here's a sampling of my favorites. The full set lives here. Enjoy!

Other fishing boats following us back to the wharf at twilight

Small stone in the Murray River pioneer cemetery

Our view, on a particularly rosy-hued evening

The site of my friend's sister's wedding ceremony

Our view, a few minutes before getting in the car & leaving it. :(

Food for Thought

(courtesy of xkcd)

Home again

My poor father. Every summer, as we drive home from PEI, my mother & I repeatedly ask him to "turn the car around! Never mind reality - we're going back to the cottage." :)

As you could probably tell, I was able to steal a little bit of wireless signal while on the Island, so I posted a few times last week. As always, my time there was lovely. I have about 160 pictures to sort through & will post them sometime this week. In the meantime, I leave you with a video of the area around our cottage, post-sunset, on Thursday evening!

"Snapshot"

(The following is a vignette I wrote in a creative writing class in college. Since it's about my childhood on PEI, and has an accompanying photo, I thought it'd make a good post from vacation.)

I have a photograph that was taken when I was about four years old. In it, I was standing with my back to the camera, ankle-deep in a slightly overgrown farmyard. My feet and legs were bare, and I was wearing a light pink dress. My summer-blond hair was pulled back into an almost ridiculously short four-year old ponytail. About five feet in front of me stood a young Holstein calf. The calf was looking at me curiously, no doubt wondering why this young human was staring at her so intently. My nervous fingers were in my mouth, but I stood still and returned the calf's curious gaze.

The two of us stand frozen in time, regarding each other silently. It is mid-summer. The wheat in the field behind us stands ripe and golden. Beyond the wheat field, the sea beats a rhythm against the beach below the sandstone cliffs. In a few hours, summer night will come. The air will be warm and soft. Cars full of teenagers will drive by the old farm and turn down the beach road. Their coolers and bonfires will cover the beach. Years from now, I will be one of them.

But, for now, it is mid-summer. The calf is only a few months old. So am I.

Snippet from a Charlottetown Saturday Night

Here's the text (much abridged) of a conversation I had last night while out at a bar:

Guy @ Bar: Where are you from?

Me: Boston, but I'm on PEI every summer.

Guy: I work near Boston sometimes. blah blah blah.

Me: Oh, neat. blah blah blah.

Guy: You're really pretty.

Me: Um, thanks. Is that a wedding ring?

Guy: Yeah, can I buy you a beer?

Me: Um, I think it's past last call. Where's your wife?

Guy: Home in Ottawa. Want to dance?

Me: I just don’t feel comfortable dancing with a married man.

Guy: Just asking you to dance – not asking you to marry me.

Me: You couldn’t! You’re already married!

Me, to a friend ten minutes later: “When you’re getting hit on by married men, it’s time to go home.”